Literature Reviews were one of the most confusing things for me when I began my PhD. I would get lost in searching for papers, wallowing in tangential directions, sometimes looking at entirely unrelated stuff. Other times, I’d be trying so hard to read an article and stuck without moving forward.
From my fair share of struggle with literature reviews, I deviced a technique that helped me do quick literature surveys, especially when I needed to write a proposal or improve half-written manuscript or to understand a new method/theory. So, here you go…
1. Collecting literature: Research Rabbit App🐇
This is my go-to tool for literature discovery. In addition to quickly build a literature collection, it helps to see how all the papers in my collection are connected! This is very essential when you write your LitRev, as you will need to draw connections between different works.
Go to www.researchrabbit.ai and search the topic you need articles for, and add them to a collection.
The app will automatically suggest more papers based on your selections and will make connections between the articles in terms of authors, citations or references!
You can also look for other papers by a certain author or similar papers to the one you choose.
(Make sure to stop when you find yourself going down the Rabbit Hole ;) )
2. Extracting information: Skim & Annotate 📑
Once you finish collecting the literature,
quicky read the abstract and decide which ones are important, relevant or new.
Now and skim the chosen papers, and annotate the most important things you find. I usually go for paper and highlighters, sometimes use the annotator in Mendeley
Optional: categorize the articles and assign a colour for each.
(Don’t spend more than 10 minutes per paper. You can always go back and read the article thoroughly after completing this task)
3. Organizing thoughts: The Sticky Note Method 🗂
Here comes my favourite part. I developed this technique inspired by a lot of tools I found on the internet. The Sticky Note Method is to capture, rearrange and construct thoughts.
From the now annotated, categorized collection, write down the essence of each article in a separate sticky note.
(here is where the colour-coding might come in handy: you can use different coloured sticky notes for different categories.)
After doing this for all the papers, stick them in a board/notebook
Rearrange them till you get a coherent flow!
That’s it. Now start writing your review! ;)
September 1, 2020 - physics studies.
It's September already! August was a tough month for me and I'm so excited to welcome the better days ahead <33 ☁️ September, please be nice 💫
(ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ Keep on working hard and take care of yourself friends ♡
🎶 Dynamite - BTS
I would like to add a category to the academia aesthetics called Realistic Acedamia and it's where you show up to class everyday in jeans+hoodie with dirt cheap coffee and reduce Serious Conversations About the Nature of the Universe to memes.
Also includes messy handwriting, a collection of ugly free pens you got from library events, and complaining incessantly about your chosen area of study
Be the academic you've always dreamt of being. Stay up till 3 a.m. with your paperbacks scattered on the table and a cup of black coffee, write annotations beside the lines you want to remember, consistently scribble down your notes with your favourite black pen. Absorb whatever your professor says, think about it, come up with questions and hang around in the library pouring over thousands of books trying to quench. that. thirst. for. knowledge. Just do it, stop coming up with excuses that studying can't be romanticised. Live that academia life.
helpful links:
the one productivity system you need: time vs energy management
eisenhower matrix
similiar way to prioritize tasks
flexible time blocking
last minute orgo studying before my exam; i did a study guide of every single topic covering the most important reactions and their mechanisms; ಥ_ಥ it was worth it!
Try and wake up early, and go to bed early too. I’m not saying get up at 5 (unless that’s you’re thing) but sleeping into noon is a productivity blackhole. I go for 8 or 8:30, generally, but that’s just what works for me.
Get dressed for the day. I’m not talking like, jeans and a business casual outfit, but a clean pair of sweatpants, fresh underwear, and a new shirt can really put you in the mood for a new morning.
Have a workspace. Whether it be the kitchen table, a desk, a spot on the floor with a lap desk, have a place that’s dedicated to your work. Have items that signify that workspace too, like your book, planner, laptop, lamp, whatever. It can help you get into the zone, being in that space.
Have a morning drink. I choose earl grey tea with honey and cream, but black coffee, herbal tea, lemon water, whatever works for you is awesome, as long as itll wake you up and start your day.
To do lists. To do lists and to do lists and more to do lists. I have three. One is a post it weekly planner deal (3.99 at a local grocery store). it’s a weekly spread already set up, and if you’re anything like me, its really hard to set up a weekly spread. Then I have an app called Ike. I have a daily to do list I write on that app, and then I have four more to-do lists of what I have to for each specific class.
Spread out your assignments. Don’t overwhelm yourself. If you’re professors are like mine, and have the due date for each module as Sunday at midnight. What I do is spread out all my assignments from Monday to Saturday, and I leave Sunday blank, so anything I didn’t do that week, I finish on Sunday. It works for me, it might work for you.
Have a folder for each class, and a notebook for each class. I hate spending money, I’m broke as hell, sono al verde as the Italians say, but a 0.99 cent folder and a 0.25 cent notebook can do wonders for motivating one to fill them up.
Study with a drink. Tea, water, coffee, whatever, but my go to is generally a warm drink. I cannot study if I’m cold, I get tired and groggy, so warm socks, a robe, and a hot drink really keep me going.
Take breaks. Make time for your hobbies, for something fun. Working without stopping absolutely destroys my motivation, and let me tell you, when I feel like that, an episode of Avatar and a snack gets me right back on the wagon.
Do self check ins. Does your back hurt? Are you sad? Stressed? Do you have to pee? Are you hungry? Never put your homework over your health. You won’t be able to get anything done well anyway if you’ve got those blocks.
Most importantly, get enough sleep. I beg of you. Sleep is so important, and it’s the game changer, at least to me. We as students have such an amazing opportunity to get more sleep than we ever have before during the year. Take advantage of that.