#best university for study

[the---hermit]

how I take notes on non fiction books

I recently made a post on my study method, and decided to make a whole separate post on my note taking method. The structure of the notes I write doesn't vary too much from my lecture notes to things I might have to read. A couple of useful informations you might want to know before I start actually talking about note writing is that I am mainly focused on studying history (tho I have had other humanities exams in my degrees), and that I study for oral exams in which the material is mainly composed of non fiction books, but sometimes include articles as well as lecture notes. Somehow I have also failed to mention that I am speaking about HANDWRITTEN NOTES. I only do handwritten notes, I don't work well digitally, so keep that in mind. And with this being said brace yourselves for a very long post. The bullet points I will be making are not really in a specific order and I will be including a few pictures too.

The first step when I am working on the materials for an exam is to figure out in which order I will be reading (and writing notes) the books. This hasn't really much to do with the notes themselves, but it's important to know which of your materials is more general and what other things go more in depth, so that you don't struggle too much while studying. Another plan related thing I always do is to write down each chapter of the book I have to study on my bullet journal and how many pages it is so I can plan my studying more comfortably. If the chapters are very long, and divided in subchapters I sometimes also write those down.

The goal of the notes I write is to fully take the place of the book, so they tend to be very detailed and long. I do this because the very act of writing is part of my study method, and working on things I have written down in my own words is just much better for the type of learner I am. So basically I read the book only once, then it goes back on the shelf and I work exclusively on the notes. This means my notes need to be detailed and well organized.

My method is to read a chapter, underlining important stuff as I am reading, and then right after I am done reading I work on the notes for that chapter before moving onto the next. I do this because it makes the note writing more effortless, I am fresh with informations I just read and I basically just need to skim over what I have underlined.

On underlining, since it is so important. I underline everything I will be including in my notes, it might seem much as sometimes it consists of full paragraphs, instead of key words. But this is okay because my notes I don't just copy and paste.

To create useful notes you need to be re-elaborating the informations. You need to read, understand what you read, and be able to write it down using your own words. That way the notes will be easier to review, they will often be composed of shorter sentences, and by doing so you are also actively making writing part of your studying and not just a mindless activity.

Personally I don't work well with full pages summaries, I need the text to be visually broken into sentences/small paragraphs, and I use a lot of symbols as well as abbreviations.

Symbols and abbreviations are in a way part of your very own language when you are writing notes, you tend to develop these with time, but they are so useful. I personally use different types of arrows, all caps words, position of the text in the page, different methods of highlighting and abbreviations (usually for words that come up often like country names, for example Italy becomes ita, France becomes fr, etc.).

Your notes need to be useful for you, they don't have to necessarily be comprehensible for another person (which means you can and will fuck up sentence structure because sometimes skipping a couple of words makes the notes shorter and still understandable), and they do not have to be pretty. They should be as tidy as possible, but again that might change from person to person, I have some very messy looking notes that make total sense to me. With time you'll learn what works best for you.

I have a visual memory so as I mentioned titles, highlighters, all caps, the placement on the page and other similar things are very important in my notes. I cannot fully exapain some of these things because some definitely only make sense to me in the moment (like the words I choose to write in all caps, or the way I highlight things).

I like to have a clear chapter and subchapter break (so that in case I need to refer back to the book it's super effortless). I like to write those with a red pen, usually the chapter title is in all caps and the subchapter in coursive, but it really depends.

I use only two highlighters in each set of notes yellow for dates, and the colour I associate with the book/the subject of the book (I have synesthesia I don't make the rules when it comes to colours). This of course might change depending your preferences and on the element of your notes you want to focus on. I like to have spacific colour for dates and time periods, because of course while studying history that is a fundamental element. If you are focusing on other subjects you might want to have a specific colour for names, or other elements.

I like to leave a big side margin to add either key words (especially in lecture notes since they might be messier and jump around informations more often), or additional information in a second time (sometimes it happens, after you read another book, or attended a particular lecture you have to add a couple of sentences and I rather have a blank space that never gets used rather than no space at all for emergencies).

I honestly mentioned everything that came to mind right away, but since note writing is now basically a mindless skill I have been practicing for years I surely forgot about something. I might end up adding to this post in the future or write another one. My note-writing method has also changed a lot thought the years from high school to university, it's a skill I have been perfecting for the past decade. This to say that depending on what you are working on things might change, and by experimenting with different things you might find out things that work very well for you. If you have any questions on specific things I didn't mention or that wen't clear my inbox is always open and I am more than happy to help.

Since this post is already very very long I am adding the pictures below the cut

Example of a page of notes before and after highlighting

Example of symbols and structure of the notes and the way I highlight things (in which you'll hopefully be able to understand my handwriting, and in which there might be some spelling errors but alas that often happens in my real notes as well so if there are any it's for the sake of accuracy lmao). If I end up adding informations on the margins I always use a pen of a different color so I can tell which informations I got from what source (ex. main notes from lecture, colorful notes from additional article).

Example of messier notes in which the main text in black are the notes I took during lectures and the additional colorful text was added while writing the materials (I rarely do this, it usually happens when the lectures follow a book precisely, which happens when we have to study books or summaries written by the professor). As you can see I often use post it notes to add more writing space, and sometime I even use them to create visually separated sections. If I end up adding some drawings I also usually like to have them on post it notes so they stand out more (and if you are wondering why the hell would an history student need drawings it's usually either because I need a map or a region/state to mark things out, or when studying for archaeology exams I often needed visual references, for example to identify different types of vases or decorations).

[sunjestic]

director's commentary for the Kintsugi comic i posted last week. i put a lot of thought into it, and i really wanted to talk about it.... i am a yapper

i am once again begging y'all to read this fic-

[ladyofspoons]

of course you have a blue kanohi and pronouns

[charlottecherries]

Planning Next Semester Part Five: Creating A Study Schedule

Ideal Study Times

One hour of study per one hour of lectures

My ideal times is 45 focused session followed by a 15 minute break

Alternate subjects to keep focus

Include overview and planning time

Subject scheduling

Hardest subjects first

Separate similar subjects to maintain focus

Mix theory (reading) and practice (questions)

Review each subject's work at the end of that session

Maintaining Focus

Set alarms and timers

Turn off phone

Drink water throughout

Have healthy snacks ready

Keep all necessary material close by

Break Activities

Make and eat a healthy snack

Go for a quick walk

Water break

Socialise

Stretch

Lie down

Tips

Pay attention to your energy levels

Be consistent

Aim for quality over quantity

Do extra reading for subtopics you're interested in

Celebrate or reward your success

Series Masterlist

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to study English literature A-level in an all girls sixth form with a young teacher then just know that once (and this is a few years ago now) my teacher played the “If the men find out we can shapeshift they’re going to tell the Church!!” video and then asked us what about the video we could apply to studying The Handmaid’s Tale

[rueclfer]

well looks like im never leaving california! if any of u guys need reproductive healthcare i will house all of you im not even playing

[szilverer]

remember lizzie? look what she made! isn't it cute? isn't it the most precious thing ever?

cute beneath the mask, too!

if i stop to properly elaborate on the entire context that led to this idea itll take me a looooong time so ill just. post topics and leave it be for the time being

on LF as mainly the same but edward as a woman:

the other set of victorian gender roles

the extra horrifying traumatic experience of being A Girl trying to survive + become an orderly in a place where women were used as "incubators" (clara surely wasn't the first or only attempt)

nightmarriage dynamics changing accordingly but she remains just as creepy & possessive as the edwarb. plus much more forward and assertively demanding. reisz is softer & more lenient with her from the get-go bc she reminds them of clara. still no honeymoon, however!

the theme of marriage as an institution -> family; plus celibacy and infertility

she laughs OHOHOHO like an ojou-sama. this isn't relevant but feels crucial to say

then. the same canon events (or equivalents to it) occur, and like edward, she goes absolutely insane in the months rei was at zee with the naturalist.

left unchecked in (and with) the orphanage and a lot of maladaptive obsessive thoughts

they would never leave clarabelle like this. they would never leave the aberration–

.........

unlike edward, she's not falling into a delirious spiral of bedrotting with wine and onanism. no. she's getting things done

if her husband won't give her a child she'll make one. if she can't have a child she will make their child and it will have their eyes.

mad parabolan scientist momence to cope. using her collection of hubby body parts plus her own as material etc. many things in jars. many failures. this is not making her any saner

the orphanage eventually gives her the hybrid's corpse, which was once buried in its ruins, as base (gotta say the horror movie imagery i have written for this specific moment is sick. half the reason this development exists). it can help keeping that body stable in parabola :) bc it Remembers :)

???!!!

parabolan dr frankenstein time again. customising time. 777 attempts

BEHOLD!! her son!! he's a perfect hybrid of her and her husband in every way. every way! he can be further improved, surely, but he's still the perfect child! which means he's functionally a doll. what? she hates children. obnoxious filthy little things.

baby head empty no thoughts (it has no brain activity)

it Is Not alive

lizzie Is Still insane

but also happier with her new ongoing project!

this timeline's reisz is gonna have a heart attack when they return from irem and see this. straight to the boatman.

(she steals their blood while they're out cold. for the child's improvement of course.)

...hm. only after i typed all of this out ive realised that creating and keeping a ~perfect~ empty vessel lying around in Parabola might have unforeseen consequences?

the future is a mystery

am possibly losing my mind with ocs but issokay. whats new

that's all for today folks

[thefourfan]

I love the Tumblr side of the Murder Drones Fandom, gotta be one of my favorite genders

[grelleswife]

Johann:

If Noé has a million haters, I’m one of them. 🤭

If Noé has 5 critics, I’m one of them. 💖

If Noé has 1 detractor, that one is me. ✨

If Noé has no enemies, I am no longer alive. 😁

If the world is against Noé, I’m right there with ‘em. 💞

If Noé takes his last breath under questionable circumstances, assume it was me. 🔪

[silhouettecrow]

I literally could not give less of a shit about Sabrina Carpenter's new album (Man's Best Friend) cover. The criticisms around it are simply slut shaming, kink shaming, and/or rooted in purity culture, all of which sets back feminism on their own, not a woman portraying her sexuality how she wants to.

My problem is her use of a historically damaging word for disabled people, particularly people with mental and intellectual disabilities, that is borderline a slur ("slow") in her new single, "Manchild." Not even just that, actually, her use of "stupid," "slow," "useless," and "half your brain just ain't there" all to describe someone's behaviour/mental capacity are ableist and extremely harmful. I genuinely do not care if she's bagging on her ex; these words should never be used like this against anyone, especially in a song that feels like it is meant to normalise this language by making the person using said language come across as empowered for using these words. It's abhorrent and disgusting and generally disappointing that she thought it was okay to use these words at all, especially against another human being. Again, I do not care who these words are being used against; using them against anyone is straight-up ableism. Also, I shouldn't have to say that there are plenty of other words that can more accurately describe someone's bad behaviour (such as selfish, heartless, demeaning, thoughtless, aggressive, abusive, and so on) that aren't explicitly ableist and/or commonly used against disabled people.

It's 2025. I thought we were fucking past this.

[the---hermit]

03|04|2025

After a few days from my exam of the season, and the start of my break I would expect a more positive update, but I have not been doing well. My anxiety has spiked up, I am struggling to actually relax, and I feel like I am on the verge of a panic attack all of the time. I am not sure it's only the consequence of all the accumulated stress finally being released. I am regretting having emailed my thesis supervisor so fast, I should have given myself actual rest time before opening a new academic quest and it's weighing down on me badly. In the hopes of eliminating my procrastination anxiety right away, I simply given myself another mental burden I don't have control over, which was the last thing I needed right at this moment. There is no going back now and I feel like I will be unable to actually make the most of my long awaited break. Idk I just wish I could shut my brain off for a while and lock the world out for a bit. To help with the situation I have been keeping myself distracted as best as I could with audiobooks. They do not require the mental energy of physically reading a book, but they do provide the escapism I desperately need now. The one thing I need now is a manual task to keep me busy. I might reorganize my bookshelves for the millionth time, or find something to craft. I just need to keep myself busy enough not to let my anxiety take over.

📖: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

[rainyblazepost]

Good news! I finished all the chapters!

Now I just need to revise everything one last time. My favorite method is repeating out loud, creating a speech on random topics, making connections between subjects.

Let’s hope for the best!

Good study to everyone!!✨✨💕

[thats-cantorintuitive]

10-06-2024 | productive days perking up!

when your brain finally says, “ok maybe enough staring at walls” after a real bad shutdown for a frustratingly long time - and then you're buried in books for hours at a stretch, forgetting dinner. and you're quietly cursing at your brain for wasting so much of your time, keeping you away from all that fun.

currently studying real analysis and she's a real beauty. though her seduction is not quite helping with my majors-decision-anxiety. nonetheless, i'm having fun!

[iviin-855]

When Rincewind tries to imagine a dragon he transdimensionally teleports into a plane, which when you think about it is just a dragon that actually makes sense and works according to physical laws

[chloesreality]

elena was so obsessed with Stefan in season 1 and we all just ignore it why?

[citrusstudies]

Winter break is coming to an end but it was really, really nice. Lots of time resting and doing personal reading... which I've re-realized is completely different than school reading!

I've really reconnected with the parts of life I've been missing and I hope to retain that once the semester begins.

Last semester of my undergrad... wish me luck!