Nota Bene

This is still in development but I thought I’d upload it in case anyone can benefit from this knowledge. For ease of navigation of this article please use the TOC below.

General

When it comes to handwriting I am to my wallet’s misfortune somewhat picky over paper and writing implementations. My favorite pencil is the tried and true Pentel Clickr (I’m still using mine from 15+ years ago) they’re ergonomic, easy to get lead into, and if you buy the new version the eraser will last you through the quarter. As for pens the tale is somewhat more complicated. In school I through Pilot Frixionless were the best creation ever due to their practicality, but I have since come to discover that they suck.

As far as applications go I have a separate post on that here. With that being said there are a few websites that I think are worth mentioning:

  • Pomofocus - as the name suggests this is a site where you can start a pomodoro timer, the site has no ads and can be made full screen so is great if you want to share with your class or study group

Humanities

If you’re interested in how I study humanities subjects click here. For a list of my favorite books click here.

For linguistics courses (including phonetics) if you use a Mac computer IPA Palette is irreplaceable. This allows you to easily type IPA symbols such as ʃ, ʒ, æ, ʌ, ə. As an added bonus you select these phonetic symbols from either the vowel chart or the consonant chart which helps reinforce the positions of the symbols (e.g. θ shows as a voiceless dental fricative).

If you’re reading a literature course you will likely have to read from an anthology. These books use notoriously thin paper which means if you like to highlight expect bleed-through. However, if you don’t want bleed-through I can recommend gel highlighters also known as bible pens. The pair linked here are the ones I use, there may be better or cheaper ones so I’d recommend you shop around. If you’ve never used a gel highlighter the best way to describe them is like a smooth crayon.