We aim to dissect the benefit of smart goals and guide you on how to set realistic goals for your various daily commitments. After reading this article we hope to change your approach towards work and study to a positive one. 

Goal setting

All through my study life, many people have chanted the mantra of setting goals and insisted that they be smart. For me, planning to read three chapters a night was a great idea given the tasks at hand. 

Often, I would end up frustrated as I would have barely covered a topic leave alone recall any item I had studied. What is wrong with me? I need to do this! A daily woe that I would resolve after failing to meet any of my targets. 

In retrospect, the aim to cover huge tasks of work in short durations was counterintuitive. Besides failing to achieve my goal, I would often end up frustrated and blaming myself for failing to complete the ‘easiest’ of tasks.

In my college days, I encountered Robert Mergers SMART approach to lesson objectives. At this moment, it dawned on me that my ignorance had me approaching goals wrong. 

SMART goals training

 Smart goals are a way of gauging your productivity and chunking tasks to ensure proper time management. SMART can be broken into five-step criteria for gauging goals namely: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. 

Specific goals

A specific goal is clear and well-defined. This criterion dictates that your goal answers the who, where, what, why, and when your goal should be reached. As such, your goal should encapsulate the essentials that could be used to gauge its achievement.  

Contrary to the goal of ‘studying hard to ace my paper’, ‘studying calculus for each hour every night to rehash concepts learned in class and improve my score’ offers a better definition of your role and how you intend to achieve the goal.

Measurable goals

Smart realistic goals should provide a criterion for gauging their achievement. For instance, our calculus study goal allows us to gauge its achievement as we can check whether or not we have skipped a session that should be focused to study the subject. 

Attainable goals

Do you have all the resources to meet your goal? This goal-setting criterion is a chance to check your requirements and acquire the necessary materials for seeing your goal to its completion. For instance, planning to complete your research in a week is time-bound but defies the logic of research paper writing. 

 When setting your goal, check with others who have managed to achieve the feat you intend to achieve and ensure that you have all they needed at your disposal.

Realistic goals

The above section gives you a glimpse of an unrealistic goal. Smart realistic goals should be able to manage within the available time and with the resources at your disposal. 

As such, ensure that you are available and have access to all resources essential for the completion of your goal. For instance, planning to cover a chapter in differential calculus over one-night sounds more realistic than a dreamy aspiration of tackling the entire unit over a night. 

Time-bound

Smart goals time management dictates that you outline a start and end date for your goal. If you allow your goal an infinite amount of time, you are bound to push it off for a later date. 

Conversely, having a deadline will ensure that you strive to complete your goal before the set duration elapses. This criterion also allows you to hold yourself accountable and duly reward yourself if you have managed to meet your goal. 

Why smart goals are important

Setting realistic goals is crucial for proper time management and progress assessment. Smart goals allow you to:

• Gauge your achievements
• Measure your progress
• Identify the items you need for a project 
• Guide your efforts in the right trajectory

Smart goals are thus essential in helping cover all bases before you set out to handle a task. They help you coalesce resources and avoid futile attempts that are unrealistic within your capacity.

With a couple of formats to follow, one could easily get confused about the rules to follow when writing their paper. 

This article will highlight the APA dissertation format to help you go about your paper quickly. We will also discuss the rules for APA referencing and offer some incite on how to cite various resources using the APA format for the thesis. 

APA format dissertation

The APA format is perhaps the most popular among other referencing styles. This format is often used in the social sciences field and is the most common for high school and college papers. 

The basics for a thesis APA format include:

• Format all the pages to 8.5” by 11”
• Insert a 1” margin on all sides and indent each paragraph by 0.5”
• Apply double-spacing at the end of each sentence
• Insert the page number flush right and the running head flush left
• Use the times new roman font 12
• Each section, i.e., the abstract, the body, and references should start on a new page

Preliminary pages

The title page and copyright pages should not be counted in the total tally of the page count. Your page numbers should thus start from the abstract page and run to the last page of your appendices. 

Headings

All headings and subheadings in the APA format for the doctoral dissertation should be edited in a manner that avoids confusion for your reader. The headings should be edited as:

Heading 1: Boldface, Titlecase, Centered 

Heading 2: Boldface, Titlecase, Flush Left 

Heading 3: Indented, bold, lowercase, with a period in the end.

Heading 4: Indented, bold, italicized, lowercase, with a period in the end. 

Heading 5: Indented, italicized, lowercase, with a period in the end. 

Table and figures

All the tables and figures in the APA format should have italicized captions with a single space and all the major words capitalized. The page number, table number, and table/ figure title should be properly recorded in the list of tables/ figures. 

This helps you to avoid confusion when referring to a specific item and helps a reader to scroll to the section of the paper they are interested in the most. 

Quotes

Any quote exceeding forty words should follow the block format with a 0.5” indent. If your quote has a second paragraph, apply a 1” indent to the second paragraph. It is crucial to note that each quote in your paper should end with a full stop.

References

References in the thesis format APA should be double spaced. A hanging indent should also be applied to the references, allowing for neatness and easy reading of the items in the References section. 

As is custom with APA, you should include the in-text citations and cover the full bibliography in the references. The in-text citations comprise the author’s last name, first name initial, and the publication year. This could appear as (Jake, K. 2008)

If the paper/ book was co-authored, you should include the last name of all authors involved and the publication year: (Jake, K. & Mary, B. 2008). 

How do you cite a dissertation in APA format?

If you are looking to investigate an idea that has been touched on in a previous study, the dissertation makes a great source for your study. However, citing a dissertation is slightly different from citing a book as most papers remain unpublished. 

Like other sources, the in-text citation for a dissertation comprises the author’s last name, initials of their first and middle name, and the year of writing. The only slight difference comes from writing the references. 

A reference for a thesis comprises:

Authors last name, initial of first name, initial of middle name. (year of publication). Title of the thesis and description. University, location. 

i.e.,  Jake, K.M. (2008). Technology in Education: Assessing the impact of infusing technology into teaching-learning on a learners performance (unpublished master’s thesis). Earlinghall university, Nightingale. 

If the paper has been published, your reference should appear as:

Jake, K.M. (2008) Technology in Education: Assessing the impact of infusing technology into teaching-learning on a learners performance (master’s thesis). Earlinghall university, Nightingale. 

Final take

Applying the APA format for PhD thesis is not rocket science. We hope that this essay has helped you overcome various challenges and format your essay easily. Feel free to consult us for custom guidance on your thesis https://us.dissertationteam.com/online-help-with-thesis.

However, a dissertation contains multiple chapters making it hard to narrow down to a key argument. This article will guide you in writing your dissertation conclusion, helping you overcome the rut many students usually find themselves stuck in. 

How to conclude a dissertation

Writing a conclusion for a dissertation requires that you be well versed with your key arguments. As such, you may consult your outline to determine the findings of your research and the key answers to your research objectives.

Also, your conclusion should highlight your contribution to the topic and your key recommendations. To do this, you require to be concise in your wording as the ideas are expounded upon within the body. The key things to bear in mind when writing a thesis conclusion include:

1. Answer your research questions

The first chapter of your thesis usually identifies a problem and highlights the key objectives of your paper. For the sake of the reader scanning through your work, the conclusion ought to show how the paper has addressed these objectives.

Here, condense your key findings and formulate a concise takeaway for your reader. If your paper was addressing multiple objectives, limit this section to the key research objectives. 

2. Reflect on your research

The conclusion also serves as a gap to justify the relevance of your approach to investigating your research problem. Here, consider the strengths of your approach and acknowledge the limitations of the approach. 

3. Reiterate your key recommendations

Your conclusion chapter should also highlight the implications of your study and the changes you recommend based on your findings. Like the former, avoid dwelling on the nitty gritty portions of your recommendations and instead highlight the suggestions for future research. 

Be keen not to discredit your work in this section and instead indicate how further research can clarify or explore an idea within your paper more. Avoid a scenario where further research is essential to complete your paper. 

4. Share the impact of your work within your field of study

How has your paper impacted the field of study? Your conclusion should show the gap that your work has covered and the various counterarguments you have managed to disprove. 

Dissertation conclusion example

Here, we have highlighted some concluding sentences to give you a gist of what you could write in your thesis conclusion:

By analyzing various teaching-learning approaches in a classroom setting, this thesis has shown the impact of technology integration in teaching-learning. Although the limited duration of experimentation limits a generalization, this paper proves that incorporating various cues during learning has a positive impact on a learner’s capacity to store and recall learned concepts. Based on these findings, institutions should consider adding various audio-visual elements in class to allow a teacher to incorporate the visual aids where relevant. This study has also established that success in academia does not rely on mindlessly sitting for revision papers or cramming, but rather on the mode in which the information is received and stored. 

It is key that you avoid introducing new arguments in this section as this could leave a reader feeling that your paper is incomplete. 

How long should a conclusion be?

A conclusion sentence should range between 5 to 7 percent of your paper’s total word count. Due to this, the section should comprise precise sentences without diving deep into the content that has been tackled in the body section. 

Final take

Writing down your concluding sentences should not be more stressful than researching and writing other chapters. We hope that this guide has pointed you in the right direction to completing your dissertation. Feel free to engage our team for guidance and custom assignment help.

With a couple of wants and needs flooding your mind, you might overlook some grad school essentials and encounter challenges in some areas. Here we will cover the things to buy for grad school to ensure a smooth experience. 

What do I need for grad school?

Ranging from a scheduling app to a laptop, there are many wants and needs you may have to sift through as you select your grad school supplies. While a new watch and Nike shoes would amp your style, a laptop and a spacious cloud storage subscription are more beneficial for your study.

Here are some grad school must-haves to include in your shopping list:

1. Laptop

A laptop ranks among the vital things you need for grad school. Having one will save you from various inconveniences including the attendance of online classes and the completion of web-based assignments. 

Additionally, laptops allow you to enjoy the soft copy materials from the library, making it easier to gather revision materials. Unlike school computers, a laptop allows you the convenience to attend your classes and do your assignments from your preferred location. 

2. Cloud storage subscription

Unlike a flash drive or a hard disk which are susceptible to theft, cloud storage ensures the safety of your documents for as long as you need them. Even better, these spaces can be accessed by multiple devices, allowing for collaboration and quick access to needed documents. 

3. Backpack

Unless you wish to use your books as a dumbbell replacement, you do not wish to carry all your essentials by hand to each lecture. With a laptop, books, and your water bottle to carry, a good backpack ranks top among your grad school necessities.

When shopping for a bag, go for a durable, easy-to-wash, option with compartments that can match your belongings. Pay attention to the straps to ensure that they can be carried around for a long without hurting your shoulders. 

4. Noise-blocking headphones

Finding a silent area to study in grad school can prove a daunting task. However, this does not imply that you become a library habitue or argue with your roommate to maintain silence in the middle of the day so that you master a very important concept. 

Noise-canceling headphones can help minimize distractions in your environment and focus your attention on studying. With these, you can make a noisy room a haven for study without having to reprimand your chatty roommate. 

5. A school planner

Many students often adopt the ‘I’ll remember it all’ mentality when it comes to classes and assignments. Few weeks into campus and it dawns on them that the mind has its limitations. Often, this rude realization comes after you attend class to discover that your assignment was due on that lesson. 

A planner ought to come in handy to avoid such frustrations. Planners allow you to key in your classes, assignments, and other commitments, keeping you to per with all deadlines. 

6. A coffee mug

Taking a cup of joe from your room is often not a luxury you may afford when rushing to morning classes. A coffee mug is a sneaky way to enjoy your dose of caffeine without getting late for your morning sessions.

Final take

The joy of joining grad school may trigger a spending spree of frivolous items, leaving out the grad school essentials. This list should help get your priorities straight as you plan your transition to grad school.