#searching databases for random things at work bc i am procrastinating

[sapphicscience]

btw menstrual cycle "syncing"/synchrony in humans has never been conclusively proven and most well-designed studies show it doesn't exist; it's likely that any anecdotal experiences of this are artifacts of people having variable cycle lengths that naturally will sometimes overlap and sometimes won't

[thisnerdsadventures]

skills/things you should work on before or during college

i’ve decided to bring back the #advice

so in my past couple years, i’ve noticed a few places where people fall short on skills they were expected to have, myself included. note that this is a list of these skills, but there are tons tons of masterposts out there on how to work on each one. I’ll also try to link them, but i’ll def miss a few. here’s a few of such skills:

how to do a presentation

slides tips

preparation tips

tips for during your presentation

personal comments:

as fast as you can, learn how to not read off slides - i feel like i’ve been told this several hundred times in the past by teachers, and honestly it will make your presentation be a lot more engaging!

people have different ways of presenting. Some people like to present without any notes. Some like the speaker notes on powerpoint. Some like flashcards. Some like printed notes that they actually never even look at because they rehearsed ten times before the actual presentation, but prefer to have on them as a safety net and something for my hands to hold onto so they don’t fidget around (me). You need to figure out which one works best for you!

how to write

when you forgot about an essay until ten hours before (but still in general)

how to approach an essay

writing the essay (simple outline that seems pretty good)

personal comments:

things I didn’t find: how to research. This is also very important because learning how to accumulate knowledge is an important skill to know. Learn how to use your local library. Learn how to use the search database system. Learn how to read papers (academic papers). Learn how to make citations.

When you have like twenty sources you’re juggling, organize them by what they’re about, or what body paragraph of yours they correspond to. for example, i just wrote an essay about mariachi, and had papers about educational programs (which was a couple paragraphs), and other papers about the history of mariachi (which was another couple of paragraphs), so separating them kept me organized.

but as said before, learning how to read papers has actually been very important to me, especially in a STEM field. First learn to read papers in your field, then learn how to read papers outside it, because chances are at some point, you’ll need to read a review of some field you’d never thought of before.

how to code - shameless plug by cs kid

learn the fundamentals of programming - i would more suggest a youtube series or an mit ocw or edx series for this. personally i dont really think codeacademy works well here bc it more teaches you the syntax rather than coding strategies or the thought process behind coding, but thats personal

learn syntax - codeacademy or tutorialspoint are personal gotos for me because they sum up really quickly language syntax in readable language for someone not familiar with the language yet

algorithms - EVER WONDER WHAT PEOPLE MEAN BY QUICKSORT here it is jk this is the sole reason i passed my algorithms class last semester

personal comments:

yes this was a shameless plug but in many many industries, knowing how to code will separate you. it’s almost essential to know if you’re into STEM fields, and even in other industries, having that kind of problem solving ability is important to have in general.

if you’re going to code like for serious, its very important to learn the fundamentals of coding and coding principles very well rather than speeding thru languages. focus on one language, learn to use it very well and solve lots of problems with it, and then you’ll find picking up other languages will be really easy

how to learn by yourself

languages - learning languages is a good summary of learning anything by yourself. also tumblr has masterposts for literally any language. use the search function

any other topic [college geared, but not exclusive to] - try edx, mitx, mit ocw, coursera. these all offer recorded or online versions of college courses. can confirm that we here also use ocw to prep for our own courses lmao

lots and lots of colleges now offer online content. try googling for it

so in high school i found a few good sites, but am still finding these places. here a few links i really enjoyed

boundless -  IMMA TELL YOU THIS SITE CARRIED ME THRU AP BIO

for real though, lots of good content on here, and they also summarize every section into key bullets, which was really helpful for me, its really a hidden gem

wikipedia - sooo if you’re looking for a quick intro to a subject, its really not that bad as people say it is. i still use it pretty often. just dont cite it (if youre looking for research sources, go to the original source), and make sure its cited by some trustworthy source at the bottom

learning anything by yourself takes dedication and scheduling. having a plan increases the chances of following through tenfold.

how to present yourself

resume tips - note that different fields will have slightly different resumes. For example CS might have a side projects section - science might have a publications section. Note your own planned field of study and learn how people there might structure

career fair tips

interview tips

interview tips pt 2

personal comments:

I couldn’t find a good masterpost, but networking is also really important and going to local events and how to talk to people there. How you present yourself is also different from field to field, and how you learn to do so, I think, is when talking to mentors or upperclassmen from your field. 

random tip - if you say you know something, please actually know it

how to manage time

there are like ten thousand posts out there on this ...probably because its IMPORTANT

time management tips

organization tips - lots of times, the reason you’re wasting time is because you’re disorganized!

managing time while working

 tips in visual form

personal comments:

this is what works for me: to-do lists, devotion to google calendar and living and breathing an organized life (ie i make sure my room is [vaguely] clean)

know your strengths...and weaknesses

if you know a class is easier for you, you’re not necessarily going to need to schedule as much time for it as another class that might be harder, or you could you use smaller chunks of time in between other time slots for that class

hitting a rough spot of procrastination? take a shower, work out or go get water or make a cup of tea, or better yet, write an informative long studyblr post

how to cook SOMETHING

i’m not asking you to know how to cook a five course meal, but at least know how to fry an egg or do a basic pasta or something because the freshmen meal plan does not last forever

how to cook/food in college - basic tips for cooking and buying food/things on a budget too

buzzfeed is surprisingly good for easy manageable recipes

personal comments:

i first learned how to fry and scramble an egg. i now prefer making a kickass omelet, but usu i settle for the five minute fried egg

i next learned to make pasta, first cooking pasta and then mixing it in with store bought sauce, but lately i’ve been experimenting with like different homemade garlic/oil/cream sauces

i once upon steamed vegetables in the microwave and it wasnt horrible! that being said, dumping vegetables into boiling water isnt too bad my friends

frozen food from trader joes is your friend

ok hopefully this was informative/useful. sorry i havent posted in a month, i was overseas and then came back to campus and was bedriddenly sick for a week. on that note i just saw a mouse run by so i need to make sure my door’s closed. thanks guys!