Pretty Fly For a Shy Guy: Overcoming Shyness

I’ve been ‘shy’ for as long as I can remember – or if not shy then awkward. I’m Lauryn, one of the 301 interns, and I have some conditions that mean I find group work and presentations hard; namely, I’m autistic and a variety of anxiety diagnoses. However, since coming to university, I’ve learnt how to make those things work to my advantage and have found a new love I never thought I would do voluntarily: presenting.

That’s right, in just two short years I went from a fear of public speaking to making it something I’m paid for, and here’s how I did it.

Talking to tutors and lecturers

You’d be surprised just how many of your lecturers have stage fright. The important thing isn’t getting rid of the fear, but learning to manage it. Though some of your tutors might find lecturing nerve-wracking, they do it because they’re passionate about their subject. Get in contact with your personal tutor and explain your situation, or email a lecturer you think is really brilliant at commanding a room for their advice – you’ll probably make their day, and you might be surprised how much advice they have to offer. It is their job, after all!

Photo ID: A gif of a man giving a TED talk asking “How many people here think about orcs?” It pans to the audience to show one enthusiastic man. (From the show House of Lies) [end ID]

Conference buddies

I started my public speaking by diving in at the deep end and doing conferences. Whether you’re presenting or not, they’re a brilliant way of building your confidence. If you’re presenting, they’re a warm and encouraging place for academic exploration and if you’re just watching, you get to observe some truly excellent speakers doing their thing (and maybe pick up some tips!). Many conferences have buddy systems, where a first-timer can be matched with a seasoned pro. These are super helpful because you can get insider knowledge from people who know the conference scene and can introduce you to other people in your field of interest.

Build your way up

I say I jumped in at the deep end by doing conferences, but not all conferences are

Photo ID: gif of a man saying “Why don’t we take this one step at a time?” (From the show Schitt’s Creek). [end ID]

created equal. For example, if you’re wanting to start small the Student Research Festival is a great one. Click here to find a list of some undergraduate conferences around UoS. These are all great ones to start with as they’re aimed at undergraduates and newbies to conferences. Some of them also have prizes which are brilliant encouragement and motivation. Outside of these, the Fantastic! Conference is a super warm and friendly event (and the place I built up most of my mutuals on academic Twitter). They haven’t got a date for their 2020 conference yet, but follow them here for information when it arrives.

 

301 workshops

You were waiting for this, right? What kind of intern would I be if I didn’t plug our services? All joking aside, 301 really did help me with my confidence, even before I worked here. In my first year, I had to give a seminar and I was sooo scared. I came down to 301 and the team here helped me develop a plan on how to prepare for the seminar. They gave me handouts on presentation skills and how to work in a group, showed me how to book onto some workshops, and recommended ones they thought would be of most help (‘Planning and Delivering Presentations’ and ‘Assessed Group Work: Strategies for Success’ if you’re curious). You can book onto our workshops here and start your path to confidence!

Photo ID: a gif of many people clapping [end ID]

So there you go! That’s how I went from a shy wallflower to someone who does public speaking for fun (I know just that sentence will make some people laugh with how fake it sounds that anyone could like public speaking). What’s important though is that my fear hasn’t completely gone away. I know I’ll most likely have a panic attack before I talk, and that I won’t be able to stay for too long afterwards because I’ll have so much adrenaline, but I can do it and I really enjoy it despite the nerves. Two years ago, I couldn’t even talk in seminars without my voice shaking. A few months ago I won an award for best paper at a conference. It’s possible – and I believe 100% that you can do it too.

 

Lauryn

 

An Ode to Stephenson: The Forgotten Library of Sheffield Uni

Today I will take you on a tour through a hidden gem of Sheffield University. Students who have studied here past and present have gone through here not even knowing of its existence. It is akin to the Chamber of Secrets, only with a more mysterious history. Lo and behold, the Stephenson Library!

*A mystical choir sings in the distance*

What’s so special about it, you ask?

Imagine being transported back into time. Imagine knowing what being a uni student here in the 50s was like. Imagine being able to know what exam papers they took, and what kind of building they lived in. That is the Stephenson Library.

The library is attached to the Stephenson accommodation, which is from the Georgian era. It is located across from Endcliffe, signposted from the Edge and on Endcliffe accommodation maps. Its a 5 minute walk from Broomhill.

Picture the scene. You walk into the entrance to what feels like a hotel lobby. To the right of you is a reception which is always empty. Old painting adorn the walls. It has the smell of a very old carpeted hotel or building if , like me, you know that distinct and oh so intoxicating smell.

To your left, there is a large hall. It is a large space where an indoor sport could be played with multiple table tennis tables (is there a technical term for that?). You may see the odd soul playing it, but there are never more than a handful of people within its boundaries. You also see a piano on the other side of hall.

You go through the lobby, up the stairs. There are portraits of wardens hanging along the walls.

Wardens? An outdated concept now, they were what came before Residence Life mentors, those who oversaw the wellbeing of students and ensured they weren’t getting up to any trouble. You head straight on through a door to a large room surrounded by even larger portraits of wardens, ominously looking over you.

All old white men, they are products of a bygone era.  But the largeness of their portraits makes you assume that these people were central figures in student life, with the power to expel students for naughtiness under the stricter university rules of those times.

The building currently has no computers, but this room did before they were sent to The Ridge in Ranmoor this year.

Stephenson is meant to be undergoing maintenance, explaining their disappearance. But no maintenance work has been done.  Maybe at some point some work will be done, my guess would be summer, but I am unsure for reasons I will give later.

There is a router in this room, so if your laptop, like mine,  struggles to pick up wifi in certain places, it will have no trouble working here. There are plenty of plug sockets in this room.

However, the true gems are in the side rooms. Accessible from both this room and the corridor you travelled through, these are two medium sized rooms with two massive wooden tables to work from. There are no plug sockets here so don’t station yourself here if you have low battery life for your laptop. However, the tables are perfect for group work with the tables easily having the space for A2 sheets of paper, which a group could brainstorm a mind map or project of the like.

Or a group relax and chill

But what shines through are the other things that adorn this room. You have pictures of the classes who stayed here from as early as the 1950s! This is a true piece of history. Its quite interesting to see how male-dominated university was back then, but slowly and surely girl power crept in and the ladies begin to populate the benches.

But not only this, the rooms contain the exam papers that Sheffield had since the 1950s. There are some true gems to be had here. Did you know Sheffield used to have an art course? Or that if you were to study Roman or Ancient Greek history, you’d have to know Latin/Greek? I’m sure that no matter what your subject is, it’d be incredibly interesting for you to see how much exams/your subject have changed over time. I think this is enough of a reason to visit Stephenson on its own.

And the final touch? A load of other magazines and books from ages gone by. Funnily enough, there is no way to borrow these as there are no library facilities. However if you want a break, or want to read something curious, then feel free to have a read while you’re here. You have copies of the Spectator and National Geographic from the 90s and earlier. A true treason trove.

As you walk this building, you feel a connection to university days gone by. The fact this library is connected to Stephenson accommodation conjures up images/feelings of similarity of Oxford/Cambridge, where each college has both its own accommodation and library solely for the students belonging to it. Indeed, you almost feel like you don’t belong in this building. Some people live here (apparently) including Residence Life mentors. The lounge feels like it is used by the residents for big events.

But it just isn’t. That room with the warden portraits? The last two times I’ve been there, I was the only one in there for the many hours that I studied. Even in my first year when it was slightly busier, there were always spaces to study. It seems so strange that this place isn’t used considering its proximity to Endcliffe.

But therein lies the appeal of Stephenson. Its lack of activity is reinforced by the fact its reception is always empty. Indeed, its old paintings make it feel not only like an old hotel, but a haunted one.

But it, in a way, haunted. Haunted by a lack of activity. It was obviously bustling in its day, but the more modern addition of the Endcliffe village accommodation and The Edge has drawn them elsewhere.

Curse you.

It is haunted by its former students and their exam papers, as I’m sure they were.

Its haunted by the wardens. They watched over their students then, and they watch over you now.

Its haunted by the inability to explain why its so empty, why students choose to go to the crowded IC rather than study here. Maybe its because first year students go to the library less…or maybe they stray due sheer lack of knowledge about it.

There isn’t any history of this available. Most of my thoughts here are simply observations, imaginings of the building. In a university dominated by high tech building, this building has been forgotten. Its been forgotten by the students. Its been forgotten by the university, for it doesn’t even have facilities to oversee its collection of antique books and magazine. I wonder if the computers will be forgotten, and it’ll be decided that they’re better used at Ranmoor.

But most of all, considering the antiquity of the building in its entirety, the Stephenson Library has been forgotten by time itself.

And that is why I love it. If the building maintenance actually happens and it gets renovated instead, we may see it get ‘sexed up’ by high tech facilities.

But it will never be the same. It will no longer be the distant portrait of time which you will find me in, shuffling my notes, as so happened half a century ago.

How not to make an argument

Do you struggle to think of an argument when you’re writing an essay or reviewing your research?  Has your tutor told you that your work hasn’t involved enough critical thinking about your topic? Then you should consider coming to our workshops on Critical Thinking and Writing, and Developing an Academic Argument which you can book on our website now!

But as a philosophy student, I make arguments all the time. I won’t go into all the ins and outs of these topics because you’ll find out all about them in the workshop. Rather, I’ll give you a taste of some of the stuff involved. I’ll give you a couple of examples of how not to make an argument. Even if you don’t use this kind of reasoning in your subject, hopefully this will give you some food for thought, and you might be able to apply this to when other people make arguments in real life.

So, you need a statement to support your argument. You will thus actively search for a source or think about something which will prove it.

But are you also ignoring sources and argument which reject your claims? You might include a source or two which does show the other side, only to easily reject it with additions to your original argument.

But is this oversimplifying the other argument?

There is an official term for when you oversimplify another person’s argument. It is called ‘reduction ad absurdum’.

It’s a bit of a mouthful I know, but its a Latin term for oversimplifying an argument, to ignore the reasoning behind an argument because you have exaggerated it beyond it’s original meaning. It is a rhetorical device, meaning people use it in their arguments to convince them despite it having no logical basis. If you’re a philosophy student you have to be careful not to do this, or else you will be deducted marks.

Let’s give an example.

If somebody were to argue that the government should better redistribute wealth between the rich and poor, but you were to denounce that statement as that sounds like communism which has historically lead to the deaths of millions of people, that would be using reductio ad absurdum.

This is because the other person was not saying that communism should be implemented, but simply that there should be a greater redistribution of wealth. This could simply mean more social funding or increasing wages. It does not automatically mean the person is advocating communism, which is an extreme redistribution. But you have made it so that it seems like they are, which can be easily attacked.

Another similar thing to do is to make a straw man argument. This is very similar to reductio ad absurdum, apart from the fact that you make an argument which is set up to fail, rather than responding to another person’s argument.

For example, you believe communism is bad and so no one will want it. So you set up an argument which denounces what you believe to be a communist agenda – the redistribution of wealth. You make the argument “We should not redistribute wealth because that will only lead to communism”. You have framed your argument so that it follows the narrative of communism being bad. But redistribution of wealth does not entail communism. You have set up your argument to fail on a bad premise, therefore you have created a straw man argument.

There are many other rhetorical devices which I will not go into here. You might find out a few more in our workshops, but they are more focused on the theory behind arguments as a whole. It is worth looking into rhetorical devices because they are used a lot in everyday life, and when you can point them out, it means you will never be fooled!

Overall, have a second think about what your overall argument is saying. But, as a final thought, don’t think that you must be constantly presenting strong arguments or sources which question your own. You of course only have a set word count and want your own argument to seem as strong as possible. Just show that you have critically thought about your own argument and other arguments too – you aren’t just presenting a simplified conclusion.

Go forth and prosper my argumentative Padawans.

 

 

 

 

 

The Google Suite: A Sheffield Student’s Misunderstood Friend

 

Ever heard of a little company called “Google”? Of course you have. You probably use at least four of their products on a daily basis, probably more. They’re best known for their search engine, which has held its dominant position in the market for so long they became a verb. Of course, YouTube is probably their next most recognisable website. If we were to produce a study, I would be willing to bet my tuition fee money on it being the website most responsible for student procrastination. It’s a fool’s bet, since any cursory walk around the library will give you all the evidence you need.

However, while Google can be your biggest obstacle in your quest to get a decent education, it can also be your greatest friend. Google search is possibly the most powerful research engine in the world (our lovely StarPlus coming a close second) but you didn’t click on this to read about what you already knew.

What you might be less aware of, is that your university account is also a Google account, giving you easy and full access to the Google Suite. These are apps most students will have used before or at least know of. But nobody ever uses them to their full potential. Google for Business, as it’s called, is a set of incredibly polished apps designed to work seamlessly together. If used efficiently and properly, Google goes from the friend who buys you another pint to the one who drives you home.

So, let’s get started!

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Google Calendar

I’ve only really started using Google Calendar properly this year, when all of a sudden my schedule got a lot more dense. Honestly, I don’t quite know where I’d be without it. Its easily accessed through the ‘My Services’ menu on MUSE, and gives you an extremely powerful timetabling system. Of course, the calendar can also be synced to your phone by downloading the Google Calendar app and logging in with your MUSE credentials. The iPhone calendar app can sync with Google Calendar, but the stock Google app is much more efficient.

Creating an event is easy. Events can be colour coded, set to repeat regularly or irregularly; as well as a whole host of other features. Events can be programmed to give you half hour reminders by default, or other notifications. For example, an upcoming exam can be set to notify you in a month, then two weeks, then one, etc. When all of his information is available with a quick glance of your phone, timetabling becomes easy. Multiple calendars can be set up for different categories of event. For example, if you’re working a part time job, like me, you might want to use a different account than you university one to calendar these events. The visibility of a calendar can be turned on and off easily, giving you an easy look at how much time is being spent where.

An example of my calendar on a desktop computer

This can even by synced with Gmail. Google’s smart algorithms can pick out dates and times of events from the content of an email, meaning you can add society or academic events directly to your calendar. You can explicitly create events and share them through gmail as well! So there’s no more excuses for missing the study group!

This is an essential tool for any student with a poor memory like me, and a useful one even for those who are abnormally organised. I heavily recommend using this tool as much as you can!

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Almost everybody uses Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint for their office or academic needs. This is done with good reason, as they’re not only free for students at Sheffield through the CiCS website, they’re also extremely powerful tools. But most people never use these apps to do the really complicated stuff, which means that for many people, they use Word just because they know they’re comfortable with it. I’m going to suggest that for the casual user who wants simple features with a few convenient extras, Google’s own software might be the better choice.

It functions very similarly to Microsoft Word, so its easy to get to grips with!

When opening a new Google Docs file, it looks very familiar. All the buttons are in the same place they would be on Microsoft Word, if a little bit cut down. What makes Google Docs apart are a few important features?

1. Google Docs saves with every change, so you’ll never lose your work. Seriously, if a bolt of lightning hits the computer when you’re writing your essay, you’ll lose at most a letter. It is constantly saving your process, meaning you can immediately get back to what you’re doing.
2. It syncs through Google Drive, meaning its accessible through any computer. All you have to do is log in with MUSE and navigate to the file and you can get back to work. None of this UniDrive rubbish and managing various different versions of the same document. Just load it up and off you go.
3. You can easily share your document, and edit it with others at the same time. This is invaluable for sharing notes or working on a group project. Entire documents can be shared with others using their university email or just a link. Google’s edit history shows exactly who edited what, and participants can leave comments for others to respond to. Working on a group PowerPoint needn’t be done face to face if it’s just not practical. Combine this with Google Hangouts, Google’s chat and voice app, and group work is extremely easy.

They might be a little bit more simple, but these features can make your life quite a lot easier if you weren’t using those features anyway. Plus, any Google Docs file can be saved as a Microsoft Word file if you find yourself wanting one of those more complicated features. I’ve barely scratched the surface of this amazing tool, but those are the features I find most notable.

Google Keep

You might not have heard of this one, as it’s a little bit more niche than the others. Google Keep is a notetaking app meant to rival that of apps like Evernote. Simple, short notes such as shopping lists, to-do lists, reminders, recipes etc. can be taken, sorted, synced and shared all through this one little app. It has multi-media capability, meaning images can be saved just as easily as text, as well as being integrated through the entire google suite. This means you can share a note via Gmail, or embed a link to your Google Doc into your to-do list!

Lists are easy to manage on desktop. And easy to make and view on mobile!

I’ve been hit and miss with this app. It is quite powerful, yet at the same time it really depends on how much you and others use it. Due to the fact that few people actually use it, when sharing a Keep note you might find people respond with confusion rather than thanks. However, if you’re the type to keep digitised notes, to-do lists and more, you might find it useful to have an app available everywhere to keep you more organised!

Google Drive

If you have a university account, you have an extremely large amount of cloud storage space available to you through Google Drive. This is the ultimate way to keep your university documents backed up, safe and secure. Say goodbye to the old USB stick, as Google Drive enables you to keep everything online!

Google Docs, Gmail and Keep are all fantastically integrated with Drive. All of your Google Docs files will be saved on the drive, so available anywhere. You can load attachments straight from your drive account into an email.

Being able to access these files from anywhere means everything is at your fingertips.

All of this is fairly old hat, Drive is quite well known by this point. However, what you might know less about is Google’s Team Drives. The Team Drives are perfect for committees sharing resources, group work or even whole lecture groups.

Instead of hosting documents everywhere, messing around constantly with access and editing permissions, you can simply create a group drive and invite everybody to it. From there everybody can create and edit documents within the drive, with a constantly updating record of who has edited what and when. The true power of the Google Suite is revealed here. Everybody can have a shared Google Calendar, Drive and Document space to voice concerns, discuss and write.

Even if the worst happens, and somebody deletes everything out of spite or stupidity, Google Drive can restore these deleted items or previous versions within 30 days!

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Conclusion

So that’s the Google Suite, a stupidly powerful set of applications we all have access to and should understand. I think they are criminally underused by the majority of students, either because they don’t know how or don’t want to put in the effort to get used to something new! But these are used in hundreds of businesses to great effect. Here at 301 we use Google Calendar and Gmail extensively, as well as Google Drive. The same can be said of the rest of the academic and administrative staff at the University of Sheffield.

I hope this has persuaded you to experiment with them too! The more people who use them on a regular basis, the easier they will be to use with peers. Google might have dropped their pledge to “not be evil”, but they make some very high quality apps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Year Reflections

So, next week is my last official week of teaching, which means that I am very nearly at the end of my degree. I have no idea where these past three years have gone! Alas, all good things must come to an end, and with that in mind I’ve recently been doing a lot of reflecting upon my time here at Sheffield and what I’ve learnt during it.

I (somehow) now know what I want to do:

I was accepted onto the Teach First programme to teach Secondary English last summer (which seems like a lifetime ago!), starting this September. I’ve always thought about teaching but the opportunities I’ve had available to me over the course of my degree, for example various teaching/tutoring volunteer projects, have shown me that teaching is what I really want to do. That said, even if you’re still unsure about what direction you want to go in, then do not panic! You don’t have to know what you want to do right now – I’ve just been a bit lucky, I think.

I’ve met some amazing people:

The people I’ve met during my degree  have honestly made my uni experience. As cheesy as it sounds, I don’t think I would have been able to get through the difficult times without them! I’ve made it a personal goal of mine to make sure that I don’t lose touch with the friends I’ve made as they’re some of the best people I’ve ever met.

I’ve learnt how to be a pro multi-tasker:

I’ve somehow managed to juggle three part-time jobs this year alongside a full-time English Literature degree. People think I’m literally insane, however I’ve actually quite enjoyed the busy days. I think it’s taught me that I am able to handle quite a lot when I need to but it has also proved that resting and having days where you do absolutely nothing is equally as important!

These are just a few of my key reflections that I’ve had over the last few weeks. If you sit and think about yours, I’m sure you’ll see that you’ve learnt far more than what you realise!