Speaker 1: Thanks, Notion, for sponsoring this video. Your PhD dissertation is probably one of the biggest academic projects you'll ever have to tackle, so it's important to make sure you are organizing it properly. As it's such a long-term project, you'll come across a big amount of information, data, and references. There are also researching and writing goals you need to keep track of, submission deadlines, peer revision, and so forth. Although you can organize everything in paper format, we're dealing with complex information As usual, I'm going to recommend that you use a digital tool for that, and I'll be using Notion today. And if you're like, oh, Notion again, well, I've been making videos about Notion for years now, and for me, it's still one of the best, easiest tools to use out there. And if you don't like Notion, still stick with this video, because most of what you see here can be replicated into other software of your choice. Either way, and first of all, I want to talk about the different components you should be thinking about organizing, and then I'll show you how I like to organize those elements in databases, as well as extra templates to use when planning and writing your thesis. Personally, I think your academic planning needs three different main elements, a database for research and literature, a database for projects, and the main to-do lists. So let's start with a database for research. Any kind of academic work will rely a lot on organizing a multitude of files and documents. Having a database that allows you to add all relevant research with the proper sorting and filtering functions will ensure you're able to literally find any type of document you're looking for without having to create multiple copies for different categories. Also, incorporating all research in the database helps you incorporate original files with notes in one place only, while simultaneously giving you the freedom to look quickly for your sources without having to search your computer's file management system for hours. So let's talk about properties. First, property on your database should be status. It's important to know whether you've finished reading said document, whether you're still reading it, or if you still need to start the research process. You can then filter the table according to these patterns, which helps you speed up your workflow. Next, we have, of course, document name and author, as two separate properties. Document name should be the main property in your database, so if you're using Notion for this, as I am here, when you click this main property, you'll be able to access a new page, where I recommend you store your notes for that particular document. Whether you take free form notes or use a template, like the ones you see here, that's totally up to you and your style of research. After that, and depending on the complexity of your research, it can also be a good idea to insert the property for keywords, so you can search by topic, even if that topic isn't necessarily reflected in the title of the document. I also suggest that you link your literature database to your project database. Basically, that would allow you to link to other academic projects besides your thesis, or break them down further into chapters. Finally, a property where you can insert your original file, either on PDF format, or linking to a file stored in the internet. And finally, a property for added dates. This can be useful if sometimes you want to search your documents, taking into account when you found them, or added them to your database. Your project database allows you to list and organize multiple academic projects, or if you're focused on one project only, such as a thesis, subprojects. For instance, you can list your dissertation chapter here as subproject, so they work independently across other databases. In terms of properties, you can add a property for your due date, and set it up in reminder format so Notion can send you the proper notifications. As you did with your literature database, you can also add a status property, which tells you whether your project is still a work in progress, if it's completed, or if it's still on hold. You can also add the type of project in case you're working on multiple things at the same time. For instance, an academic article, a lecture, a presentation, a call for papers, and a dissertation are all different types of projects that can be organized differently. And I also suggest a linked database where you can add items from your main to-do lists. Finally, you can use the name of the project as the main property in your database, and use the page to add other subpages to go even further in terms of organization. When clicking the name of the project, you can then have a more thorough breakdown of everything by linking to a dashboard. This dashboard can show you all tasks as well as deadlines, where you're able to add either subtasks related to the project, relevant files like your research proposal and outline, and even a more formalized version of the list of references you'll then export in bibliography format at the end of the project. Overall, there are thousands of ways you can draft a dashboard like this, and Notion actually has a lot of templates online you can simply duplicate into your own workspace. Your to-do list is where things happen. It's basically a master database of all the things you have to do. Tasks big and small should go in here, and all you have to do is use the filtering and sorting functions in Notion to find what you're looking for. Again, I think it's much more practical to have all your information consolidated in one place only, instead of having multiple databases with actionable items. So our first property is a checkbox, so you can check your tasks as completed when you finish them. If you use the filtering function here to just show you the things you still have to do, every time you check a box, that task will be hidden from your database, which is very handy. Second property is the name or description of the task. This will be your main property, so if you need to add more detail or subtasks to a certain task, just click the page and access a new layer of information. Next we have date and reminder. So using Notion's scheduling capabilities, you can set a deadline for a task as well as a reminder, so Notion can alert you whenever that deadline is getting near. Once again, we have categories. You can go for narrow or broader categories here, but always remember that while we are populating these databases, we're trying to make things searchable. So going too narrow can make the searching process difficult, and going too broad can basically jeopardize the purpose of categorizing things. Finally, let's link your to-dos with the projects you're currently working on. So basically here, if your to-dos belong to a certain project, you should simply link those in this section of the database. This allows you to search all tasks related to a project, for instance, and it also really helps in terms of navigating your database quickly. If you'd like to access the templates I showed you in this video, I'll link all three of them down below so you can duplicate them into your own database. I'll also link down below a couple of Notion academic dashboards you can try out to organize your academic work as well. And finally, I want to guide you through a few extra templates you can look forward to using in your own workspace that will also help you with your own research. So first of all, we have a synthetic notes template. This template follows an article skimming guide, and according to the creator of the template, the goal is to quickly skim through a scientific article to extract just enough information about the context, contribution, and problems in the paper into a brief summary formula. Then we have an adapted CRM database. A networking database can be a big help if you're looking to share your academic work with your peers or start connecting with other professors, writers, or someone else in academia. Notion's CRM template has a place for contacts, associations, updates, status, last contacted, and so forth. And if you need to organize materials that go beyond the scope of your current project's references, there's a great template at Code Academy that helps you organize external resources like books, videos, courses, websites, code snippets, and so forth. The flashcards template helps you organize, create, and use flashcards through the principles of space repetition and active recall. All flashcards are organized in one database only, as we've been doing with the rest of the data we've been organizing so far, and then it uses an algorithm to make sure some of them resurface in the same way Anki does. Template number 5 is a problem statement. Most projects, whether they're academic or not, require a problem statement. Having a problem statement template and then replicating it every single time you need to restart a new project can be really helpful, so adding one of those into your academic dashboard can be a really good idea. And finally, a retrospective exercise template. This one is particularly helpful and important in long-term projects, such as your PhD dissertation. By duplicating this template every so often, you can reflect on the things that have been going well with your projects, the things that have been going wrong, and then create follow-up items and action points to work on, taking into account the things you've learned. So you can duplicate all these templates into your own Notion workspace. If you're looking for the perfect software to help you with balancing your work life in 2022, Notion can help you with that and, as you've seen, with so much more. Notion can be used individually or to collaborate with other people. You can basically organize anything in your life with all of its templates and tools, including habit trackers, journaling pages, keeping track of personal projects, work schedules, networking events, and so forth. You can use and explore Notion anytime you want and for as long as you like because their personal plan is literally free with absolutely no restrictions. It's the best investment you can make because it doesn't cost a cent. To start using Notion today and get your free account, you can go to the link in the description box below or you can click the button that's on the screen right now. I really hope you enjoyed today's video and I'll see you next week. Bye guys.