A new semester has started, and you are staring down at a nice, shiny stack of syllabi. Each one has a schedule of assignments and projects in it, and now you are pretty much on your own. This is when the panic starts to set in. You do your best, but barely keep your head above water. Not a week goes by where you don't have a paper or project due, and by the time you are done with one, its onto the next.


All you want is a chance to breathe.

If this sounds like you, you may be taking the "cross that bridge when you come to it" approach to college. It may work for you, but it may not. What's worse, you may be one of those people who fall into a cycle of procrastination and panic. And that is never good, even if you manage to pull it off with an A+. It's not good for your health, or to your other priorities that you are robbing time from.

I've learned that the key to a less stressful success is planning ahead. Way ahead.

How do I do this? I create a timeline for each paper or project. I've adopted this process as a part of working with project management in a corporate atmosphere, and now I try to do this for every assignment (even if just mentally). Let me show you how:



First, look at the assignment and its requirements.
I'll show you an example with a paper I just completed, a Film Analysis project for my Children and Diversity class:

"Film Analysis Project: Students will view a film pertaining to racism, prejudice, or discrimination. Your choice can be a current film release or a classic. Prepare a three page paper which rates the theme of the film to course content. A receipt is required, no exceptions. Due September 3rd."

 Make sure you understand the paper, and ask any questions to clarify. But since you have receipt of the syllabus, the teacher is going to assume you read this prompt.



Look at the prompt to discover key parts.
What about this prompt can be seen as separate "parts"?

1. First, it's a film analysis project. You are going to analyze a film. What does that mean? If you have not done a project like this before, it means more than just reporting what you saw. Now you know what type of paper it will be. If you don't know how to write an analysis, you need time in your timeline to figure out how.
2. You have to view a film about racism, prejudice, or discrimination. This means you can search for a specific type of film, and know to leave other types out. The date of the film doesn't seem important here, since the teacher said it could be current or a classic. I will have to create time in the timeline to search for the film.
3. The paper must be at least 3 pages. This means you need to generate enough analysis of the film to fill three pages. Not two, not two and a half. Three whole pages (not including works cited, which you must use if you cite sources, and a film is a source!). So I have to build time into my timeline for writing and revising at least 3 pages, and to creating a works cited page.
4. Relate the theme of the film to the course content! A-ha! Here's your clue as to how to conduct your analysis. This is the big ticket to success in your paper. The course has to deal with Children and Diversity, so now I know that the paper has to relate to children in some way.
5. A receipt is required! So the teacher doesn't want us to refer to a movie we have seen in the past or that we currently own. This means I need to build time into the timeline to purchase the film and watch it.
6. Due September 3rd. We received this syllabus on August 20th. This tells me that I have 2 weeks to complete the project.