Shadowing Practice: How To Research ANY Topic - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Deep research is easy if you have a good system for it
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and it's also more important than ever in this age of internet noise and misinformation and hearsay talking points.
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Good research not only makes you a better thinker but it also makes the entire world a better more honest place.
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The problem is most people see it as something exclusive, something reserved for just the academics or you know this elite clique of researchers but that couldn't be further from the truth.
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All you need are the right tools and the right principles.
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I mean sure a college workshop here and there it's going to help you
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but most of it i had to learn maybe the hard way through trial
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and error through rage quitting google scholar through jumping between note systems it's not easy
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so i want to give you the strongest start possible
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and you know help you avoid all
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that crap research can actually feel rewarding as well it shouldn't
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feel like a chore it should be almost like a game for your curiosity
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and that's what i want you to learn by the end of this video
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so we'll look at how to narrow down on a topic
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where to find resources how to manage of time realistically
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and how to think critically along the way
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and a final disclaimer i approach this more as a hobbyist
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or as an undergrad student because that's what i am
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or was i'm not a decorated researcher i don't have a phd i haven't gone knee deep into
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that stuff but i trust
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that these ideas will be relevant to everyone no matter the
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level i just have to be you know honest there first you have to choose your topic
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because without direction your time
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and your energy will go to waste now there's two opposite ways to approach this
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but before we get to
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that there is something critical you need either way research needs curiosity
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and i mean genuine interest you know this is dumb to admit
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but in the past i would write down a list of things
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that i thought i should know and i went out to study them
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and i forced myself i didn't even really want to do half of these
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but it felt like i should be aware of these i
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should research them it was based on my idea of what was good not what I actually enjoyed.
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I treated learning like a fucking Ubisoft game, something that I had to 100 % complete for some reason, and that just completely killed my motivation.
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I based topics on what I thought I should like, not what I actually liked, not what I had a genuine interest for.
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Instead, listen to your curiosity, that natural sort of urge from within, the things you think about, the things you care about, the things you want to talk about to people,
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and that should pull you along naturally.
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It's like swimming with the current in a way.
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It doesn't matter what's on your feed.
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It doesn't matter what people are LARPing as online or what your parents want you to do or this or that.
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It should come from within.
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Now we can look at two different ways to choose a topic.
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We have the top -down approach or the bottom -up approach.
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The top -down approach is more traditional.
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You're probably familiar with it.
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You choose your title, you choose your focus and then you base your research off of that.
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You know where to go.
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It's quicker.
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It's more intuitive, you know exactly what you need to fulfill this goal.
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Now, you might also begin with a general idea of what you want to research.
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And then as you learn more, as you find interesting questions and avenues to explore, you can narrow that down until you have something precise.
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Because, you know, you can't always research something that you don't know exists yet.
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However, the top -down approach can inject what we call confirmation bias in your research.
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But we'll get to that later.
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The bottom -up approach completely flips this.
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So instead of starting with the title you start with the research
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but I mean how would that work here your research is looser
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and I like to think of it I don't know
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if it makes sense
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but I like to think of it like foraging you go out into the world
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and you read things that interest you and you find ideas that
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stand out that you know make you think that make you ask questions
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and of course these will be related
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because they are interests once you build up a knowledge base of your interests you will start to see questions appear, or conversations to be had,
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or avenues to explore, or interesting observations.
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Of course, not all ideas will be relevant in the end.
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That's not the point.
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The point is that the topic emerges from the research, and it will give you something linear to pursue.
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And from there, you can narrow down, you can focus, you can, you know, find more direct sources that answer the question precisely.
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That's the idea.
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In a way, you can start with bottom -up approach
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and then switch to the top -down where you have a
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goal now you can fill in the gaps you can give
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it some more linear structure that's another way to see it it is more time consuming
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but it's also good if you don't really know what you want to focus on
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and you just research stuff
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and let a hypothesis kind of naturally appear just from what
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you feel i mean this is what modern researchers do they just notice things
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and those those observations give them a a new thing to explore in an actual experiment or research project.
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If you are a true high IQ patriot of the channel, you will also notice this looks familiar to something.
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The next major decision is how general or specific are you going to go?
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Because you can't just research philosophy or chemistry.
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You need a biblical lifespan to just scratch the surface and there's no way to realistically do that.
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You need to refine the topic so that you can make progress in the little time you have, realistically.
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And look, a topic can branch out in more and more specific subtopics.
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And your job is to find a kind of balance between both, a compromise between depth and breadth.
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Let me introduce you to my matrix, which you can also see as the cross -section of a lake with literal depth and breadth.
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On the left is depth.
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How far will you take the research it can be anything
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from a high school level all the way up to a phd
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and beyond a very you know ultra specific ultra technical focus
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on the right is breadth how wide is your scope is it super general
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or is it ultra niche and precise i'm simplifying a lot here
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but you generally cannot have both on the one end you can have a shallow
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but wide snapshot of a topic a general idea you're getting the feel getting the gist understanding the core ideas
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but not going into too much depth.
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At the opposite extreme, you can do a deep
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but narrow dive with a very precise research goal or in a super niche field,
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like for example, a history of intersectional feminism in Warhammer 40k's hive cities.
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I would say modern research leans the latter.
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You are asking very precise questions that will advance the conversation, even just a little bit, even if it's just a tiny corner of a vast topic.
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If you're doing it as a hobbyist, you know, for your self -education, for pleasure you may be able to compromise a bit more
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but balancing range with depth
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and you're not constrained by anything you know you're not trying to get published
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so that's up to you to decide
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and remember this isn't locked in I mean you're locked in
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but your topic isn't locked in you can change this over
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time you can narrow it down you can branch off whatever the next step is to gather literature
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and you know do you have to prepare an entire catalog before you even begin your research.
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No. I think that's a mistake actually.
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I think it's the easiest way to kill your motivation before the research begins, just through sheer boredom.
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I like to start with just one, just a few, and then I see as I go.
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And chances are the source you're reading will point you to the next source, through the citations, through further reading, bibliography.
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There's no need to be crazy about it.
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Another issue though is that, you know, scrolling through Google Scholar and looking at these walls of chunky books, it's intimidating.
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It feels like walking into a room and you don't belong there and everyone gives you dirty looks.
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Where do you begin?
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What does any of this mean?
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What are these terms?
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What am I reading?
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Now you could brute force it, but chances are you'll get frustrated.
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So what I like to do instead is approach a new topic through what I call shallow media.
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And this refers to anything more digestible
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or easy to consume things like videos articles blogs the popular editions
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or even wikipedia articles and i know this might sound outrageous it might sound insane to people
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but why there's no shame in using these as an entry point into the topic
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and just being able to build a mental map of what is what now for example
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and keep in mind i'm a philosophy noob i haven't done much reading on anything yet really
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but I recently encountered the idea of moral anti -realism in an interview I was watching shout out Andrew Wilson
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and it interested me
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but I didn't think I was ready to dive into the books into the papers
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because I'm just a beginner there's all these strange terms
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and background concepts and references that I just don't get
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so instead I opted for an article a wiki page a video here
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and there and
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that just gave me the sort of map of what was
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coming it identified some key terms it gave me an understanding
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of the different schools of thought roughly at least it gave
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me some case studies some examples some basic building blocks to
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understand this term this you know complicated thing maybe now
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or at least soon i'll be ready to approach the deeper
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research the papers the books the longer essays the more technical stuff
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that i just couldn't handle before and for
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that stuff you can use google scholar you can use jstor science direct research gates semantic scholar
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and one of my absolute favorites not sponsored though consensus now
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the problem is a lot of these papers have brutal paywalls and i mean brutal it's just completely unaffordable
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but there are some legal and you know maybe not
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so legal ways to get around this first at the end your search you can add file type colon pdf
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and that will give you only pdfs which you can access
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if you are enrolled in college or university check to see
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if you have institutional access because you know you might there's also anna's archive there's scihub
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or you just look up the title of the paper
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and maybe find it for free elsewhere you could also just email the author and ask for the paper.
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i know it's long sometimes but at the end of the day these are regular people
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and they're proud of their work and they would happily share it now
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when it comes to books you should research
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and see what are the big dogs of your topic the
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ones with authority with the you know a big steer in the conversation
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which everyone else recommends
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and of course with books you have the advantage where you
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can inspect them you can find them in libraries in bookshops
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and you can see if they're relevant to you
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if they are in line with a topic
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if they have something to offer if they're at a level you're happy with do
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that and by the way don't force yourself to read entire books you can flick through
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and just stick to the sections that are relevant
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if you're pressed for time of course in papers or articles
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that will mean flicking through reading the abstract looking at the
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conclusion looking at the maybe parts of the discussion you don't have to sit there
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and grind through everything it's just too time consuming obviously
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if it is relevant then maybe it's worth a proper reading
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but don't invest all of your energy immediately see
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if it's relevant first now one big question remains how can
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you trust a source it's a good question i will answer
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it later in the critical thinking section another point is you
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absolutely need multiple sources you cannot call yourself well read on anything
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or well researched if you've only you know been through two or three books, a couple of articles, it's not possible.
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You need multiple sources to be able to cross -reference things, to create some sort of consensus,
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to spot any disagreements or conflicts or questions that need resolving.
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And that only happens when you read a lot.
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Of course you can't read everything, so you will have to compromise with a nice chunk of balanced strong sources that are representative, hopefully, of the whole conversation.
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If relevant, you should also consider translations.
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Who are you reading?
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Translations are not 100 % literal copies of the original that preserve all the meaning, no. They change the tone, the reading experience, they take liberties,
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they might inject their personal views into it.
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It's a filter, it's an interpretation in some ways.
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So, I don't know, you can see that if I compare these, if I put these odyssey translations on screen it's just
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so different now that's its own rabbit hole
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but i just want you to be aware of it for now translations can make a big difference
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and my final tip
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or obligation really this you kind of have to do this please use a reference manager like zotero
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or i think research rabbit or consensus there is nothing worse than writing something down
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and forgetting where it came from
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or just not having anything to reference it back to it's a nightmare
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so please write them down link them everywhere you can everywhere you've mentioned it
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and keep them safe back them up do whatever don't lose them next up we have schedule
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and if you are doing this as part of your college
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or a phd you have to study or you get evicted
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so arguably time management is easier there the real question is
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how do you find the motivation to do it optionally in
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your spare time as someone who's just teaching themself this advice
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applies to both groups number one is to have a repeated
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habitual pattern of study i mean wow shocker right atomic habits we get it
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but in all fairness james clear's quote has stuck with me
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here you do not rise to the level of your goals
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but fall to the level of your systems and that's
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so true it's like if you got a usb drive plugged it in your head
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and ran a script you know good study is a repeated sequence of events
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that can keep you consistent over the months and the years and so on.
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You know exactly what to do, when, and for how long.
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Good studies should never feel like a diversion from ordinary life, but a part of it.
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You know, for example, in my case, every single morning, every day, for one, maybe two hours, I will study something.
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I'll read, I'll write, I'll start something new, I'll visit something old.
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It's up to me what I feel like in that moment, but those one or two hours, non -negotiable.
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I don't have to think about it, I just do it now that's just me
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but you might choose to read you know a daily paper
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you have write a daily mini essay do a daily hour
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of learning a daily chapter a daily you know whatever some
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sort of fixed repeatable system number two is to have an associated time
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and space for study so
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that you mentally tune yourself to it you know this is why I love to put
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so much effort into my desk setup this should be a place where I'm comfortable where I feel productive
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and feel motivated to work
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and of course i have a video on this you can check that out
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but it could be anything you know some people like to
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go out to a cafe they like to i don't know
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get a beer get a coffee they like to make an adventure out of study in a way
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and if that works for you do it you can also just invade a college library even
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if you're not enrolled i mean no one's checking just walk in
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allegedly in minecraft i also recommend to document the process somehow
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and i don't mean like a vlog day in the life
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sort of thing just a personal note to yourself how's it
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going what are you doing what did you learn where do
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you want to go what questions do you have what problems are you facing
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and this just means that when life inevitably trolls you
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which it will you now have some sort of uh reference you can come back to a week later
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and think oh i remember now this is what I was doing.
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Otherwise, there are gaps, there are obstacles, and if you have no idea where you were or where you were going or what you were studying,
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you'll get demotivated and you just won't bother to, you know, catch yourself up and carry on.
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A quick little journal just puts you back on track and you can get started again, even if there's breaks.
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You also want a planning tool that works for you, not the other way around, where you spend hours filling it with tasks
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that you'll never do by design today's video partner is
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that smart scheduling tool not only can it help you plan a study course
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or a particular goal
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but it does the boring work of scheduling it around your
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life all you have to do is show up by design's
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canvas view is also a fresh take on time management like your own personal jarvis it runs entirely on voice
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and can help you intelligently view and reorganize your schedule to get around life's mishaps
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and delays like a real personal assistant would you know pricey
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by the way by design's auto scheduler gets smarter over time
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and whether the grind is grinding
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or i don't know you want to take it chill
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that week maybe you can keep talking until your plan is perfect
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if you need to arrange a chat
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or send an invite you can do just
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that without ever leaving the app and
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that means you know more time spent on what matters not the busy work
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that no one cares about so for smoother study
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and life in general you can try out by design for yourself with a link in description
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and if you use code odysseus20 at checkout you'll get a nice 20 % off discount
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so thank you to by design
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and i hope you enjoy next up you need a proper workflow
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because your research can be perfect but
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if you don't have a way to organize ideas it will
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descend into a chaotic mess you must take these scattered ideas from many different sources
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and then give them some sort of linear order you need to make sense of them.
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You do this through some kind of funnel
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and each layer of this funnel processes and organizes
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and refines the information a little bit more to help you make sense of it
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and to make the ideas more useful essentially.
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For example on the first level you might have inspection
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and this includes anything potentially relevant just at a glance from the blurb or the abstract maybe.
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The second layer can be your to read section.
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These are sources maybe worth a deeper a look, either partially or in whole.
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Next, you might have insights.
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These are the select ideas that are most relevant or most interesting to your aims.
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And at the bottom of the funnel, you might have order, which is the story that these notes tell together, the connections they make.
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Because the thing is, most new knowledge is not new at all.
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It's not this original creation, it's actually a synthesis of old ideas, such that you have a unique perspective,
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a unique angle, some fresh injection into the topic.
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And this is exactly what modern researchers do.
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They build on old conversations and add their own input.
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Now your job is to promote the synthesis I was talking about earlier.
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You need to create a place where ideas can meet each other, they can mingle, they can form connections,
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you can see problems and disagreements and questions that other people might have missed.
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And this will almost always happen at the bottom of the funnel, which is where your commonplace book will be your obsidian your
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notes program your mind maps a place where ideas come together
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you know in my case of course i use obsidian i've made a hundred videos on it
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but for you this can look like anything
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and it can be as simple as i guess your notes app on your phone
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or as complex as well i don't know whatever now you
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might be wondering what precisely should you do with sources okay
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i have my paper here i have my book what do i do with it well you read it,
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of course, but there are a few things that will help you extract information and make it useful for you.
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First, you should clip out any relevant insights or key points and please
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rephrase them in your own words such that you actually comprehend what they're saying and you can make sense of them.
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Sure, you can just copy paste, but then do you really understand what they're saying or are you just collecting things that sound important?
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Second thing you should do is try to identify problems try
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to find what researchers struggle with what they are limited by
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what they disagree on these things can reveal a lot about
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where your topic might go things you might end up answering hopefully number three is to try
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and connect concepts try and see how things relate to each other even
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if there's no immediate you know obvious connection being made by the author in question.
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Maybe you are the one to create a novel take on something because you brought together two very different papers that
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somehow are relevant to each other sometimes the most interesting ideas come from completely unexpected random links
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that you would never have seen coming
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but of course this is why you have a system to let them mingle finally
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and i don't always do this
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but i like to create an index of the topic
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and this is basically a contents page i write it myself i arrange the topic any notes
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that are appearing i give them some sort of structure
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and it just helps me create a map in a way
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so i see you know okay this is what's going on you can also use the canvas feature
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or really anything else
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that makes sense to you some way to have an overview this next section is critical literally it's critical thinking
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and this is what separates the reality from the bullshit the fools from the wise now earlier i promised
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that i would talk about how to find trustworthy sources
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and this matters more than ever because we have the internet
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and it's a gift in many ways we can access whatever we want wherever we are
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but it's also a curse because the peasant masses are literate now
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and anyone can upload
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and it's hard to discern what is you know real substance versus what is just e -noise and internet bullshit.
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So how do you separate the gems from the mud?
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I stole this pretty simple framework from the internet called the crap test and it's pretty good.
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C stands for current?
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Is the source recent?
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Is it still valid?
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Is it old enough that it's become obsolete and not worth your time at all?
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And of course this matters more for emerging fields,
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things where you know ideas have to change quickly and where information is not necessarily future -proof.
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R stands for relevance.
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Is the source relevant to your topic?
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And I know this sounds obvious, in most cases it will be, you just read the title, but it's not always.
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And you have to flick through the abstract and see truly if this is contributing to your conversation.
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Is it answering some question?
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Does it have anything for you?
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Because yes, it might be the same topic, but that is not to say it's dealing with the same problems or approaching it from the same angle.
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In general, it's good to find the most important studies for your respective goal.
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The ones that are heavily cited, the ones that have a lot of weight in the conversation.
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A is for authority is the journal they're publishing in respected
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is it a real you know institution with a system of peer review
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and you know self -regulation is the author an expert do
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they have a history in their field who are they are
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they cited by other serious people have they passed a sort
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of a social proof test now you don't necessarily need someone to have credentials to answer a question
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or you know for them to come from a respected institution
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but in general that's what you're looking for at least some
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proof of their authority where it's relevant the second a stands for accuracy are they making logical arguments
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and you know giving enough evidence to justify them are they
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self -aware do they understand their limitations do they point out those limitations
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which is a good sign by the way p stands for
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purpose what is the author's goal where are they doing this research?
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Why are they doing it?
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Who is funding it?
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What is the context surrounding it?
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Now, these are just general pointers.
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You have to use your discretion for each individual source and decide whether it's worth your time.
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Now, in keeping on with critical thinking, I'm going to dump some tips here in no particular order, but these are just good bits of advice.
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First, and I'll be brief here because I mentioned it earlier, you have to read multiple sources.
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Seriously.
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I need to stress that because if you read a single book or a single author's take, that's all it is one book one person they are not
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impartial they are not infallible they make mistakes they leave things out they lack access to some information
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that someone else might have
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and that's why we read multiple sources to build a clearer
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picture where one misses out on something the other will cover
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where one maybe lies about something the others will audit
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and you know fact check them in a way prove them wrong every single source has errors biases limitations
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and the more you read the less each one has a
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overall impact on your idea you get a clearer more accurate more balanced picture second
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and this is good advice in general always hesitate to make
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judgments do not rush to believe things do not try
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and be certain of yourself so quickly doubt yourself you don't want to trust yourself when
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when I'm researching I almost feel like I'm an enemy to
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myself I don't want to believe my mind I don't want to jump to conclusions
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and believe things
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that will screw me over in the end I want to be proven wrong I want to meet things
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that challenge me I want to
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slowly and cautiously arrive at a conclusion so that
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when I do arrive at that conclusion I can be more confident in it.
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I wrote a newsletter on this but do not believe you are open -minded because you are not.
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and the first step to critical thinking is accepting
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that you're not open -minded and
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that you can fall for any of these errors just as anyone else can
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but that gives you again a good foundation to work from
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and say okay fine I'm limited I'm flawed but I have a good
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I have a proper frame of mind to approach this now
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and speaking of yeah the newsletter's back I'm writing pretty consistently again
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so sign up down below it's free it's not spammy I think you enjoy it third is to seek things
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that you disagree with because if you only read sources
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that confirm your existing beliefs confirmation bias well you're just jerking
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yourself off you are afraid of being challenged you're afraid of changing your mind
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and ultimately you're blocking out what is potentially the truth
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so you need to put yourself out there challenge yourself read everything read things
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that are scary or controversial
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or maybe challenging to your worldview it's not a defeat to change your mind it's a strength number four
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and maybe this is just me but i like to take paragraphs
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and sort of split them up logically i try to look out for points
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and the arguments that follow any qualifiers
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and i see what does this stack up do these points of evidence
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and the explanations do they back up the original point do
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they provide arguments is the evidence satisfying uh have they made
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assumptions have they accepted these assumptions have they pointed out any
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limits they might have had look after these things number five is to understand your limits especially with new topics
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or anything super technical because sometimes you know we want to laugh a bit we open up a paper
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it's babble it's jargon we don't get it we brute force
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it sometimes just to say we have read it it's a waste of time
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and you know chances are trying to understand it is doing you a worse favor than
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if you just accepted defeat and you know maybe moved to something else
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or went to something easier
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and you must remember a lot of these researchers don't care about you you're a layman you're an npc pleb
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and they are writing to other researchers who are in the club who know what they are talking about
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and who don't need any background explanation
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and look this isn't prose club this is not a writer's competition they're not trying to make it interesting
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or readable they just want to deliver the idea
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and yeah much of the time
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that is to our dismay it's horrible to read it's uh you know clumsy
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and convoluted but what can you do it's for this reason
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that we have popular editions of science and history
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and whatever we have commentaries we have again that shallow media i was talking about and these are essentially
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simplifications of the cutting edge research
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that we don't understand these can be totally valid of course
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but remember like with translations they can also act as a
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filter the person writing the commentary can choose what to omit
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they can choose how to explain it what to leave out
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what to include you know it's just something to consider the final step
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and this is maybe optional but i think it's very important, the final step is some sort of output.
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Because to me at least, study can feel meaningless unless it serves some grand driving purpose.
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You know, in university, people are motivated by money, by a career, by the hopes of an internship at General Dynamics or something.
428
But if you're doing this in your bedroom just for your own pleasure, yes, it's fun and motivating, but at the same time, it can feel like you're drifting,
429
like there's nothing you're going towards.
430
If you rely purely on intrinsic motivation, then, you know, when the going gets tough, which it will, there's nothing to stop you from just quitting.
431
Literally, you can just stop and that's it.
432
Everything I read and write is ultimately ordered towards something I'm going to produce in the future, whether that's a video, an article, a book,
433
something I can call mine and obviously not everything is going to end up being public
434
or being you know fleshed out and written up into something nice
435
but that principle just makes my writing feel valuable if
436
that makes sense i feel like i'm doing this for something
437
because it's going to eventually be something tangible in the future
438
it also forces you to take scattered jumbled sometimes you know terribly written ideas
439
and polish them up give them some structure give them some flow give them an order
440
that makes sense to someone else reading not just you it's like a accountability system i suggest writing essays
441
or blogs or videos or making a sub stack even
442
if no one's listening
443
and you're just typing to the void you know like an
444
insane person do it anyway yes it can grow into something bigger than what you thought it would be
445
but that form of accountability helps you write
446
and think better it really does every successful youtuber or author
447
or substack writer or you know twitter anon is just someone with a passion who talked about their passion publicly.
448
That's it.
449
And eventually it took off and they got paid to do these things.
450
It's crazy.
451
There's no secret source to it.
452
So you may as well take your passion and your interest
453
and your effort and convert it into something that people want to see.
454
And that will do you and them a favor.
455
And speaking of, if you want to know how to convert your research into a decent essay, I'll link a video to that on screen.
456
And as always, I want to hear your thoughts.
457
Tell me your best research tips, how you've experienced it through college and stuff and thank you so much for watching
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How To Research ANY Topic”. This video has 457 sentences and 5831 words to shadow. The speech runs for 30:45. The speaker talks fast, about 190 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| researcher noun | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | One who researches. |
| narrow adjective | /ˈnæɹəʊ/ | Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth. |
| translation noun | /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/ | The conversion of text from one language to another. |
| essay noun | /ˈɛs.eɪ/ | A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject. |
| motivation noun | /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/ | Willingness of action especially in behavior. |
| precise adjective | /pɹɪˈsaɪs/ | Both exact and accurate. |
| scholar noun | /ˈskɑlɚ/ | A student; one who studies at school or college, typically having a scholarship. |
| passion noun | /ˈpæʃən/ | A true desire sustained or prolonged. |
| conclusion noun | /kənˈkluːʒən/ | The end, finish, close or last part of something. |
| explore verb | /ɪkˈsploɹ/ | To examine or investigate something systematically. |
| ultra noun | /ˈʌltɹə/ | A political extremist, in particular |
| compromise noun | /ˈkɑmpɹəˌmaɪz/ | The settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions. |
| abstract noun | /ˈæbˌstɹækt/ | An abridgement or summary of a longer publication. |
| linear adjective | /ˈlɪn.i.əɹ/ | Having the form of a line; straight or roughly straight; following a direct course. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| flick through verb | To browse rapidly. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| get around verb | To move to the other side of (something, such as an obstruction) by deviating from a direct course or following a curved path. |
| point out verb | To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body. |
| back up verb | To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so. |
| branch off verb | To diverge into two or more separate paths. |
| bring together verb | To cause people to do something together; to bring about togetherness. |
| build up verb | To erect; to construct. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- It doesn't matter what's on your feed.
- You're probably familiar with it.
- Because you can't just research philosophy or chemistry.
- Is the source relevant to your topic?
- Does it have anything for you?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was based · will be related · isn't locked |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't gone · haven't done · you've mentioned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | order, which is · funnel, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 100 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: synthesis /ˈsɪnθəsɪs/, bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, breadth /bɹɛdθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: translation /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/, shallow /ˈʃæloʊ/
- Long words — get the stress right: motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, curiosity /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/, limitation /lɪmɪˈteɪʃən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like topic, researcher, narrow.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.