4 Tips to Organize Your Lost Folders and Misplaced Files

Posted on by Austin Davis

While I was working to finalize my research this summer, I realized something: I couldn’t find one of my sources central to my argument. Pouring through my various folders on my computer, I could not find this source. Between Excel sheets with undescriptive names and misplaced images, it wasn’t just that my source was missing; I lacked an entirely well-formulated, well-maintained organizational structure to keep track of my work.

If anything, organization should be easier in the digital space. Besides bytes, we’re not necessarily concerned with finding the space to store our papers, books, and other materials; in fact, we can create folders upon folders, meticulously grouping related works together to keep track of them.

But this is the trap. While I’ll see the mess before me on my desk, I don’t necessarily see that all of my folders are disorganized until I need to find something. I don’t see that I stored images for my essay on my Google Drive rather than in that class’s folder. In my experience, computer storage may facilitate organization, but it also hides potential messes from you until you need to find that one file for your assignment or research. And even if you’re the type of person where all of your work is spilled out onto your home screen, sifting through the documents at times is surely a nightmare.

So, I wanted to outline some of the steps that I’ve taken this school year to make sure that everything remains organized in this weird digital setting:

Continue reading 4 Tips to Organize Your Lost Folders and Misplaced Files

Princeton Problem Sets at Home: A Guide to Success on PSETs

Posted on by Ryan Champeau
Although we can’t go to McGraw in-person this semester, we can still collaborate with our peers at McGraw online.

There comes a time for many Princeton students when they are assigned their first PSET, or problem set. “How will I learn all of this in a week? What are the teachers looking for in the answers? How will I collaborate with others when I’m not even on campus?” These are thoughts that many Princeton students have when any PSET is distributed, especially with the semester being online. Believe me, I have been there too, and I would love to share some PSET tips and tricks to help you do your best!

Continue reading Princeton Problem Sets at Home: A Guide to Success on PSETs

Time Management Tips for Navigating Zoom University

Posted on by Kamron Soldozy

Oh, it’s unfortunate that your classes are all online now… But all the extra free time must be nice, right?

Actually, no. Somehow, I have ended up in a place where I’m busier than I was back when school was offline. And that’s without Powerlifting Team practices, the thirty-minute dinners that consistently turned into three-hour-long social gatherings, and all of the hours I spent working on-campus jobs.

I’ve realized it has to do with my relationship with time. In the past, I didn’t need to be very intentional with my free time: it always just happened. Nowadays I think back fondly to my naïve visits to the Rocky Common Room for pre-bedtime cereal-breaks, only to end up practicing handstands on the rug by the piano with my friends until 2 am. 

Without spontaneous social interaction, I ended up filling up all of my time with work, clubs, projects, and research. Unfortunately for first-year students, these challenges are only compounded by the transition to college academics in general. Whether or not you feel like you’re busier this semester, I believe we can all benefit from evaluating how we make time for ourselves: below are five tips I’ve implemented to help facilitate a productive and sustainable semester this fall.

As an extension of last Spring, Princeton classes are once again remote for the Fall of 2020-2021.
Continue reading Time Management Tips for Navigating Zoom University

Archival Research in the Age of COVID-19: Requesting Document Scans from Libraries

Posted on by Israeli Alec

When I first applied for departmental senior thesis funding early this spring, everyone was still uncertain about how long the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic would last. It seemed departmental administrators were optimistic: funding requests could still be made for summer travel. In my application, I detailed my intent to travel to university and state archives throughout the U.S. south for a thesis examining how antebellum Mississippi Valley planters conceptualized the idea of labor. But before I even heard back about whether I was to receive support, the department updated its funding parameters to prohibit summer travel and I had to redo my application in turn. My summer plans, of course, were not the first academic casualty of the strange 2020 world; nor would they be the last. Fortunately, though, there were ways to work around my newfound limitations: all of the archives that I wanted to visit offered services for resident librarians to scan and send materials from their collection, so I updated my application to ask for funds to pay for associated fees. Here, I’ll be sharing some tips for requesting archival materials to be scanned, which I hope will be helpful to any researcher unable to travel (pandemic or not).

Continue reading Archival Research in the Age of COVID-19: Requesting Document Scans from Libraries

Kicking Off The New Academic Year

Posted on by Nanako Shirai

Welcome back to the 2020-2021 academic year, which will be unlike any school year that we’ve had before. While it has been and remains a tumultuous time, I personally hope that going to classes (even remotely) will help bring a sense of normalcy back into our lives. What will hopefully aid in the process is PCUR, which will be up and running as always! Our correspondents from across grade levels and academic disciplines will reflect on what it is like to be a remote college student, and share tips and advice that they learn throughout the year.

This year, we have three new correspondents: Abhimanyu, Austin, and Ryan! We are excited for them to join the current crew of correspondents, which include Kamron, Alex, and Saira.

Abhimanyu Banerjee ’23 – Social Sciences Correspondent

Concentration: Economics

Degree Program: A.B.

Research Interests: Monetary policy, fiscal policy, income inequality, financial bubbles, sustainability

Bio: I am a sophomore from Gainesville, Florida. I am interested in economic policy, particularly how it can be used to tackle such issues as alleviating recessions, reducing inequality, and promoting sustainability. I am also a researcher for the Policy Punchline podcast here on campus. In my free time, I am an avid chess player and have played competitively for over a decade.

Austin Davis ’23 – Humanities Correspondent

Concentration: Undecided

Degree Program: A.B.

Research Interests: History, historical memory, urban studies, post-1900 United States, social stratification and structures, and post-1400 Europe.

Bio: I am a sophomore from Pittsburgh, PA. Even though I am undecided, I plan on concentrating in History most likely. One of my interests that has especially emerged at Princeton is the intersection of urban studies and historical memory. Outside of school and research, I am the USG Historian, a Peer Academic Advisor for Forbes College, and a PAI Community Ambassador.

Ryan Champeau ’23 – Social Sciences Correspondent

Concentration: Princeton School of Public Policy and International Affairs

Degree Program: A.B.

Certificate Programs: Program in French Language and Culture, Cognitive Science, Creative Writing

Research Interests: Psychology, Social Media, Public Policy, History

Bio: I’m a sophomore from New Jersey who likes dogs, writing, and photography! I’m interested in exploring how I can use research to have a positive impact on the Princeton community and beyond. On campus, I’m a big sister for the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, player and social chair for the club ultimate frisbee team, member of the Whitman College Council, and Community Action leader. I’m also really enthusiastic and love to rap!

We’re looking forward to a great year, even with everything that is going on. Please stay safe, and if you have any specific questions or topics that you would like to see us write about, submit them here!

⎯ Nanako Shirai, Chief Correspondent

Posted in Uncategorized

How to Stay Productive at Home During Finals

Posted on by Soo Young Yun

While I’ve never taken online classes before at Princeton, this isn’t the first time where I’ve had to complete my semester at home. Last spring, I went home right after classes ended since all my final assignments were to be submitted online. Despite that working at home should have given me more time with fewer distractions, more often than not I found it incredibly difficult to focus on finishing the semester. With social-distance learning, I’ve been reflecting more on the problems I encountered last spring, and thought I’d share a few tips to help you stay focused during finals period, whether you’re working on those papers or studying for final exams!

Continue reading How to Stay Productive at Home During Finals

How to Complete Research Assignments during Quarantine

Posted on by

This year, as we prepare to write our final papers in quarantine, it will be extra tough to locate the sources we need for our research. Without in-person access to campus libraries, this Dean’s Date will require some new strategies for accessing research materials. To help with this process, I’ve collected a few virtual research resources from my weeks of quarantine thesis work, as well as the beginnings of my Dean’s Date research (also check out Alec’s recent post for more tips):

Do not underestimate the library catalog. A lot of sources are available online, especially with the University’s new partnership with the HathiTrust Digital Library. Through this partnership, millions of scanned books have been made temporarily available to students—in addition to Princeton’s many existing online holdings. To see if a book is available online, just search for it in the Princeton library catalog. If you don’t see a digital edition listed, try clicking on a print edition and seeing if a scanned version is available through HathiTrust (if it is, there will be a link just below the book’s title and general information). You can also click the “Request” button under “Copies in the Library,” then “Help Me Get It” and a librarian will do their best to send you a digital copy—if it’s available—within a few days.

For one final paper this semester, I’m researching “Khush Khat,” a letter-writing program facilitated by a Bombay magazine in the 1990s. All of my sources are from the University’s online holdings: its digitized books and its digitized archives and databases.
Continue reading How to Complete Research Assignments during Quarantine

Graduate School Application Process (Part III): Interviewing and Decisions

Posted on by

April 15th is the universal deadline for committing to graduate programs across the country. So, just a few short weeks ago, my graduate school application process came to end when I decided to commit to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Psychology Ph.D. program. This decision was not an easy one by any means; there are so many factors to consider when choosing which program is the best fit. For me, the decision came down to thinking back to my experiences during all of my visiting/interview weekends.

The sunset in Madison, Wisconsin during interview weekend

During the interviews themselves, my mind was, understandably, primarily occupied with ensuring that I was putting my best foot forward and engaging intellectually with potential faculty advisers, as well as current graduate students, since I was hyper-aware that everyone in the program was evaluating me. However, the best advice I had gotten before going on my visits was that these weekends are as much about the program evaluating you as a candidate, as they are about you learning more about the program and determining if it is a good fit for you. So, I want to pass on that advice and highlight a few things that I found helpful to pay attention to during interview weekends that ultimately played into my final decision-making process.

Continue reading Graduate School Application Process (Part III): Interviewing and Decisions

Doing Research Projects in the Wake of COVID-19

Posted on by Kamron Soldozy

Recently, we’ve all had to do our best to adapt our coursework, extracurriculars, and past times to a remote format. Some activities – like hands-on research in a lab – may be difficult, or even impossible, to do over Zoom. For those of you looking to fill the gap, hackathons may be the solution. Hackathons are short programming events designed for students to learn new skills, meet new people, develop solutions to everyday problems, and win prizes. And because of the COVID-19 situation, many hackathons are turning virtual. 

To hear a little more about what exactly hackathons are and who they might be a good fit for, I interviewed Princeton sophomore and Director of the TechTogether New York hackathon, Soumya Gottipati. For those of you who have recently hard your internships canceled, Soumya also let me know about internship opportunities you might be interested in!

Hackathons often involve coding, but coding experience isn’t needed!
Continue reading Doing Research Projects in the Wake of COVID-19

Write On, Write Well: Lessons From a Semester Abroad

Posted on by Israeli Alec

This spring semester, I am enrolled as a visiting student at Hertford College, University of Oxford. While now I am back home on Long Island taking my Oxford courses online (just as Princeton students are Zooming into their own lectures and precepts in these strange times of COVID-19), I was able to spend about two months in Oxford. It was a truly wonderful experience; the city is beautiful, the people kind, and the academics engaging and rigorous.

The course of study at Oxford is quite different from that at Princeton. There, students do attend lectures, and sometimes seminars, but most of their academic work is conducted in preparation for tutorials. Tutorials meet most weeks each term, and consist of an hour-long meeting with a professor, either one-on-one or with one or two other students. For each tutorial, students must write an essay of around 2,000-2,500 words to discuss with their professors. Professors give the prompt in advance, and students are expected to craft a response based upon weekly reading lists. These lists are usually quite long, and students are by no means meant to read each item (this would be almost impossible; my reading lists for history courses usually had around ten prescribed primary sources, and thirty or so books and articles suggested for further reading). Rather, students must explore the different sources, be selective, and find works which are relevant to the argument they wish to make. Even though this curriculum differs notably from Princeton’s, it still taught me valuable lessons about my writing process that will help me at Princeton and beyond. Working on tutorial papers, in sum, has made me approach my writing with better time management, more confidence, and more appreciation for the craft of the essay.

Continue reading Write On, Write Well: Lessons From a Semester Abroad