• 2-minute read
• 26th October 2015

4 Top Tips for Reading Week

Many humanities subjects have a reading week halfway through the first semester of the academic year. How do you plan to spend yours?

Sleeping? Catching up with re-runs of Countdown? It’s tempting, of course, but consider the following tips for making the most of your reading week before you get into your jammies.

1. Read!

The most obvious thing to do in your reading week is to read! I’m sure that by now there must be several recommended essays and books that you haven’t got round to reading.

However, don’t just read and forget: Take some well-organised notes to help you process what you have read.

2. Organise Your Time

Reading week is a great time to take stock. Now you have a better idea of your weekly schedule and time commitments outside of university, why not make a study timetable?

OK, you might not stick to it, but this can give you something to aim towards for the next semester.

3. Plan Ahead

By now, you should have hand-in dates for all of your upcoming essays. It’s really helpful to make a chart containing all of these deadlines to stick on your wall.

This will help you schedule for the weeks ahead. Consider making something like this:

Week 7

Preliminary research for essay 1

Write up results for essay 2

Week 8

Write literature review for essay 1

Write analysis for essay 2

Week 9

Start planning dissertation proposal

Write conclusion of essay 2

Write analysis for essay 1

And so on…

4. Tidy Up!

By halfway through the semester, your room may well be a mess and any plans you had to file your notes neatly may have been abandoned. Reading week is a good time to remedy this.

Why not get some new stationery and do some organising? It’s amazing how looking through old lecture notes can consolidate the information. You might even find inspiration for your final dissertation!