Very useful tips. Thank you for sharing. Can you clarify the difference advice from Tip 1 vs Tip 4. In Tip 1 you say that you write in your own words as your read. However, on Tip 4 you say that you copy and paste the content without writing in your own words. Can you clarify when your work process focuses more on Tip 1 (eg, write as you read) vs Tip 4 where you emphasize cutting and pasting (without writing in your own words). Thanks again.
Hi Carl! Glad you found them helpful. When I'm reading in order to write part of a paper or essay, I write as I read (tip 1). However, when I am reading for my own learning, understanding a concept, browsing the literature to see what's new, or just taking notes in general, then I cut and paste rather than take notes in my own words or rephrasing as it's much slower (tip 4). Then if I want to incorporate this stuff and later write about it, I have a wealth of notes directly from the papers (along with their references and article links) and can write in my own words from my own notes. Hope that clarifies!
And for those of us who still take handwritten notes, OneNote can do OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert a picture of the handwritten notes to digital text, which Word cannot do.
This is super helpful! Thank you Hira for sharing your hack. I have just finished reading my first article on my PhD programme and realised that if my masters has taught me anything at all, it is that I will need to organise more. About to start my second reading and your video gets suggested! The universe loves me😃
Hira, your short video on how you use OneNote has helped me immensly with writing difficult articles. I have ADHD-like symptoms that makes learning - and eventually, writing - difficult subjects. I've been working on an article on the Vagus nerve, trying to take notes from white papers, medical journals, reports ... and can't focus or organize anything. Your video really helped me. Unfortunately I didn't know what program you were using ... you never mentioned it. I eventually figured it out. Thanks so much for posting this. You ARE saving lives. - Roger
Hi Roger, I'm so happy to hear this system works for you! Sorry it wasn't in the video, I put it in the title and thumbnail. It's Microsoft OneNote, hope that's what you found too! I also have another video on OneNote on my channel if that is useful and will make more!
This video came for me at a perfect time. I've started my PhD recently and I have started using OneNote. This video has given me a better idea on how to get the most from my note taking and reading whilst using OneNote
this is brilliant! I wish I found this video 5 years ago hahah I'm still struggling to finish writing my phd thesis after all this time. I'm binge watching all your videos now, already a big fan. thank you for sharing your experiences and tips, Hira!
Hey Hira!! This is the most beneficial video I have ever come across and you have highlighted each and every detail with so much effort. More power to you !!
thank you for this lifesaving video!! Im currently working on my Bachelorthesis and I was already panicking so much. At my College we don't really learn a lot about how to actually write a thesis so this was super useful! Thank you so much!!!
I think this was the most informative tips/tricks video about taking notes I've ever came across on UA-cam... everyone else kinda avoid to show the exact method and just recommending basic and overall useful tips... But this one was the method I will use because of explanation why this is useful. 1) Was thinking to Copy-paste was a bad idea and my notetaking was super slow. And yes, some notes I spend on them like 20-30 minutes were never used. 2) To save at least some information about every article that u read is brilliant idea. Who remembers read articles around some subject after 2-3 years... but going trough a small list/remarks will refresh the knowledge of that topic for sure. Thank you. U got +1 sub :)
let me say something ,,,, this is absolutely the most informative video about writing i have ever came across ,,, you're genius and i loved the way you made that excel\google sheet
Thank you very helpful! I'm working on my bachelor's thesis, so not a lot of experience or guidance on the writing process. Videos like this have helped me a great deal! I never really thought about having a file to note all the papers I've read, it seems very useful and far quicker than going through every file. I'm also gonna try out OneNote, I've been taking notes in Word, but having a side by side note-my own words seems much easier
Nice idea! I was thinking in how to be more productive and I found your video. It helped me to clarify some ideas that I was already planning. Thanks a lot!
Assalaamu 'alaykum Hira! I'm a new PhD student, and I found your video very reassuring! I have been a researcher, and I use OneNote in preparing my proposals. I tried Notion but it isn't really for me. You're right, OneNote is still the best! May Allāh grant you success in this world and in the Hereafter.
Hi! Thanks you so much for create this video. I'm a physics student and I'm going to begin my thesis but I was scared about how I will remeber all the information that I read. And your video helped me so much.
Holy moly, you're my freaking hero! I'm going to try to put this to use in my work. Thank you for your easy, down-to-earth, and understandable explanation. I'm going to be smiling at "recycle your writing like it's a climate crisis" for days! :D
Nicely presented! I use the copy/paste technique and was hoping for a faster way 🙃 I think I try to take notes on everything that even looks slightly possibly useful, and it slows me down
From everything i’ve seen so far the Excel document is the best!! That’s what going to work for me. Because i like to scroll through it instead of searching for a key word.
although I am not in any phd and I will not be. You have a simple and practical solution for my studies in accounting practices. I have little time because I have a small consulting business, family and taking care of my mother with dementia. Excel, word and OneNote are my main tools for years, I've tried others but no, I don't like them and I go back to Microsoft. Could you please explain a little more how you make references to your notes? I have watched this video 4 times and will watch it 100 more if necessary. Thank you very much x 1000.
Thanks, for sharing these tips Hira. Could you please also teach us how to use all the facilities/ options of Word for writing our dissertation from scratch? That would be very helpful for many people. Thanks, again!
I just watched this video, its amazing!!!. I also love working with OneNote for taking notes, although it took me a while to discover and manage that work flow.... And the excel file "References", it has to be a canonical event😂... I have the same file name, different format but quite similar purpose, still need some adjustments.
Hi. the video was good and thanks for making and sharing it with us. but I tried so much to get how you organized and made those notes. but I couldn't. I just saw some shots from the screen though I was searching for how you made it. but I couldn't find it. We all would be so happy if you will be able to show us how to organize those notes and the resources which every one of us is going to use.
Hi there sorry for the late reply! Did you mean how I made the spreadsheet? That was just in excel. And how I made notes from papers? For that I used a free software called Microsoft Onenote :)
Thank you for your generous sharing. I am interested in the excel spreadsheet in Tip 2. Would you get the information of all paper you have read? Will it take a lot of time? If not, what kind of articles will you note down in your excel sheet? Will the brief thing of paper in Note column be the abstract of the paper?
Extremely helpful tips princess Hira. "Forgive me your highness, for I am but a monkey, and it is in my nature to climb. I did not mean to gaze upon you as you comb your hair." - Sheldon
You in fact, need a reference manager and Word Doc has one already, you can highlight the document and refer to it from the reference manager. Moreover, you need to construct metrics based on data alaysis, so to derive research direction. Once you've done that, then reading articles will be evaluated in terms of deviation of each application. This is where your metrics match a real world application. Writing as you discover is called data collection by literature review. This only serves as initial research to check of gap in the serearch.
In what order would you do these tips? I'm a bit confused between the Excel sheet organisation and the one-note organisation. Would you store everything on one note and then make an Excel sheet based on what you are going to use. Great video by the way ! :)
Whenever I find a paper I find anything interesting in I add a little row to Excel. And some papers I take detailed notes for in One Note. Not really an order always but just remember to add a row whenever you read a paper it helps you find what you've read and where the info is. Good luck and thank you!
Really interesting Hira. I'm a PhD student too and I have a problem XD because all the time I'm changing my system for writing. I use notion but when I'm writing I need something that can I use to reorganize my notes.
A lot of videos promote using Notions and similar apps for note taking. Is that approach good or time wasting? Also, I like the idea of using Excel to write down the name & url of the referencing source, but is there a way to group related reference sources together to make this achieving process more efficient?
Thanks for your video. Maybe I am a bit slow at this, but I cannot get Onenote to work in the way that you have set it up. For example, how do you upload a PDF and then have the other side of the screen for pasting or typing as you read the pdf on the other half of the screen?
Hello Hira, thank you for the video. I do not quite get the differenc ebetween point 1 and 3 in your video. First you say that you rewrite the useful paragraphs straight away. In the third section you say that you just copy paste and rewrite it later only if it is useful your the thesis. Can you please clarify on that?
It depends on the purpose. If you're reading to write e.g. an essay or your thesis intro, then I write as I read. But if you're reading to understand a topic, browse the literature, or make notes I just copy paste. And if I need to write from it later then I can use that info and paraphrase without having to reread articles. Hope that makes sense!
Very useful tips. Thank you for sharing. Can you clarify the difference advice from Tip 1 vs Tip 4. In Tip 1 you say that you write in your own words as your read. However, on Tip 4 you say that you copy and paste the content without writing in your own words. Can you clarify when your work process focuses more on Tip 1 (eg, write as you read) vs Tip 4 where you emphasize cutting and pasting (without writing in your own words). Thanks again.
Hi Carl! Glad you found them helpful. When I'm reading in order to write part of a paper or essay, I write as I read (tip 1). However, when I am reading for my own learning, understanding a concept, browsing the literature to see what's new, or just taking notes in general, then I cut and paste rather than take notes in my own words or rephrasing as it's much slower (tip 4). Then if I want to incorporate this stuff and later write about it, I have a wealth of notes directly from the papers (along with their references and article links) and can write in my own words from my own notes. Hope that clarifies!
@@oxford_phd thank you for taking the time to clarify. The distinction is clear. You have one new subscriber.
@@CarlA-wo9un welcome on board, happy to have you here! :)
And for those of us who still take handwritten notes, OneNote can do OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert a picture of the handwritten notes to digital text, which Word cannot do.
She was using one note ?
Don't forget to use a citation manager like Zotero.
This video may only appeal to a selective audience, however the content inside it is invaluable!
I think your comment is invaluable and super non-constructive.
Thanks! I can see you are doing well and you will be going places. I know you’re family is super proud. Thanks again for the study tip.
That is so kind of you, Dan, thank you! This is my first time receiving a super thanks, you made my day! Wish you all the best, Hira
This is super helpful! Thank you Hira for sharing your hack. I have just finished reading my first article on my PhD programme and realised that if my masters has taught me anything at all, it is that I will need to organise more. About to start my second reading and your video gets suggested! The universe loves me😃
Aww that's great that the video got recommended to you! Good luck on your PhD! You'll do amazing! :D
Thank you so much! I was actually looking for a source organising table, just starting my master thesis :)
Hira, your short video on how you use OneNote has helped me immensly with writing difficult articles. I have ADHD-like symptoms that makes learning - and eventually, writing - difficult subjects. I've been working on an article on the Vagus nerve, trying to take notes from white papers, medical journals, reports ... and can't focus or organize anything. Your video really helped me. Unfortunately I didn't know what program you were using ... you never mentioned it. I eventually figured it out. Thanks so much for posting this. You ARE saving lives. - Roger
Hi Roger, I'm so happy to hear this system works for you! Sorry it wasn't in the video, I put it in the title and thumbnail. It's Microsoft OneNote, hope that's what you found too! I also have another video on OneNote on my channel if that is useful and will make more!
@@oxford_phd Thanks again.
This video came for me at a perfect time. I've started my PhD recently and I have started using OneNote. This video has given me a better idea on how to get the most from my note taking and reading whilst using OneNote
This is super helpful! As a phd student struggling to stay organized and a neurodivergent person, your video is god sent.Thank you!
this is brilliant! I wish I found this video 5 years ago hahah I'm still struggling to finish writing my phd thesis after all this time. I'm binge watching all your videos now, already a big fan. thank you for sharing your experiences and tips, Hira!
Thank you for your kind words, good luck with thesis writing!
Hey Hira!! This is the most beneficial video I have ever come across and you have highlighted each and every detail with so much effort. More power to you !!
Thanks again Dr Hira! Just started my MSc at Oxford few weeks ago. What a lovely time to be learning how to organize notes for research !
I have watched many videos about onenote, this one is the most valuable for me.
Thank you so much, I will start my PhD soon and your videos are very illustrative and helpful, they fit like a glove in hand
thank you for this lifesaving video!! Im currently working on my Bachelorthesis and I was already panicking so much. At my College we don't really learn a lot about how to actually write a thesis so this was super useful! Thank you so much!!!
I think this was the most informative tips/tricks video about taking notes I've ever came across on UA-cam... everyone else kinda avoid to show the exact method and just recommending basic and overall useful tips...
But this one was the method I will use because of explanation why this is useful.
1) Was thinking to Copy-paste was a bad idea and my notetaking was super slow. And yes, some notes I spend on them like 20-30 minutes were never used.
2) To save at least some information about every article that u read is brilliant idea. Who remembers read articles around some subject after 2-3 years... but going trough a small list/remarks will refresh the knowledge of that topic for sure.
Thank you. U got +1 sub :)
Thanks for this, you are saving lives
I just met you (30 sec ago) and I can safely say that I LOVE you. Thanks so much for taking the time to help other poor souls.
I'm by no means a PhD student but as a writer this is an invaluable resource to help with organising research!
LOVE THIS. Exactly what I was looking for - thank you so much for taking the time to share this!
Thanks so much for your comment, Katherine! Glad you found it helpful 😊
let me say something ,,,, this is absolutely the most informative video about writing i have ever came across ,,, you're genius and i loved the way you made that excel\google sheet
Thank you very helpful! I'm working on my bachelor's thesis, so not a lot of experience or guidance on the writing process. Videos like this have helped me a great deal!
I never really thought about having a file to note all the papers I've read, it seems very useful and far quicker than going through every file.
I'm also gonna try out OneNote, I've been taking notes in Word, but having a side by side note-my own words seems much easier
Nice idea! I was thinking in how to be more productive and I found your video. It helped me to clarify some ideas that I was already planning. Thanks a lot!
Assalaamu 'alaykum Hira! I'm a new PhD student, and I found your video very reassuring! I have been a researcher, and I use OneNote in preparing my proposals. I tried Notion but it isn't really for me. You're right, OneNote is still the best! May Allāh grant you success in this world and in the Hereafter.
JazakAllah khair! And to you, ameen ☺️
Hi First Time utilizing this format for a research paper - Not staying organized has cost me a lot thanks for the format / video
acrobat reader is also pretty helpful because it can search specific keywords from across documents in ur computer
Hi! Thanks you so much for create this video.
I'm a physics student and I'm going to begin my thesis but I was scared about how I will remeber all the information that I read. And your video helped me so much.
Thank you so much dear, I am taking all the advice and now I am watching more and more videos how to organize on OneNote :)
Amazing! I'm obsessed by this way of organization, thank you so much!
thank you!! Just starting the dissertation process for my undergrad and i found this video really helpful
Hira, you are amazing and a lifesaver, thank you so so much!💖
Love this exactly what I was looking for.
Thank you
Very useful tips for Ph.D. starters and a very underrated video. It should have at least 1 M.
incredible stuff @hira. thanks for the wonderful tips.
watched this months ago and today again. thank you so much!
this is literally the best thing i ve ever seen
Haha your comment my day! 😅
Hira! You’re a star !!!!!! Thanks a million…..!
Holy moly, you're my freaking hero! I'm going to try to put this to use in my work. Thank you for your easy, down-to-earth, and understandable explanation. I'm going to be smiling at "recycle your writing like it's a climate crisis" for days! :D
Hehe thank you! Glad you found it helpful!
You have given me HOPE for my dissertation… Thank you. ❤
Nicely presented! I use the copy/paste technique and was hoping for a faster way 🙃 I think I try to take notes on everything that even looks slightly possibly useful, and it slows me down
Thanks!
So kind of you, many thanks! 😊
From everything i’ve seen so far the Excel document is the best!! That’s what going to work for me. Because i like to scroll through it instead of searching for a key word.
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best! Who would have thought Excel, eh? :)
Thank you for these useful tips.
Thank you for these tips. I will definitely check out One Note.
although I am not in any phd and I will not be. You have a simple and practical solution for my studies in accounting practices. I have little time because I have a small consulting business, family and taking care of my mother with dementia. Excel, word and OneNote are my main tools for years, I've tried others but no, I don't like them and I go back to Microsoft.
Could you please explain a little more how you make references to your notes? I have watched this video 4 times and will watch it 100 more if necessary.
Thank you very much x 1000.
Wonderful tips - thank you so much!
Thanks, for sharing these tips Hira. Could you please also teach us how to use all the facilities/ options of Word for writing our dissertation from scratch? That would be very helpful for many people. Thanks, again!
Yes will do it's on the task list :)
That's quite nice Hira, thanks for sharing.
Love it Hira, thanks for sharing!
Brilliant tips Hira, many thanks.
Your tops have helped me sooo much!! Thank you!!
Superb! Thanks for your tips Hira
Excellent suggestions. Thank you very much!
Life saving queen, thank you so much!!!
This was fun and very helpful. Thank you so much!
Very useful! Many thanks! Really like the way you speak, also how resourceful you are ! 🎉
About to start my Bachelor thesis, this will be very helpful. Thank you Hira !
Glad it was helpful! Best of luck!
Absolutely amazing!!
I just watched this video, its amazing!!!. I also love working with OneNote for taking notes, although it took me a while to discover and manage that work flow.... And the excel file "References", it has to be a canonical event😂... I have the same file name, different format but quite similar purpose, still need some adjustments.
Thank you for this amazing video! Helped me so much! ❤🎉
great, so practical and helpful.
Hi. the video was good and thanks for making and sharing it with us. but I tried so much to get how you organized and made those notes. but I couldn't. I just saw some shots from the screen though I was searching for how you made it. but I couldn't find it. We all would be so happy if you will be able to show us how to organize those notes and the resources which every one of us is going to use.
Hi there sorry for the late reply! Did you mean how I made the spreadsheet? That was just in excel. And how I made notes from papers? For that I used a free software called Microsoft Onenote :)
Thank you for your generous sharing. I am interested in the excel spreadsheet in Tip 2. Would you get the information of all paper you have read? Will it take a lot of time? If not, what kind of articles will you note down in your excel sheet? Will the brief thing of paper in Note column be the abstract of the paper?
you're so smart, thanks for video. very sweet voice, was pleasant to listen the whole video ^^
This will help me a lot. Thanks
Truly useful in my research process. Thank you for sharing ❤
this is great advice. thanks!
Great tutorial. This will be greatly helpful in my research.
Extremely helpful tips princess Hira. "Forgive me your highness, for I am but a monkey, and it is in my nature to climb. I did not mean to gaze upon you as you comb your hair." - Sheldon
Thank you, Hira! This video was super helpful ❤❤❤
Thank you for such valuable information
You in fact, need a reference manager and Word Doc has one already, you can highlight the document and refer to it from the reference manager.
Moreover, you need to construct metrics based on data alaysis, so to derive research direction.
Once you've done that, then reading articles will be evaluated in terms of deviation of each application. This is where your metrics match a real world application.
Writing as you discover is called data collection by literature review. This only serves as initial research to check of gap in the serearch.
So helpful! Thank you!!
Hi Hira! This is really useful. What software are you using in @0:42
this is gold!
Thanks for this video!
Some useful tips, thank you.
Thank you! Helpful video ❤
This is wonderful. Thank you :)
Excellent video, thank you! 🎉
I wish I did this when I was starting out. 😭 Instead, I watched this really useful video now that I'm in the final months left in my candidature.
Thanks a lot ❤ from Bangladesh
In what order would you do these tips? I'm a bit confused between the Excel sheet organisation and the one-note organisation. Would you store everything on one note and then make an Excel sheet based on what you are going to use. Great video by the way ! :)
Whenever I find a paper I find anything interesting in I add a little row to Excel. And some papers I take detailed notes for in One Note. Not really an order always but just remember to add a row whenever you read a paper it helps you find what you've read and where the info is. Good luck and thank you!
Great video!
Really interesting Hira. I'm a PhD student too and I have a problem XD because all the time I'm changing my system for writing. I use notion but when I'm writing I need something that can I use to reorganize my notes.
This is why I could never really get into Notion, found it too complicated and restrictive. OneNote does it all (and more)!
I noticed your audio is only in the right channel or mostly panned to the right. May I help you with audio engineering?
Sounds fine to me
A lot of videos promote using Notions and similar apps for note taking. Is that approach good or time wasting?
Also, I like the idea of using Excel to write down the name & url of the referencing source, but is there a way to group related reference sources together to make this achieving process more efficient?
You could probably add keywords as a separate column and then sort by keyword to group them together when you want.
I wish I watched this at the beginning of my ph.d program.
Hi Hira.. Great resource for someone who is starting his PhD. Can you tell me, how are you talking notes in two pages side by side in OneNote? Thanks
Did you ever figure out how to split the page?
Amazing Video!
Thanks for your video. Maybe I am a bit slow at this, but I cannot get Onenote to work in the way that you have set it up. For example, how do you upload a PDF and then have the other side of the screen for pasting or typing as you read the pdf on the other half of the screen?
Wonderful job
I need a spreadsheet like that! would you share a blank copy?
Thank you so much. May God bless you.
thank you so much.. so helpful..
Hello Hira, thank you for the video. I do not quite get the differenc ebetween point 1 and 3 in your video. First you say that you rewrite the useful paragraphs straight away. In the third section you say that you just copy paste and rewrite it later only if it is useful your the thesis. Can you please clarify on that?
It depends on the purpose. If you're reading to write e.g. an essay or your thesis intro, then I write as I read. But if you're reading to understand a topic, browse the literature, or make notes I just copy paste. And if I need to write from it later then I can use that info and paraphrase without having to reread articles. Hope that makes sense!
brilliant very useful
MashaAllah sister it is very informative.
Can do a video on how to take notes in onenote for phd