Get Organised Power Hour

Kirsty ThomsonSubject Librarian

October 2012

Today’s Power Hour

• Organising paper.– lecture notes, printouts, etc.

• Organising electronic material.– on your computer.– online tools.

What year are you in?

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0% 1. First year of an undergraduate (first) degree.

2. Other year of undergraduate degree.3. Postgraduate student.4. Research assistant/staff.

Key point for today’s session

• Stop thinking about how to organise your files and paperwork.

• Start thinking about how you use this material.

• Thinking about how and why you use something should influence how store it.

Lecture Notes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pschwager/5300647684/

Lecture notes

• In small groups, come up with three reasons why we keep lecture notes.

• PGs/researchers – think about notes from meetings.

Why do we keep our lecture notes?

• [Class discussion].

Main reason for keeping lecture notes

So that you can use them again.

How do you take lecture notes?

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0% 1. Annotate printout of slides2. Write notes in a jotter/spiral bound pad.3. Write notes on loose paper.4. Take notes directly onto laptop/tablet.5. I don’t take any extra notes in lectures.

Organising your notes

• Can’t study two different subjects at exactly the same time.– therefore arrange your notes in separate folders for each

subject.• Pad of paper?– can interfile with VLE printouts, revision notes, etc.

• Spiral bound notebook for each course?– advantage is that you don’t lose any pages of notes.– if using a notebook, write details of any loose handouts

in your notebook.

Tips

• Put the date on everything!• Write course, title of lecture, date, and page

number onto every loose sheet of paper.• If you are using a PowerPoint that goes the

“wrong way”, mark this on the sheet.

Slides from “Lecture 1.ppt” https://sites.google.com/site/shwetaphysicsclassroom/my-forms

Slides from “Lecture 1.ppt” https://sites.google.com/site/shwetaphysicsclassroom/my-forms

• File things soon after the lecture.• Don’t waste time copying out lecture notes just

so that you can store them neatly:– are you thinking about what you are re-writing?

• Use your original notes.OR• Turn them into study notes:– add summaries of sections; definitions; extra notes.

Colour

• Make use of colour to find things more easily.• In folders:– different coloured paper for your revision notes.– easier to find within folder when you are studying.

• In notes:– coloured pens for types of notes, e.g., red for

summaries.– Usefulness depends on your learning style:

• does this make it easier to find things within notes ..• … or is it “busywork”?

• See http://www.paperlovestory.com/2011/06/how-i-organise-my-lecture-notes.html

for an example of colour in lecture notes. – would this help you?– or would you spend a lot of time making your

notes look attractive instead of learning!– usefulness depends on your learning style.

• Note use of red pen to make words stand out. – useful for section headings and keywords.– aids studying.

Direct quotes in a different colour – useful when taking notes for essays.

Sticky notes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mixedmedia/2650461196/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Paper

• Journal articles.• Lecture notes.• Course handbooks ...• Think before you print:– do you need it on paper?

• How will you use it?– this should influence how you store it.

Electronic material

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambuj/345356294/

Electronic material

• Electronic material could be:– downloaded journal articles.– downloads from Vision.– websites you want to use again.– essays that you’ve written.– lecture notes that you’ve written.

Organising electronic material

• Same principle applies:Think about how you will use it again.

• Electronic material could be online or on your computer.

Tips - descriptive filenames

calculus/essay 1.docxphysics/first essay.docx

• What if you copy these to a memory stick?essay 1.docx

first essay.docx

• Include module code or name in filename:calculus/F17CA essay 01.docx

calculus/calculus essay 01.docx

Tips - downloaded papers

• Saving papers from a database:1-s2.0-S0001457511000662-main.pdf

• How do you remember what’s in a paper?• Change the filename,

e.g., keyword_author_yearspeeding_Lahrmann_2012.pdf

Online material

• Lots of apps and websites to help you store and relocate online material.

• Usefulness of these depends on your study style.

• Online doesn’t mean better:– do you work more effectively with folders of

paper/saving things on your computer?

Online Tools and Apps

Are you already using an online tool or app to organise your notes?

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Yes No

1. Yes2. No

E.g., Delicious; Evernote; Instapaper.

“Social bookmarking”

• Online sites that store your bookmarks.• Theory:– share your bookmarks with others.– easily find relevant material by looking at other people’s

bookmarks.• But real advantage is that you can access your

bookmarks from anywhere, and add tags to your bookmarks.

• Two leading providers:– delicious and diigo.

… *note

• Evernote – online tool for storing and organising web pages, notes, documents, etc.

• EndNote/EndNoteWeb – referencing management software. – stores info about journal articles, books, etc. – helps you find these again.– helps you automatically do references.

• OneNote – a Microsoft product that helps organise notes and files on your computer.

Evernote

• Very popular – good “buzz” online.• But not supported, owned or backed-up by

the university.• If you are going to use Evernote you must

make back-ups.• Lots of help using Evernote online.

Instapaper

• Free online service via browser add-on.• Two main features:• Read Now– removes adverts, fonts, colours, etc., from webpages.

• Read Later– Stores a “cleaned” version of the webpage in your Instapaper

account.– Can read later via Instapaper website or sync with smart

phone/Kindle/iPad etc– Using this could reduce your printing out?– Works with HTML but not with PDF.

Have you used reference management software

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0% 1. No, never heard of it.2. Have had a quick look but not used.3. Used EndNote Web.4. Used something else.

EndNoteWeb

• Reference management software.• Use this to store information about what you

are reading.• Also helps you add references to your work.

Summary

• Think about how you will use the information:– this should dictate how you store it.

• Online tools not necessarily better for everyone/everything, but do have some advantages.

• Everyone will have a different system:– find something that works for you.– only use methods that save you time.

Other useful Power Hours

• EndNoteWeb.• Time Management.• Tips for Effective Study.• Be Prepared! The Exam Survival Guide.• http://isguides.hw.ac.uk/powerhours