Graduate Writing: Timeliness of Submissions

The Graduate Writing I course is 8 weeks long, and each week builds on the previous one. Because of this, students can fall behind very quickly. As noted in the syllabus, discussions and assignments accrue a deduction of !0% per day that they are late. To stay on track in the course, we recommend reexamining your time management, using the Blackboard course calendar, and communicating with your instructor.

How do you find more time? Balancing work, school, and personal life can be challenging. If you feel like you're short on time or are unsure how to find more time (particularly for writing), we recommend the following:

• Chart your daily activities to discover time wasters and opportunities. Watch Wellcast's video on the RAC method to learn how to record (R), analyze (A), and change (C) the way you spend your day. Print out WellCast’s day planner as well, as this will help you in the application of RAC.
• Determine the best time to do coursework. Read examtime’s (2013) blog post, “What is the Best Time to Study? Day vs Night.” Consider your preferred studying experience and how that fits into your life. Do you need to shift your coursework time from morning to night, for example? 
• Plan. Do assignment due dates catch you off guard? Are you always working at the last minute? To help schedule regular reading and writing times into your schedule, we recommend Productive Flourishing’s set of free planners. A strategy called Outlining Your Outline is also great for conceptualizing and planning for your due dates. See an example outline in this Writing Center blog post. 
• Remove distractions. Without distractions, you can be more efficient with the time you do have. This is easier said than done. You can't, for instance, get rid of your children, but you can isolate yourself, play white noise, limit Facebook and Twitter, and turn off the TV to get into the productivity zone.
• Fight writer's block. If your challenge is less about finding time to sit down at your computer and more about actually doing something at your computer, you might suffer from writer's block. Try these exercises to push beyond the blank screen. 

The Course Calendar allows you to see the due dates of discussions and assignments in a visual format. You can sync it with your personal calendar and also create other events by clicking the plus-sign in the upper right.

Tip: Create a weekly event that can serve as a reminder about getting started on your discussion or assignment.

If you are experiencing health problems or other extenuating circumstances that interfere with your ability to complete coursework, reach out to your instructor via e-mail or a phone call during office hours. Your course instructor's contact information is found on the Contact the Instructor page. He or she can approve a request for an assignment extension should you need one. 

Tip: Contact your instructor in advance if you know of a planned absence from the course, such as an upcoming academic residency.