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you won't believe how effective essays
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are as a way of learning I I know you're
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jub I was but I wish I discovered them
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much sooner I've missed out and I don't
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want you to miss out so in this video
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I'm going to show you why essay writing
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is such a powerful learning technique
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I'll show you how it can improve your
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thinking and in case you're wondering
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whether it works for subjects like maths
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and physics it does and I'm going to
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share some really useful essay writing
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techniques and learning resources to get
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you started it's a story where we go
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from mid-6th Century France to modern
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day Neuroscience a story about the
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science of learning the human brain
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George Orwell Virginia wolf we even
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mentioned Jordan Peterson and by the end
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you will have transformed your ability
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to learn and think do with that what you
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will it's easy to see essays as homework
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like an assignment set by a Cher and
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they can be that but if that's all they
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are to you then you're really missing
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out have you heard of the French writer
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and philosopher Michel de monana on the
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28th of February 1571 which was his 38th
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birthday he did something unexpected he
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was a nobleman he lived in a castle just
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outside Bordeaux and you could say he
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had a midlife crisis but instead of
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buying a sports car or ill advised
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fashion items or chasing women half his
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age Montana moved a desk and a thousand
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books into one of the towers in his
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castle and started to write the result
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of that decision was the creation of the
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modern essay form and with it one of the
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most original and influential thinkers
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of the Renaissance Montana innately
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recognized the power of writing as a way
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of developing understanding and insight
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and he turned that in on himself and
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despite writing in the introduction to
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his book on essays I am myself the
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matter of my book you would be
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unreasonable to spend your leisure on so
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frivolous and vain a subject it became a
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bestseller of its day and had a profound
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impact on English and French literature
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Shakespeare was a fan of Montana here's
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an apology I think I've been
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mispronouncing his name it's Montaine
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not Montana sorry but what's all this
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got to do with using essays as a way of
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learning well we're not ready for that
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bit yet it is coming incidentally the
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word essay comes from the French SI I've
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probably mispronounced that too meaning
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an attempt or a trial some of the
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greatest thinkers in recent human
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history wrote essays I don't have time
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to list them all but there's Carl San
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George Orwell Joan didan Virginia wolf
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that's just four out of hundreds the
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essayist and novelist Jan didan
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said I write entirely to find out what
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I'm thinking what I'm looking at what I
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see and what it means and that's the
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point even renowned thinkers writers and
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essayists aren't writing simply to share
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their thoughts and ideas they write to
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form those ideas they write to find
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meaning explore thoughts and develop
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arguments but what's that got to do with
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you will writing essays make you a
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well-renowned thinker probably not but
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it will make you a better thinker and
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it'll improve your understanding of the
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world there's another benefit too you
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will see a huge Improvement in your
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ability to communicate your ideas
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written and verbal if you have that kind
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of mind you're probably thinking show me
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some evidence that what you say is true
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okay I will let's start with Bloom
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Benjamin Bloom was an educational
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psychologist he spent his entire career
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researching learning in particular he
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studied the different levels of
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cognitive function required for certain
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types of learning and what it takes to
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become an expert he classified the
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cognitive steps needed to develop
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expertise on the topic these have become
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known as Bloom's taxonomy actually
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that's not completely true what I've
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just shown you is the revised blooms
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taxonomy it was changed in 2001 to make
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the steps verbs rather than nouns but
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looking at it again what do you
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notice can you write an essay without
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going through these steps I don't think
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it's possible let's try and experiment
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which of these steps could you drop
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remember That's essential understand and
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That's essential too
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apply we'll come back to that one
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analyze to write a good essay you need
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to analyze the sources break down their
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arguments and work out exactly the ideas
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that they're attempting to convey which
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ideas are the most convincing and why
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are some of the ideas flawed that's
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evaluation and create where does that
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come in well you're going to be writing
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an essay an original work based on these
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steps that's everything well apart from
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apply maybe but it doesn't really matter
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that apply isn't included because it's
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these top three steps the analyze
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evaluate and create which are the most
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important here's why did I say that
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essay writing would make you a better
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thinker I did let's look at how that
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works now we're going to talk about
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critical thinking critical thinking is
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the ability to identify evidence and
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evaluate it to probe to investigate to
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spot flaws in logic to reason and draw
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conclusions instead of saying the Battle
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of Hastings was fought in 1066 which is
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descriptive critical analytical writing
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would say Williams victory at the Battle
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of Hasting transformed England forever
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it was the start of Norman rule over the
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country which changed the culture
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language and economy wait a minute is
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that really critical analytical writing
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can you believe me when I tell you that
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how did it transform England how did it
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change the culture language and economy
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how was that significant when you're
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thinking critically about your own work
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or other people's work these are some of
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the questions that you should be asking
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yourself I'm going to give you some
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advice on essay writing soon but before
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I do that I want to give you some other
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reasons as to why it's really effective
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to write an essay you usually need to
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read something first which gives you the
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opportunity to use the most effective
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learning strategy that researchers have
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found now if you watch this channel
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regularly you'll know what it is because
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I rarely stopped talking about it study
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after study has shown retrieval practice
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to be the most effective form of
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learning this metaanalysis of 217
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studies into retrieval practice confirms
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that it's more useful than rereading
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which is counterintuitive but although
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it feels reassuring rereading is not
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particularly effective because when
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you're doing it you're not engaging with
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the material like you are when you're
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trying to retrieve it and you can use
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retrieval practice in your notetaking
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process what you do is you read a page
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and then close the book and then with
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the book still closed you write
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everything that you can remember about
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that page write as much as you can and
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if you take notes that way you'll
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remember much more quickly and
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thoroughly essay writing also encourages
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you to use another technique the
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research has shown is highly effective
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can you think of something that could
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improve your understanding as you're
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reading a book how about asking yourself
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how and why questions so you're learning
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about photosynthesis instead of just
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trying to remember what photosynthesis
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is you ask yourself why is this
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important how does it affect other life
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on Earth what would happen if
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photosynthesis wasn't possible what does
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photosynthesis rely on why should you do
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this because it deepens your
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understanding of the subject and you can
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take it further by connecting what
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you're learning to what you already know
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in their book on Common Sense teaching
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which despite its title is also a great
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book about how to learn effectively
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efficiently Barbara Oakley Beth rowski
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and teren sski delve into the science of
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how our brains work and learn they
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suggest the learn it linked approach
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doing this will help move information
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from your limited working memory to your
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almost unlimited long-term memory so as
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you're summarizing notes ask how and why
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questions and Link what you're learning
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to what you already know because that
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will help you learn but you know what
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that's exactly what you should do when
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you're writing an essay if you want to
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write a good one you see essay writing
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encompasses almost all of the most
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effective learning strategies so you
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want to learn something quickly and well
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write an essay on it so how do you write
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an essay well that's what this bit's
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about first you need a title now if your
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essay has been set by a tutor they would
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have given you a title if it hasn't then
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you'll have to come up with the title
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yourself what makes a good title usually
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something that gives you the scope to
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reason analyze and evaluate consider the
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importance of photosynthesis to life on
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Earth could be an interesting title the
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essay should State your position and a
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reasoned argument of how you've arrived
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at it it will analyze and evaluate it
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will raise objections and then respond
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to them with an exquisitly argued
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position as to why those objections
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don't stand up depending on the type of
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essay The Objective could be to persuade
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the reader that this is the only
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sensible conclusion that can be drawn
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and now it's time to talk about Jordan
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Peterson now he and I are probably not
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natural bedfellows actually I haven't
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read any of his books and what little I
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know about him is just from a few
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YouTube videos that I've seen and most
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of those have been about lobsters so I
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don't really know enough to form an
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opinion on him but I'm about to
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recommend something that he's created so
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it's important that you know that I'm
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not receiving any money or benefiting in
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any way to do so now he has created a
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free essay guide uh you can download it
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from the link in the description and it
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is very good I found it by chance when I
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was looking for essay writing resources
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to share for this video and I think
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you'll like it now I've since discovered
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that he has a paid for essay advice
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platform which I'm not endorsing because
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I've never used I've no idea what it's
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like but I have read his essay guide
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it's 25 pages long the tone and style
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are a bit arrogant but I like the advice
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it explains the benefits of writing and
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gives a step-by-step guide on how to
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write an essay it suggests how to
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structure it 100 words split into 10
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sentences per paragraph with each
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paragraph covering one idea the
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paragraphs should follow a logical
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progression towards the destination of
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your argument it talks about topics and
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how to create a reading list how to
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create an outline and then how to start
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writing how to edit and how to improve
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prove it's a comprehensive guide on how
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to write an essay and Peterson says that
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students following it will produce
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something that is at least very good I
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agree with that um I've linked to it in
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the description as well as a couple of
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other essay writing resources too if you
00:09:43
want to set yourself a challenge learn
00:09:45
something new and become an expert
00:09:47
Problem Solver then I think you should
00:09:49
take a look at brilliant.org the sponsor
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