Literature searching: theory and practice

I'm being painfully reminded lately about the difference between theory and practice.

In the early stages of trying to get a paper written, with a colleague, to submit to a conference, I have to keep reminding myself to keep track of what I've read and might want to quote from or refer to. But after several months of "scan, flick and `power browse’"- as a recent research paper calls it - that is proving to be very much harder to do than it sounds!

Smarter student

If there's one book I'd say was well worth students buying it's a book on study skills. It's excellent value as it will apply to every course, not just one. I don't know that I'd recommend any particular book as what works for one person doesn't always work so well for another, but this one is new in and gets lots of stars on Amazon, so it might be worth a look.

McMillan, Kathleen. The smarter student: skills and strategies for success at university. (Floor 1 - Study skills section - 029.6)

Another approach to Wikipedia

Having blogged about Jimmy Wales saying it isn't a good idea to cite Wikipedia, and about the US college that said the same thing, it was interesting to see an alternative approach being taken by a UK university. This BBC article describes how postgraduates are being required to write Wikipedia entries and updates as a way of developing their research skills.

Scientific evidence for why you fell asleep in your 9am lecture!

If you're a teenager who needs an excuse for drifting into dreamland during an early morning lecture, blame your circadian rhythms. Print out and keep this article from the Yorkshire Post as evidence.

One of the most fascinating sessions at the 'Creativity or Conformity?' conference I went to recently was by Russell Foster (Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at Oxford University) in which he explained how young people's body clocks run to a different rhythm than older people's. The result, when combined with 9am lectures and part-time work, is a lot of chronically sleep deprived young people.

Of course your lecturers have an equally good excuse for yawning through your late afternoon presentations!

Don't cite wikipedia: 2.

There's been another kerfuffle in the library blogosphere lately about Wikipedia. (What do you mean, you hadn't noticed?)

This article from the Guardian started it with it's report that a College in Vermont has 'banned students from citing Wikipedia'. In fact, as you read on, you discover that they were not saying that students shouldn't use Wikipedia, but that while Wikipedia may be a useful source, it should not be regarded as authoritative, and so should not be cited.

I did like the alternative suggested, of getting all students to take an introductory course in scepticism.

Swimming in the sea of irrelevance

There's an excellent article in the Times Online today about Google's continuing efforts to digitise everything it can lay it's hands on, including the content of libraries. It contains a warning.

"Google is a profit machine. Nothing wrong with that, as long as we don’t delude ourselves into thinking it is an entirely neutral source of information."

Well fair enough, and non-neutrality is definitely something to bear in mind when searching Google, but surely libraries, being much more selective than Google, can hardly claim to be neutral either? I don't think neutrality is the issue here. What libraries do that Google makes no attempt to do is to be selective and to select on grounds of quality.

All this reminds me of that classic, which I think I've referred to here before, Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which he says [my italics]

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy."

Another thing that libraries do is to give 'swimming lessons', and surely those are needed now more than ever.

Don't wait...

Two things happened today that made me do this. I spoke to the first student this year who said what many have said in previous years: "I'm in my 3rd year, and I never knew you had all this before!" and I wanted an excuse to play with SlideShare. So, let's see if this works...

Why time management is a bad thing

I've always had the feeling there was something fundamentally wrong with a time management system that would have you writing out long 'to do' lists and struggling through them. I thought it might just be a personal aversion to 'to do' lists, but now one of my favourite business bloggers has put his fing..., um, I mean paw, on exactly what is wrong with time management.

Feeling stressed?

The holidays are over, deadlines are looming. If you're feeling stressed about study you might find some useful information and advice here.

Revision and exam stress
Imperial College's Health Centre web-site has excellent information on self-help strategies for stress management, revision and exam techniques. It also describes three stereotypical phases and approaches to exams and revision. Which one do you fall into, and what can you do about it?

How to cope with the stress of student life
Advice and information from Mind, the mental health charity. Viewable only.

Stress
This website deals with stress in relation to exams in particular but the advice is useful for anyone experiencing stress whilst studying. There is an outline of the symptoms of stress as well as suggested strategies for managing it.

Study skills help : stress management
This site provides a range of links to other resources offering guidance on managing stress. They cover a range of topics such as attitude, relaxation and sleep.

For more information and links see our study skills and practical study skills subject guides.

Don't cite Wikipedia!

Who says you shouldn't cite Wikipedia? The founder of Wikipedia, no less. In fact he suggests it's not a good idea to cite encyclopedias at all. Read the full story in Business Week online.

New book - How to be a Student

It's one of those things that no-one ever actually teaches you, you just work it out as you go along. Unless you get your hands on How to be a Student by Sarah Moore.

I particularly liked these chapter headings.

• Regular 'study snacks' are better than occasional 'study binges'
  
• Understanding boredom
  
• Sleeping enough (but not too much)
  
• Remembering that lecturers and tutors are human too
  
• Recognizing that information is not knowledge
  
• Remembering that people thought Einstein was a slow learner
  
• Getting to know your librarians and lurking in the library
  
• Using all of your brain
  
• Having some time every day when you're doing nothing at all
  
• Reading
  
• Writing a little bit every day
  
• Using images and diagrams when you're taking notes
  
• Believing in yourself

ABI Inform - new features for researchers

ABI Inform have recently added some new and improved options for business researchers including:

• Full text US masters and doctoral dissertations
• A new improved 'My Research' area for organising your references
• Automated email alerts on your research topic
• The option to export Harvard format references