3. How I Organise University Life

The final instalment of my 'How to' series is how I organise my University work and notes, keep track of deadlines and homework, prep work before the year starts for a helpful head start to the heavy workload, intermixing creativity with academia to stimulate both of my passions, the separation of folders/notebooks for different modules, etc. I must preface this post with the fact that I'm in my third year of university and my course is a joint honour entitled, Creative Writing and English Literature, as such it is devised into four modules, two for each course. So I will be discussing how I divide my work accordingly.

My favourite thing to do before the new Uni year starts is to buy my stationery (yes, I am one of those). I always start off with four new folders for my four modules. I write up notes after a class for the two Literature courses which are separated into packs (by the novel, for my novel based course) or by coloured dividers and plastic wallets (by play, for my theatre/drama based course) and both go in the bigger folders respectively, one for each literature module. For my creative modules, I have two smaller folders for any class handouts as all of my notes are in the two notebooks for their respective class (the blue for novel writing, the pink for my project class)

My Literature modules revolve around lecture and seminar classes, whereas my Creative modules revolve around workshops. Lectures are where you'll get the bulk of your information such as dates, figures, history, themes of the text etc, so for this I use One Note on my laptop to get down everything the lecturer is saying as to not miss anything. At my University, they upload the lecture slides after a lecture is over, so once at home, I'll sync up and copy all of my electronic notes, along with the lecture slides, nicely into written notes on standard lined paper. A seminar is more so a group discussion of the text, exercises in close reading and practice writing for exams. Any extra information I get in the seminar is also typed up on my laptop and copied along with the lecture notes at a later date. This means I get every drop of information possible while having neat notes and a perfectly organised folder.

As I've mentioned above, one thing I've found useful is not to spend time copying down the information on the slides (as Universities normally have a portal to upload the slides onto for later referral like mine does). To keep track of syncing the notes up, I write the first word of the slide or quote, and then bullet point underneath what the lecturer says about that point.

Workshops are completely different. Workshops are the result of bringing in work to show others, getting feedback as a group, doing creative exercises to get the juice flowing, some information groundwork such as structure, genres, how-to, mistakes to avoid etc, but for the most part, it's easy to follow the class and write at a natural pace, keeping everything neat, tidy and organised in my notebook. So for the two creative modules, I can write in my notebook during class and not worry about copying things up afterwards unless for a specific homework task. The notebook is much more helpful in those because of the creative aspect, and I find I'm more creative with pen in hand.

Prep work for Uni is something I started on a whim this year and thank my past self every day for doing so. During the summer, I had a lot of time to work on my writing portfolio but as third-year crept along I had a sudden surge of panic, possibly due to realising it's my final year and it counts as 75% of my degree. The past two years I hadn't felt an urge to get a head start because my whole academic life I've been above average and catch up quickly. But this year I wanted to put in more time and effort (which for me is 150% of the 110% I always make) to do work beforehand. I wanted to create an 'information page' for all texts I'm doing, with all relevant info that could fit on an A4 sheet, and to make it as fun for me as possible with font designs, bubble designs and colours. For plays, I got the necessary dates, theatres, performances, characters, themes, historical context, all things I knew were going to be necessary. Similarly with novels, focusing on in-depth research on detective fiction origins as that's what we're studying this year, as well as summaries etc. Thank God I was given my reading list early in the summer because that, and my research, was a godsend this year. I've been aware of things not yet discussed in class, and feel more grounded in knowledge than ever before. Just this week we had a Drama essay due and I fear without my prep work, my essay would've been less satisfactory than I would've liked, but I feel more confident with my writing this year. It's something I'd definitely recommend.

For both Literature folders and my two Creative notebooks, I wanted to create a title page to extend some of my creativity. Using washi tape as borders and then different fonts I had seen online, I created my own introductions to each module. This was done as a keepsake to remember my final year of university and the final modules I studied, as well as to have some fun doodling before the year began.

You'll also see in my collage of pictures above, a bulletin board. This has helped me so much in all three of my University years. The left side is to hang notices, important information and deadlines for other projects. The right side I created a four-set grid with each module title and this is where I write all of my homework or things to do by the following week for each class. I can't tell you how much more I look at this, pay attention and remember things than when I'd write it in a book or on my laptop. I'd highly suggest investing in one of these combo boards (I say investing, mine was £3).

The last thing to mention when it comes to organisation is the A3 blue and pink sheet I created that you can see above. This sheet was made in addition to the ones you may have seen in the first post of this series, 'Visualising your projects'. On the right-hand side I've got smaller squares which are stuck on with washi tape for a colourful effect, and are all of the texts I am to read in Year 3. In the middle at the top is my class timetable for the year, and the bottom is a box to list all relevant material that has helped with my final creative project for the bibliography next year. On the left are the 12 coursework pieces I am to write and complete this year, three for each module. I used these pre-cut post-it notes in Year 2 and had them on my bulletin board to tear down once completed. However, because I want to have keepsakes and memories from my final University year, I wanted to have them all in one space, on one sheet, where I could be creative in its design and just tick off as they're completed.

So, with all this being said, I think I have explored all that I do to keep myself organised in University, as well as tips for those who may be considering, or currently in, a similar degree to mine. My two years at University I have learned so much and grown so much as an artist, academic and individual. It's sad that I only have one year of learning left, and only one year left of the best course and the best university I could've chosen. Every coursework and exam has been a first or 2:1 (which I'm hoping and working on happening this year too) and part of that is due to my incredibly tight handle on organisation, integrating creativity with academia as a memory and productivity tactic, and how I section off each module.

Good Luck on your own path in organisation, or embarking on/finishing your university experience.