Learning to do Science – Page 40 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Workshop: Scientific Work — General Tips when Dealing with Literature

2013-03-24

There are tips that do not fit neatly into a category, yet can be impressively useful. Here are some regarding scientific work and literature -- the foundations on which we build our work, and our careers.
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Workshop: Scientific Work — Topic Notebooks

2013-03-24

An introduction to topic notebooks -- a very useful way of keeping your information available for future work (e.g., writing). Contains lots of tips. Highly, highly recommended.
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Living and Killing with PowerPoint (or Keynote)

2013-03-16

Two great videos on how NOT to use PowerPoint. Also: A marriage proposal.
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Workshop: Scientific Work — Possible Academic Literature Workflow

2013-03-14

An overview of my academic workflow. Turns literature into Lego(TM) bricks to work with.
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Workshop: Scientific Work — Reading & Using Literature

2013-03-12

How to stay on top of your literature -- both when it comes to the big picture and (especially) the details. Also: Digital Reading and Outliners.
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Workshop: Scientific Work — Managing Literature

2013-03-10

Don't get buried under a pile of papers. Here are ways to deal with academic literature by making it available digitally and storing it effectively. Also: Literature managers, DEVONthink, Circus Ponies Notebook, and more.
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Workshop: Scientific Work – Finding & Selecting Literature

2013-03-09

Reading for your academic work is not leisurely reading where you stumble upon books and read them at your pace. Here are some ways to deal with literature efficiently.
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3 Toxic Adviser Types

2013-03-09

Three types of advisers that can really screw you in Academia: The Dark Lord of the Sith, The Absent Captain, and The Fair-Weather Adviser. Also: Combos.
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Tips for (mainly) Fiction Writing

2013-02-28

Links to interesting articles on fiction writing -- huge amount of tips.
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Singapore Statement on Research Integrity

2013-02-21

A great document that should be posted in every lab. Also: "Experts" on TV and people selling out.
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This is a private blog showing my opinions. If you have an issue with what I write here, either don’t read it or talk to me directly. Don’t waste your time — or mine — dragging my employer into matters where they hold no authority.

The institution I work for, or rather the people officially representing it, have already distanced themselves from this blog. I find this unnecessary, as I’ve clearly stated in the «About this Blog» section that this is a personal blog.

Frankly, I have nothing but contempt for those who lack the backbone to address their concerns directly and instead resort to passive-aggressive tattling to others. Such behavior strikes me as not only cowardly, but also spineless, gutless, and wholly unprincipled. Moreover, these efforts are as pathetic as they are futile.

That said, I might listen if you present compelling arguments and evidence, as constructive feedback is always welcome. Who knows? We might even both gain something valuable from the interaction.

A comment for those seeking to use this site for personal gain: Given the increase in requests, let me be clear. I write on this blog because I want to. It’s my hobby, my playground. Sometimes people point me to interesting products/services and I write about them. But any request regarding ads or sponsored placements ends up the trash without a reply. And if you think something would be of interest, differentiate yourself from the spammers by referring to a posting — in an intelligent way. (I get enough auto-generated mails to identify them immediately.)

BTW, posts can get updated after I published them if I spot spelling errors (not a native speaker) or think a different wording might improve precision and clarity.

This blog is not focused on a single topic, or method. As long as it is relevant to improving creativity (or allowing it in the first place), it's fair game.
Some postings on this blog deal with freedom, as I think that we need freedom of thought, of speech, of association, etc. pp. to solve mankind's problems. Thus, some postings may seem a bit remote when it comes to organizing creativity. Freedom is, however, the bedrock of creativity.
The heterogeneity of the postings can make reading this blog a bit cumbersome, at least if you are only interested in one topic. You can either use the search function (above), or use the categories or the tags to narrow down the postings you see.