It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it

I've only just started back as a student (again) but I am already thinking ahead to the end... It feels like a long way away, five years from now. I'm doing a PhD, looking at the history and development of television cooking shows in Britain. I'm doing it part-time while I continue with my consultancy work too. It'll be a juggle, but with some planning I know I can manage.

This week though my mind has been set on the thesis that I will submit all those years ahead. Not so much what I will ay, or how I will say it, more about how I will reference the articles, archives and associated information I gather along the way. First time round at University I never gave it a second thought. Zoom forward 30 years, things are very different. 

When I did my Masters a couple of years ago, I kept a note of my references and added them all manually at the end of my work. I liked to check it over and make sure they were all there. It was a system that worked for me, during the three months of my dissertation. This time though I face having five years worth of notes. Do I trust myself to be THAT organised? 

During an induction meeting with the Librarian, she asked me which software I'd be using to collate my references? It hadn't been something I'd even considered, not something I even knew existed. When I was first at University we did all our searches on Microfiche and I scribbled things down on scraps of paper. Everything has changed.

So, I signed up for a training session to help me get my head round the software, the 'new' (to me) system and to help plan the background work to my research over the next five years. It's hard learning to do things differently. It's hard thinking about things in new ways. However I am hopeful that in five years time I will look back with relief that I did. If you need some help to think differently, or to plan strategically, maybe I can help...