Today I Learned

Working on an essay or a paper? Looking for feedback, help or editing support but have no idea where to turn for unbiased, constructive criticism and professional advice? Here are some great resources to help get you going!

General 

Harvard’s Strategies for Essay Writing

Queen’s University Online Thesis Manager

How To Write A Great Essay About Anything 

How to Write Dazzlingly Brilliant Essays: Sharp Advice for Ambitious Students

University of Cambridge - How to Write a Paper

Purdue OWL: Writing a Research Paper

Microsoft Research -  How to write a great research paper

Georgetown University - How to Write a Research Paper

University of South California -  Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Guide

Abstract Writing

Berkeley - HOW TO WRITE AN ABSTRACT: Tips and Samples   

Purdue OWL - Writing Report Abstracts

University of Toronto - The Abstract

How to write a good abstract for a scientific paper or conference presentation

Introductions and Conclusions

Columbia University - Writing a Good Introduction 

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Introductions

Birmingham City University - Writing Introductions

University of Toronto - Introductions and Conclusions

Purdue OWL - Writing a Developed and Detailed Conclusion

Harvard - Ending the Essay: Conclusions

Editing

Paper Rater

Ginger’s Essay Checker

Hemingway Editor

ProWritingAid

editMinion

After the Deadline

Slick Write

Grammarly

GrammarBase

Citation

Citation Machine

BibMe

EasyBib

RefMe: APA

RefMe: MLA

Cite This For Me

University of South California - Citation Guide

RIP, if it's any comfort there was once a spider on my light fixture and it fell on my head as I was watching it.

therr’s a fucking spider in my room and i don’t know where it went it was nice knowing you guys

Not related to the issue of legislation, but this write up is done poorly (if I'm reading it correctly) the data was taken from a survey of a total of n=1,036 respondents, and the data related to who answered they actually moved states can be seen below. As we can see these numbers are actually very very small. I don't think you can "blow up" that data to then reflect the larger population. The headline gives an extremely large number, which is an extrapolation of data from a relatively small pool of the estimated hundreds of thousands, as the respondents (as can be seen below) who valued that choice aren't even the size of an average college class. I'd need to run more statistical analysis for how bad the skew is in moving from this sample size, but it's quite problematic at least in my research experience. The main issue comes when we break down the raw numbers, with it being only a few respondents who have actually verified indeed they have moved, while the title of the article implies we have reports indicating hundreds of thousands.

I think it is always helpful to make sure we frame headlines in ways that are truthful, a much better claim would be to see this is the number that "may have fled/will flee", as the original wording makes it sound like they actually tracked that count which doesn't seem to be the case.

Approximately 130,000 - 260,000 Americans have been forced to flee their homes because of legislation criminalizing trans existence.

open.substack.com

US Internal Refugee Crisis: 130-260k Trans People Have Already Fled

A growing refugee crisis is occurring in the United States, and it is getting very little coverage. I highlight the growing migration crisis

That’s 8% of transgender Americans. An additional 43% of transgender Americans are seriously considering moving due to laws criminalizing our existence and healthcare.

“So many people are completely helpless to get out, even with all the bumps and roadblocks, the fact is I'm still one of the lucky ones.” Said Sheena, a trans woman who fled from from Florida.

“it's evident that the United States is in the throes of a swelling crisis of internally displaced political refugees. Over a million people, themselves contemplating relocation in the coming months, remain in a state of apprehensive vigilance, awaiting the potential signal that they too must bid farewell to their homes.”

Via Erin Reed, a professional policy tracker of transgender legislation. June 13, 2023.

a lovely octopus, graceful, and strong.

x

Hi! I am just beginning to learn French and I'm so lost on to where to start and everything. So I was wondering if you had any tips for someone who's just starting to learn French? And if you have any recommendations? Thank you so much ✨✨

i’m so glad you decided to get in touch, thank you!! 

i’ve linked all resources in a small icon that looks like this: (x)

first of all i reccomend learning some french phonics and the rules of the french alphabet. learn the way each letter is pronounced - especially accents as that can really help you in spelling and pronunciation. (x) i’d reccomend, following some of the studyblrs that i’ll leave at the bottom of this post, to find some french notes in your feed - the studyblr community is so helpful when it comes to learning languages - not to mention, you’ve got the whole langblr community too! go ahead, start following some french and langblr tags!

then move on to learning basic phrases, vocab and words, so you can start forming sentences. learn words like ‘mais’, meaning ‘but’, and ‘parce que’, meaning ‘because’. for learning these basics, i reccomend looking through my pinterest board dedicated to the french language! (x)⇢ as you learn vocab, learn the gender with the word - it will help you so much in the future!

as you learn more, you’ll need to start learning about verbs, start off by learning verb endings: the -er endings, the -re endings and the -ir endings for the present tense; do the same for the other tenses. ⇢ you will find that quizlet (and the internet in general), will be your best friend for this!THERE YOU GO! YOUR FIRST RULE COPLETED :)

once you’ve learnt the basics, start learning some more rules, BUT DON’T LET THE RULES OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE SCARE YOU - admittedly they can be hard to get your head around, but they’re some of the most important things to learn - it’s the difference between someone who is grammatically correct, and someone who is not - and we all love to sound smart don’t we!

find someone to practise with, make an internet friend who studies french; one that is french, would be even better! if you’re not into making internet friends with random people, try speaking to some of the french studying studyblrs, that i’ll leave at the bottom of this post. or perhaps, just talk to me! i’ve only been learning french for two years, but i’m top of my year / grade, and i have some decent conversational skills, to say the least.

REMEMBER:⇢ do it because you love it, learn a few more phrase and vocab lists, because they interest you - it’ll become more and more motivational - trust me!⇢ get in the mood to learn french: learn about their culture, eat some of their food, listen to some of their music etc. 

AN HONORABLE MENTION:@studiyng​ wrote an amazing masterpost on how to learn a new language, which could be ever so helpful to so many people, so i’ll just leave this here! (x)

STUDYBLRS WHO STUDY AND POST FRENCH CONTENT:@getshitdonetbh​ @acadreamic​ @frenchaise​ @kaz-studies​ @in-search-of-paris​ @studyoblivion​ @thewritersblock707 @hystorically @smallstudyblrsunite @intelliqents @juliasacads @studyingsian @alistudys @womenstudy @etudiebee @cypherstudys @julesstudyblr

REBLOG THIS TO HELP ANYONE IN THE SAME POSITION AS ANON, ILY ♡

about 4x6" watercolors to warm up! I havent touched watercolor in almost 7 years

🌸 so sorry for the followers who wanted Victor content 🌸 LOVE YOUR LOVE OF SCIENCE (Vulcan salutes back atcha)! Yup, I definitely get your point about how it may be impossible to apply what we know to be true in this environment to other ones. IT WOULD BE AMAZING IF SCIENTISTS ARE ABLE TO QUANTIFY/UNDERSTAND HOW OTHER ENVIRONMENTS EFFECT STUFF WITH NEW TECH. The only question I have is that if the matter becomes unrecognizable in such an environment, or changes to a certain degree, we would need some sort of deep look into the atomic structure of that object. Or maybe it'll change in a way that it never would in studied environments, (as you said, perhaps absolutely no laws here would apply in such extreme enviornments.) That is such an interesting topic to think about! Like when anthropologist try to study other cultures, they can only present what they understand about that culture through their own cultural view - which will limit them in being able to understand how the culture studied actually functions. So I'd wonder if in such enviornments there may be something going on that we don't even realize is important - or can't measure (like in anthropology if one looked at a culture and not realize the importance of cuticle length for example) So yup, I totally agree with the sentiment that a universal constant law can't exist (since for a constant would need to be unchangeable, and to the best of my non- physicist knowledge there is none) like how would anything be unchangeable? IDK my mind is kinda being blown the more I think about how nothing is ever certain we are just certain about certain things at certain times in certain places. I love how you write about science BTW! Like it's quite simple and it reminds me of my favorite biology teacher's style of writing 😂 (this was probably an odd comment - but she is an amazing teacher)

@moola-of-hula [does the vulcan salute] yo

Keep reading

(anon bc I'm a nerd) but would you recommend any books? 😆 I'm trying to get back into reading and it would be greatly appreciated 💞 love your blog!

AAAAAAA MY FAVORITE KINDS OF ASKS ARE BOOK REC ASKS YES I CAN REC U SOME BOOKS

fantasy/sci fi/magical realsim etc

mistborn trilogy by brandon sanderson

a darker shade of magic by v.e. schwab ★

the archived by victoria schwab

this savage song by victoria schwab

vicious by v.e. schwab

more than this by patrick ness ★

the rest of us just live here by patrick ness ★

an ember in the ashes by sabaa tahir

peter darling by austin chant ★

illuminae by jay kristoff and amie kaufman 

the strange and beautiful sorrows of ava lavender by elizabeth wein ☆

of fire and stars by audrey coulthurst ★

the winner’s trilogy by marie rutkoski ☆

ink and bone by rachel caine ★

we are the ants by shaun david hutchinson ★

timekeeper by tara sim ★

the diviners by libba bray ★

the night circus by erin morgenstern 

contemporary 

i’ll give you the sun by jandy nelson ★

to all the boys i’ve loved before by jenny han ☆

we are okay by nina lacour ★

if i was your girl by meredith russo ★

you know me well by nina lacour and david levithan ★

the sky is everywhere by jandy nelson

this song is (not) for you by laura nowlin★

if he had been with me by laura nowlin

(★=lgbtq+ representation☆= very minor lgbtq+ representation)

i hope this helped!!!