Note Taking Masterpost:

Got an Essay to Write?

Here’s how to use up space when you are just absolutely done with life

-make all periods a font size or two up from the one you’ve been directed to use

-put two spaces after every period

-WATCH YO COMMAS you’re prob missing fifty of them

-2.15 space it

-MLA format the header

-use “such as” instead of “like”

-use “therefore” or “as a result of” instead of “so”

-add a space after every indent

-make the margins on your paper a TINY bit bigger

-get rid of all contractions

-see that word that’s so close to being on the next line? put it on the next line

*keep in mind that one or two of these may conflict with the essay’s instructions

*don’t forget to take a break and breathe some non-recycled air and close your eyes and love yoself <3

this has gotten me through several papers so i hope this helps. reblog this please, save a grade and some sanity

Note taking masterpost:

An anon requested this today. I though I had already made one, but apparently not.

General note taking and guides:

Combining lecture and reading notes

Resources about making chapter outlines

Recognising key points in a lecture / reading (for efficient note taking)

10 tips for good note taking in lectures

Guide to note taking (the major approaches and techniques)

What to do after you take your notes

Organising a notebook

Taking notes that work (By Dustin Wax)

Top note taking tips

An example of me using cornell notes

Visual / Pretty Notes:

Visual guide to illustrating notes

How to make your notes prettier!

Pros and cons of pretty notes

Guide to colour coding

Guide to my graphic notes

How to make notes cute and neat

Inspiration: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 /

Electronic Note taking:

Guide to taking typed notes

Handwriting versus typing your notes

Organising your typed notes

Note taking apps

Some Good Study Playlists

Here are some study playlists I think are really motivating and keep you working. I personally love listening to study playlists while studying this keeps me really motivating and i don´t even see the time pass by. Hope i could help you (:

-Eat.Sleep.Study.Repeat

-Studdy Buddy

-Survival kit to finals

-Study Mix I

-Concentration 

-Concentration part 2

-Concentration part 3

-Study with Accompaniment    II.    III.

-Instrumental Mega Mix

and 

-Rainy Mood

Back To School: Stationery

PENCIL CASES:

Pencil cases by Paperchase

Lani Ang three layer pencil case

Large pastel colour pencil case

IPOW canvas pencil case 

IPOW floral canvas pencil case

Emma Bridgewater pencil case

PLANNERS:

WHSmith black A6 diary - Week-to-view

WHSmith black A6 diary - Page-to-view

‘This Week’ planner by Knock Knock

‘5 Days A Week’ desk jotter by Knock Knock

Planners and organisers by Paperchase

NOTEBOOKS:

Oxford Campus notebooks

10 subject notebook by Paperchase

Decomposition notebooks

Pukka Pad notebooks

Muji notebooks (B5)

Muji notebooks (A5)

PENS:

Pilot V5 Hi-tecpoint 0.5 pen (black)

Uni-ball eye fine tip roller-ball pen (black)

Bic medium ballpoint pen (black)

Muji 0.5 gel ink pens

Muji 0.38 gel ink pens

PENCILS:

Muji box of 12 colouring pencils

Staedtler colouring pencils (24 pack)

Staedtler HB pencils (5 pack)

PaperMate mechanical pencil (12 pack)

Paperchase dual ended colouring pencils (12 pack)

Paperchase graphic pencils (10 pack)

FINELINERS AND FELT-TIPS:

Stabilo fineliners (20 pack)

Stabilo felt-tips (20 pack)

Staedtler triplus fineliners (20 pack)

Staedtler triplus felt-tips (20 pack)

Paperchase fineliners (12 pack)

HIGHLIGHTERS:

Stabilo boss highlighters (8 pack)

Stabilo boss highlighters (4 pack)

Staedtler highlighter (8 pack)

Sharpie highlighter (4 pack)

Paperchase cat highlighters (5 pack)

Paperchase panda highlighters (5 pack) 

MISCELLANEOUS:

Paperchase tube map memo block

Paperchase sticky note box

Dot and stripe washi tape

Allydrew washi tape

Tipex correction fluid

Post-it notes 3″x 3″ (5 pack)

Index cards (white) 3″x 5″

Back to School: Your Help Guide to Waking up Early

1. Set your alarm for waking up early, a week or more before school starts. This will help you get into the habit of waking up earlier and you will ease yourself into it so that by the first day back you can wake up feeling refreshed instead of grumpy 

2. Keep your phone away from you when you sleep… on the other side of the room if possible or maybe inside the drawer of your bedside table. This forces you to actually wake up and be attentive in order to turn off that alarm instead of just being able to roll over and tapping snooze. 

3. Get out of your bed and open the curtains or blinds to let sunlight in, it will energize you and again force you to wake up. Plus, who doesn’t like watching the warm rays of the rising sun, if you are a nature lover or you just enjoy watching the sunrise this will even help you start your day on a positive and productive note.

4. Try to set yourself a regimen, I know this is hard because of all the homework and assignments and jobs  or extracurriculars that accumulate over the school year but if you put in the effort to set yourself a regular sleep time each night you will definitely see the results. 

5. Plan the night before. If there’s anything that you can get done fairly quickly at night so that you have more time to do things in the morning instead of rushing yourself because you’re rampaging through the house trying to find the pair of jeans that you thought was in your closet. The benefit of this is that your subconcious and concious mind will both feel at ease knowing that you are more relaxed about the day to come and it will allow for a better sleep which in turn will help you wake up on time.

Do you guys have any tips for waking up earlier in the morning for school? Reply to this post! 

xo 

{28/03/15} - It’s embarrassing how much making these excites me… trying to make a subject I find boring a little more amusing and I think it’s working?

some notes from last exam

Ig: cllalagram

my masterlist of 'how to life’ tips

Cleaning & Tidying

Make your bed in the morning. It takes seconds, and it’s worth it.

Reset to zero each morning. 

Use the UFYH 20/10 system for clearing your shit. 

Get a reed diffuser and stick it on your windowsill. 

Have a ‘drop-zone’ box where you dump anything and everything. At the beginning/end of the day, clear it out and put that shit away.

Roll your clothes, don’t fold them - or fold them vertically.

Automate your chores. Have a cleaning schedule and assign 15mins daily to do whatever cleaning tasks are set for that day. Set a timer and do it - once the timer is up, finish the task you’re on and leave it for the day. 

Fold your clothes straight out of the tumble dryer (if you use one), whilst they’re still warm. This minimises creases and eliminates the need for ironing. 

Clean your footwear regularly and you’ll feel like a champ. 

Organisation & Productivity

Learn from Eisenhower’s Importance/Urgency matrix. 

Try out the two-minute rule and the Pomodoro technique.

Use. A. Planner. (Or Google Calendar, if that’s more your thing.)

Try bullet journalling.

Keep a notebook/journal/commonplace book to dump your brain contents in on the regular. 

Set morning alarms at two-minute intervals rather than five, and stick your alarm on the other side of the room. It’s brutal, but it works. 

Set three main goals each day, with one of them being your #1 priority. Don’t overload your to-do list or you’ll hit overload paralysis and procrastinate. 

If you’re in a slump, however, don’t be afraid to put things like “shower” on your to do list - that may be a big enough goal in itself, and that’s okay. 

Have a physical inbox - a tray, a folder, whatever. If you get a piece of paper, stick it in there and sort through it at the end of the week.

Consider utilising the GTD System, or a variation of it.

Try timeboxing. 

Have a morning routine, and guard that quiet time ferociously. 

Save interesting-looking shit to instapaper. Have a set time where you read through the stuff you saved to instapaper and save the shit that you like from instapaper to evernote (or bookmark it properly). 

During your working hours, put on your footwear, even if you’re sat on your bed. (Why?)

Have a folder for all your important documents and letters, organised by topic (e.g. medical, bank, university, work, identification). At the front of this folder, have a sheet of paper with all the key information written on it, such as your GP’s details, your passport details, driving licence details, bank account number, insurance number(s), and so on. 

Try using StayFocusd and RescueTime (or similar apps/extensions). (I promise, you’ll find that you’re not as busy as you think you are.)

Schedule working time and down time alike, in the balance that works for you. 

Money

Have. A. God. Damn. Budget. 

Use a money tracker like toshl, mint, or splitwise. Enter all expenses asap! (You will forget, otherwise.)

Have a ‘money date’ each week, where you sort through your finances from the past seven days and then add it to a spreadsheet. This will help you identify your spending patterns and whether your budget is actually working or not. 

Pack your own frickin’ lunch like a grown-up and stop buying so many takeaway coffees. Keep snacks in your bag. 

Go to your bank and take out £100 in £1 coins (or w/e your currency is). That shit will come in useful for all kinds of things and you’ll never be short on change for the bus or the laundry. 

Food & Cooking

Know how to cook the basics: a starch, a protein, a vegetable, and a sauce.

Simple, one-pot meals (“a grain, a green, and a bean”) are a godsend. 

Dried porcini mushrooms make a fantastic stock to cook with. 

Batch cook and freeze. Make your own ‘microwave meals’. 

Buy dried goods to save money - rice and beans are a pittance. (Remember to soak dried beans first, though!) 

Consider Meatless Mondays; it’s healthier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly.

Learn which fruits and vegetables are cheapest at your store, and build a standard weekly menu around those. (Also remember that frozen vegetables are cheap and healthy.) 

Learn seasoning combinations. Different seasoning, even with the exact same ingredients, can make a dish seem completely new. 

Don’t buy shit for a one-off recipe, especially if you won’t use it all. If you really want to try out a recipe, see if a friend would be interested in making it with you, then pool for the expenses. 

Make your own goddamned pasta sauce. Jamie Oliver has a decent recipe here, but the beauty of tomato sauce is that you can totally wing it and adapt the fuck out of it. 

Misc

Have a stock email-writing format. 

Want to start running, but find it boring? Try Zombies, Run!. 

Keep a goddamn first aid kit and learn how to use it. 

Know your OTC pain relief. 

Update your CV regularly. 

Keep a selection of stamps and standard envelopes for unexpected posting needs. (It happens more regularly than you would think!) 

Some final words of advice:

Organisation is not a goal in itself, it is a tool. Don’t get caught up in the illusion of productivity and get distracted from the actual task at hand. 

Routines and habits will help you. Trust in them.

You have the potential to be an organised and productive person, just as much as anybody else. It just takes practice. 

OKAY GUYS LISTEN UP so there’s this website called slader.com and it has EVERY FUCKING ANSWER TO EVERY TEXTBOOK EVER. It has answers AND shows you ALL the work so you can understand it (or be a slacker). This website has literately saved my calculus grade. It even has free tutors if you need the extra help. Guys, it’s free to register and it will save your life

Note Taking Systems

The Cornell Method

The Cornell method provides a systematic format for condensing and organizing notes without laborious recopying. After writing the notes in the main space, use the left-hand space to label each idea and detail with a key word or “cue.”

Method

Rule your paper with a 2 ½ inch margin on the left leaving a six-inch area on the right in which to make notes. During class, take down information in the six-inch area. When the instructor moves to a new point, skip a few lines. After class, complete phrases and sentences as much as possible. For every significant bit of information, write a cue in the left margin. To review, cover your notes with a card, leaving the cues exposed. Say the cue out loud, then say as much as you can of the material underneath the card. When you have said as much as you can, move the card and see if what you said matches what is written. If you can say it, you know it.

Advantages

Organized and systematic for recording and reviewing notes. Easy format for pulling out major concept and ideas. Simple and efficient. Saves time and effort. “Do-it-right-in-the-first-place” system.

Disadvantages

None

When to Use

In any lecture situation.

The Outlining Method

Dash or indented outlining is usually best except for some science classes such as physics or math.

The information which is most general begins at the left with each more specific group of facts indented with spaces to the right.

The relationships between the different parts is carried out through indenting.

No numbers, letters, or Roman numerals are needed.

Method

Listening and then write in points in an organized pattern based on space indention. Place major points farthest to the left. Indent each more specific point to the right. Levels of importance will be indicated by distance away from the major point. Indention can be as simple as or as complex as labeling the indentations with Roman numerals or decimals. Markings are not necessary as space relationships will indicate the major/minor points.

Advantages

Well-organized system if done right. Outlining records content as well as relationships. It also reduces editing and is easy to review by turning main points into questions.

Disadvantages

Requires more thought in class for accurate organization. This system may not show relationships by sequence when needed. It doesn’t lend to diversity of a review attach for maximum learning and question application. This system cannot be used if the lecture is too fast.

When to Use

The outline format can be used if the lecture is presented in outline organization. This may be either deductive (regular outline) or inductive (reverse outline where minor points start building to a major point). Use this format when there is enough time in the lecture to think about and make organization decisions when they are needed. This format can be most effective when your note taking skills are super sharp and you can handle the outlining regardless of the note taking situation.

Example:

Extrasensory perception

definition: means of perceiving without use of sense organs.

three kinds

telepathy: sending messages

clairvoyance: forecasting the future

psychokinesis: perceiving events external to situation

current status

no current research to support or refute

few psychologists say impossible

door open to future

The Mapping Method

Mapping is a method that uses comprehension/concentration skills and evolves in a note taking form which relates each fact or idea to every other fact or idea. Mapping is a graphic representation of the content of a lecture. It is a method that maximizes active participation, affords immediate knowledge as to its understanding, and emphasizes critical thinking.

Advantages

This format helps you to visually track your lecture regardless of conditions. Little thinking is needed and relationships can easily be seen. It is also easy to edit your notes by adding numbers, marks, and color coding. Review will call for you to restructure thought processes which will force you to check understanding. Review by covering lines for memory drill and relationships. Main points can be written on flash or note cards and pieced together into a table or larger structure at a later date.

Disadvantages

You may not hear changes in content from major points to facts.

When to Use

Use when the lecture content is heavy and well-organized. May also be used effectively when you have a guest lecturer and have no idea how the lecture is going to be presented.

Example:

The Charting Method

If the lecture format is distinct (such as chronological), you may set up your paper by drawing columns and labeling appropriate headings in a table.

Method

Determine the categories to be covered in the lecture. Set up your paper in advance by columns headed by these categories. As you listen to the lecture, record information (words, phrases, main ideas, etc.) into the appropriate category.

Advantages

Helps you track conversation and dialogues where you would normally be confused and lose out on relevant content. Reduces amount of writing necessary. Provides easy review mechanism for both memorization of facts and study of comparisons and relationships.

Disadvantages

Few disadvantages except learning how to use the system and locating the appropriate categories. You must be able to understand what’s happening in the lecture

When to Use

Test will focus on both facts and relationships. Content is heavy and presented fast. You want to reduce the amount of time you spend editing and reviewing at test time. You want to get an overview of the whole course on one big paper sequence.

Example:

The Sentence Method

Method

Write every new thought, fact or topic on a separate line, numbering as you progress.

Advantages

Slightly more organized than the paragraph. Gets more or all of the information. Thinking to tract content is still limited.

Disadvantages

Can’t determine major/minor points from the numbered sequence. Difficult to edit without having to rewrite by clustering points which are related. Difficult to review unless editing cleans up relationship.

When to Use

Use when the lecture is somewhat organized, but heavy with content which comes fast. You can hear the different points, but you don’t know how they fit together. The instructor tends to present in point fashion, but not in grouping such as “three related points.”

Three Examples:

Example 1:

A revolution is any occurrence that affects other aspects of life, such as economic life, social life, and so forth. Therefore revolutions cause change. (See page 29 to 30 in your text about this.)

Sample Notes:

Revolution - occurrence that affects other aspects of life: e.g., econ., socl., etc. C.f. text, pp. 29-30

Example 2:

Melville did not try to represent life as it really was. The language of Ahab, Starbuck, and Ishmael, for instance, was not that of real life.

Sample Notes:

Mel didn’t repr. life as was; e.g., lang. of Ahab, etc. not of real life.

Example 3:

At first, Freud tried conventional, physical methods of treatment such as giving baths, massages, rest cures, and similar aids. But when these failed, he tried techniques of hypnosis that he had seen used by Jean-Martin Charcot. Finally, he borrowed an idea from Jean Breuer and used direct verbal communication to get an unhypnotized patient to reveal unconscious thoughts.

Sample Notes:

Freud 1st – used phys. trtment; e.g., baths, etc. This fld. 2nd – used hypnosis (fr. Charcot) Finally – used dirct vrb. commun. (fr. Breuer) - got unhynop, patnt to reveal uncons. thoughts.