How To Write A Thesis And Defend It Like A Pro

Oh to be reading a book in Oxford again.

there is nothing stronger than a soft soul

Annotations with Edgar Allan Poe

Well. Now I work at the university. And I'm really excited haha 😅

November 6th Journal

I have a work event today, but the academics don't stop. Learning isn't just about absorbing content, but learning what works for you, different academic styles, and how these things work off paper. For instance, some things work better when I teach them to a friend, others when I try a practice project, and others when I draw it out. I'm testing different methods of learning with the content that I'm noticing I'm pushing off, which keeps appearing in my to-do lists day after day.

To-do list:

🪶Latin level 2 🪶Type out my handwritten notes 🪶Data course 4.1 🪶Data course 4.2 🪶Finish that last 10% of my slot machine project 🪶Start the weather API project/watch a tutorial 🪶Learn binary search 🪶Print photos 🪶Create my friends birthday card

What I got done: 📜Data course 4.1 📜Data course 4.2 📜Typed out half my notes 📜Binary search

📚October 25, 2024

done with the first chapter of my history sub

༊࿐ ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚.

"You cannot save the world, but you might save the man in front of you if you work hard enough."

I just hope that one day my life is as peaceful as this <3

37/100 days of productivity •13/02/2024

I was feeling better yesterday but today.. so I’m sick again but I was productive. I went to study for a while in my garden to have a little natural vitamin d and telling myself that it was going to motivate me despite the fatigue and the feeling of being sick. No Mardi Gras for me.

• Mails

• Administrative stuff

• Epistemology humans sciences and social, research, definitions and plan of the assignment, with rerun of «  Who’s The Boss? » in the background.

• English exercises

• Duolingo: Portuguese

•Digital humanities taking notes

• Pedagogy research and lots of reading

Study tips that i learned through failures!

1. It's so important that you do a first read thru of the text as fast as possible. Stick to annotations and brief summarizing notes/outlines. Our brain is constantly making connections even when we're sleeping, so even if you don't understand something at first, getting stuck on it is a waste of your present time AND sleep time. Some things will click while you're doing chores because your brain is still working in the background! But it can't happen if there is nothing to click. Try to expose yourself to all the material as early as possible. [If you're studying math, skip the derivations and proofs in the first read thru and just do the example problems and focus on the underlying assumptions. Depending on the class/exam objective, you might not even be tested on the proof]

2. The breaks. Even if you know you can study 4 hours straight - don't. I used to do this especially when I was anxious, but it just burned me out. Even as quickly as the next day! If you're doing your first pom of the day and you feel really fresh to the point that you feel like you can skip that first break - dont.. it will pile up!

3. The water and the sugar!! This might sound really obvious, but studying burns up so many resources. On days I don't study, I might be okay with 60-70 oz of water, but on days I do, it's normal for me to hit 100 oz. I also ate way more food in general and ate more sugar too, and I think that's pretty normal.

4. Flashcards and practice problems > annotations > having nice notes. It kills me to say it, but the last exam I took (and passed!), I relied on my very disorganized notes/screenshots on my tablet. I didn't have time to organize and transfer them nicely onto paper in order even though every perfectionist cell in my body wanted to soo badly. Making your own textbook can be helpful but I seriously just didn't have the time. Focus on what will actually get you that pass score!

5. Find the note-taking app you like BEFORE your study period or exam season and practice using it! The last thing you want is to fight the syncing mechanism as you're trying to study. I like to use Flexil because of the split screen feature, the linked screenshots, and the cross-platform sync. If you are studying math, either learn latex over the summer/off period so you can use it in Obsidian/Anki or commit to manually written flashcards and notes the whole way. Dont try to switch halfway through because that will be a waste of your time. I personally think writing out the math is faster than typing it out in Latex, but it's your poison (they're both poison). (And if you study any type of math, I 10000% recommend using a tablet)

6. Unless you are studying for fun, orient everything around the class/exam objectives. Unfortunately, you're not gonna have time to be curious. If you don't think something will be tested, quickly cut it out and move on.

7. Figure out what your exam taking weaknesses are. Out of every 10 missed problems, I realized I'd miss a question solely because i input the wrong number into the calculator. Now I say the numbers in my head as I put it in, do it at a relatively slow pace, and break up large formulas into itsy pieces and make sure the output is close to what I expect it to be. I write out all the steps on paper sometimes to make sure every calculation is as expected. You only get once chance during the real thing, so it's important to come up with a policy to reduce risk and to stick to it every time.