Study, Laila, Study!

“I’m a therapist and keep this poster in my waiting room, apparently it’s saved a few lives.”

I don’t like the phrase “a cry for help.” I just don’t like how it sounds. When somebody says to me, “I’m thinking about suicide. I have a plan: I just need a reason not to do it,” the last thing I see is helplessness.

I think your depression has been beating you up for years. It’s called you ugly, and stupid, and pathetic, and a failure, for so long that you’ve forgotten that it’s wrong. You don’t see any good in yourself, and you don’t have any hope.

But still here you are: you’ve come over to me, banged on my door and said, “HEY! Staying alive is REALLY HARD right now! Just give me something to fight with! I don’t care if it’s a stick! Give me a stick and I can stay alive!”

How is that helpless? I think that’s incredible. You’re like a marine: trapped for years behind enemy lines. Your gun has been taken away, you’re out of ammo, you’re malnourished, and you’ve probably caught some kind of jungle virus that’s making you hallucinate giant spiders.

And you’re still just going, “GIVE ME A STICK. I’M NOT DYING OUT HERE.” “A cry for help” makes it sound like I’m supposed to take pity on you, but you don’t need my pity. This isn’t pathetic. This is the will to survive. This is how humans lived long enough to become the dominant species.

With NO hope, running on NOTHING, you’re ready to cut through a hundred miles of hostile jungle with nothing but a stick, if that’s what it takes to get to safety.

All I’m doing is handing out sticks.

If you’re anything like me, you go to the library with the best intentions then inevitably get distracted and wind up finishing none of the tasks you set out to do. Here’s a handy guide to how to get more done when you go to the library!

Planning your study session

Know what you’re doing ahead of time. Not only does this mean you can plan out your time to keep you on task, but you can also pare down which books and notes you need to bring.

Try and choose subjects that you need to be in the library for. For instance, if you need books to write an essay, read them in the library so you don’t have to drag them home. It’s better for your back, and more motivating when your time is limited!

Make a plan! Whether it’s just a to-do list or chunking your work into ten minute blocks, have goals to accomplish and keep yourself on task.

Don’t expect to be fully focused the whole time you’re there. No one can concentrate for 4 hours straight, so work some breaks into your plan and cut yourself some slack.

What to bring

A water bottle. You’re better off staying hydrated with water than sugary drinks from the vending machine, and bringing your own bottle is the best way to do that because you can keep it right at your desk.

Your chargers! Nothing cuts a study session short like your computer dying, so be prepared and make sure you’ve got your laptop/phone/tablet charger on hand.

A jacket. At least at my university, the library is almost always freezing. Even if yours isn’t, bring a jacket to keep you warm because sitting still for ages is a surefire way to cool you down!

Healthy snacks. Bringing your own food means you won’t be spending money, and you have a reason to stay at your desk and away from the vending machine. It also means no noisy crisp packets! Here’s a guide to library-friendly quiet snacks.

Headphones. Sometimes, even the library can be a bit noisy. Whether you’d prefer silence or some light music, having headphones can help you out.

Study essentials. Don’t depend on the library having copies of your required textbook, so bring your own from home, alongside essentials like pens & paper!

Making the most of the library

Don’t sit on the ground floor. It’s the loudest and busiest, and the place where you’re most likely to run into friends or get distracted, so avoid it off the bat. Similarly, stay away from high traffic areas like the loos, printers, and cafe.

Use the resources available! The library offers so much more than books: research databases, primary sources, librarians, and even audio resources if you’re a languages student like me. Make the most of all that’s on offer!

Get there early. Especially in exam season, the library fills up pretty fast and that can prevent you from sitting where you would usually. If you want a prime spot, your best bet is to get there when the library opens.

Try booking a study room. They can be great for working on group projects or if you want to snag a one person room and work with even fewer distractions.

Remember that the library doesn’t guarantee productivity. You still need to be prepared and focused, regardless of the location! Try and ditch the rest of the day’s worries at the door and just concentrate on work.

Other tips & tricks

How To Effectively Study In A Library from The Happy Arkansan

Library Study Session Tips & Essentials from Bookish & Bright

How to have a Productive Library Study Session from Macarons & Mascara

Packing List for Studying in the Library from Life As A Dare

How to Study Efficiently and Effectively

Tips for skim reading PEER-REVIEW ARTICLES, from your friendly public health scientist

0. Types of peer-review articles:

Research articles: I have a hypothesis, I did my own research to reject or accept the hypothesis

(Systematic) reviews: I read a whole of bunch of existing articles and wrote a summary of their findings

Meta analysis: I took data from a whole bunch of exisiting research to reject or accept a hypothesis (more data=more participants=more likely to represent real life=closer to the truth)

Commentary/correspondence: I have a strong opinion on something, usually to call for more attention in a research area (always topical)

Case studies/series: I found something interesting that maybe significant to a larger group of people but I don’t have enough data to prove it, especially if it’s time sensitive

1. What am I looking for?  (no, I don’t mean the topic)

Depending on the outcome of your need, you may be only focusing on either the Methods section, the Results section, or Discussion, or Conclusion. For example, are you looking for how to measure PTSD (methods) or what is the rate of PTSD in a community (results)

Introduction/background: what is the topic and what questions will this paper answer (based on existing literature)

Methods: how I did my research (the measurement tools, type statistical analysis, who I did my research on)

Results: What I found (percentages, rates, odd ratios, relative risks, confidence intervals, regressions, etc.)

Discussion: Explanation for what I’ve found and how it compares to existing researech (more existing literature which may or may not support the results)

Conclusion:  What direction is my research and what should the next step be (the gap in research, limitations in the research)

1a. Narrow your scope of research

Have a simple inclusion or exclusion criteria

Is there time frame to when the research has to be published by (e.g. 2000-2018)?

Is it about women only, men only, children under 5 only, excludes people with A and B?

Specific language only?

At least a certain sample size (e.g. must have 400 participants)?

controlled or not controlled environment (e.g. fieldwork or lab-based)?

Locations specific (e.g. countries, districts, continents, counties)?

2. Read the goddamn abstract

If it describes what you are looking for, download the pdf. This ensures what you are looking for is in the article so you don’t waste your time reading the whole damn thing. The abstract should describe everything in the first bulletpoint. DO NOT RELY ON TITLE

If the abstract doesn’t give you a taste of what you want, skip it, it’s probably not worth reading

2a. Skip the intro/background

If you know what your topic is, skip this section, it will not give you any new information. If you are unfamiliar with the topic, read 1 or 3 introductions and skip it for the rest of the articles

3. Control + F

Sometimes abstracts can be deceiving, if you have key words or criterias that you must meet e.g. women who have PTSD, then please look up the word ‘women’ to make sure actual research was done about women and it was not just mentioned in the introduction section. Don’t think you have to read the entire paper

4. Refernce and take notes

You’re not going to remember what you read where so take notes! Open an excel or word doc and have one column be the title and the other one be the notes in bulletpoint form. 

Fnd a reference software e.g. refworks, mendeley so you don’t have to type each reference by hand. they are usually free (if you are in school)

SAVE THE GODDAMN PDF. Don’t lose it. If you can’t download a PDF, PRINT —> save as PDF. 

Don’t have the license or money to buy the article, try emailing the author, use any school/college/university library computer, email a nerdy friend!

5. Where to get started

Search Engines: Pubmed, Google scholar, Medline

Journal servers: they tend to have recommendations like ‘articles you might enjoy,’ click on those

References: bibliographies and references of articles you’ve read are alway a good sourcef

no one has actually asked me this but i’m putting it here on the off-chance that it’ll be helpful for someone else and because i know i’ll also see it again and remind myself of the best ways i get myself out of these weird ruts. when i’m feeling unmotivated and super foggy and real frustrated with a lack of energy (all symptoms of burnout for me, by the way, so i’m trying to also lighten up on myself while acknowledging that i still gotta get things done!!) here’s what i do to give myself some sense of direction & sense of self:

1. i make a big ol’ brain dump to-do list. sometimes this can make me more anxious because wow that’s a lot of stuff to do, but! it also helps manage that anxiety by reassuring me that i’m not forgetting anything important by, say, trying to manage that anxiety by only focusing on one task. i then pull a muchelle b and i organize those to-do’s - usually i do it by date and level of importance.

2. i figure out what i need to get done, bare minimum, on that bad day i’m having. today, for example, what i really need to get done to make sure tomorrow isn’t an embarrassing disaster is finish reading the text we’re teaching tomorrow and plan my tutorials. that’s it. ideally i’ll also get some research and drafting done, or some readings for my tuesday seminar, but if i don’t, it’s okay. setting this low bar for myself makes that ‘ah!! huge to-do list!!’ feeling a little more bearable. sometimes even the minimum to-do list is enormous, so if that’s the case….

3. i figure out if i need to reach out for help. do i need to ask a prof for an extension? do i need to ask for help clarifying an assignment if i’m super stuck on where to start? what is making starting my task so difficult? am i confused, or bored, or nervous?

4. i make an hour-by-hour schedule for the week. i literally block out every single hour with what i would, ideally, be doing. remember that to-do list i just organized? pull it out. first, i put all of my commitments into my calendar. appointments, teaching hours, office hours, coffee with friends, meal times, and time with A. the non-negotiables. then i look at my to-do list, my RA hours that need to get done that week, and i start popping them in where they fit or as makes sense given their deadline. one hour work study, one hour research, one hour marking. one hour to eat & tidy my kitchen. one hour reading for class, one hour research, one hour marking. i take breaks within these hours when i feel i need them, and they’re not set in stone - they’re there so that when i’m sitting at my desk going ‘oh my god where do i start what do i do today’, i don’t have to pull that out of my head - i can look at my schedule and let it tell me what to do instead.

5. i journal it all out. i always have a lot of feelings associated with not getting work done - guilt, negative self-talk, i’m useless and unproductive, a dump truck full of shame… you know, the usual yucky stuff it hurts to say to ourselves and the feelings that weigh us down big time. a big one for me that i’ve mentioned a few times is hating the feeling of being unreliable. i want my profs to feel like they can rely on me to get work done, and i hate flopping on that one in particular. so i journal a bit, and it’s a practice in self-forgiveness. how am i feeling? why? okay. acknowledge it, it’s there, i feel it - and i’m human. i can move on from where i’m at now with a forward-focused outlook, a lot of determination, and, at the very least, a whole lot of stubbornness about wanting to improve. i come out of those journal sessions with a clearer head, clarity around the way i’m feeling, and a whole heck of a lot less shame. then i make a cup of tea, pour myself a big glass of cold water, clear off my desk, and start working. 

Since writing my dissertation blog post, which you can read HERE, I wanted to share with you more tips that can help you write research projects while managing school work! Whether you’re in undergrad or doing post graduate research, these tips can help you to systematically work on projects that last over a longer period of time! 

Dedicate a notebook to your project. Like I mentioned in my dissertation blog post, I dedicated an entire notebook to jot down notes from relevant lectures, conference presentations, things I was reading at the time, meetings with my adviser, etc. You can also keep a research journal by making entries (add a date!) and writing everything that you did that day regarding your research project! It’s a great way to track progress too!  It helps to be organised, especially if you have to write up a report about it later.  

Have a plan. Having an outline of your project will help you to not get lost in the research forest of your topic! Yes, I’m using a tree metaphor to make a point… I know. During my dissertation writing process our thesis course instructor told us to look at our project topic like it’s a forest full of trees. Some of them are key in your research, i.e. you need to cover those theories, topics, etc. and some that are further away in the forest may relate to your topic but are not necessarily important! You will have to read a ton on your topic, so in order not to get lost, make an outline of key things you need to cover and then work from there. Having a plan/outline of your research project will help you focus to stay on track. It will also help break up the overwhelming project into smaller tasks that can be accomplished and you can adapt it along the way! 

Timelines. A timeline is easy to follow if you have a deadline of when your project is due. However, if you don’t have a set timeline, make one! You can break up all of the work that you need to do from your set up plan and set specific deadlines for tasks like gathering all of your reading resources one week, completing your background research and readings in two weeks, setting a deadline for when you would like your first draft to be done. Having these small deadlines will convince you to do work and make progress, it will also prevent you from procrastinating on Netflix. 

Just Google it. Sometimes if you get stuck on a question and you cannot find the necessary information in your reading materials, instead of bothering your professors/supervisors/advisers, just Google it! You can figure out a lot of things on your own by using Google. Particularly when it comes to statistics: how to report your data, how to use SPSS, which statistic to use when, etc. you can learn by Googling it and watching stats tutorials on YouTube! There are so many step-by-step guides out there and it takes only a couple of seconds to type out what you’re looking for in the Google search bar! 

Have the software/applications downloaded on your computer. There’s nothing more annoying than having to re-run a statistical analysis test on SPSS and realizing that you don’t have it with you and it’s after 10 pm and the computer labs on campus are closed until tomorrow… The solution is to have it downloaded on your computer so that you can access it whenever you need it! Google ways how you can get SPSS on your computer, I had it on mine and it was a life saver when I was writing my dissertation and needed to run a bunch of different statistical tests. For my master’s degree I will be using Python and MATLAB and I already have them downloaded on my mac! 

Schedule in time to do work. While planning out my week in my bullet journal, I would make sure that on days off I scheduled to work on my research projects. Having a weekly schedule helps you see when you have free time to work on your research projects, as often you will have to balance course work with research. 

Know when to ask for help. I would set up weekly meetings with my research adviser to check in and show my progress and also to have my questions answered! I would also ask for help if I was not able to find answers on Google! 

You will make mistakes. Looking back on my dissertation I already know the mistakes that I made. My experiment design was flawed but that’s ok. As humans our number one goal should be to learn and grow; therefore, the mistakes that we make during our research projects can turn out to be learned lessons and ensure that we will not make the same mistakes twice. 

Use an automatic citation program for references. There are programs out there that help you gather all of the research papers that you will use in your research project and automatically cite them for you. They also generate a bibliography/reference list and can cite in your preferred style (MLA, APA, etc.). They’re free to use and most popular ones are Zotero, Mendeley, Easybib, RefWorks, etc. 

Have some fire. The most important thing is that you’re passionate about your research project and have the motivation to sit down and do work. Make sure that the topic you’re researching is interesting to you. If you’re engaged with the content you’re reading about you will find the writing process a lot easier and more enjoyable! So have some fire and be unstoppable in your research endeavors! 

I hope these tips help you out and please keep in mind that I am not an expert researcher (at least not yet!). I’m looking forward to starting my research master’s in September and learning more about conducting research! My hands are already itching from excitement when I think about working on new research projects!  

Mar. Week 3! 🍦

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