Purpose: This guide is to help you plan your time in completing assignments that will take more than seven days. Please scroll down for the directions.

Preparation: Begin by filling in the due date and type of project on the top of the form. Next, ask yourself questions such as: What should this project accomplish? What kinds of research do I need to do? Where are the sources of data located? Do I need to talk with the professor before or during the project? Do I need to gather statistical data? Do I need to devise a survey, questionnaire, etc.?

1. Outline of Steps: Since you have an idea of what is involved, now break the project into smaller parts. Record the steps involved in doing the project (e.g., researching and writing the paper). Include office hours with the professor or time with the tutor. Consider researching sources, developing concepts, devising an outline, writing the first draft, asking for feedback, including improvements on the second draft, editing it using computer tools, and producing the final product.

2. Ideal Date of Completion: Give yourself a deadline or an ideal due date to complete each step of the assignment. This involves an estimate of how long the steps will take. (The formula for estimating reading time from the "Time Traveler's Guide" may be useful.) Be sure to include a "fudge factor" to plan for unexpected situations.

3. Order to be Done: Decide the order in which you will begin each section based upon your estimate of how long each part will take and your projected deadline. Plan enough time to finish each part thoroughly. This usually follows in logical, sequential order, but there may be items such as developing an annotated bibliography that extend over a longer period and need to be started early.

4. Actions Taken & Notes: Make notes about each part of the project as you do it in the "Actions Taken & Notes" column. You can refine and specify steps to take in the future in this column. As you begin working, some factors (such as instructor feedback) may arise that result in you adding or changing steps to take; thus, it is best to use a pencil or erasable pen while planning.

5. Actual Date Completed: Record the actual date each step was completed. This may be useful information for you while planning future estimates of time. Acknowledge the effort you put into the project.

Note: Consult your "Project Planning Guide" while developing the formal outline for the term paper or project. The "Outline of Steps" and "Actions Taken & Notes" may provide significant main ideas and details around which to organize the paper.

Scharf-Hunt, Diana, and Pam Hait. Studying Smart. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990.