Welcome to the November edition of the Student Productivity Blog Carnival. Presented below are a collection of outstanding articles submitted by top bloggers from around the web. Before jumping into the content, I want to first thank the team at Blog Carnival for hosting and promoting the submission form, and GearFire Student Productivity for originating the idea.
Student-Specific Advice
- Living with Microsoft Word: Tips for Survival
A post from Academic Productivity provides a master class in the advanced features of Microsoft Word. - How to Write a Great Term Paper in One Evening
Mike over at Student Hacks gives a nine-step process for cranking out a term paper, fast. Whether or not you can actually hit the time limits he sets for each step (2 hours for research!?), the decomposition of the process is exceptionally insightful. - How to Ace Your Finals Without Studying
Student blogger Scott Young introduces the concept of holistic learning — if you learn how concepts connect, you don’t need to re-learn them come test time. - 7 GPA Killers to Avoid in College
The team at the College and Finance blog provides some common sense advice on how to prevent your grades from plummeting. If you’re a video game fan, be forewarned, you’re not going to like what you read here… - Better Grades With Less Study
The Fruitful Time blog introduces some fruitful tips for reducing the time you spend hitting the books.
General Productivity Advice Relevant to Students
- 10 Tips for Highly Effective Mindmapping Sessions
Our friends at Gearfire Student Productivity provide some advanced tips for creative brainstorming. - How to Maintain a Healthy Brain
The We The Change blog describes direct, research-driven advice for keeping your brain healthy and focused — something many undergraduates chronically neglect. - 5 Rules of Writing Effective E-mail
Edith Yeung sketches some exceptional advice for reducing your e-mail load by responding more intelligently. - Getting Things Done…Faster
For those students who follow the GTD methodology for keeping on top of their obligations, this article at the Organize It blog provides advanced advice for churning through those next actions lists with greater speed.
I’ve found that Google Documents can be great for productivity, too. You can use it to create, edit, and store docs online and then work on them from school, work, or home. It’s more basic than Microsoft programs, but still good!
Someone should add poverty to the list of GPA killers! Worrying where your next meal comes from virtually destroys my ability to think about grades more than any roleplaying game ever could.