This document provides guidance for MSC, MA, MRes, and PhD students on becoming organized and effective researchers. It highlights the importance of independence, expertise, and the necessity of metacognitive awareness, while offering practical advice on time management, reading strategies, writing, and the use of technology in research. Additionally, it emphasizes utilizing resources wisely and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

1. How to be an organised
MSc/MA/Mres/PhD
student
Dr. Caspar Addyman
Birkbeck Babylab
@BrainStraining

2. What’s the point of a Masters or Doctorate?
A Masters/PhD is not another exam.
It is an apprenticeship in being an academic.
Academic n. 1. independent researcher.
2. a world expert (in something
almost nobody else cares about.)
Key words
INDEPENDENT and EXPERT

3. Independence
You are on your own…
But it is okay to ask advice.
There are others in the same boat.
You should be proud when you succeed.
Masters/PhD is incredible achievement
You deserve ALL the credit.
Ability to work independently is a
highly transferable skill.

4. Expertise
The bad news
10,000 - 50,000 hours (Simon & Chase, 1973)
The not so bad news
10,000 hours (Ericsson, 1996)
The good news
Quality of practice, not quantity.
Talent is far less important than determination
The excellent news
Practice can be fun & make you happy
(“FLOW” - Csikszentmihalyi, 1992)

6. The secret is to make better use of your time
1.
Meta-cognitive awareness
Being aware of your bad habits will
lead to good ones
2.
Work smarter, not harder
According to the experts.
3.
Technology
Your enemy and your friend.
4.
How to read
Tips on active reading of literature
5.
Final tips

7. 1. Metacognitive awareness
We all have different strengths and weaknesses
AND THAT’S OKAY!!
Doesn’t mean you have to accept it
Play to your strengths
Work at your weaknesses
“KNOW THYSELF”
It worked for Socrates!
“ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ”

8. Metacognitive Awareness Questionnaire
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT COGNITION
What type of learner are you?
1.Procedural – Learn by doing
>
Jump straight in
2.Declarative – Learn well from ‘facts’
>
Read widely.
1.Conditional/Contextual – Need background
knowledge & motivation
>
Evaluate your goals.
(Schraw & Dennison, 1994)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/175728784

9. Metacognitive Awareness Questionnaire
REGULATION OF COGNITION
Where can you use help & external strategies?
1.Planning
>
Organising time.
>
Organising knowledge.
>
Taking stock.
>
Checklists.
>
Get second opinions.
2.Information management
3.Comprehension monitoring
4.Debugging strategies
5.Evaluation
(Schraw & Dennison, 1994)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/175728784

10. 2. The ‘Experts’
A lot of what they say will be marketing hype.
Skim several different books to see where they agree.
Pick and choose things that work for you

11. S.M.A.R.T.(E.R)
The SMART mnemonic is
loved by business schools,
has been around a long
time and is a very useful
guide for goal setting.
Applies equally well to
whole projects or daily
tasks.
E
R
EVALUATE
REVALUATE

12. Daily routine
Do eat breakfast!
Start each day with a plan
Do difficult things first
Block your time
GO HOME!

13. Priorities

14. 3. Technology is your enemy
Thousands of new ways to
procrastinate
Variable time reinforcements in
Facebook, etc. are incredibly
addictive.
Divided attention & task
switching hurt your productivity
Despite 30 years to get it right
Microsoft Office products still
crash and lose your work.

15. 3. Technology is your friend
For God’s sake, have
an automatic back up
Please consider time
tracking tools
RescueTime.com
TeamViz.com

16. Powerpoint as a lab notebook.
Documenting your experiments as
you go is a very good idea:
It clarifies your thinking
Helps in communicating your ideas
to your supervisor
Creates diagrams you can adapt
for your papers
A complete record of what you did
saves a LOT of time later on.

17. Powerpoint as a lab notebook.
You should include:
Literature review (just the
highlights)
Your ideas & hypothesis
(visualisations & graphics)
Methods – include pilots, stimuli,
experimental design
Results – get into habit of copying
& pasting stats & graphs.

18. Researchers online
Twitter & Blogs:
Follow specialists in your field
and science communicators
e.g. @deevybee, @vaughanbell,
@brainstraining, @edyong209
and @YOU!
Academic social networks:
Keep you abreast of new
research, share your papers,
ask questions.

19. Reference management
Papers/citations are the
currency of academia.
Reviewers & examiners pay
most attention to references.
Reference management
software makes organising,
handling & using papers &
citations easy.

20. Papers – Mekentosj.com

21. Papers – Mekentosj.com

22. 4. How NOT to read
You can’t read everything. Don’t even try.
But over 3 years you will be surprised
by how much you can read
Don’t print things out
You will quickly get swamped. You will
lose important notes.
Don’t believe the hype
“Most published research findings are false”
(Ionaddis, 2005)

23. 4. How to read
Stay digital
Read hierarchically I
Start with the most recent major review, then
highly cited paper, work your way down
Read hierarchically II
Start with the title, abstract, main result,
methods, references, intro, discussion
Highlight and annotate liberally.
If you use someone’s method, read their
paper(s) forensically.

24. 5. Scientific writing tips
Avoid jargon.
Write up your thesis as you go along
250 pages of PhD is a LOT to do all in one go!
Get your supervisor to set lots of little deadlines
rather than 1 BIG one. Stick to them!
If you get an opportunity to write something up
for publication, take it.
Book reviews, review articles, book chapters
Empirical papers can take up to a year to get
published.
“Writing is rewriting”

25. 5. General productivity tips
Caffeine helps but only up to a point
Performance follows an Yerkes-Dodson
inverted U-shaped curve
(Watter, Martin & Schretter, 1997)
Sleep is wonderful
Less sleep = worse performance
Sleep consolidates learning
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu

26. 5. General productivity tips
Aerobic exercise is good for the brain
Better than any other form of brain training
(Hillman, Erickson & Kramer, 2008)
Meditate
Helps with concentration / attention

27. Thank you for your time.
@BrainStraining
This presentation is available at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/176137593/