Weaver of Words

A blog for maybe studying. Maybe. | Graduated! Bachelor w/ Honours! | Main @charmandheaven | Studied STEM (Soup, Textiles, ~~Engineering~~, Magic) & Linguistics |

[violetsandshrikes]

to all my researchers, students and people in general who love learning: if you don't know this already, i'm about to give you a game changer

connectedpapers

the basic rundown is: you use the search bar to enter a topic, scientific paper name or DOI. the website then offers you a list of papers on the topic, and you choose the one you're looking for/most relevant one. from here, it makes a tree diagram of related papers that are clustered based on topic relatability and colour-coded by time they were produced!

for example: here i search "human B12"

i go ahead and choose the first paper, meaning my graph will be based around it and start from the topics of "b12 levels" and "fraility syndrome"

here is the graph output! you can scroll through all the papers included on the left, and clicking on each one shows you it's position on the chart + will pull up details on the paper on the right hand column (title, authors, citations, abstract/summary and links where the paper can be found)

you get a few free graphs a month before you have to sign up, and i think the free version gives you up to 5 a month. there are paid versions but it really depends how often you need to use this kinda thing.

[thefifthtetrahedron]

researchrabbit works similarly. you do need to create an account to use it, but it is completely free (as far as I know), meaning no limits to your collections/graphs.

[quasi-normalcy]

So it's come my attention that there are a lot of students, particularly in humanities and social sciences disciplines, who need to hear this, so here goes:

Do the readings.

Oh my God, just do the readings. I promise, it gets easier once you get into the habit of it.

What makes a good student? Doing the readings. Literally just doing the readings is enough to make you a good student.

[quasi-normalcy]

The readings *are* the course. The lectures are just priming you for the readings. The tutorials and seminars are just how we collectively process the readings. If the readings were intended to be optional, they would have been listed under the "optional readings" heading.

[quasi-normalcy]

"Oh but I hate this reading! The author's an idiot, they're wrong about everything" Good. Do the reading and then tear it apart in class. This isn't high school, you're not expected to mindlessly absorb things anymore

[buttstothemoon]

If you're in physics, do the derivations. Don't believe that any equation given to you is true. Derive it. Convince yourself that it must be true, and understand the limitations of its truth.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

The very first lecture I give my students emphasizes that they do not have to accept the readings as truth from on high. They don't even have to like them! Critical reading is perhaps the most important skill I hope they take away from my course, and you can't develop it if you're not doing the fucking readings!

[quasi-normalcy]

#the number of ENGLISH MAJORS who refuse to read and then complain about not understanding the class discussions#I'm begging y'all. the information is in the words

[study-and-stitches]

20.08.25

Lowkey insane. I'm getting a job offer for a job I didn't actually apply for. I mean, I'm accepting, it'll help me develop more hand-ons skills that would help me move to a medical device manufacturing job later, but still.... insane.

[study-and-stitches]

10.07.25

Hmmm. Frickity frick. Looking on Whirlpool to see that no-one is getting accepted to mid-year grad role at tfnsw except internal candidates. *headdesk* I need to contact my referees after 6 months of no updates. Also I need to get at least ONE job offer pls T_T

[study-and-stitches]

08.04.25

Well, I got my completion letter. Other than my graduation, I guess I'm done with studying (apart from job training and/or my irrealistic fantasies of doing a masters/phd)

Now waiting anxiously for info for this one graduate program.

[study-and-stitches]

04.02.25

I have one subject whose results haven't been released yet... getting my completion letter soon is looking like a distant fantasy...

[study-and-stitches]

28.11.24

Turns academia is just submitting yourself to eternal critique. Idk, if I was doing this for linguistics, would I be more bothered by it since I would probably put more of my soul into it? I am already so so so dead from the feedback I get on my engo honours thesis. I think feedback on a linguistics phd thesis would kill me, my soul scattered to the winds.

[jackkdaniels]

stupid thing about me is I don’t cut corners but I also have no work ethic. if I do something it WILL be done right. no telling whether I’ll actually fucking do it tho

[moonmoonthecrabking]

"use chatgpt" that's the devil talking. buy four caffeinated drinks and pull an all nighter. this is the way.

[moonmoonthecrabking]

i may lose 5% for a late submission, but at least no one can deny that i wrote it with my own tits i mean brain

[study-and-stitches]

06.08.24

Doing my engineering honours thesis is making me realise how much I really want to do a linguistics research project. Like, I don't qualify to do a lingustics honours anymore but maybe masters? PhD?

The sunk cost fallacy of me spending countless nights and tears doing engineering tho... I genuinely do love when an engo project goes right, I love debugging and playing with coding and firmware. It's just all my engo work experience doesn't deal with that. It's just consulting and research respectively. The consulting was fun only because I bonded so much with my team and the free timtams. The actual work was not. And the research only made me realise that I really really want to do that... but for lingustics. But if I don't take an engo grad role, then what would everything have been for??

If I seriously pursue linguistics academia, I don't think I can get an industry engo job later if I change my mind. But if I pursue engo, I won't have the academic referees to do a research masters.

And then, there's a niggling thought to do a coursework masters in social work.

[study-and-stitches]

17.04.24

idk I think my ability to concentrate/discipline myself is eroding. I just feel unfathomable tiredness all the time with no motivation to do anything. Since like semester 2 last year. I never used extensions so much like now.

[caesarsaladinn]

I think the university course database should have a filter to only show classes taught by extremely old people who are insane

[study-and-stitches]

The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account toda

Hi! This is a preliminary survey to test if I have a basis for the rest of my paper. You will be asked to listen to 13 audio clips of Vietnamese speakers, each 10-20 seconds long, and categorise them based on what accent you think they're speaking. This is mostly intended for Vietnamese speakers (and it's probably more engaging if you are) but you can still do it if you're not.

If you have the time, please consider helping me out. Thank you!

[study-and-stitches]

15.03.2023

Reading the project list for bilingualism and yk, maybe all this drama is worth it.

[study-and-stitches]

However, change in language is inevitable, and this makes complaints against language change both futile and silly. All languages change all the time (except dead ones). - Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, Ch. 1

[thebraveandthebroiled]

Heyo it’s back to school time and here’s a research tip from your friendly neighborhood academic librarian.When searching for any topic on the internet just type in the word ‘libguide’ after your topic and tada like magic there will be several  beautifully curated lists of books, journals, articles, or other resources dealing with your subject. Librarians create these guides to help with folks’ informational needs, so please go find one and make a librarian happy today!!

[okayto]

this is the BEST advice, and there are so many options, both if you’re doing academic research, or just curious and looking for information!

It’s so interesting what you can find!

Dime novels, mystery & detective fiction, adulting (not academic, but still), D&D guide, citation libguides, comics, graphic novels, and manga, German language & literature, differentiating fake news, firefighting, body autonomy for kids and young adults, interfaith women advocates for social justice, cooking (nonacademic)/food culture and cuisine/food & cooking.

[thebraveandthebroiled]

Thank you for excellent additions and very much agre ewith you that cooking libguides are the best!! Have you seen all the ones from the Culinary Institute of America??

Oh! Building on your notes I figured I should mention to everyone that most academic institutions with a library are going to have a page with the research guides the librarians have made for their patrons. This will include basic topic guides on things like how to use the library or how to create citations. There will also be subject guides for areas of study like philosophy or biology. As well as specific course guides to assist classes that are being taught like FM 114: Introduction to the Fashion Industry or BME6938: Nanoparticle Nanomedicines.

If any of y’all have started university totally check out the ones your librarians have put up! There’s a ton up to help you along your research journey. And if you aren’t at university check them out too!! Some of the resources won’t be accessible but there’s loads of information you’ll still be able to use and get to.

[theblairwitchismymom]

Hello, fellow academic librarian specializing in instruction! Many libraries also include guides orientations on how to properly utilize non-subject specific databases. Watch those before diving into your first research project so you understand the tools and features available to you to make your life easier. Many universities subscribe to ProQuest or EBSCO and there are MANY tutorials that will teach you how to use them in less than 5 mins.

Believe me, you will save yourself A LOT of headache with both LibGuides and orientations. Good luck and happy hunting!

[study-and-stitches]

[Disclaimer: This is a rant lamenting my poor decision-making skills. Uni administration are really nice and overworked and deserves to be paid more.]

04.03.23

I feel like I'm doing too much work just to study multilingualism. It was like 2 months of emailing various people just to get approval from my normal uni. Then it was trying to get a certified academic transcript for the host uni, which involved both money and emailing.

When my normal uni started, I realised there was a 2 week difference btwn the semesters so that might be a problem with the internship I was planning on doing on winter break.

Then, when I got an offer, I actually got 2. Both of them didn't work, the first bc my dob was wrong and the second bc the offer got withdrawn bc they realised I already got an offer (but this one had my correct dob). So, I spent like 2 hours calling and waiting and then spent another 2 hours going back and forth from my house to the uni to fix my dob. But they closed at 4:30pm and I didn't make it in time so I need to visit them again early next Monday before my class at my normal uni starts. Hopefully, I would be enrolled before the multilingualism lecture on Tuesday.

Please let this unit be good so that these 4 months would have been worth it.