Pockystudies

hi friends today im not feeling v motivated to get stuff done so i thought i would look through some motivating things to get myself working!!!!! and then i was like hey i should make a post about it!!!!

some cute motivation quote things!!!

my motto for this month

on getting started [x / x]

aw so cute + short

on why u are studying

daily reminder LOL

cute motivational toast

on making excuses

100 reasons to study

discipline is important

quote inspo train

from a history teacher

continue working!!!

revenge -> motivation 

nicki + pinkprint tour

actually how to stay motivated!!!

how to avoid distractions

advice on how to focus

how to stop procrastinating

make studying fun and stuff!

tips on staying disciplined

manifesto of a doer list

learn to love learning

4 rules for disciplined life

get started if ur stressed out

advice @ daily/weekly goals

things to see if u have free time!!!

make a motivational sketchbook

gilmore girls [rory is studyspo]

some accomplished people

cute phone wallpapers

tbh legally blonde is the best 

reasons why elle woods is A+

blog centered @ motivation

some more cool people omg

hermione granger is everything

some advice from harry potter

excellence + accomplishments

+ masterposts

productive summers

note taking methods

starting a study blog

time managements

journal page ideas

succeed @ school

ap world history

study instagram

web resources

ap psychology

study + health

bullet journals

school advice

happy things

ace ur exams

study sounds

stress reliefs

annotations

essay writin

ap biology

study 101

printables

top 5 tips

sat help

+more

Demonstrates

Illustrates

Highlights

Suggests

Indicates

Implies

Connotes

Illuminates

Portrays 

Depicts

Emphasises

Reflects

Describes

Represents

Presents

Reveals

Conveys

Hey guys, a few of you have asked for a pen/highlighter recommendation so I’ve compiled all the pens I use regularly. As you can see, I use mainly black ink and mild toned highlighters. I’m currently trying out a colour coding system for my bullet journal, hence the last pic. Hope this helps, if there’s anything else, don’t hesitate to ask xx  

BLACK/DARK PENS

Staedtler pigment fineliner set of four(£7.99)

Staedtler pigment fineliner individual (£2.45)

Staedtler triplus fineliner 0.3 (£5.99)

Uni PIN fineliner black 0.4(£1.74)

Muji gel ink pen black & blue 0.5(£1.00)

Stabilo pilot 88 fine 0.4(£0.88)

HIGHLIGHTERS

ZEBRA Mildliners set(£4.33)// Second set(£3.40)

I recently got an ask about how to write an introductory paragraph for an essay so I thought I’d do a post about how to write a good essay.

** Important Points ** For essays in high school, use third person unless the teacher specifically tells you not too. It’s more academic and professional while first person sounds really informal. I’ve heard that in college it’s different but again, it depends on the class. Stay on the safe side and use third person unless otherwise specified. Also, try to be as sophisticated and mature as you can. This makes the essay sound smarter and makes it easier to read.

1) INTRODUCTION

Try to think of an upside down pyramid here. You start off broad and end off tapered to a point (specific). The formula for writing a good intro is this: hook, background info, introduce topic of discussion, and thesis. In the pyramid example, the hook is the broad and the thesis is the narrow. The intro is usually around 8 sentences long.

Hook: Unlike what you’ve probably been told through out high school, the hook is not necessarily a wow statement. It’s typically a broad idea that relates to the topic of discussion. I usually use historical facts or common wisdom and go from there. I then follow it up with a sentence that elaborates on my hook and a sentence that connects my hook with the background info.

Background Info: Here you give the reader some context as to what you will be discussing in your essay. It sets the scene for the topic you’re discussing. Try to be concise.

Introduce the Topic of Discussion: Here you give a brief summary of the points you’re arguing/discussing. It should be one sentence per body paragraph and again, be clear and concise and avoid merely summarizing the plot. This part should cover the gist of your ideas.

Thesis: This should be a longer complex sentence that summarizes your point of view and ideas. This is one of the most important parts of the essay so crafting a good thesis is crucial.

I did a more detailed post about the introduction with an example introduction paragraph HERE.

2) BODY PARAGRAPHS

The meat of your essay. Here is where you state your arguments and defend them with supporting evidence from literature, articles, or even your personal experience. I would generally limit one argument per body paragraph. Which reminds me, most likely you have been taught the canned five paragraph essay. Some people write all their essays in five paragraph format because they thing that is the only way to go. Really, you can do four+ body paragraphs with the common numbers being four and six. It depends on the essay. When writing your body paragraph you need this structure: topic sentence, three points, three examples of supporting evidence, conclusion. Body paragraphs typically fall between 8 -15 sentences.

Topic Sentence: This is similar to a thesis. Here you’re stating the argument that you are proving in a clear and concise sentence.

Three Points: There’s a rule of thumb that you generally want to have three points about each argument and have a piece of supporting evidence for each point. I’m going to start with the three points first. Basically, you want three ideas about your argument that show why it’s valid. For example if you’re trying to argue that cheese is dairy, your three points are it’s made of milk, it’s featured in the dairy section of the grocery store, and the FDA labels it as dairy.

Three Examples of Supporting Evidence: These are usually quotes from other sources or the piece of literature you’re analyzing that support the three points of your argument. To use the really bad cheese example from above, for the milk point you’d use an ingredients label from a package of cheese, for the grocery store point you’d get a sheet with the department labels and the produce in those departments, and for the FDA point you’d find a quote from their website.

Conclusion: This is a sentence or two that wraps up your body paragraph. It should briefly summarize the points you discussed or the topic sentence and help transition into the next paragraph.

2) a. COUNTER ARGUMENT PARAGRAPHS 

This paragraph is NOT necessary for most essays. However, some do require them so it’s important to know how to approach them. Depending on whom you ask, they’ll either tell you that the counter argument paragraph goes in the middle of your body paragraphs, or at the end. Personally I prefer the end but the middle is more correct. Placing it in the middle allows you to end on a strong note but I think it’s a matter of personal preference. The counter argument is used to present an opposing view point and say why it’s wrong. This can strengthen your argument if it’s done properly but ruin it if it’s done wrong so tread carefully. The only thing different from the body paragraph structure is the topic sentence.

Topic Sentence: Here you need a specific template to start the paragraph properly. I usually use: It may be argued that _______________ but there is sufficient evidence to show that _______________. The first blank is filled with the opposing argument and the last blank is your argument. There are different ways to structure this sentence but this is the one I use.

The rest of the paragraph is the same as the body paragraph: you get three points as to why the counter argument is wrong and three points to support it. Then you end with a typical concluding sentence.

3) CONCLUSION

This is where you wrap up your arguments and finish strong. It has three components: a restatement of your thesis, summary of your arguments, and general statement to wrap it up. Think of the right side up pyramid this time. The pointy end is the thesis and the bottom is the general statement that closes your essay. A conclusion is typically 5 sentences long.

Restatement of Thesis: This is pretty self explanatory; you restate the thesis using different language than you used in your intro.

Summary of Arguments: Here you briefly touch upon the arguments you covered in your essay. Again, clear and concise, and whatever you do, DO NOT introduce new information. It can ruin the amazing essay you worked so hard on.

General Statement: A general statement is a broad idea that you use to tie your entire essay together. It’s kind of like the hook but should be more relevant to your essay.

Mental illness is terrible and can make life really difficult, so I’ve compiled this masterpost to try and make things a little bit easier.

DISCLAIMER: Just because I find something helpful does not mean it’s best for you. Also, I am not a mental health professional.

TIPS FOR IN SCHOOL

See what learning support is available, and if possible find out what others have used. What, if any, extra support is available to you? You might be able to have extra time on exams or take them in a separate room if that would make things easier.

Also look into emotional support. If you have a competent counsellor/nurse/any kind of support worker in school, talk to them. That being said, I had an absolutely horrible experience with a school support worker, and it’s 100% okay to ignore the in school support offered if it’s not helpful or even bad for you. If you need to, seek support outside school and keep seeking until you find something that’s right for you.

Talk to your teachers. Explaining that your mental health is not great, even only vaguely, can be really helpful in the future as it can make them more lenient with deadlines and more tolerant of absences for appointments or self care.

Speaking of absences, take days off if you need them. Email your teachers to find out what you’re missing and get notes from people in your classes to catch up on either during your day off or when you feel better. Your health should always come first.

Write down your homework and deadlines, either on your phone or in a diary of some kind. This should make it easier to keep track of what you need to be doing and stop you worrying about forgetting things as much.

If you feel like you want to be left alone, bring headphones. Find a quiet spot in the library and try to get some work done, and people should see the headphones as a sign you want to be left alone. If not, wanting to work in peace is a good enough reason to not want people coming over.

TIPS FOR STUDYING AT HOME

Write to do lists. If long lists stress you out, make multiple small lists based on the urgency of the task and ignore the non-urgent ones until your workload seems more manageable.

Work for as long as you feel comfortable and able to. If you can do two hours, great. If you can’t even do five minutes, that’s okay. As I said, your health is more important.

I’m going to get a lot of gasps from this, but work in bed if getting up and working at your desk seems too overwhelming. If it’s a choice between not working or working in bed, bring your work into that pillow fort. You’re accomplishing something, and don’t let anyone tell you it’s not good enough.

Whether you’re in bed or not, make your workspace as comfortable and organised as you can. Studying is rarely fun, but making it as comfy as you can sometimes helps you gain the motivation to get it done, and organised spaces can help to decrease stress.

Listen to something calming while you work. I recommend making something with noisli or the Animal Crossing soundtrack.

Remember to take breaks. Don’t push yourself until you can’t work anymore or you have a breakdown, pace yourself.

MOTIVATION AND SELF CARE

Keep a record of what you’ve done. Seeing all you’ve accomplished can be a nice morale boost and help keep you from feeling too down. Having a studyblr or some kind of journal is a good way to do this. This can also help if you have problems with memory.

Don’t sacrifice hobbies for school. If you’re mentally ill, finding something positive and fun is a rare thing. Cut down around busy times if you really have to, but don’t let it go.

Find a healthy emotional outlet. This might be exercise, talking to friends, using a site like the thoughts room to vent, making, drawing or writing something, hitting a pillow or scribbling your anger and sadness away. It might be something I haven’t thought of. Anything that deals head on with your emotions and doesn’t hurt anyone is a good outlet.

Similarly, find distractions for when you don’t want to deal with your emotions. Some of the above can also work as distractions, but so can pampering yourself, playing video games or app games, reading a book, listening to music, watching a film or TV show, going out somewhere you like, looking at pictures or videos of cute animals, cooking something, organising your space, or anything else that’s not harmful and lets you escape your emotions for a while.

Try not to compare yourself to others. In studying or anything else, you do you. Try to focus on meeting your own needs rather than whether or not a popular blog has the same study techniques or self care routines as you.

Don’t push yourself more than you can handle. Motivation is great, but if it leads to a mental breakdown, you’ve gone too far. Try to be aware of how much you can manage realistically. I don’t want to stop you giving 100%, but know what your 100% looks like and don’t harm yourself trying to go further. Instead, try and slowly change how much your 100% is.

Sleep is important for your health and for the quality of your work. No one works well on three hours of sleep. If you have trouble getting to sleep, try some kind of familiar background noise. I recommend the Harry Potter audiobooks read by Stephen Fry because I am in fact a giant loser.

Listen to other mentally ill people’s tips and advice on coping to try and work out what strategies work best for you. Tumblr (and the internet in general) has a lot of resources, and hopefully I’ll be adding to some of those in the future with more specific posts.

SOME RESOURCES

MIND - mental health charity, provides guides to a lot of different conditions and ways to cope.

Online Mental Health Support - a list of IM, chatroom, and email support options.

Worldwide Suicide Helplines - a list of phone numbers for multiple different countries.