A lecturer logs his working hours for two mid-semester weeks. The result: 22 hours a week on teaching (classes, preparation, marking, student emails), 9 on meetings and administration, and 4 on research, most of it late in the evening in thirty-minute scraps. His contract says research should be about 40 per cent of his workload. He isn't lazy, and he isn't unusual.
Teaching comes with structure imposed from outside: timetables, marking deadlines, students knocking on the door. Research has almost none. So unless you build a structure to protect it, research will always lose. This is not a question of willpower. It is a question of design.
Step 1: measure before you fix
Record your actual time for two typical weeks, grouped into classes, preparation, marking, email and office hours, meetings, administration, research (reading, analysis, writing) and doctoral supervision. Don't reconstruct it from memory on Friday; log it during the day. Most people are surprised twice: email takes more time than they thought, and real writing time is less.
Step 2: fixed writing blocks
Research needs long, uninterrupted stretches. One focused block of 90 to 120 minutes produces more than four scattered half-hours, because every return to a draft costs ten to fifteen minutes just to get back into it.
- Choose two or three blocks a week at the same times, and put them in your calendar like classes.
- Use mornings if that's when you're sharpest; leave email and admin for the afternoon.
- Close email, put your phone out of reach, and work somewhere you're hard to find.
- When a colleague proposes a meeting in that slot, “I'm already booked then” is enough.
Modest but regular targets beat ambitious but erratic ones. Three hundred words per block, three blocks a week, adds up to about 40,000 words a year: enough for several papers.
Step 3: batch and bound your teaching tasks
| Task | Time-consuming habit | Leaner approach |
|---|---|---|
| Marking | Marking piecemeal with long bespoke comments on every script | Batch marking with a rubric and a comment bank, plus whole-class feedback on common errors |
| Student email | Replying as messages arrive | Two fixed slots a day; recurring questions go into a shared FAQ |
| Preparation | Rebuilding slides every year | Targeted revision of about 20 per cent a year based on feedback |
| Office hours | Open at all times | Fixed slots with advance sign-up |
A marking technique that works: skim five scripts first to spot recurring problems, draft a standard comment for each, then mark the whole batch. Feedback stays personal where it matters, but you're not writing the same paragraph sixty times.
Step 4: say no selectively
Service, including committees, events, peer review and admissions, is a legitimate part of the job. The trouble is that it has no ceiling. A useful rule: before accepting something new, ask, “Does this match my priorities this year, and what will I drop to make time for it?” If you can't answer the second question, the default answer should be “no” or “not now”.
A courteous refusal thanks the person, gives a brief reason and, where possible, suggests someone else suitable. There is no need for a long apology.
Step 5: connect teaching and research
The two don't have to compete. Some ways to make them feed each other:
- Use datasets from your research in student exercises, after checking ethics and anonymisation.
- Offer dissertation topics that sit within your research programme.
- Use an advanced seminar to test how you explain an idea before writing it up.
- Research your own teaching, the scholarship of teaching and learning, if your field and institution recognise it.
Common productivity traps
- Inbox zero as a precondition. Clearing all email before you “start work” means never starting. Email belongs in the afternoon slot.
- Over-preparing a new course. A first-year course needs a solid structure and good activities, not perfect slides. Next year you'll revise based on real feedback.
- Waiting for enough time to write. Three free days in a row rarely appear mid-semester; drafts advance through small regular blocks.
- Meetings without agendas. If invited to a meeting with no stated purpose or outcome, ask first; many meetings could be an email.
- Perfectionism in first drafts. First drafts exist to be revised. An ugly finished draft beats half a polished page.
Working with the rhythm of the year
Not every week can be balanced. Many academics accept that heavy teaching terms are for research “maintenance”, such as reading, small analyses and revising drafts, while non-teaching weeks and vacations are for deep work like new manuscripts and grant proposals. Plan the year around that rhythm instead of expecting every week to look the same.
Try this: a mid-semester weekly template
| Day | Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Two-hour writing block | Teaching; email slot 1 |
| Tuesday | Prepare the week's classes | Teaching; office hours |
| Wednesday | Two-hour writing block | Meetings; PhD supervision |
| Thursday | Teaching | Batch marking |
| Friday | Writing or data analysis | Administration; plan next week |
You don't have to follow this template. What matters is that research blocks are in the calendar before the week begins. Open your calendar for the next four weeks now, place three research blocks per week at your sharpest hours, and treat them like classes. At the end of the month, count how many survived, and adjust from that real number.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How do lecturers find time for research with a heavy teaching load?
Schedule fixed research blocks of 90 to 120 minutes each week, batch marking and email into set slots, and use non-teaching weeks for deep work such as writing new manuscripts.
How can I mark faster without losing quality?
Use a rubric, skim a few scripts to spot recurring issues, prepare a comment bank, then mark in batches. Whole-class feedback on common mistakes reduces repetitive writing.
How do I say no to extra academic service politely?
Thank the person, give a short reason tied to your priorities, and suggest someone else if you can. Before accepting anything new, decide what you would drop to make time.
Can teaching and research support each other?
Yes, for example by using research data in exercises, offering dissertation topics within your research area, or testing ideas in advanced seminars before writing them up.
How much should an academic write each day?
Consistency matters more than volume. Around 300 words per block, a few blocks a week, builds a substantial body of writing over a year.
