Research Project Calculator

Website: www2.infohio.org

From INFOhio, the Research Project Calculator is a free online tool that helps users plan, develop, and finalize written and multimedia projects. Users are not required to enter an email, name, or other information to generate a project time line, something which likely increases the appeal of this calculator as a planning tool.

Users choose a type of project from three options (essay or research paper, slide presentation, or video), add a start date and a due date, then the calculator provides a step-by-step time line of the tasks required to complete the project in the given time span. The steps are generalized (question, gather, conclude, communicate, and evaluate). Users answer a series of questions within each step to help direct their efforts, focus their tasks, and maintain their working pace. The steps include micro-deadlines to help users stay on task and move through the project. Users can choose to email or print the list of tasks and to receive email reminders for each step.

This calculator is well suited to projects for students and professionals, can be used to segment large projects by the types of work required for each element ( i.e., a corporate proposal is often one part written, two parts visual), and may help to reduce the stress that major research projects sometimes create.