Doing a research is one thing and managing a successful research project is another. While working with one online journal, you get the scope to share your project to the readers across the world, but everything has a deadline and things have to be managed accordingly. Say, your chances of getting funding for your research increases with your choice of open-access engagement, but you have to have a project plan to submit for the funding and you have to prepare it; you need the time and capacity for all that work.
Look at the 5 best practices that you can develop to manage your research project wisely:
- Do your Literature Review Before Hand– You have to study related researches in your field very wisely. Unless you do that, you cannot define your research question; neither will you be able to identify if your work is important at all. Do not neglect your review of literature; do it much before you start off with anything else. That will save you time when you start the research, survey, techniques and analyses.
- Take Notes– Whatever you are surveying or experimenting, constantly take notes, because you won’t remember the details of your practical experiences when you are writing your thesis. Document your work along the way such as how you prepared a plan, why you chose some methods and not others, what were your assumptions etc. need to be recorded, so that you can use them in your project plan and final research draft. This will help you to be definitive in your project plan which will have better consequences for your research in long run.
- Start Looking for Organizations to Approach– If your research needs funding, you have to look out for the organizations parallelly because, every organization will have their own plan submission guidelines which can affect your original project plan. Working with an online journal may ease your work of looking for publishers, but getting a sponsorship can still be tough. So, when you choose your subject or topic, start choosing the places whom you will approach, so that you can prepare your research proposal side by side.
- Prepare and Manage Your Calendar Wisely– First things should always come first. A long research work has multitudes of tasks to attend to, from microscopic things to prominent loads, so the basic thing that is required here is time management when you are looking at a research project management. You need to organize your day and put everything in a schedule. This should also mean that you prioritize your tasks and put them accordingly on your calendar. Include everything as big as writing your research and as small as your gym time or office going time. Give yourself some buffer for errors so that you don’t end up missing your doctor’s appointment or doing your experiment all together, in a day.
- Collaborate with Students and Juniors– If you are a teacher or professor and you have aspiring researchers studying under you, you can make a team and manage it. Distribute some sub-sections or miniscule tasks of your research, to these young talented students who can benefit from this work. They will gather experience by helping you with these tasks and you can shed some load off your shoulder too. Managing people is also an important part of your research project management if you want to work more and publish more with the availability of online journal Working in team and adding co-authors to your study may not be such a bad idea while the primary credit of the research remains with you.
Thus, working efficiently can be done by many ways. Academic work is tedious and time consuming. Managing yourself, your time and your thought process if extremely important for your project to be a success. The above tips can definitely help you to organize your work better.
