Made it to page 100...in what is quite possibly the densest text I have ever been required to read to date.
It's a worthwhile read but there is a lot going on in each chapter. Additionally, I'm reading (digesting) a ton of other material each week. Just look at this list of other required studies for Week 4/Summer Session II.
These past 12 weeks of schoolwork have helped me realize what tools are necessary.
Essentials: a .5mm mechanical pencil, and quality pen, a good highlighter, and a trusty pocket notebook.
Also, some lip balm. Because, I tend to bite my bottom lip when I am deep in concentration.
Because I am not a huge fan of BlackBoard as an LMS, I created my own container for all of my coursework. It's a bit antiquated, and the mobile apps is horrible. The alerts and notifications lag, and the whole system needs an overhaul. Moving content over to my own space is a bit of a hassle, but it allows me to organize the course content in a way that makes sense to me.
For the past three months, I have used Google Sites. Sites works well for embedding videos, creating subpages, and displaying the required readings (texts, and PDFs). Sites look great on mobile, too. However, the Site seems to take up a lot of storage space in Drive. This is a problem because I am only in Week 12, and have about 132 to go. And, it has no task list, unless I embed Google Calendar and maintain separate entries.
I thought about hosting a personal wiki as a solution, but that just seems like a lot more work. For the sake of trying to find a flexible solution (for laptop and mobile) that has a smaller footprint, I am going back to Byword and using Notion to create a wiki. I love the features on Notion's iOS app (and website), and I love that the Markdown files in Byword barely take up any disk space. Both have awesome readability, too. And, that makes a huge difference. Here's my first attempt at creating a wiki entry on Notion.
Can we just admire this beautifully designed book cover?
It's simple. It's colorful. And, it's probably the best one I have yet to see...in my relentless slog of reading material as a doctoral candidate.
Still not sure if there are only six steps to success on the path to quality literature review, though. Further, if the steps are linear then why is the path of the arrows somewhat erratic?
I'll reconsider those questions once I've completed the book. Meanwhile, I'll simply appreciate the bold lines and the color palette of this cover.
source: amazon
Spent the morning bottling old vine zinfandel with my Dad. Much needed break from the books.
A little “reset” before it’s back studying. Kinda like the wine, I think I might be suffering from bottle shock.
Upside: "bottle shock" is a temporary condition. Most oenophiles will tell you that "bottle shock" is a slight disruption characterized by muted or disjointed flavors.
It typically occurs after wine transfers, filtration, bottling, and sometimes during transport.
The cure? Let it rest for a few days. Let it settle...