Almost done with the slides for this upcoming webinar.

It will be aimed at note-taking and synthesis.

Here is a sneak peak:
👇 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.

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.

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:
👇 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!?

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:

https://twitter.com/Artifexx/status/1650777930107166720

Lost in your research?

Create a research map - it's easy.

Here's how to start and find that research gap:
👇 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.

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!)
👇 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:

Double your productivity in Google Docs.

Learn these 12 essential keyboard shortcuts.

Windows & Mac:
👇 1. Paste without Style

Ever pasted something from Word or a browser and noticed that the format is completely broken?

Paste without format to avoid this. Press:

⌘ + ⇧ + V (Mac)
CTRL + SHIFT + V (Win)

In this example I copy from MS Word and the style is totally off.

What makes top researchers so productive?

They know what tools to use and when.

Master these 7 tools for rapid results:
(more info on each one below)
👇 1. Find key research questions for paper:

@scispace_ is an AI search engine for papers.

Ask a question and get papers as results.

https://twitter.com/Artifexx/status/1725745524601717073

Academics read and annotate papers daily.

PDF++ lets you search and connect these annotations.

Here is how to use it 👇:
(A game changer if you are using Zotero) Here's how it looks:

The annotation inside the PDF is linked (yellow text) in my notes.

Hover the link to get a preview.

Click on it to open the annotated PDF in a new tab.

PDF++ makes it easy to connect notes to PDFs.

Let's do it step by step...

This is Niklas Luhmann.

He has more citations than 99% of scientists.
And 70+ books.

Here is how he did it:
(...steal his secret) Luhmann (1927-1998) was a German sociologist and philosopher studying how societies function.

He wrote over 70 books and 400 articles on topics like law, politics, and art.

Luhmann described society as a self-sustaining system and was influential, especially in Germany.

Everybody uses Google Docs.

But most don't know its best features.

11 features that save time and make your work more professional:
(even for scientific papers)
👇 1. Folding

If you have a long document this is a life saver.

Create a heading.
Next to the heading click the ">" button to fold all text beneath this heading.

ChatGPT just received a massive upgrade: GPT-4omni.

It's a game-changer for academics/students.

Here is how it works and how to start using it:
👇 ✅ One model instead of three

ChatGPT now talks in real time, can capture clues like laughter, intonation and even video input. This has to do with its new architecture.

How it works:

Talking to ChatGPT is not new but it is done differently now. Previously there were 3 models:

- One translated audio to text
- then the normal ChatGPT answered your query
- and then another model translated that text to audio.

This was slow and most importantly missed key cues of communication like voice, intonation and so on.

In the new model there is a single model that is not just text→ text but directly audio→ audio. It does not require model 1 and 3 anymore.

Key benefit is it's faster, can tell multiple voices apart and feels much more natural.

The best researchers aren't geniuses. They're well-organized.

This is my favorite system to organize 1000s of notes.

Simple, yet powerful:
👇 1. The Problem

Taking notes helps you remember only if you can find your notes.

My vault has almost 400k words over 1000+ notes (and countless PDFs/Screenshots).

To find things easier you need to have MULTIPLE layers of organization. Divide and conquer.

Struggling with remembering where you saved a note?

Use Rainbow Folders: A hidden feature in Obsidian.

Here is how:
👇 Obsidian (@obsdmd) is a free software if you are serious about organizing knowledge (e.g. academics)

Organize by: Folders, Tags or Maps of Content

Rainbow folders gives every folder a color making them easier to find.

There are two modes: Backgrounds(Left) or Titles (Mid)

Plagiarism is a serious problem in academia.

Even a misplaced citation can massively damage your reputation.

Luckily AI is great at spotting plagiarism. Here is how:
👇 1. Plagiarism is complex

If you look at the Harvard Guide it identifies 6 types of plagiarism.

"Uncited paraphrase" might be the most difficult to spot.

Here you might mention established findings from older papers without citing them.

Want to get more done at the end of the week?

Use SCRUM - a scheduling technique most companies use. It's perfect for academics.

Details in text below:
👇 Summary:

1. Create a backlog of tasks and assign a difficulty to each (1,2,4,8 for the number of hours it takes to complete)

2. Plan meetings and seminars etc as they also take time.

3. Before starting your week distribute the tasks from the backlog to the days of the week. Don't plan more than 8hr of work a day (or less if you have other commitments).

4. During the week: Check off what you have completed (and how long it took you).

5. At the end of the week: Understand what you got done and what you didn't.

Understand that if you didn't get everything done it is a planning error. It does not mean you need to work harder/more (this is just recipe for burnout and I have been there myself). It just means you need to plan better. Efficiency comes in relaxation.

Every day you manage to accomplish what you planned you will feel great about yourself.

6. Next week you can copy and paste the open tasks to the next week and start the process again. Some people prefer to have a bi-weekly instead.

Don't have time to read a paper in detail?

Here is how to extract relevant information instantly:
👇 The setup:

You have a rather large and relevant conceptual paper.

There are others and you are not sure if it's worth reading it.

You are however more interested in the "big picture" not the methods and details.

Want to remember every paper you read?

Replace Zotero with a reference map and leverage your spatial memory.

Here is how:
👇

1. Reference manager vs map

Take a look at this screenshot: Which one looks more approachable and interesting? On the right is Zotero displaying all your papers in an endless list. On the left is a reference map.

Reference maps lay out your papers or PDFs in 2D on an endless surface called a "canvas" or "whiteboard". There are many tools that are capable of doing it: Obsidian is an obvious choice, Heptabase is great too, DrawIO is more complex but also good.

2. Zooming in and out / Finding things

Using the scroll wheel or pinch gesture you can fluidly navigate between the bird's eye view and the detailed view with your own notes on a single paper. Left: Detail, Right: All Papers.

To find papers you "fly up" and then "land on" the paper you are looking for. It feels incredibly natural and easier than scrolling through a list.

3. Why it works: Spatial Memory
Humans evolved moving around as hunter gatherers and spatial memory is a key trait needed for navigation. You leverage it by laying out your papers in a landscape, not a list. Your papers gain location and relation.

4. Headers and Topics: Location
Now that your papers are on a landscape or map you can have "countries" on this map. Every country is a topic, further subdivided in sub-topics. Here is the "Machine Learning Country" in the far south west of my map:

I can refer to "papers in the south west" - this is spatial memory being leveraged to remember where things are.

5. Semantic Connections: Relation

The next step is to build the "roads" between locations on the map. Simply draw an arrow and write on it what this relation signifies.

In the above example Swenson 2020 (top) wrote "the trait-demography relationship is weak (Yang 2018)".
So I read Yang 2018 (left) and added a connection. Later I found that (Lynn 2023) suggested a few solutions and linked those two as well.

By just looking at this map you can immediately write a sentence for your literature review. A narrative emerges and synthesis begins.

Summary:

Lay out papers on a spatial canvas using e.g. Obsidian instead of Zotero. Remembering them will be much easier because you can use your spatial memory. Synthesis starts happening automatically when you annotate connections between papers.

Do you do something like this?
Share a screenshot with us!


This is one of the methods you can learn about in my upcoming webinar:

https://twitter.com/Artifexx/status/1767442849438830848

6 Months ago my core tools barely included any AI.

Today things have shifted - a short update to this post:

https://twitter.com/Artifexx/status/1704046981344301339

1. Writing with 3 AI GPTs

When writing I consider 3 things:
- Finding citations to support the argument
- Putting ideas effectively on paper
- Skimming papers for logical relevance

ChatGPT can now do all of these with the help of GPTs:

effortlessacademic.com/a-complete-gui…

Webinar Apr 6th:
Literature Review & Academic Writing with AI

→ Find the most impactful literature quickly
→ Uncover reference gaps
→ Aid your writing process faithfully & ethically with AI

Link:

All details below:
👇effortlessacademic.com/elr3-webinar/ In this video I explain why the major changes in AI are such a big deal for literature reviews:

How do you conduct a lit-review in 2024?

❌ Old way: Searching for papers by keywords on Google
✅ New way: Semantic search using AI tools like SciSpace

Here is a demo:
👇 1. AI Search

Internet search replaced tedious searches in libraries and journals.

Similarly, semantic search will replace the internet search.

AI allows to search answers to questions directly, rather than using keywords.

SciSpace is one such semantic search tool. Let's try!