Be realistic. If England are in the final of the World Cup and you’ve got an essay to write, there’s no point pretending that you’re going to be able to concentrate on your work. Forget about the essay, go and watch the football, and make sure you allow time to do the work another time.

Plan your time. If you know that there are things you want to be able to do during a week, but you also know that you’ve got an essay due in in a few days time – make sure you’ve allowed enough time for the essay first! Don’t leave the essay until the night before it’s due in and then realise that there’s something else happening you really want to be doing.

Give yourself targets. Split your work into stages and make sure that you complete them when you want. For example, decide that you’re going to have an essay plan completed within two weeks of being set the piece of work. Stick to this deadline and it will then become a lot easier to complete the rest of the essay, as you’ll have already made a good start.

Use incentives. Give yourself an incentive to get an essay written. I always found the best way to make myself write an essay was to tell myself that I was only allowed to go out to the pub that evening if I’d completed the essay. That was all the motivation I needed to get the coursework done! Furthermore, you’ll doubtless enjoy the beer all that much more when you sink into a comfy seat at the pub that evening and realise that you don’t even have to think about the essay anymore, as it’s already completed.

Allow background entertainment. Sitting in a darkened room hunched over a computer is not an easy atmosphere to work in. Find a radio station or CD you enjoy and put that on in the background. Television or a DVD will be distracting, but with music or radio there’s nothing to ‘look’ at so you won’t be distracted from your work. Often, many people find it is easier to concentrate on their work with some music gently playing in the background. It can certainly make writing an essay more tolerable. Just be careful not to have it too loud, as it will distract you from your train of thought – there’s nothing more frustrating than thinking of a good point to include in an essay and then forgetting it because some DJ starts shouting in the background.

So there you go – my top tips for identifying and avoiding distractions when writing an essay. By making an effort to avoid distractions and concentrate on your work, you can significantly decrease the amount of time it takes you to write a good essay, and you’ll probably find it a lot easier to write too.