How to Do Research: Relearning How to Learn
Research is simply a continuation of something we already naturally do: learning. Learning happens when you understand something that someone else already understands. Research happens when you understand something that nobody else understands yet. Kanjun Qiu
Introduction
- The human brain functions through connections.
- There are two kinds of memory: working memory and long-term memory.
- Good encoding: working memory -> long-term memory
- Constant retrieval: long-term memory -> working memory
- Encoding information using correlation and connection.
Higher Order Thinking
- Bloom’s Taxonomy but focusing on
- Analyzing: how the parts relate to one another.
- Evaluating: checking and critiquing.
- Creating: form a coherent or functional whole.
Different Levels of Learning
Logic
- The ‘backbone’ of information (big picture).
- Relationship by its importance.
Concepts
- Detail from Level Logic
Details
- Usually information that you need to memorize.
- Useful to comprehend the concepts.
- Disconnected information but important.
How to Take Note
- Use visuals: pictures, symbols, and doodles.
- Make connections:
- inquiry-based learning: actively asking questions and seeking answers.
- cognitive load theory: the way that new knowledge is constructed in working memory, and the way that permanent knowledge is built up and held in long-term memory.
- Use freehand.
- Non-linear.
- I use an app on my iPad called Freeform.
Emotional Intelligence
- Self awareness: ability to perceive and understand the things that make you who you are as an individual.
- Self reflection: ability to witness and evaluate one’s own cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes.
Set Goals
- Goals must be realistic, you can set them by day, week, month and year.
- For example:
- Day: I want to understand Chrome Sandbox from a specific blog, slide, or paper.
- Week: I can set up lab so I can do my own research.
- Month: I can recreate old bugs.
- Year: I can find my own bug in a specific component.
Overcome Procrastination
Conditioning a Response
- Classical Conditioning: positive emotional experiences are associated with learning in an unconscious or automatic manner.
- Nudge theory: change your environment by removing all distractions.
Flowmodoro
- Every focus session is not equal; maybe you can focus for 1 hour nonstop or 2 hours nonstop. But make sure to rest for 1/3 of the of the time you can focus.
- For example: Focus (60 minutes) -> Rest (20 minutes) -> Focus (90 minutes) -> Rest (30 minutes)
- I use five deep breaths to enter focus (the flow zone).
- When doing rest, you shouldn’t use it to scroll on social media mindlessly, but do positive activities like workouts, cooking, or taking a bath.
Chunking Keywords
- Gather the most important keywords, usually in the heading, sub-heading, or repetitive words. You can do this by skimming for the first time, just to get a sense of the big picture.
- Limit your keywords to 50.
- Grouping those keywords into those with the same similarities.
Main Brain
Mind Map
- Focus on building logic and concepts by actively asking, “Why is it important?” and “How does it relate?” from the keywords we gathered before while rereading thoroughtly.
- If you encounter keywords that you don’t understand, just use Google to grasp the meaning of the keyword for no longer than 30 seconds.
- Chunking by importance.
- Directional/Flow.
- Relationship by your logic.
- Intuitive and deeply connected.
- Examples of good mind maps : Ultimate Guide
Second Brain
Zettelkasten
- This is the simplest example of using Zettelkasten in Obsidian: Step-by-step guide
- Remember, it’s called the second brain as it is used to store details. Your main brain still needs to process the logic and concepts.
- Use bullet points to describe the main points from the textbox, paper, or slides. But don’t forget to include the source and the page number so you don’t waste time searching for those if you need the information in the future.
Memorization
Memory Palace
- This technique is to remember the most important details that you must remember from your second brain.
Flash Cards
- You can use this to remember equations, function name or other details.
Revision
- Interleaving (learn from multiple different angles) use this technique while constantly updating your mind map.
- Constantly zoom out (see bigger picture) and zoom in to find gaps in the mind map.
- Spaced retrieval: accurate recall of information over progressively longer periods of time. Usually on the same day when you learn the concept, three days later, one week later, and one month later.
- Teach to others (Feynman technique); you can write blog posts and share it with the community.
Reflection
- This part is about using emotional intelligence to reflect on whether you are close to your goals or not.
- If you are not close to your goal, then you should answer, “What is the problem?”, “Why does it happen to you?” and “How can you overcome it?”
- You should reflect every day, every week, every month, and every year.