Scholarly Environment
In her work, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming of a Dark Age, Maggie Jackson reminds us that our technology, which is not inherently bad, has diminished our capacity to keep our attention focused. When I met her, we spoke about how our loyalties are divided and how notifications can diminish our capacity to focus, not only on our tasks, but also our relationships. Think about it: Have you ever been in class or out to dinner when a classmate or friend spent more time looking at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or a text than engaging with the activity or conversation at hand? How, then, do we create an environment of intentionality?
- Block off time to study in a calendar or a bullet journal. Click here for bullet journaling and other note-taking tips.
- Pick a quiet place where you can study. Libraries are perfect places because there are many quiet areas. At home, there are a multitude of distractions: laundry, video games, or binge watching your favorite Netflix show.
- Turn off all notifications to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, e-mail, and texts. Tell your loved one where you are studying so that, in case of an emergency, they can get a hold of you.
By considering these steps, you are eliminating interruptions. Interruptions cost you time. Think back to a time when you were reading or writing an assignment, and you were interrupted by a notification from your device or by a friend who wants to engage in a conversation. Did you have to take valuable time to remember what you were reading or writing? We all have at some point. The idea here is not to become antisocial, but to limit your distractions, as they cost you your most valuable commodity: time.
Scholarly Engagement
Curiosity is one of the most critical traits for a scholar to have. We are naturally not curious about every subject matter. How can you become curious about a subject matter in which you have no interest?
- Find your “in”: how do your interests relate to the topic?
- Find appreciation for the topic: Why is the topic important? How does it relate to our society or our experience?
- Find a friend or relative with an interest in the topic and figure out why they are enthusiastic about it.
Close reading and note-taking skills are critical to the research process. Not only are these skills important in your academic life, but they are important in your professional life too.
- Read with a pencil or pen in your hand, and annotate everything you read. You can't take extensive notes in the margins, but you will be able to create annotations that help summarize, make connections between ideas, and raise questions about what you are reading.
- Keep a reading journal using 3x5 cards, a legal notepad, MSWord, OneNote, or a note-taking app like Evernote. Remember, all students have access to Office 365, with OneNote and MSWord. With this product, you can share your notes with each other. Education is communal but make sure that all members contribute equally.
a. Summarize and paraphrase ideas into your own words.
b. Write out observations and assumptions: You can verify these later when doing research.
c. Be curious. Write out questions that you seek to answer.
