As An Aspiring Avatar Of The Beholder And Dark Academic I Must Know Everything Just So I Can Scare People

Back to School Resource Masterpost

Hi everyone! It's that time of year again, back-to-school and all the excitement of learning new things, along with the stress and anxiety that inevitably occurs. I've been on Tumblr for longer than I'd like to admit, and have compiled a long list of resources below!

Please note that I did my absolute best to find the original links to all of these posts, but many of them are 4+ years old and the users have changed blog names/deleted. If any of the links don’t work, or there is a link to an original post which I am missing, please let me know! Many of the master posts have dead links so if you find any updated resources please feel free to add on :)

Starting College/New School Year

College Study Tips that Actually Help by @samsstudygram

How to Study in College by @niccistudies

Guide for Starting a New Semester by @studybeshy

No to Low Stress College Studying Strategy by @plannerdy

A Really F*cking Vulgar Guide to Not Losing your Sh*t in College (TW swearing) by @alice-rolfe

How to Be Successful in College by @goddesszillaa-blog

Studying for An Exam in A Really Short Amount of Time by @studiyng

Study Tips for the New Semester by @universi-tea

Back to School Masterpost by @studylau

Resources for the School Year by @ginsengstudy

Back to School Tips Masterpost by @starry-eyes-and-blissful-nights

Notetaking

Unconventional Note Taking Tips by @studyspiration-coffee

@emmastudies note taking system

Effective Notetaking by @afternaomi

Note Taking for Different Lecture Styles by @caffeinatedcraziness

Note Taking Tips by @eintsein

How to Take Notes from a Textbook by @staticsandstationery

Note Taking Tips by @parisgellerstudy

Essay Writing

Transition Words for Essays by @soniastudyblr

How to Write a University Level Essay by @healthyeyes

How to Write a Kick-ass Essay with Half the Stress by @wittacism-blog

Recovering an Unsaved Draft on Microsoft Word by @touched-dreams-blog

Helpful Websites for Writing Essays by @intellectys

Tips for Being Overwhelmed

How to Handle Having Too Much to Do by @howtomusicmajor

4 Tips for Getting Ahead after Falling Behind by @passwithclassandaniceass

Motivation Tips and Avoiding Procrastination

7 Strategies to Manage Distractions by @myhoneststudyblr

7 Strategies to Improve Concentration by @myhoneststudyblr

Tips to Stay Motivated by @maeve-studies AKA myself

6 Ways to Avoid Procrastination by @ivystudying

Tips for Motivation by @sobistudies

Getting your Shit Together by @coffeesforstudiers

School Prep and Motivation by @tea-study-sleep

Productivity

Guide to Crafting your Daily Schedule by @werelivingarts

Four Rules for a Disciplined Life by @a-disciplined-life (OG credit to reddit user ryans01)

How to Stay Productive by @busystudyin-g-blog

A Productivity Masterpost by @effortanderudition-blog

Planners, Apps, and Printables

Learn to Code by @boomeyer

Popular Apps Perfect for Students by @emmastudies

Printables Masterpost by @studywithnerdyglasses-blog

Listing of printables by @emmastudies

Study Apps and Extensions by @mujistudies

Apps for Students by @moleskinestudies-blog

Emails and Templates

Email Template for Anyone Who Struggles with Writing Emails by @ischemgeek

Post Interview Thank You Note Template by @a-windsor

Language Resources

Language Studying Tips by @ssehuns

Google Drive with a Link to Language Grammar Resources by @ingenjor-blog

Studying and Time Management Tips

@aimstudies on effectively reading textbooks

Tips on Managing Research Projects by @munirastudies

Memory Tips by @brain-exercise

Study Less, Study Smart by @marias-studyblr

Tiny Tips for Things You Never Thought About by @leahrning

18 Unexpected Tips for Higher Exam Scores by @studyblob

Study Tips from an MIT Student by @academicheaux

Self-Care and Burnout

@hellenhighwater on loving what you do, and doing what you love

Small Ways to Improve Your Life by @cwote

How I Ditched my Phone Addiction by @universi-tea

How to Avoid Overthinking by @onlinecounsellingcollege

Tips for Staying off Your Phone by @intellectys

Simplifying your Life by @universi-tea

For All the Bad Days by @studykouffee

How to Deal with Burnout by @kawaiistudy

Calming Masterpost by @shelbys-advice-blog

Ideas for Self Care by @educxtional

Masterposts

Masterpost of Everything pt 1 by @areistotle

School Cheat Sheet by @jwstudying

School Cheat Sheet part 2 by @jwstudying

Misc Studying Posts by @epicstudyings

Bullet Journal Ideas Masterpost by @optomstudies

Study Sounds by @universi-tea

Studyblr Masterpost by @getstudyblr

Study Methods by @etudiance

Study Skills by @schoollifeandstuff

99 legal sites to download literature

The Classics

Browse works by Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad and other famous authors here.

Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.

The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.

Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.

Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as speeches from George W. Bush on this site.

Classic Book Library: Genres here include historical fiction, history, science fiction, mystery, romance and children’s literature, but they’re all classics.

Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more.

Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best classics.

Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here, from Dostoevsky to D.H. Lawrence to Joseph Conrad.

The Spectator Project: Montclair State University’s project features full-text, online versions of The Spectator and The Tatler.

Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.

Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.

Bartleby: Bartleby has much more than just the classics, but its collection of anthologies and other important novels made it famous.

Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works by Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Flaubert, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.

Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.

Textbooks

If you don’t absolutely need to pay for your textbooks, save yourself a few hundred dollars by reviewing these sites.

Textbook Revolution: Find biology, business, engineering, mathematics and world history textbooks here.

Wikibooks: From cookbooks to the computing department, find instructional and educational materials here.

KnowThis Free Online Textbooks: Get directed to stats textbooks and more.

Online Medical Textbooks: Find books about plastic surgery, anatomy and more here.

Online Science and Math Textbooks: Access biochemistry, chemistry, aeronautics, medical manuals and other textbooks here.

MIT Open Courseware Supplemental Resources: Find free videos, textbooks and more on the subjects of mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry and more.

Flat World Knowledge: This innovative site has created an open college textbooks platform that will launch in January 2009.

Free Business Textbooks: Find free books to go along with accounting, economics and other business classes.

Light and Matter: Here you can access open source physics textbooks.

eMedicine: This project from WebMD is continuously updated and has articles and references on surgery, pediatrics and more.

Keep reading

???/100

I'll definetly have to restart this, but i thought it would be nice to update

bUT I took the first exam and it went pretty well actually I am quite proud of how I did in it. Can't wait for the results!

Now all I have to go through is tomorrow's exam and I am fucking free, cant wait

I will spend the free time betwee the exams studying for the last one. Everything will be okay

Me studying for my math exam like

Supernatural destroyed me and Good Omens gave me a new reason to live.

Subjects that belong in academia proletaria (and should be more appreciated):

Religious Studies - theology, polytheism, ancient evidence of religion in Cape Town cave paintings, timelines of Zoroastrianism and Judaism, Animism and Taoism, Yoruba and Zulu. Respectful visits to Mosques and Temples, puzzling your own spirituality together piece by piece or not at all, never loving the study of it any the less

Geography - glaciers, entire ecosystems in decomposing logs on the forest floor, wildfires and serotinous pine cones, how the Himalayas themselves have stopped wars - documentaries and encyclopaedias, memorised walking routes through rainy heathlands, the scrappy camaraderie of the university mountaineering society and a devotion to the breadth of learning that academics so often dismiss as the generalist’s science

Language - Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, Amharic, Portuguese - the dialect of the changing modern world and the roots of the very essence of communication deep in history, audiobooks you can hardly keep up with and pocket books stuffed full of vocabulary

Civil Engineering - bridges, train tracks, redbrick and brutalism - drawing out entire towns in a notebook, scale models and the smell of fresh paint, a wardrobe very clearly divided into “clothes I have already ruined” and “clothes people are surprised to see me in because they aren’t covered in oil or superglue”, a good pair of boots

Education - having loved your subject so much that you couldn’t bear to leave education behind, seeing great things for the next generation even if they don’t quite know where they’re going yet, backpacks full of books to mark and nostalgic home-town teaching placements, a bad photo on your lanyard and students hanging back after class to talk (even when its sixth period and getting dark)

Social Policy, social work - setting off lively debates in the local state school on one day, and speaking quietly with an angry kid while the rain falls outside your office window on another - protecting libraries, community meetings, union strikes and non-gov organisations, posters made with the help of local youth groups and jackets with “the young are at the gates” stitched across the chest

Subjects that still belong in academia proletaria even if they are already appreciated:

Literature and poetry, of course, don’t let them make you think these are out of your reach or disregard their romanticism. War poems, American literature, Anne Carson’s Antigone and the joy of reading books that indulge just a little on your childish side, experiencing again the ability to read books like breathing air as you did when you were young (the bone clocks by David Mitchell (READ IT!!))

Mathematics, thinking in numbers and seeing patterns everywhere. Adding up your late-night corner-shop haul sum in your head before you see the numbers on the cash register, harbouring a strange attachment to prime numbers, the careful chronology of a formula breaking numbers into their hidden parts down the side of your page (lots of pencil shavings)

Music, picking up an instrument in a high school music tech cupboard and never putting it down again, finding tutoring where you can and vehemently keeping up with the kids who took lessons since they were six, scratching out compositions on printer-paper manuscript and knowing the garageband software inside out. “Play me a song to set me free, nobody writes them like they used to so it may as well be me”

Art, We All Hate Damien Hirst, sort of getting what the Dadaists where going for at this point, borrowing (stealing) materials from the department and stepping in paint, genuinely compelling photography and a friendly relationship with the local photo printing shop in town, sometimes taking things too seriously but more often not taking them seriously enough, CARBON PAPER !!

History - the brilliant “beware of the dog” mosaic in Pompeii, Italy, Horrible Histories songs, an unusual depth of knowledge to do with the Great Fire of London, mental maps of historical museums and books about everything from Genghis Khan to the Six Day War. Digging up the time capsule you buried when you were 11 because you put that CD you really loved in and want it back even though you had hoped it would outlast the centuries

“Find something you love to do and then… do it for the rest of your life.”

some things i’ve learned while studying in quarantine

drink more water instead of more coffee.

weekly goals are bullshit. set yourself 3-day goals. you’ll be less laid-back.

don’t just mindlessly stare at words. before you start studying, know your approach to it. have a plan.

summarizing the concept in your own words is the key part of taking notes. don’t just copy things down, convert them into your own way of talking, your own vocabulary, no matter how dumb and unprofessional it sounds.

don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. studying doesn’t have to be pretty. summaries and notes can be messy as long as they’re comprehensible. you can always rewrite and reorganize them later. (honestly, you better do. and you better keep them.)

don’t throw away the papers you’ve solved your problems in. staple them to the fucking textbook. you need to see them constantly. cause you’ll need reminders of how far you’ve came, when you’re feeling discouraged.

don’t be an armchair analyst for your issues. if you have an idea then act on it.

remember: the exact point where it becomes difficult, is where your growth begins. take a deep breath, and try to focus on the paragraph in front of you.

get off your high horse and understand that if you’re a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. first, you’ll need to reach 30, then from 30 to 60, and then from 60 to 90. nobody is 100 everyday. that happens very rarely.

you need to have fun everyday. you need to have peaceful time every single day. even on exam night. especially on exam night, actually. so make sure you’ve studied enough so you can have some time to yourself.

once you’re on a roll and in need of some challenge to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. tell yourself you’re not allowed to do less than 80% of what you did yesterday. whatever the hell it was, even just one hour. so if yesterday you really studied for like, say 8 hours, today your goal is to study for at least 6 and a half hours. if you can’t keep up with that, make it 70%, or 60%. 

be forgiving of yourself. be kind to yourself. even if you bounced back and lost your streak. start again. as slowly as you did before. take your time. it’s okay, you were there once you can get there again.

6,7,8/100

imma put these 3 together because i was at countryside and truly didnt do that much

so academically speaking what i did was

take some notes

lowkey organize the chapters i will be studying for the time i still am away

AND WENT STARGAZING AND IT ACYUALLY WENT ON PRETTY WELL LIKE I SPOTTED JUPITER AND SATURN AND I KNOW ITS NOT A BIG THING IT JUST MAKES ME SO SO BLOODY HAPPY DFHKFDFK

if u hate me then kiss me or shut the fuck up

if u hate me then kill me or shut the fuck up

Medieval Astronomy resources 🚀👽🌌

there’s a tiny bit of a tendency in resources on medieval astronomy to ignore either:

the contributions of any medieval thinkers towards ideas that gained traction in the scientific revolution (i.e. ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ is a medieval concept in and of itself! and it applies here!! the Great Man understanding of scientific history really cherry-picks what we remember about the past!!)

the immense contributions and genius of Islamic thinkers towards medieval understandings of astronomy, let alone the fact that Persian and Indian ideas were tied up in all of this 

the close relationship between science and religion in medieval Christianity and Islam (it was seen as a way of understanding God’s creation!! it wasn’t seen as bad unless it contradicted established doctrine!! in which case yes sigh the church would scold/ban/burn your ass, depending)

all of the above

and there’s often this undercurrent of “the Greeks and Romans had it sorted and all this knowledge was lost in the ~Dark Ages~ and until Aristotle was ~rediscovered~ the world backslid into ~primitive~ ignorance” 😪

TLDR: these links aren’t as nuanced as they maybe could be, but they’re better than some, so feel free to try mush them together in your brain and see what emerges 😂:

Medieval astronomy | Medieval Science History part 3 (10 mins)

The Medieval Islamicate World: Crash Course History of Science #7 (13 mins)

Religion and Science History in Medieval Europe | Medieval Science History part 5 (11 mins)

Podcast interview with Seb Falk - the guy in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s video above ^^ (19 mins)

Astronomy and Astrology in the Medieval Islamic World (essay/article)

India, the Islamic world, medieval Europe, and China (essay/article - did not give any person or time period before Copernicus enough credit tbh)

anyway astronomy and astrophysics are so SO interesting to me and i love a cheeky bit of overlap with my other One True Love (medieval history) so enjoy the vibes ❤️❤️⭐