As Google has worked to overtake the internet, its search algorithm has not just gotten worse.  It has been designed to prioritize advertisers and popular pages often times excluding pages and content that better matches your search terms 

As a writer in need of information for my stories, I find this unacceptable.  As a proponent of availability of information so the populace can actually educate itself, it is unforgivable.

Below is a concise list of useful research sites compiled by Edward Clark over on Facebook. I was familiar with some, but not all of these.

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Google is so powerful that it “hides” other search systems from us. We just don’t know the existence of most of them. Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information. Keep a list of sites you never heard of.

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.

i’m on a school break this week and i’ve been trying to find ways to rest/recharge while i have the time, so here’s a list of some academia-themed self care ideas <3

brew a cup of your favorite tea and look out the window for a bit

cut up some fruit to eat and arrange it nicely on a plate

reread an old favorite book - or just your favorite chapters

bake something or make a nice dinner for yourself

lie on the floor for and listen to music

watch a documentary about something you find interesting, even if it’s one you’ve seen before

put on classical music and take a long bath/shower

make origami with book pages

read some poetry, or write some of your own

light a candle and watch the flame

if you’re religious or spiritual, spend some extra time on your prayers/meditation

buy flowers for yourself (optional: press them between heavy books so you can keep them forever)

tidy your desk

go outside barefoot and stand in the grass until you feel just a little bit cold, then wrap yourself in a blanket to warm up

write yourself a love letter and seal it with wax

Productive Break Taking

Image ID/transcript under the cut!

This is a list of expressions, phrases, and idioms that are ideal for writing. I got them from my actual whole man, the Collins French Dictionary, which is great for all students, even self-taught ones.

Tout le monde s’accorde à dire que -  Everyone agrees that

Il est bien connu que - It is a well-known fact that

Un problème souvent évoqué, c’est - A much-discussed problem is

Cette question est depuis longtemps au cœur du débat sur [topic] - This question has always been at the heart of the debate about [topic] (e.g. gender, education, civil rights, etc)

La première constatation qui s’impose, c’est que - The first point to note is that

Prenons comme point de départ - As a starting point

Il convient maintenant d’analyser - We must now analyse

Il faut nous poser cette question - We must ask ourselves

En somme / En définitive / Au demeurant - In conclusion

D’une part … de même que - On one hand / Likewise

En revanche / Cependant / Par contre / Au contraire - However / On the contrary

À cela s’ajoute / En outre / En addition - Even more / In addition

D’ailleurs - Moreover

Il insiste sur le fait que - He insists on the fact that… et il voudrait nous faire croire que - he would make us believe that

Prenons le cas de - As an example

Il est indéniable que / Il ne fait aucun doute que - It is evident that

La polémique met en lumière - The issue brings to light

Il serait vain de nier que - One can’t deny that

Les faits sont en contradiction avec ses opinions - The facts are in contraction with his opinions 

Hi! First of all, thank you for the compliment! I’m so flattered wow

Regarding my notetaking - I’m the type of person who tries to write down as much info as possible in my lecture notes. Here are some tips that could prove helpful:

1. Pre-read. If possible, read through (or even just skim) the textbook. This way you will be able to recognise the lecture materials that can be found in the textbook and those that aren’t in the textbook. Focus on writing down the things that CAN’T be found in the textbook.

2. Take notes religiously during class discussions. Also, take detailed notes when the lecturer is going through an example. Chances are new material that cannot be found in the textbook, lecture slides, etc. can be introduced during these occasions.

3. Write down what the lecturer says, but rephrase it into your own words. This way, you can gain some comprehension in the process of rephrasing, and often also save time because you can significantly shorten what you have to write down.

4. Use abbreviations and shorthands. Make up your own abbreviations and keywords! As long as you can understand what you have written, it’s okay. For example, I write “diff.” instead of “different”, and “En.” instead of “energy”. This actually does help me save time.

5. Voice record your lectures. This way, when you are lost going through your notes you can refer back to the voice recording.

6. Go over your notes after lectures to identify the things you don’t understand, and the things that need additional explanation. Sort them out ASAP. Leaving them till later will make your workload snowball exponentially! (speaking from experience here)

7. Don’t try so hard to make your lecture notes neat that it slows you down. Personally, I cannot make neat notes in class because my thoughts and ideas are scattered everywhere and disorganised during lectures. During lectures, new info is being thrown at me and I’m often not ready to organise them in one go. So during class time I make notes, focusing on writing down as much info as possible and not caring about how it looks as long as it is legible. Only after class would I organise the info into neat summaries once I have an understanding of the lecture materials.

revision methods that actually work // studygram: alimastudies

1. Memory mind map 

Personally, this is the most effective one for me. All you need is a blank piece of paper. Pick a sub-topic that you are doing e.g in biology a topic could be immune system and the sub-topic could be antibodies and antigens. If you want you can create some questions for each sub-topic and on your blank piece of paper, using questions as a guide, write everything you know about that sub-topic without your notes. After get your notes out and check and correct with a different colour pen. Watch this video to get a better understanding

2. Flashcards

I recommend you use written flashcards, unless you have vocab or definitions in which case digital ones like quizlet is fine. You should have questions on one side and your answers on another - i’ve heard people say the answer shouldn’t be long but i find that the more detailed it is the higher marks you score in the exam - of course summarise don’t just copy from a textbook or there is no point in doing this. When you test yourself try to do something else other than reading, for example write the answer down and then check and correct.

3. Spaced intervals

No point cramming for an exam. Yes it might have got you an A* in GCSE or other lower level exams but it’s certainly not going to get you an A* for a-levels or other higher exams. Space your learning out and if you can try and revise everyday, even if somedays are just for half an hour, DO IT! It will help you in the long term. Don’t revise one subject/unit for a whole day, space it out. For example don’t revise like this: AABBCC, revise like this instead: ABCBCA or something along those lines.

4. Mind maps

My favourite revision source!!! For some reason in an exam ( i only use mind maps for essay based subjects) i can remember where i put each point on my mind map which helps me write my essays and retrieve my information more in the long term! Don’t make it boring by trying to be ‘minimal’ - ADD COLOUR !!! But to stay within limits, too many colours can make it look overwhelming and confusing !

5. Teaching someone else

Either teach your younger siblings or pretend you are teaching to an imaginary class - while it may seem crazy it works, trust me. Use a whiteboard to help you illustrate your ideas! This method will help you identify any gaps in your knowledge and you’ll truly see if you know something well enough to explain it. If you cannot explain it to a six year old then you truly have not got the grasp of it, as Albert Einstein says!

6. past papers

hi everyone! since the holidays are over for most of us, i thought i’d make an inspirational and motivational masterpost all about notes! upgrading your notes by changing the layout, adding doodles, banners, using sticky notes, changing your handwriting etc. motivates me personally to study! 

out with the sloppy last minute notes and in with the new!

handwriting

how to write in cursive

some fonts to try out

how to improve your handwriting

note taking systems

study methods summed up

stationery to make it all happen

sticker printables to jazz it up

notes

how to take lecture notes

how to annotate books

taking notes from a textbook - studyign

note taking system - theorganisedstudent

note taking system - emmastudies

another note taking system - academicmind

another note taking system - wonderfullifee

the 2 notebook method

note taking with highlighters and post its

pretty timelines

note taking printables

plot summary with sticky notes

20 uses of sticky notes

colour code your notes

method with columns 

the cornell note taking system

the cornell note taking system using onenote

in class notes

another in class note taking format

what are sketchnotes?

online whiteboard

flashcards

how to make flashcards

another how to make flashcards

an example

another example (with sticky notes)

and another example (biology)

8 ways to improve your flashcards

make  and test flashcards online

alternative to flashcards - studyign

print onto flashcards

mindmaps

how to mindmap (1)

how to mindmap (2)

some examples

apps

notability

banners

simple banner

more banners

it’s a banner party over here

banners (shown how to draw in gifs)

illustrate your notes

how to illustrate your notes - reviseordie

sketchnote tips (banners, lettering, doodles)

more sketchnote tips

even more sketchnote tips

how to make your notes pretty - theorganisedstudent

how to make your notes pretty - studyspoinspo

how to make your notes pretty - booksflowersandtea

what is visual note taking?

a visual alphabet

note taking printables

dot grid 

note outline printables

lined cornell method printable

grid cornell method printable

hope you all had a good rest and are ready for a new year of studying!

things haven’t been going my way lately + i’m hoping to change that. i put together this lil guide to getting ur life back on track. i hope this helps !! :]

Hmmm. You may want to check first if your college library has any nooks & crannies that often go unused as a first option. If not, here are a few recommendations, though I want to preface by saying that the amount of noise in any given library (coughing, papers rustling, laptops, etc.) in Oxford is largely a function of what time you’re in the library. (Also, you might have thought of this already, but earplugs–the foam ones from Boots–also do the trick in a pinch.) In my experience, the Bodleian/other major libraries are busiest from the hours of 10:30-4:30 PM. 

Laptop-free sections of the Bodleian reading rooms. Ask a librarian where these are in each library if you aren’t sure. I know for sure there are a fair amount in the Upper Radcliffe Camera, the SHist section, so have a wander. (If by any chance someone has been naughty & is using a laptop, let a librarian know and they will move them to another part of the library without incident.) 

Silent study pods in the Social Science Library. These sound pretty perfect for you.

Top floor of the English Faculty Library. Hardly anyone goes up there because it’s laptop-free! 

China Centre Library has individual booths for study and a separate no-laptops reading room with a closed door.

Radcliffe Science Library Reading Room. I’ve heard it gets cold in the winter but more science students who do their work by hand (and also have labs & can’t camp out all day necessarily) = less laptops & more quiet.

The Sackler (Classics library). When it’s busy, it’s busy, but in quieter hours (early morning; evening) it’s excellent, and the circular shape + bookshelves being made out of quite thick metal means sound is easily muffled.

Upper Reading Room is generally quiet in the early morning or evening, plus being so high up (as opposed to the Lower Rad Cam, for instance) means there is absolutely no noise coming from the outside. Many of its regular readers are above the age of 25 and thus usually go home after 5 pm, so definitely consider this for evening or early morning use. There’s also no better validation than being one of the first people in the Bod, incidentally.

Duke Humfrey. Again, not laptop free, but as it’s a rare books room and not for regular use, it’s quieter than the reading rooms generally are. There’s an old woman who angrily hushes people if they type too loudly.

See if there’s a book you need to reference that is only available in a college library. This is a really good way to get into a college library to study, as they’ll let you into the library to reference one book because you won’t have borrowing rights (one time only though, usually, unless you can make an excuse for needing to see it again.) This can also be done if you have a friend at another college. Many college libraries are huge, sparsely populated, deathly quiet. Off the top of my head, Lady Margaret Hall has several quiet desks with beautiful views; St. John’s is creaky but hushed, & when I was there, there were only two other people (I couldn’t hear anything they were doing); Wadham has several reading rooms (think an art history one?)

The Oxford Union. If you’re not a member sometimes the gate is open. Its library is small and full of laptop-users, but the rooms (downstairs and the few upstairs) are generally not in use, if you’d like to take up residence for a few hours. Not all of them have wifi but they are deathly quiet. 

Hello! I made another printables (weekly task planner/organizer). This one is where you can just list the tasks you have to do and some reminders (bc sometimes there’s no time to bujo :”))

So yeah! I hope you guys like it, and I hope you find it helpful. If you’re using it, please tag me so that I can see because that makes me happy hahaha. xD

You can find the files here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9dkYS1AjcqjbXdTc1IyeXlGWUk