6 Essential Tools for deep study of any subject

After over ten years in school, scholarships almost every year and honors at diverse schools in diverse subjects I feel like one thing I can speak with authority about is study. Whether I was learning biology, philosophy, sociology or medicine I was always looking to optimize my study time so I could make the most out of my short time in school. Although I appreciate the need for balance in a student’s life (I have been raising a kid and trying to make a living during my entire college and graduate school experience) I also believe strongly that a student’s job is to learn – and learn well. When else will you be expected to delve deeply into a subject that you love? Here are the tools I have found to be indispensible in my work as a student.

1. Dictionaries, specialized and not.

I would be lost without my Far East Chinese-English Dictionary. I recommend it highly for any student of Chinese classics as it contains characters you will find in ancient texts – it does take a little getting used to the format, but it’s smooth sailing once you get the basics down. Also important is that it uses the Pinyin romanization system and not Wade-Giles. This is important as it is quickly becoming the standard and I find it much easier to use anyway. I’ve tried several other dictionaries, even owned a couple – but I sold them all after finding them to be inferior to the Far East.

You should find dictionaries for your field that help you to understand specialized terminology. I think people feel a little embarrassed at having to use a dictionary. I’ve noticed in some CM students, they feel that they should already know some of the basic terms (Qi, Blood, etc…) but simply do not have a good grasp on these basics. Of course, these terms are somewhat experiential and one’s understanding of them grows with time – but a standard definition is definitely useful. I’m sure this is the case in many fields.

I also have a general online dictionary cued up for non-specialized terminology that I need to understand. You might be surprised how many times you just glaze over words you’re not sure about. I know that some speed-reading techniques and other systems teach one to use the superior comprehension ability of the brain to simply grasp the overall meaning of a text, but I have found those methods to impair a deep understanding of most writing. I don’t take EVERY word seriously, but if I repeatedly run over a word and find that my mind sort of fogs up as I pass over it – I just look it up and see if that clears things a little.

2. Easily accessible bookmark file of reputable websites.

When I started school in Chinese medicine I took some time to do research on the web looking for reputable websites in my subject area. I mostly used my gut in judging a site “reputable” but generally looked for decent writing, usable design, good inlinks and outlinks and preferably a community of commenters engaged in interesting dialogue. After a month or so, I built up a great group of bookmarks that helped me to find the basics on any given question I had about Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, in Chinese medicine there is a dearth of quality websites covering anything more than the most basic information in very TCM terms – but this is changing.

If you don’t own your own computer but rely on your school’s computers you will have to use other strategies to keep track of your favorite sites. One possibility is to use a social bookmarking site like Del.icio.us but that can become unwieldy. You can also use a service like Google Bookmarks.

However, I do want to recommend that you get a computer of your own if possible. There are loan programs available and you don’t need the fanciest machine on the market to be functional. If you would like to start investigating computers, I can recommend the site Cnet.com as a great place to start exploring your options. Also, get a Mac. ;)

3. An excellent study space. For me, establishing excellent study space has been essential. I invested a little bit of money in a decent desk and covered it with plants and beautiful colors. I have all the pens, pencils, post-its, rubber bands, binder clips, GTD related materials (file folders, file cabinet, label maker, organizer, etc) easy at hand. I have music available and my computer in easy reach. I have plenty of light and a chair that doesn’t make me want to scream in frustration after five minutes. This didn’t cost me a lot of money, but the money I did invest has been worth it.

4. Relevant searchable notes from classes. One minorly obsessive thing I do is review my notes at the end of each term and file them according to subject. I don’t keep all of my notes – just those that are decently written, coherent, and in a subject that I will continue to study or is foundational for other things I will be studying. Sometimes I will file according to class if a class contained diverse subject material or if the instructor’s particular spin or personality was the most important part of the class. The point is to be able to find an excellent amount of information on topics I am interested in with a relative amount of ease.

Lately, I have been taking notes using the Notebook layout feature in the 2004 version of Microsoft Word. Though it is a bit buggy, it is highly useful, if only because of the Audio note feature. With this feature, you can record audio of the lecture while you are typing (I use the internal microphone in my MacBook) and when you go back to review notes, it puts a little audio icon in the left hand margin and when you click the icon it takes you to the audio that (theoretically) matches those notes! It works about 90% of the time, and I love it when it does work.

I have used various note-taking methods, notably the Cornell notetaking method (that’s a .pdf document), but find that it has been more work than its worth. Your results may vary – but do investigate special note-taking methods and find what works for you. Going to every class, taking useful notes and doing something with those notes should be your bread and butter as a student.

5. Easily accessible stack of most relevant books.

Books are expensive. In graduate and professional school, they are even MORE expensive. I am going to start doing book reviews on this site soon, and some of the books I will be reviewing will seem extravagantly priced. As a student, I have tried various methods to mitigate the high cost of some of these books – buying with a group of friends, using library copies, looking for the same information in other formats… but especially if what you are studying is going to be your profession (as in Chinese medicine study) I think it’s best just to save the money and buy the book. You can try sources online to find cheaper copies like Amazon.com or Powells Books online or try your local used bookstore.

The books I access the most are in a stack on my desk and they don’t move much – and not just because they weigh too much to carry around.  I leave them there because they are useful almost every day I’m studying.  The less I have to get up and search for something, the less likely I am to become distracted during a study session.

6.  Pen and paper or other brainstorming system.  Sometimes when I’m studying I get stuck.  I just can’t think anymore, or I’m sick of working on a given subject or I can’t figure out how to structure the next paragraph of a paper.  That’s when I turn to good ol’ pen and paper and do some brainstorming.  I don’t use any fancy methods.  I just start writing.  Sometimes this will turn into a mindmap, sometimes a reframing matrix, sometimes just a list of thoughts.  I actually typically turn to a method like this when I meet resistance in some school-related project rather than pulling up a website or picking up a book.  Why?  Because when I’m having a hard time thinking something through, more information rarely helps the situation.  If I need more information, I usually know it and know where to find it.

If some information source doesn’t immediately come up in my mind as a solution – I turn to brainstorming.

I’d love to hear some of your favorite study tools – let us know in the comments!

Eric

Tagged as: Character, Classical Texts (general), education, Learning, Personal Development, students, study-methods, studying