Nox

~ Furious Kitten ~ Psychology student ~ Writer and Artist ~ 24 ~ Books, mangas and anime lover ~ French ~ Pansexual ~ I don't really post good things here, just some that might inspire or help me write or learn

[studeying-blog]

Here’s my weekly planner printable from my instagram, in 3 colours :-)

Links to download:

blue version

pink version

black version

My other printables:

Assignment Tracker

To Do Lists: first version, second version, third version

Weekly To Do: first version, second version

Daily Schedule Planner

Printable tag on my blog

thank you, and enjoy! - sarah, aka @studeying + instagram

[eintsein]

Redefining My Bullet Journal System

The bullet journal is probably something you’re no stranger to. It’s been circulating around the internet for a while, and it’s one of the main subjects of studyblr posts. However, when I started college last semester, I found that I no longer relied on my bullet journal to organize my tasks and structure my responsibilities anymore. Instead, I tried out a bunch of productivity/task-organization apps: Taskade, Actions by Moleskine, Any.do, Todoist, Wunderlist. None of them seemed to have what I needed, so I decided to give the bullet journal method another try.

The first thing I reflected on was why I stopped in the first place. At first I thought it was because the method itself allowed for a lot of freedom and I’d get confused as to what things to include and how to structure everything. But then I realized that it was in fact because I had previously been bullet journaling for other people instead of myself. Since I had what one could call an ‘artsy bullet journal’, I tended to focus more on the artistic aspect so that it would get more likes and reblogs after I posted it, when I should have been focusing on how it can organize my life. I realized that the bullet journal is a tool; the focus should be on life itself, not the bullet journal, but you can use the bullet journal to add value to your life.

At the beginning of the year, I deconstructed my organizational needs and attempted to apply that to my bullet journal method. I stopped looking at other people’s bullet journals and started thinking about my own needs and preferences. I thought about how I would best organize my time so that I could accomplish all of the things I want to accomplish in the different aspects of my life.

Supplies

The fact that I only have 2 main supplies allows me to bullet journal anywhere, anytime.

The Structure

The Practice

Simply having the tool to organize your life isn’t enough - you should also have a practice, a habit, for using it.

Going Forward

One thing I’d like to work on is future logging. As of now, I think in terms of months, since the my main commitment at the moment is my education, and monthly planning has worked out for me. But I think if I’d like to tackle on larger projects - e.g. my YouTube channel that I just started - I’d need to do a lot more future logging.

Another useful thing I want to try out is to summarize my journal entries in the form of notes. Recently I’ve been audio journaling (15-20 minutes of me talking to myself), and it’s been pretty effective. However, I have no way of ‘skimming’ the entries like I would a written journal entry. Summarizing them would help me retain main ideas of each entry and remember the things I said that are or could potentially be important and useful.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t think your bullet journal is adding value to or improving productivity and organization in your life, I think you should reconsider the way you’re approaching the system. I found a method that works for me; yours might be different. While it can be beneficial to draw inspiration from other people, do whatever helps you the most, not what other people tell you you should be doing. After coming up with an appropriate structure, make sure you maintain the practice.  

[monfufu]

[forsakenoathkeeper]

if u dont acknowledge the fanfics u read, the writer won’t think anyone is actually taking the time to read their stuff, which makes our effort feel wasted and our passions feel worthless

[chaotic-bastard-demon]

P L E A S E  D O  I T 

[snotloutadmirer]

I agree with this PLEASE GIVE US FEEDBACK

[eintsein]

College Note-Taking System

Having cohesive and effective notes is one of the key skills I think one should have, especially in an academic setting. When you’re receiving a ton of information each day, you want to be able to keep track of that and remember what you’ve learned. I’m constantly trying out ways to make my note-taking more effective and tailored to my needs. Here’s what my note-taking system looks like so far.

Quick note: click on the images for better quality!

Class Notes

Taking notes in class is an invaluable way to keep track of the new knowledge you’ve gained. However, depending on the mode in which the lecture material is conveyed, I take my notes differently. Here’s a summary of how I take my notes for each type of lecture, as well as some examples from the classes I’m taking now.

Slides (e.g. Macroeconomics)

Macroeconomics is a class in which you should be able to intuitively understand a lot of concepts but also remember a lot of things. Because of this, I’ve tailored my note-taking method and habits to achieve that goal.

I write my notes by hand because handwriting is more effective in committing things to memory.

As for what I actually do - and this is what I’ve done for other classes in which the professor/lecturer uses slides:

Read/skim over the slide.

Read each bullet point as the professor goes through them.

Copy it down if it’s straightforward or write it down in a structure and diction that I understand better (not necessarily in my own words - sometimes it’s just restructuring, e.g. splitting things up or joining different bullet points together).

Take note of any other important details the professor says about any particular point unless I think it’s intuitive or common sense.

Here’s an example from a Macroeconomics lecture.

Oral Presentation (e.g. Anthropology)

During classes in which the professor just speaks and doesn’t use much visual material, I listen before I write instead of attempting to write down every single detail mentioned.

Also, I type up my notes instead of handwriting them since the exams are all open-book so I don’t really have to commit things to memory.

Here’s what I do:

Listen for a cue that tells you what this particular part of the lecture will be about (and write it as a heading).

Write down main ideas and their supporting facts/details. If the facts/details come before the main ideas, then I’d usually draw an arrow.

Write down ideas and details from readings in their own section/subsection.

Sometimes, my professor also shows short clips in class, in which case I’d write down the message that I think the clip was meant to convey, as well as things that the professor points out that I didn’t think of on my own.

I’d also look up concepts/ideas/people/events (in real time) that are important to my understanding of the lecture material.

Here’s an example of a Google Docs document from an Anthropology lecture.

Demonstrations and Sample Problems (e.g. Computer Science)

Classes in which the lecture is mainly going through demos and problems are kind of tricky, because you want to know and understand what the professor is doing, but you also don’t want to be writing down every single step that’s being executed. Here’s what I’ve found to be the most effective so far:

If there are any, I import the slides/handout onto OneNote and annotate directly on the slide. If not, I just write down things like definitions, important concepts, and syntax-related things.

I focus on understanding what the professor’s doing with the demo or problem.

I then summarize the steps they took and

Write down comments and points they brought up, e.g. common errors, desirable habits/practices.

Also, these kinds of classes are usually classes in which you’d learn better when you actually do problems yourself, so I definitely learn more when I do assignments and labs than when I’m in class.

Here’s an example from a Web Programming lecture.

Here’s one from an Object Oriented Programming and Data Structures class. I often draw things to help me visualize the general points.

Rewritten Notes

My rewritten notes have definitely changed a lot since high school. Since most of my classes don’t require a lot of memorization, I organize my notes in such a way that they’d be easy to index or find information from. Here are some of the ways I do that:

Establishing a Visual Hierarchy

Having a well-defined hierarchy helps me flow through my notes really well as i read them. It helps me organize information like a mind map without actually making a mind map - I know the big topics and their subtopics and sub-subtopics and details … basically it’s easier to see how these ideas fit together.

But why don’t I just make mind-maps? See, the thing is, a lot of my notes require sequential or linear thinking, e.g. in macroeconomics it might be the sequence of events following a change in the economy, or in computer science it might be a general algorithm for solving a certain type of problem, or it might be proving or deriving a certain equation. These sorts of things just generally don’t work well with mind maps. Instead, establishing a visual hierarchy in my notes helps me organize different ideas while retaining the linear nature of the information.

Here’s what the hierarchy looks like.

Here is an example from my Web Programming class, which is a purely project-based class, so no prelims or exams. As you can see, I draw rectangles around important terminology so that I can easily find them while I’m working on a project. I also include examples from in-class activities as well as notes on syntax so I have an idea of how to implement certain things. These examples and notes are further grouped by terminology/concept.

Structuring Them for Easier Flow

My syllabi for my college courses are nowhere near as detailed as the syllabi for my high school courses - those of you who take/have taken Cambridge exams would know. In college, my syllabi are only lists of topics and not what you’re expected to know for each topic. Because of this, I have to find a way to arrange information so that I can achieve the most comprehensive and cohesive understanding of that topic, i.e. so that the flow of my notes is similar to the flow of my thinking.

For example, in my economics notebook, I like to have the details first (e.g. the separate markets: the goods market, the assets market, and the labor market) and then the big picture later (IS-LM-FE). Some people prefer the other way around - seeing the big picture and then going into the details - which I can understand and have done myself for certain topics.

Making Use of Proximity and Spacing

I very much dislike notes without good use of spacing and grouping things together. Keeping related ideas in visual proximity helps your brain (or at least mine) organize this information. It’s also a lot easier to find things and visualize your notes when they’re not just a huge chunk of text.

One thing I should probably mention is that I don’t use colored pens anymore because it just takes a lot of time to switch pens and think of a color palette. I also don’t have much use for it. In the past, I used color to help me memorize and group things in different categories, but now, I’ve found that there aren’t a whole lot of categories I need to keep track of, and when I do, I can do so with just one pen but changing the style of the text.

And that’s what my note-taking system currently looks like. It’s working well so far, but I still think there are other things I could try out that might be a better fit.

So yeah, hope this was helpful, and as always, feel free to drop an ask if you have any questions, or even if you have any suggestions or would like to share your note-taking system. Have an awesome week!

[itzbatz-deactivated20240722]

[maherschelaali]

Gonna reblog this every time it pops up on my dashboard.

[yo-daddys-my-bitch]

May the 10 of Pentacles bless your account with more money than you can spend. 💵✨

[hermes-is-my-homeboy]

10 of Pentz came thruuu

[violaslayvis]

Omg this actually works!!! Thank you 10 of Pentacles!!!

[borkdork]

I could seriously use this money right now….

[ashashi-corner]

Please give me my refund of 400$ soon…

[hermes-is-my-homeboy]

I feel obligated to reblog this every time it shows up in my dash

[hermes-is-my-homeboy]

No bragging, just 100% floored and grateful. Work hard, maintain a positive attitude, and believe that anything can happen.

[mchashimi]

So I reblogged this exactly a week ago because I thought it was funny and uh lo and behold, a family friend wrote me a big ol’ check just to help me out of a tough financial spot AND my bank refunded me $32 for fees they’d originally taken out. SO UH YEAH. Reblogging this again in hopes that it brings equally good fortune to my followers.

[penprp]

Sure why not? Jobs bring in money and prosperity…

[leradny]

I NEED TO FIX MY CAR DOOR

[getlostpeeves]

It fucking WORKED.

[yourbrothershotfriend]

I need my car bumper fixed lmaoo

[concerningwolves]

Full offense but your writing style is for you and nobody else. Use the words you want to use; play with language, experiment, use said, use adverbs, use “unrealistic” writing patterns, slap words you don’t even know are words on the page. Language is a sandbox and you, as the author, are at liberty to shape it however you wish. Build castles. Build a hovel. Build a mountain on a mountain or make a tiny cottage on a hill. Whatever it is you want to do. Write.

[yasminali-poetry]

I don’t remember if i’ve reblogged this before… but it is still an important reminder

[emmastudies]

Hello! A few followers of mine requested a post on my note taking system so here it is.

My notes The above picture is of my Arc Notebook and is a collection of classwork and textbook information! When I’m writing notes I have to always write the date. I always mark down the dates on any worksheets I receive and sometimes add the topic of the class into the calendar on my computer. During classes, I try to pay as much attention as I can. Especially to the information which the teacher emphasises! Class notes are usually really scruffy or I type them and then I will later rewrite/condense and add after class. I find this pretty helpful, however if I miss a day I usually fall behind and end up with a lot more work to do! For rewriting the notes, I look at the syllabus and make sure I write something for each topic. I use colour coding to help too. I refer to the notes from class and other textbooks or the Internet! Having a selection of resources is really useful for understanding your topics. I am also trying to create even simplified topic notes to print later. 

My work layout For starters, with a new topic I start on new paper. So I can easily find the one topic without having to make it by a title page or something, like in a regular exercise book! Titles are the sections of the syllabus which my notes relate to. Titles and always in black, underlined and capitalised. My notes are mainly in black and always in dot point form. I prefer having small sections of sentences compared to large chunks of writing. As you can see at points my writing goes in. I measure each time at either 1cm, 2cm or 3cm depending on the indent. Usually these notes are important for the line above, for instance an example or a definition. Also, you can see some sentences with arrows (either green or pink) underneath the sentences, these are just additional information which is relevant for either understanding or just interesting! I also leave one line between each section for easier reference.

My colour coding system I’ve had a lot of messages about this so I thought I should include it! I use the Staedtler Triplus Fineliners for all these notes. I use black as the normal note taking. Red is for the topic of sentence, because I use dot point form the red makes the work stand out so I can quickly refer to that sentence! I don’t use red in every sentence, usually only if I’ve begun talking about something else. I use light blue for terms that I need to remember or are important. I find this useful in all my subjects! Dark blue is for names of people/places/businesses/etc and abbreviations. Orange is for examples and are usually indented by 1cm. I use green for relevant information to help understanding or to clarify and as previously mentioned, I use an arrow and indent at 1cm. I use pink for generally interesting information which isn’t needed but good for showing knowledge. I find colour coding useful, but it makes note taking quite a timely process but it does look pretty!

Overall, my note taking isn’t very complicated and pretty easy to recreate! I hope some of you find this post at least a little helpful. Check out emmastudies.tumblr.com/tagged/me for more. Feel free to message me if theres anything else! :-)

[thespecsappeal]

How to Take Lecture Notes Effectively

When I first started university, my note-taking process looked something like this:

Thus, when I tried to actually revise using my “notes”, I found myself staring at documents upon documents of completely incomprehensible word vomit.

In order to save you guys from burning retinas time and energy, here are my top tips to write effective and efficient lecture notes.

1) Only write down key ideas

Not all words are equally important! The professor will often give analogies, further information about the context and just randoms details to keep you engaged and aid your learning. However, these are neither the core concepts nor the focal point of the lecture.

This also makes memorising details easier, because you’ll have a mental model of how concepts relate to each other, rather than just trying to rote-memorise everything.

Key ideas may include: formulae/equations, theories, terminology

Key ideas most likely do not include: random stories about your lecturer’s holiday, examples/case studies etc.

Writing questions about key ideas also helps. (e.g. what is ___? explain the purpose of ___ and when it is used.)

2) Focus on understanding and synthesising ideas

Listen to the lecturer and try and understand each concept holistically. It’s ok if you don’t get the nitty-gritty details but it’s important to have a solid base.

Try and link new concepts with prior knowledge. This makes understanding easier, as you have a better idea of where this new knowledge “fits in”.

Ask questions to clarify any potential misunderstandings (or if you’re shy, make a note to further research/come back to a particular area later).

3) Turn off your phone and other distractions

Pretty self-explanatory. It’s hard to understand the lecture content while you’re binge-watching Netflix/talking to your friends/doing the chicken dance on rollerskates.

4) Back up your notes

Try using apps that save to the Cloud like Google Docs or OneNote.

If you prefer writing by hand, consider downloading a “scanner” app on your phone so you can take pictures, and upload the file to your personal drive.

1) Fill in the details - without looking at the course material!

Retrieval practice has been proven to be far more effective than simply re-reading over notes.

Use the key concepts as prompts, and try and explain them using as much detail as possible.

Even if you don’t remember anything, write something down anyway! It will be helpful in identifying what you don’t know and any misconceptions you have about the content.

I would personally recommend doing this at least a few hours after the lecture so you’ll have partially “forgotten” some material. The “harder” studying feels, the more effectively it stays in your long-term memory.

2) Cross-check with lecture slides

After you have filled in the details of your notes, cross-check against the lecture slides/textbook to make sure that your notes are accurate.

Highlight sections you got “wrong” so you know what to prioritise next time you look at the notes.

3) Clear up any areas of confusion

If there are some areas you still don’t understand after looking at the lecture slides, consider asking someone else about it.

Good sources are: official class forums, dropping into the lecturer’s consultation hours, asking in your tutorial/lab, asking a smart friend etc.

1) Quiz yourself!

DO NOT RE-READ. OR AT LEAST DO NOT RE-READ WITHOUT QUIZZING YOURSELF FIRST.

Quizzing yourself destroys illusions of knowing - it’s hard to convince yourself you “understand” something when your answer is literally wrong.

Quizlet is a pretty useful website where you can make your own quiz set to revise or look up pre-existing ones.

One technique that I personally love is turning the text colour of all my notes (except headings/key idea names) to white. This way, I can “re-write” or even just orally explain my ideas, and simply highlight the text afterwards to double check.

2) Elaborate

When explaining and concept, try to constantly ask yourself “why?” or “so?” to try and test the depth of your knowledge.

Concepts don’t exist in isolation! Link them together to better understand them.

Think of it as trying to explain a concept to someone who has never heard of it before.

3) Make recordings

Record yourself explaining the key concepts so you can listen to these recordings for revision.

This is really good for when you’re commuting because there’s usually not much else to do, so you might as well be productive.

You can even use these recordings to quiz yourself! For instance, start with questions like “What is ___?”, pause the recordings, try to answer, and then listen to the explanation.

[chiihun]

poking at CP fics lately and put me in the mood to visit an old nightclub AU idea of mine lol featuring a very overworked manager!nikandros

[babywheat-deactivated20210117]

How to motivate yourself to study

We all have those days where you really don’t feel like studying and I really can relate to this as I am procastinating with writing this post, so here are some tips:

Tidy up, when you tidy up your work space, you already have done something productive so you it’s easier to continue now that you are in the “work flow”. Now that everything is tidy, you can start fresh and it’s easier to focus.

Get cozy, studying doesn’t has to be something unpleasent, by making some small changes in your suroundings you can make studying a little bit more fun. For example: my friend told me that she has “study sweaters”, she has bought these very comfy sweaters that she only was allowed to wear when she would study. She told me that when she was at uni she couldn’t wait to get home to put on her comfy study sweater, to make a warm cup of tea and to start studying. You also can listen to some music, burn a candle while you study or whatever makes you feel cozy when you have to study.

Plan, write down all the things you need to do/study and then plan when you are going to study what. Afterwards your mind feels less cluttered and you feel less  overwhelmed by all the things you need to get done. After you have planned everything, you will have a clear view of the things you have to get done and know you can get started with a fresh mind.

Only 15 minutes, tell yourself you are going to study only for 15 minutes. Like this you get into the work flow and you probably end up studying longer than those 15 minutes. If after those 15 minutes you really cannot set your mind to it, don’t worry, get some rest and try again later. It’s important that you take care of yourself. Most likely when you try again later you feel much better and you are able to get some work done. 

Why, ask yourself why you are studying? Because you want that dream job in the future? You want to get succesful? You want to give the best life to your children? Or mabye you want to help others with your future job. Whatever the reason may be, make sure to get clear on your goals and work towards them. It may be hard now, but in the end it will have been worth it.

Go to the library, the chances are bigger that you can get somework done when you go to the library. You are less likely to get distracted and you can see other people studying around you which can be a good motivation. Make sure to bring everything that you want to study, your chagers, a (healthy) snack and some water. 

Find inspiration, you can find loads of inspiration to start studying on tumblr, pinterest and youtube. You can follow studyblrs, watch study with me video’s etc. For some people this may be a good option to get motivated, but if you are anything like me, I wouldn’t suggest it, before I know I’m watching two hours of youtube videos and find myself scrolling randomly on tumblr. But who knows for some people this can be great to get started!

Be grateful, remember that not everyone has a chance to go to school and not everyone has the same opportunities that you had in your life. There are so many people who wish they had your life. Do not take it for granted. 

Also, make sure you are hydrated and have eaten something before you start studying! 

Goodluck everyone! I hope you have a productive day!

[elleandhermione]

study moods by coffee order

iced coffee: semi distracted, post it note central, excitement for summer break, doodles in the margins

latte: in a library, the soft noise of many people being quiet in the same place, scratching of a pencil, productivity

cream and sugar: long to do lists, editing friends’ essays, incessant pen clicking, a well organized planner

espresso: the last study session before a big test, slight panic, hard work, a tall stack of flash cards

cappuccino: a big project, planning and preparation, detailed timeline, a promise not to procrastinate

black coffee: sleeves pushed up to elbows, determination, tapping fingers, piles of textbooks all around

americano: in a cafe, reading a book for class, slow but steady progress, slightly smudged notes in black ink

tea: a neat desk, classical music, reviewing old notes, pushing up glasses, looking forward to the future

hot chocolate: studying in bed, soft playlist in the background, nose stuck in a textbook, relaxed

[nijiniji-nikubou-scans-deactiva]

Translator urgently needed!

Guys… My translator for Erv had to quit for personal reasons and now there’s no translator for it. If we can’t find anyone, we’ll have to drop it! That would break my heart 😭

*** Please share this, maybe it’ll reach someone who loves that series enough to work on it. Help us save the desert gays, please!!! ***

[eintsein]

Getting Stuff Done: How to Deal With Lack of Motivation

“How can I stay disciplined?”

“How can I get things done if I don’t feel like doing them?”

“How can I overcome my lack of motivation?”

As a college student who has had their fair share of being absolutely unmotivated to do anything, I know it can be hard to get things done if you don’t feel like doing them. Luckily, there are some things you can do to become more motivated to finish your homework, write your paper, study for your exam, or whatever tasks you have on your plate.

Part 1: Increasing motivation

Break up your tasks

Just thinking about one huge task is going to intimidate you so much that you’d rather leave it till later, when the urgency of time pushes you to complete it, than start now.

Breaking up your big tasks into smaller ones will make your tasks seem less daunting. Since you won’t be as intimidated by the amount of effort it might take to complete these tasks, you’ll be more likely to start doing them.

For studying, this can be something like ‘make flashcards for units 1-3’ or ‘practice past exam papers: 2015 + 2016’. For writing papers, this could be writing an outline, doing research for each point of your outline, writing the first 3 paragraphs, etc.

Working on small tasks at a time will also make you less prone to distractions since you only need to focus for a short length of time.

Make small goals and reward yourself

These goals could be accomplishing one of the smaller subtasks above, or achieving a certain grade on a practice test, or finishing a section of your study plan - as long as you’re working towards something.

The rewards? Maybe going out to eat, watching something, or even just time off. Hopefully these rewards will motivate you to complete your task.

I know some people are more inclined to do their work if they’re punished for not doing it, rather than rewarded for doing it, so if you wanna take the ‘punishment’ approach, you could do something like not allowing yourself to use social media until you finish a set of tasks - this is essentially the same thing, just thought about in a different manner. However, you should always be careful with these punishments/restrictions, because sometimes they can end up harming your health and productivity (e.g. ‘I can’t take a break until I finish all of my homework’).

Part 2: Not relying on motivation

Of course, you can’t always expect yourself to be motivated all the time. In fact, it’s very ineffective to rely on motivation to get things done; motivation is fleeting. Here’s an alternative: self-discipline. But how does it work?

Establish a study routine

Humans are creatures of habit. Even if you’re a P-type (like me), habits are hard to break. So making a habit of accomplishing your tasks/studying at a set time every day will help you, well, accomplish them. For example, it’s a lot easier to get your homework done every day if you do it at the same time - e.g. once you come home from school - rather than doing it ‘whenever you have time’.

Having a study routine will also make you less likely to be distracted since you know that that period of time had a purpose. If you’re trying this out for the first time, you might wanna completely get rid of distractions so that you can focus (e.g. putting your phone in your bag, on silent). However, with practice, I found that my phone or any other sources of distraction don’t really bother me anymore since I’ve had tons of practice resisting the urge to pick up my phone whenever there’s a notification, for example.

Schedule in time for breaks

This ties in well with the point about rewards: the break might be the reward for your studying. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case. You shouldn’t always think of relaxing as merely a reward for studying or accomplishing your tasks, but rather a necessity for the well-being of your mind. This sort of approach to breaks ensures that you actually let your brain rest once in a while.

After taking a break, your mind will be refreshed and revitalized, and you should have more than enough energy to continue with your other tasks.

Some of you asked - with regards to my previous post on The Mandatory Midday Break - how I can limit myself to exactly an hour, and to be honest, the answer is habit. It’s like having a habit of showering at the same time every day and not extend the length of time you spend in the bathroom (except in certain circumstances, like during a day off, I guess).

This is why it’s important to schedule your breaks and establish a study routine or habit - not only does it ensure you get enough rest, but it also prevents you from extending your break so that you don’t become unproductive and leave a ton of tasks unfinished.

It can be hard to motivate yourself to accomplish all your tasks, but there are things you can do to increase your motivation. However, you can’t expect to be motivated all the time, and you shouldn’t rely on motivation to get things done. Discipline and habit are the most important tools you can use to be efficient and productive without having to be motivated.

Hope this post has been helpful, and, as always, feel free to drop me an ask if you have an ask. Have an awesome week :)

[studyign]

eEEYYYYY the studyblr community has some amazing note taking methods and so i wanted to put a bunch of them in one place :]

flashcards:

fc: cute language ones

fc: biochemistry paths

fc: disease summaries

fc: pretty biology ones

fc: the leitner methods

fc: ap us history ones

fc: o chem + color code

alternative 2 flashcards

sticky notes:

printing on sticky notes

take notes from textbook

plot summaries [literature]

many ways to use post its

english reading summaries

character maps 4 english

outlines:

color coded + neat

cornell + color code

digital cornell notes

learn from mistakes

super duper cute

outline with onenote

the margin method

in class / lectures:

for all classes + color

spaced out + pretty

for all classes / hw

advice @ infographic

2 notebook method

organized + colors

reference sidebar

method infographic

specific classes:

sciences + maths

history methods

learning types

sketchnotes:

introduction to it

cute symbols to use

+adorable symbols

+insp @ nice symbols

how to draw ribbon

illustrating ur notes

over the top amazing:

homemade textbook

digital study guides [1]

revision study guide

mini moleskine guide

digital study guides

handwritten studying

masterposts!!!

productive summers

starting a study blog

time managements

succeed @ school

ap world history

web resources

ap psychology

bullet journals

ace ur exams

stress reliefs

annotations

essay writin

printables

sat help

hope this helped u all with taking notes!!!!!! xoxo sareena 

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

I was wondering if you knew any basic guides to outlining a novel for the first time?

Outlining a story is very, very important. Without an outline and thorough planning, your story will veer off in wildly different directions and will cost you a ton of time editing later, like my book did.

1. Get the characters down first

Characters are like the chess pieces of the story. Their moves and strengths/weaknesses will decide what is going to happen and how it will happen. Sure, you can have a nice plot and setting, but without the characters, the story is meaningless.

Here is the character chart that I usually use:

Name (First/Middle/Last/Maiden name)

Aliases/Nicknames

Age

Race

Gender

Sexuality

Height

Weight

Eye color

Hair color

Clothing style

Religion

Political views

Personality Traits

Strengths and Weaknesses

Likes and Dislikes

Family

Friends

Enemies

Role in the story

Backstory/past

2. Choose a template

Just bulleting the events does not give the plot the dimension that it deserves and does not really accommodate side plots.

I personally use the zigzag method that I discovered from this post. I branch off of the zigzags for my side plots so it looks kind of like a graph.

You can also use the subway method, which I found on the nanowrimo website.

There are a whole other host of outlines to choose from if you search them up!

3. Know that you don’t have to stick to it

An outline is just that: an outline. It’s not the final decision for the plot, it’s the first draft for the plot. If you’re writing and one of the points just isn’t working anymore, you don’t have to keep it because it was a part of your outline.

Write what feels right.

Happy outlining, and good luck with your story!

[thewritershandbook]

A logline is a one (or occasionally two) sentence description that boils the script down to its essential dramatic narrative in as succinct a manner as possible.