Ilya Shabanov Profile picture
Jan 1, 2023 5 tweets 4 min read Read on X
The most undervalued skill in academia?

Creativity.

As a young boy, I read in a magazine: Original ideas come from diverse impressions.

→ Four things that taught me something new & diverse:

• a website
• a book
• a newsletter
• a podcast

What are yours #ScienceTwitter? Image
Website: @aeonmag

Ad free essays on every conceivable topic.

At 2000 - 6000 words each article is a commitment.
But it leaves you transformed.

Aeon is what the internet should have been all about - consider donating, if you can afford. Image
@aeonmag Book: Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker

Science Fiction from 1937.

A man wakes up floating in space.
Witnesses billions of years of the universe evolving.
So who is the "Star Maker"?

Sci-Fi that ends up very spiritual & philosophic. I devoured this book. Image
@aeonmag Newsletter: Climate Foresight by @ColinRebel

It talks about environment in a succinct, optimistic and surprising way.

The introduction takes 20 seconds to read & makes me excited every time.

Ecology in the 21st century will be, what theoretical physics was in the 20th. Image
@aeonmag @ColinRebel Podcast: @Big_Biology

Always deep, insightful, relevant and humorous talks on biology.

One of my favourite episodes explain why whales are so big.

Marty Martin & Art Woods do a terrific job at directing. Not once did I think "Oh thats a dumb question".

Highly recommended Image

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More from @Artifexx

Jun 19
Almost done with the slides for this upcoming webinar.

It will be aimed at note-taking and synthesis.

Here is a sneak peak:
👇 Image
Note Taking

Most people take notes in the order they learn about the content.

This is wrong.

Conceptual notes are much more powerful.

Because you don't repeat yourself and use links instead.Image
Academic Note-taking

For academia, special rules apply.

You must protect yourself from plagiarism and always know where you learned what.

This is why you must use a source note template.Image
Image
Read 8 tweets
Jun 18
Everybody uses Google Docs.

But most don't install any of the 100+ extensions.

Unlock hidden features and save time with these 4 must-use extensions: 👇
(I use them for scientific papers)
What are extensions?

Extensions add functionality that Google Docs does not have.

Each extension adds a sidebar where it can be configured and activated.

Google does not develop these extensions but they gain access to your content.

Be aware of privacy issues.
1. Cross Reference

Allows you to generate numbers for figures automatically.

If you rearrange the figures, just click a button and all names and mentions are updated.

Works equally well for tables or equations.

Irreplaceable for academic work.
Read 8 tweets
Jun 12
I thought I would spend days on this lit review.

It took me just 10 minutes (no joke)!

Here is how and what tool I used:
👇Image
My Topic:

I am figuring out how forests react to climate change in New Zealand.

The big question: Who has done it before?
(A vast literature review question that can take hours)

Googling it, I found only a single paper: [Wardle 1992]
Really!?Image
To check if there is really only one paper, I searched for this paper [Wardle 1992] on @LitmapsApp ... Image
Read 11 tweets
Jun 10
Struggling with the discussion section?

Here is an unconventional strategy:

1. Lay out findings from papers on a canvas
2. Link each one to the PDF
3. Group by Topic
4. Summarize what you see as text
5. Flesh out and polish

Let's look at the details:
👇
For this, I am using the @obsdmd Canvas feature. If you are unfamiliar, check out this thread:

1. Lay out the findings of others

Copy quotes from related papers and link to the paper.

(yellow links lead to PDFs, blue links to my note on the paper)

Link them together, here for example are two estimates of a number that are quite far apart - discussion material!Image
Read 10 tweets
Jun 7
Lost in your research?

Create a research map - it's easy.

Here's how to start and find that research gap:
👇Image
1. Use @drawio

A free tool for building research maps.

Drag boxes from the left sidebar.

Customize it with the buttons on the right sidebar.
2. Define what each box means

Each box is an actor that can interact/be connected to others.

Here are some ideas for functional ecologists:Image
Read 10 tweets
Jun 3
Every academic wants to find meaningful research gaps.

❌ Old way: Read 1000s of papers
✅ New way: A step-by-step, visual strategy

Here's my workflow using Obsidian, Litmaps, Consensus and DrawIO:
(and a webinar on how to do this!)
👇 Image
1. Start with finding research questions

Sometimes there are papers dedicated to identifying them.
This will make your literature review process ENJOYABLE, as you won't follow ideas that are irrelevant (but inspire you personally).

Here are two examples:
Image
Image
2. Next find key papers on this topic.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to get started, is to use @ConsensusNLP GPT.

Find it in the GPT store or just use their website.

Here I just copy and pasted question 8 from the previous image.

The first hit seems reasonable! Image
Read 13 tweets

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