MMUF Winter Retreat 

This handout was developed for a presentation on scheduling and time management delivered at the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Winter Retreat in January 2026. The session was designed for undergraduate fellows who are new to the research process and were invited to ask questions and engage in open discussion about navigating long-term academic projects.

The material covers a nine-month thesis timeline organized into four distinct phases, alongside three practical writing exercises — the Zero Draft, Parking on the Downhill Slope, and Tactical Wins — adapted from Joan Bolker's Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. The session also drew on questions from fellows about the research process more broadly, including discussions about background, experience, and what it looks like in practice to move a project from proposal to production.

The handout is archived here as a resource for anyone working through similar challenges.