How To Set Up A Research Journal

How to set up a research journal

This is just one way you can set up a research journal but it's helping me tremendously so maybe it also works for you. My set-up is partially inspired by this video by Answer in Progress and I suggest you check out their curiosity journal.

Preparation

First you need a notebook. The trick is to find a notebook that you're not afraid to "ruin". We all want a really neat, aesthetic research journal, but the reality looks more like hasty scribbles, but that's okay, that's where the research breakthroughs happen.

I personally bought a cheap lined notebook from Søstrene Grene that I thought looked cute and put a sticker on it. That way I feel good about using it but I also don't mind when my handwriting gets messy because it was only like 3€.

You should also stock up on pens you like writing with. Different colour highlighters and post-its are also a good idea but not a must. Keep it cheap but comfortable.

Title Page

Here you should put down all the really important information: year, title, deadlines, word count, supervisors. Maybe add an inspirational quote to spice it up but keep it simple and relevant.

Key

This should either be your next or your last page. I personally use the last pages of my journal so I can add thing and find it easier. Your key is there to list abbreviations and symbols.

For example, I have different symbols for statistics, dates, new terminology, questions, breakthroughs, important notes and abbreviations for the most important terms in my field. It's shorter to write T9N than Translation.

The trick here is to have enough abbreviations and symbols to save time and effort but not so many that you constantly have to look back and forth between your page and key. They should be memorable and not easy to confuse.

Topic Mind map

If you hate mind maps you can skip this of course or use a different method but what helped me is to visualise all the topics that connect to my research project in a mind map. I then colour-coded the main groups of topics with my highlighters. It helps me to keep an overview on how many topics I need to do research on.

Proposal

If you're writing a thesis/dissertation it can be helpful to have a page set aside for your proposal and take some bullet point notes on methodology, chapter structure, research context, aims and objectives and think of some titles. You can also do this for your lit review and a list of works to include.

Hypothesis and Question Pages

I set aside four pages for this but you can adjust this to your needs. The first page is my hypothesis. It doesn't have to be fully formed yet, it can just be bullet points with five question marks. You can always revise and update it but it is important to keep an eye on what you're actually trying to find out.

The next idea is basically just stolen from Answer in Progress: a section for big questions, medium questions and little questions. These aren't necessarily hypotheses you aim to answer but questions you have about your topic that might be good to look into (maybe they lead somewhere, maybe they don't).

Research Notes

Now comes the big, fun part. Research notes are allowed to be a little messy but you should have some sort of system so you can actually find what you're looking for afterwards. I'm currently just looking at books and articles so that's what my system is based on. You can totally adjust this to include other forms of research.

What I do is that I put down and underline the author and title of my source. Underneath that I use my highlighters and mark the topic of the paper based on how I colour-coded them in my mind map. You might have to do this after you've finished reading. For example, if a text talks about censorship and dubbing in Germany, three of my topics, I will draw three lines in light blue, dark blue and red, the colours I chose for those topics. This way you can easily browse your notes and see which pages are talking about which topics.

When it comes to the actual research notes, I include the page number on the left and then take bullet point notes on whatever is relevant. These are often abbreviated and paraphrased but if something is especially important I will write down a full quote.

As mentioned earlier, I have a key of symbols I use so I can simply put down a '!' in order to differentiate a research breakthrough from a normal note. You can insert your own thoughts much more easily when you know you'll be able to tell them apart later on. At the end of each article, book or even chapter I write down my main takeaway.

Other Notes

This is your research journal and you can do with it what you want. I also added lists of films that might be relevant for my research, a list of databases and publishers to check for papers and tips on research strategy.

If you're working with interviews or surveys you could write down your questions. If you're nervous about your research you could include a list of reasons why your research project is important or why you're doing it. You can include a to-do list or a calendar to track meetings with supervisors. Anything that helps you with your research.

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How to Defeat Procrastination

How to Defeat Procrastination | A Mini Guide

Use your intrapersonal intelligence. Ask yourself when and why you procrastinate. Use your insights to identify the appropriate strategy to deal with those issues.

Identify a purpose or meaning. Sometimes, it simply isn’t enough to do something for the sake of doing it. Know why you want to do it, it’ll be easier then. List down your goals, and beside it, identify the benefits. So that, when you feel your spirits drooping, you can look at the list be reminded of why you have to do it.

Take charge of the situation. Gather up all the supplies and materials you need to get started. Choose a work environment where you can really really focus on what you are doing. Take responsibility!

Prioritize and stick to the order. When you feel overwhelmed, make a list of tasks that needs to be done. Tackle the high-priority tasks first.

Relax your personal standards. If you’re a serial perfectionist (like me), lower your unrealistically high standards and expectations. You can still continue to produce quality work without it always having to be the BEST.

Face your fear of failure. Focus on your positive traits. I’m hella sure you’ve got plenty of those! Focus on your accomplishments, and the skills you’ve acquired! Go in front of your mirror and tell yourself affirmations and positive pep talks!

Visualize success. Visualize yourself working through the task, feeling positive about your work, and complete the task on time. Believe you can do it and you will!

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purpletelescope

1 year ago

Coffee ☕

"Don't even try to talk to me right now. I need my coffee first."

"This is literally the perfect cup of coffee!"

"I really like you. Would you want to grab a coffee with me?"

"You don't have to marry them. Just grab a coffee together and see where it leads you to."

"Do you actually know my usual order? I'm impressed!"

"I'm not sure I'm ready for a full dinner yet. But how about a coffee?"

It was a very slow day in the coffee shop, so the employees decided to launch a competition, to see who could come up with the weirdest coffee orders that were still safe to consume.

He started his day like he always did - with a coffee in hand and no ambition to be more social today.

The latte art was so spot on that she was left speechless.

It was so cliché to crash into someone and spill your drinks on each other, but that doesn't make it less annoying, when you have a job interview in a few minutes and are drenched in coffee.

Coffee Shop AUs + How to create a coffee shop atmosphere + Coffee Shop Prompts

One Word Prompt Lists

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purpletelescope

1 year ago

it rocks you know what 17776 is, I know so few people who’ve read or interacted with it at all and it remains one of my all time favorite pieces of writing to date

i am very fond of it :)

dearest followers go read 17776 if you haven't already. probably best experienced on desktop.

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purpletelescope

4 years ago

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self care health

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purpletelescope

4 years ago

math help bc i can’t watch ya’ll suffer anymore

I’m in my fourth year of engineering school and I didn’t get here without lots of outside help bc assigned math textbooks are lame and confusing and professors/teachers are more worried about feeling superior to bunch of groggy teenagers than actually teaching.

I have personally used all of these websites without receiving any security warnings from Bitdefender TrafficLight or AdGuard AdBlocker. They are all either completely free or have a free version that isn’t shit.

Wolfram Demonstrations (animated graphics)

Khan Academy (arithmetic through differential equations)

She Loves Math (arithmetic through differential equations)

math24 (calculus & differential equations)

Paul’s Online Math Notes (algebra through differential equations)

MIT OpenCourseWare (calculus through graduate-level mathmatics)

OpenStax Math (precalculus, trigonometry, & calculus)

Wolfram Alpha Examples

Desmos (online calculators)

GeoGebra (online calculators)

SparkNotes Math Study Guides (pre-algebra through calculus)

eMathHelp (calculators, but more specific)

Software for your TI calculator

ticalc (programs for your TI calculator)

Wikibooks Math Department (all the math)

Andy’s Cheat Sheets (calculus)

Cheatography (find free cheat sheets)

Open Access Math Textbooks

Engineer4Free (Calc, DiffyQ, & Linear Algebra tutorials)

Flammable Maths on YouTube (general high school/college level problems and derivations)

3Blue1Brown on Youtube (very, very good for understanding spacial concepts in calculus and beyond)

Vihart on Youtube (explaining math with doodles)

Bonus: Stay hydrated, take vitamin c, study next to a window during the day if possible, and remember not to let people base your worth on your aptitude for math.

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purpletelescope

4 years ago

by Laure S

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purpletelescope

4 years ago

Hi Steph! I love your blog and your fic recs! I was wondering if you could please help me find a fic I read a while ago but lost. It's post-Reichenbach, where I remember it takes ~42 days for "the fog to lift from John's mind" and he realises what Sherlock meant by his 'note', and John works on clearing Sherlock's name, then moves to a lil house by the sea, and patiently waits for Sherlock, who shows up after a year and a half, I think? Please, it's driving me crazy aha!

Hey Nonny!

Ooof, I have no idea which fic this is, but it sounds vaguely familiar... anyone able to help me out with this one??

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fanfic sherlock

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purpletelescope

4 years ago

Source

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purpletelescope

4 years ago

How to Handle Having TOO MUCH To Do

So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!

Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.

Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.

Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks

Your priority goes like this:

5 minutes due YESTERDAY

5 minutes due TOMORROW

Half-hour due YESTERDAY

Half-hour due TOMORROW

Hours due YESTERDAY

Hours due TOMORROW

5 minutes due LATER

Half-hour due LATER

Hours due LATER

DAYS due YESTERDAY

DAYS due TOMORROW

DAYS due LATER

At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.

Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.

So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.

You’ve got this. Get a drink and start - we can do our stuff together!

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purpletelescope

4 years ago

How to Really Comprehend a Scientific Paper

**credit to my research advisor, she’s an amazing mentor and I aspire to be just like her someday :)

Read the abstract. Write down what the paper says it is going to be about.

Read the introduction. Write down what the paper says it is looking to accomplish and how.

Read the conclusion. Write down what the paper actually did accomplish.

Go through and find all the pictures, graphs, or diagrams. Write notes explaining these images to yourself.

Read the whole paper start to finish. Write a summary of the paper as though you are explaining it to a layperson, and then another summary as though you are explaining it to a colleague.

Throughout all of the above steps:

If there are words you don’t know google them and write down the definitions

If the paper defines a formula, law, variable, etc in a certain way write that down

If there are references to or recommendations of other literature write those down. After the last step if there’s anything you’re uncertain about or would like more information on look to that list for further reading

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study tips academia research organization

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