Author Archives: Sarah Robin

Networking? Sounds Boring

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By Will (Student Blogger: BSc Hons Entrepreneurship and Management)

When people say the word ‘networking’ an image of important business people talking usually springs to mind. I think most people view networking as a process that has zero fun and is purely to make connections that could be useful one day, when you want to call in a favour. This is an outdated view. Networking is incredibly important and university is an absolute gold mine, as there are so many people from different backgrounds with different skills.

Networking doesn’t just mean talking to people that you think have important knowledge that you could draw on one day. Nor is it a process where you set out goals or parameters as to who to talk to and who to avoid.

Networking is natural, we all do it in everyday life whether introverted or extroverted, everyone networks daily. University nurtures many different friendship groups, from flatmates to course mates and society mates. I would advise anyone coming to university to take advantage of this and network with as many people from different places as possible. I personally have developed networks with people from so many backgrounds, with sports persons, entrepreneurs, local politicians and experts in just about every academic field. Akin to these people being incredibly interesting and enriching to have a coffee and chat with, they have proved invaluable to my university career. If I didn’t know many of the entrepreneurs that I currently do, I would never have been able to gain the advice and expertise to help set up my own business within university alongside my studies.

It can always seem too easy to not go to that sports trial or avoid that marketing event with an influential speaker. Its not always that easy to get out there and meet new people while sometimes divulging information about yourself to people you barely know. However, every time you miss that event or decline that invitation to a party or social, you’re limiting the opportunities that university can afford you.

Networking isn’t just for extroverts and people who like talking, it’s for people who want to seize the chance they’ve been given and make the most of life. The more networking someone does the more connected they become, and I can say from experience that the more random opportunities start to pop up, which most people weren’t even aware existed.

The point of this blog was never intended to scare you into going to everything on university campus, because no one has time for all that and as always studying must come first. However next time the opportunity arises to meet someone new or go to a new environment, consider not what might be bad about it or how much time you’ll have to do other stuff if you don’t go. But what could I be missing, what advice and new characters might I hear about, but never be able to experience again, because who knows what the future holds?

So, don’t hold back don’t regret what could have been, but learn from experience and it is true that people make the world go around, so get out there and meet as many interesting ones as you can.

Slow yourself down

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By Hannah (BA Hons Advertising and Marketing: Student Blogger)

Slow yourself down.

I don’t think it’s just me who has felt massively overwhelmed with the stresses and pressures that we not only put on ourselves but experience through just existing at university: Trying to balance society responsibilities, a social life, plans for next year, interviews and assessment centres, oh and not to forget your actual degree!

As well as sleeping, eating and generally existing.

It all just seems ever so slightly (massively) impossible.

It seems we are always running around, joining in the constant conversation of ‘what next?’ whilst trying to get absolutely everything done from the minute we wake up to the minute we go to bed (or, if you’re anything like me, get home at 5pm and ‘accidentally’ nap for four hours; coincidentally, also the amount of sleep I was averaging a night. But at 5pm I refuse to call four hours sleep anything but a ‘nap’!)

I was living on this carousel, and as easy as it is to jump on the ‘ride’, the more you go round and round trying to fit everything in, the dizzier you get and the more overwhelming it all becomes.

Because like a carousel, the ride of University is a positive one with opportunities left, right and centre. But unless you slow down, it’s impossible to enjoy the moments in between: life happening right now. The rest of the ‘fun fair’.

There is no time like right now, these little pockets of time that you are living today. Not next year, not tomorrow but right now. In our little city of Lancaster, which is home for the now. You don’t always need to be going somewhere fast or anywhere at all.

S L O W  D O W N.

Give yourself time.

It’s completely okay if not every day is full of meetings and essay plans and social media schedules, gym sessions, social gatherings and future planning. Some days may look like settling yourself down in a nook of a cosy coffee shop (because Lancaster has an abundance) with the window misty and the rain (again, thank you Lancaster) outside, sipping coffee, slowly working or just watching the world go by.

Take time for yourself, to enjoy the ride of life that isn’t a constant carousel, which in time makes us dizzy and overwhelmed. Don’t spend your entire time on the carousel and at the end of three/four years realise you missed out on the rest of the little joys. The candyfloss of life.

Be intentional with your today. Your now. Tomorrow can wait for some other day. If you’re always rushing to the next moment, ask yourself ‘What happens to the one I’m in?’ Trust me, and just take a moment to appreciate the present moment that IS your life NOW.

And maybe to you this doesn’t look like cosy coffee shops on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. And that’s okay. Your now can be anything you want it to be. Just make it something, anything,  that’s not a tomorrow.

FIKA (Swedish noun): a moment to slow down and appreciate the good things in life.

One day at a time.

Exams already! Bring it on!

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By Will (Student Blogger: BSc Hons Entrepreneurship and Management)

It only seems like yesterday when I was arriving at university ready to start the year, full of optimism and confidence on how I would keep on top of work being the best student I could. It therefore seems almost unreal and more than a bit daunting that the word exam is already being thrown around, with expectations of revision mounting by the passing day.

Though it is true that exams are not particularly enjoyable to partake in, if prepared for in ample time they become infinitely more enjoyable, believe it or not. Now I’m not saying I relish the moment that I can sit in a room writing answers to questions for hours on end. However there have been times when I have come out of the exam hall punching the air in extasy and quietly saying to myself ‘think I smashed that’ or words to that effect. These rare occurrences present themselves whenever I give myself ample time to plan and revise for the designated task.

It is true that everyone revises differently, and I, unfortunately, have no advice on what may be the best for those reading to use. There is one universal practice, however, that will ensure the heavy dread felt in your stomach before each exam is lifted. As the old saying goes ‘fail to prepare, then prepare to fail’ this could not be truer for university exams. A lot of students get caught out with mid term exams, expecting all papers to be sat in third term, this is not the case for most courses, however. I know from experience that despite not actually knowing the material for the exam just knowing the time I had left to revise allowed me to plan in my mind the days I had left to get serious and put a pen to paper.

Preparation for an exam doesn’t just relate to knowing when it is going to commence, however. With most university exams you will be told what you’re expected to do well in advance of sitting the paper, do not ignore this. You would be surprised at how many students ‘wing it’ on the day not reading the brief of what is to come and just banking on the exam being a traditional essay format. Your professors want you to pass their modules and 99% of the time provide hints and tips in the lectures and documents that lay out the exam task. Ensuring you are aware of the exam task before you take the paper greatly increases your chances of success, as you will have been able to at least mentally plan what your approach is.

Finally, university exams sometimes allow you to bring in certain articles and books that can be annotated before the exam. If this is the case use it. It’s too late once you’re in the exam hall, so make sure you have all the required readings with you well before. If you are unsure, just check with your lecturers or course leaders; their job is to help you and they will usually give you extra information if you actively seek them out.

University exams may seem scary but using another adage ‘the bark is worse than the bite’ the more aware you are of them and their contents, the easier they are to conquer.

How to make the most of your feedback

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By Klaudia (Student Blogger: BBA Hons International Business Management)

Feedback is common in all aspects of our life, and coursework for us, students, is the most frequent way we receive it. However, how to benefit from it?

The feedback we receive at university may be very diverse – it may be only a mark, or it could be extensive comment. Often we might not pay a lot of attention to it after we see that we have either done well or badly on our piece of work. It is, however, important to take some time and try to analyse any precious comments that it may contain, in order to learn from our mistakes and improve in all of our assignments.

Just looking at the grade won’t bring any improvement. Look carefully at the comments and analyse them. Never throw the feedback away!  Look back at your comments before doing your next assignment, in order to avoid making the same mistakes. Remember to focus not only on the negative comments. It won’t be productive and won’t help you to move forward academically. As feedback may be disappointing sometimes, give yourself a few days to get over your emotions and come back to it after some time.

If you would like to talk about feedback with somebody, do not be afraid to ask for help. Your first option should be to see the tutor concerned; you could also speak to your Academic Tutor or make an appointment at the Academic Writing Zone and talk to a mentor about it. If a tutor highlights an area for improvement, take it seriously – this comment may be warning you of, for example, potential plagiarism, if you do not cite the necessary references in your work. Lack of referencing can be a very serious mistake with bad consequences.

However, most importantly, recognise what you did well in the assignment. It’s easy to focus on the negative things, but it is also useful to know what you did right so that you can do it again next time.

When you receive feedback, it is important that you take the time to analyse what has been said. Sometimes feedback may relate to your academic knowledge within the particular subject that you are studying, or it could relate to your learning development or study skills in general.

Once you understand whether your feedback relates to improving your academic knowledge or learning development skills you can seek out the right support. For example, if you are struggling with the academic content you may have to speak to your lecturer/tutor to help you expand your reading materials around it. Keep in mind that many tutors refer to the grading criteria when leaving feedback, and through the language they use in your comments, it may be easy to identify why you have been awarded a mark when comparing your feedback to the grading criteria. This should enable you to easily identify areas where you can improve upon in your coursework in the future.

Summing up, feedback is an important part of every assignment. Markers aim to deliver precious tips on how to improve your work and how to succeed in the future – so make sure you make the most of it!

 

 

How to get yourself organised for the rest of Lent Term

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By Sophia (Student Blogger: BA Hons Religious Studies)

Already feeling like Uni is getting the best of you? Don’t panic, lots of us feel the same way this time of year, so here’s some helpful tips to get you on your way to nailing second term.

Time management:

This is probably the area where students struggle most, it can often feel that one minute you have all the time in the world and the next minute you barely have chance for a break. To nail time management, try to factor into your budget this week purchasing a large wall-mounted academic year planner, a list book, and potentially a diary, unless you find using your phone calendar more useful.

A full term can feel like a long time when in reality the weeks fly by, and you can often be overly optimistic about how much time you have left until the deadlines hit. Mark each deadline on your wall-mounted planner as well as in your diary or phone calendar. This allows you to maintain a healthy-work life balance by scheduling activities in, such as having lunch with your parents, any society commitments such as netball games or socials, and even just nights in to relax on your own or with housemates.

Your list book is where the real magic happens, even when you’re fully aware of what you need to do, it’s often highly intimidating when you have a huge pile of seemingly never-ending reading, researching and writing to get done. Take a two page spread, mark the date in the top left hand corner and write each day of the upcoming week vertically down the first page. Under each day, write down what you have to have done by that day. For example, if you have a seminar on Tuesday for which you need to have read two articles. This allows you to plan your workload chronologically and clearly lays out exactly what needs to be done and by when.

On the second page write down any other tasks you need to do, these can be extracurricular or careers-related tasks, anywhere from updating your CV,  to ordering a food shop. This ensures you don’t forget any of the niggling administrative things you need to get done, and makes sure everything else in your life is ticking along nicely. If you do this for every week, factoring in some time for deadline work alongside work for seminars, workshops or labs, you’ll certainly be busy, but hopefully not blindsided by what you need to get done.

Organisation:

Just like with your list book and diary, everything feels much easier when you have it planned out. If your notes from lectures and seminars are all over the place, it becomes a tremendous task at the end of Lent term to get them in order ready for revision. Take a leaf out of the book of Marie Kondo and get organised! Whether you take notes in paper of electronic form, if your filing system is a mess, you’ll thank yourself later for getting it sorted now.

Paper form: Organise your work into separate wallets for each module, and place them all in one larger folder. Having everything separated into modules will make studying during exam season a breeze. Make sure to put any essays or marked pieces of work for each module in there too, they can be a great revision resource.

Electronic form: Much the same as with paper notes, you need to organise your files into folders. It’s slightly more fun this way, as you can create folders for each module, and then create folders within these folders to separate notes from lectures, seminars and for essay preparation. Also make sure to save electronic versions of submitted coursework in each module folder too. Don’t forget to colour code for extra satisfaction!

Having everything in order, planning well, and keeping a good balance between work and play makes everything seem just that bit more manageable. Try using some of these tips to see how they improve your work ethic this term.

Managing coursework and relaxing: End the day doing something new

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by Carlos (Student blogger: PhD in Management Science)

During these weeks, there is something interesting going on at the Uni. Everybody is struggling with coursework, going from one lecture to another and trying to find time to relax. Michaelmas term is over with, coursework handed in and before we realise, Lent term courses have begun.  Some students think that missing one lecture will help them to finish their coursework. Unfortunately, this is quite ineffective from my point of view. Then the question is how to deal with all this pressure while you just want to find a time to relax.

I could say, ‘I’m not the best example to tell you how to deal with this.’ However I have seen some friends that used to work day and night, and sleeping just a few hours a day (or every two days in some cases). I cannot deny that I used to feel a bit guilty after seeing them going to work for a second shift, while I was coming back to sleep.

But then the question is, when can I make progress? After midnight? At the first hour in the morning? After dusk? In my case, the problem was related to a lack of inspiration that used to happen from time to time.  As I had to complete a piece of coursework with 8 different sections by using a single dataset, looking over the same data every day, I got stuck on charts and summary tables, and then I got this moment when I asked yourself “what else could I do?” Fortunately I had some colleagues to talk with and they suggested different ideas, including reading some books and looking for web resources.

Frustration is sometimes the main issue and talking with classmates can be useful to reduce stress but my main recommendation is to do something new every day, to avoid staying in bed and adding something new so you can see how you progress. And of course, you need some spare time that has to be used wisely; avoid staying in your room, go for a walk, go to buy your groceries. Try a different route and treat yourself after making some progress. Assign a time to relax.

Reading a book, going for a stroll, or watching a movie, can reveal something different and help you to see the hidden face of the cube. Also a good routine of a least 7 hours sleep every day, some workouts in the morning, and assigning a special place and time for studying are very helpful. It is also satisfactory to go to bed every day with some new progress in your coursework or dissertation. A clear mind can give you new ideas after a proper sleep. It is also possible to get new ideas while you’re dreaming!

My rule of thumb, in this case, would be to end the day knowing that you have done something new. I had the opportunity to attend a writing retreat, and I was surprised by how much you can write when there are no distractions, no calls, no social media, no WhatsApp. But you have to also be motivated and feel inspired. I struggle to work consistently at the beginning, but after getting involved at the writing retreat and finding some motivation, I think, I could be working on a subject for ages.

To sum up, my suggestion is  to begin your coursework as soon as possible, avoid distractions you identify while you’re working (it is possible and it works!), keep yourself busy during working times in a place dedicated for that, and you’ll get immediate results, even if the progress is slow at the beginning. Don’t desist! As soon as you get stuck, contact your fellows, your supervisor or tutor, don’t wait too long. Or try doing another part of the requirements and then go back to the section if you think you can improve.

A bit of exercise every day, good sleeping and a healthy diet are helpful. Relax at least one day per week (close the book during that day), drink water regularly and don’t feel bad if you have a difficult moment when you lack ideas – it is normal after hard work! Take that time to do something new, some local sightseeing maybe, a new movie, and then get back to work 😉

Finding the balance: 5 things that will make your Lancaster Uni life easier!

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By Navesh (Student Blogger: MSc Business Analytics)

Haven’t eaten a proper meal in days? Don’t have a plan on how to write that 3000-word essay? Feel overwhelmed? If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions – you may want to try out some of my “Lancaster Uni hacks!”

With coursework deadlines and the daunting task of settling back into the Uni life again after the holidays, even the simplest things, like eating, look like impossible tasks. But with some smart planning and help from your friends, you can make the dreary long and rainy nights of winter cheerful and productive.

It is important to understand what is holding you back from achieving your full potential and work on them. Here are 5 tips that just might do the trick!

  1. Sunshine! – It has been proven in various studies that sunshine helps you feel better (check out Healthline’s report). There are quite a few places in the Uni where you get bright sunshine. The Duck pond near PG Statistics Building is a great place for starters! Go out on an afternoon and take a deep breath. Being a little close to nature helps with the stress. The sports centre and Transitions Team also do weekly walks in term time.
  2. Meditate – There are plenty of programs running on campus and you can always drop by to get some advice on how to assimilate all that energy. At the Chaplaincy Centre there is the Buddhist Meditation Room that offers a Zen Meditation Hour in term time. Click Here to get the details. A meditating session just might be the thing to reignite the genius in you.
  3. Dogs to the rescue – Puppies are the best and watching our K9 friends play has some magical effect on us. You will be surprised at how many dog friendly beaches are near Lancaster University. Click Here to get details of the beaches near our Uni. A day at the beach with dogs to play around is a day well spent! You can also help at a local animal sanctuary and walk the dogs, or volunteer for cat cuddles.
  4. Eat well – with a ton of options on campus but very little to spend, eating healthy and regularly can be a challenge. But there are always people ready to help on the internet! I find going to YouTube and searching “Dorm Cooking” to come up with some fast healthy and cheap options! There are “all-you-can-eat” lunch deals in Pizzetta Republic which one can enjoy!
  5. Cut down on the Booze – It’s Friday! “every week” but the deadlines and the grades are forever. What we don’t realise is that Friday night eats up the entire Saturday with a hangover. Try something different – cut down on the booze. One great idea is to have Pot lucks because cooking together is fun. You can spend time with your friends and flatmates when it is raining outside, while having an excellent meal, and unlike other Saturdays, you will have an awesome feast of leftovers rather than a hangover!

Managing the juggling act that is third year

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by Ruth (Student Blogger: History) 

Ok, so third year is upon us, well actually, we’re now almost through, and if you, like me, are in your final year, things, at the moment, might be getting a little too… much. Slowly assignments and deadlines have built up and late-night library seshes have become your new best friend. It can be hard to prioritise which piece of work, module or reading to put first, but hopefully this list can help you order some of the stress that seems to only be increasing…

  1. The dreaded dissertation.

‘Dissertation’ sounds scary. It’s what you uncertainly whispered in first year, convinced in two years you’d be completely capable of tackling that 10,000 words, and then when second year came around, you started panicking as planning became ever more real. The first things first, is don’t panic, sounds simple right? But, in reality, if you split up your dissertation into sections, it becomes more manageable. Traditionally, dissertations, especially for humanities subjects like mine, are split up into three sections. That’s around 2,000-3,000 words for each, essentially three essays after each other, sandwiched between an introduction and conclusion. Breaking up the dissertation and focusing on each chapter separately really helped me to reduce the fear of the 10,000 words. It also enables you to look closely at each section, making sure the arguments you are making work throughout and have a clear structure within. Allow yourself a timescale of 500 words every other day, or 300 words every day, whatever you find comfortable. For time management, I deliberately always set aside 1-2 days a week on the dissertation allowing me a designated time to read through it, so I wasn’t making haphazard changes in whatever spare five minutes I had. But the biggest help was planning and starting early, getting the majority of your research completed in the summer meant I was able to structure further reading on the plan already forming. Giving yourself a clear timescale for the dissertation allows you to section off other times in order to give proper focus to your modules.

  1. How do I even fit in modules around this??

Not only do you have 10,000 words due in but also about forty other assignments all needing immediate attention. Like the dissertation, the best thing to do is to plan early, if like me you have two essays due in around the same time of your dissertation, allow yourself to start readings early. Make use of your tutors, tell them you’re in your final year, and the other deadlines you have on, see them in their office hours, so you get an idea of what they want from you for your assignments. These expectations will help you structure your work, reducing the editing and proof-reading stage… hopefully!

  1. What about exams!?

The words exams and revision might make you want to curl up in bed with a pillow thrown over your head to avoid thinking about them, especially when assignments are due in before then. However, keeping them in mind will enable you to start planning revision. If your course is more exam focus, plan how many lectures you need to make notes on and maybe agree to revise half of or one lecture a day.  As a result, letting you focus on revising the knowledge in Easter instead of learning the material!

Third year is a tough year, suddenly everything becomes busier, graduation seems too far away but also somehow imminent. The main advice is to mange your time effectively. Cordon off some time to start looking at careers or further study, as well as enjoying your, potentially, last year in Lancaster, giving yourself time to rest and recuperate!