How to read and take notes like a PhD - easy, fast, and efficient

How to Keep Up with the Literature

In this video, the speaker shares their method for reading papers and taking notes in a way that helps them quickly go through the literature and separate out what's good and what's not. They recommend creating a presentation deck with a templated slide that includes the paper title, link, take-home messages, interesting figures or other notes, and simple tags.

Creating a Presentation Deck

• Create a presentation deck as a way to keep up with the literature.

• Use Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint to create your presentation deck.

• Use a templated slide that includes the paper title, link, take-home messages, interesting figures or other notes, and simple tags.

• Include simple tags at the bottom of each slide to indicate why you are looking at this particular paper (e.g., literature review, new discovery, must read, methods, idea).

Using Simple Tags

• Use simple tags to work out why you are looking at a particular paper.

• Use tags such as literature review if you are using it as a basis for writing one; Discovery if it is something that sparks your interest; Must Read if it is one of those cornerstone papers in your research area; Methods if it is something you want to try; Idea if it is an idea that interests you.

Grabbing Papers from Google Scholar

• Go to Google Scholar or Elicit to find papers.

• Skim through abstract and conclusions of papers before deciding whether they can help answer questions or spark interest.

• Use a split-screen to compare your cheat sheet with the paper.

Reviewing a Paper

• Duplicate the slide and fill in the paper title, link, and take-home messages.

• Skim through the paper to find new methods or spark interest.

• Use simple tags to indicate why you are looking at this particular paper.

Literature Review and Note-Taking Process

In this section, the speaker discusses their note-taking process for reviewing scientific papers. They explain how they use a template to organize their notes and highlight important information.

Using a Template for Note-Taking

• The speaker uses a template to take notes on scientific papers.

• The template includes sections for the paper link, take-home message, interesting figures, and tags.

• The speaker explains that they use the tags to categorize the papers based on their content.

Identifying Key Information in Papers

• The speaker looks for visual cues in the paper to identify key information.

• They look for interesting figures or tables that summarize the main findings of the paper.

• The speaker also reads through the abstract and introduction to get an idea of what the paper is about.

Summarizing Key Findings

• After reading through a paper, the speaker summarizes its key findings using ChatGPT.

• They copy and paste relevant information from the abstract or conclusion into ChatGPT to generate a summary.

• The speaker then adds this summary to their notes under "take-home message."

Organizing Notes with Tags

• The speaker uses tags to organize their notes based on content.

• They use tags like "method" or "ideas" to categorize papers based on their main focus.

• This helps them quickly find relevant papers when they need them.

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