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why obsidian is PERFECT for online open book exams (my first-class workflow) — Transcript

by isabelthearcher · 6,580 words · 941 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Hi, I'm Isabelle. I'm a final year
0:01student at the University of York
0:03studying history. And today I'm going to
0:05walk you through my Obsidian setup for
0:07an online exam. As a history student, we
0:09have to sit lots of open book exams that
0:12are very time pressured where we have to
0:13write essays using the knowledge that we
0:15have learned throughout the module and
0:16the semester. And in order to be able to
0:18synthesize this amount of information
0:20very quickly, Obsidian is one of the
0:22best tools for note-taking as a humanity
0:24student. I'm going to be explaining how
0:25I structure and synthesize my notes to
0:27best prepare myself for an online exam.
0:30I create notes that are highly
0:31searchable, efficient, and really
0:33intelligent when it comes to creating
0:34succinct essay plans that help answer
0:36the question and achieve those top
0:38marks. I have used Obsidian throughout
0:40my degree, and I have consistently
0:42achieved high twos and firsts in these
0:44open book exams. So, I'm really hoping
0:45that I can pass on some of my knowledge
0:47to you guys who potentially have never
0:49sat an online book exam in your life.
0:51So, without further ado, let's just get
0:53into the video and explain my Obsidian
0:55setup. Here is my homepage, which you've
0:58probably already seen, but I just wanted
0:59to get you situated on where the
1:02particular notes that I used for my exam
1:04are in relation to my other notes. On
1:06this first heading, which is uni, we've
1:08got commemorations.
1:09This is the module that I sat the exam
1:12for. And this is my overview module
1:14page. So, what we have in this page is a
1:16bit about the assessment. I can hide and
1:18unhide this. And then we have my weekby-
1:21week notes. So each week I needed to
1:23take lecture notes. There were sometimes
1:25reading before the lecture, primary
1:27sources. We then had seminars. In these
1:30seminars, we would be answering some key
1:32questions. I would take notes of what
1:33the tutor was saying. This is like my in
1:36semester time notetaking organization,
1:40if you will. If we switch over to look
1:41at the summit of exam, I created a exam
1:45HQ page. When I think about my obsidian
1:47setup, I like to have lots of distilled
1:50notes. A distilled note for me is where
1:52I just have all the key links that I
1:53need and any relevant material that I
1:56think would be useful because the joy of
1:58Obsidian is that you can just click
1:59through into all these different links
2:01and that makes it such a seamless
2:03experience for an online exam because
2:05what they are testing you in an online
2:06exam is how quickly you can synthesize
2:09the information that you have learned
2:10over the module and write an essay under
2:12time pressured conditions and it's quite
2:15a difficult exercise because you have so
2:17much access to so much information. It's
2:19not like a closed book exam where you
2:21can only write with the knowledge that
2:22you have memorized in your head. An open
2:24book exam requires you to have quite a
2:27high level of organization because the
2:29more efficient you are, the more likely
2:30you'll be able to write a really good
2:33essay. What I really like about my
2:35current style and theme that I'm using
2:38is heading one creates this line across
2:40it. Um there is a way to create a line
2:42if you don't have this um particular
2:45style. If you press four of the asterisk
2:48and then press enter, it does create a
2:50line for you. I just really like how my
2:52headings have lines. That's beside the
2:54point. These star links are again um
2:57with my particular theme. Um so for
3:00this, for a normal checkbox, you would
3:02do the a dash sign, two square brackets,
3:06and then you have a check box,
3:10and you can check things off, which is
3:11really helpful. So looking in my exam
3:14timings, I have unchecked them for the
3:16purpose of this video, but throughout
3:17the exam, I was checking off my
3:19different stages as I went. It was
3:21really useful to keep an eye on the time
3:22and see where I was in relation to the
3:24tasks I needed to do. These star links
3:27are special to the theme I have
3:29installed on my Obsidian, which I will
3:31link below because it's a slightly
3:32custom theme and I followed a YouTube
3:34video to actually install it onto my
3:36Obsidian. A little asterisk and then I
3:38have a start. And this bookmark one is
3:40just with a B. And there's lots of
3:42different ones that this um particular
3:44style has, which is why one of the
3:46reasons I really like it. Looking over
3:47at this exam HQ, we have key links.
3:50These are links that I'm going to be
3:52using. I'm going to be explaining a
3:53little bit later. We have the exam
3:56information. Uh as I've already
3:57mentioned, this exam required me to
3:59write two 1,500 word essays in 5 hours.
4:03The essays were a minimum of 1,000 words
4:05to 1,500 words. So, in my mind, I was
4:08trying to reach for about 1,250 words
4:10just to be in the middle of that word
4:12range. Um, we were given eight questions
4:14and we had to write two different
4:16questions. Obviously, um, and then we
4:18used intext references, which is
4:20slightly different to my degree.
4:22Usually, within the exam, we needed to
4:24refer to two or more historical contexts
4:26within our case studies. So, this will
4:28be explained better when I explain the
4:30essay structure that I created on this
4:32homepage. Again, just as really crucial
4:35information during the exam, you want to
4:37be able to streamline all your processes
4:39in an online exam, whether it's a 5-hour
4:41exam, a 24-hour exam, whatever you're
4:44sitting. So, I wrote out this essay
4:46structure, which was kind of based on
4:47what my tutor had told me on the
4:49formative work I had done. And it was
4:51really useful to be able to during the
4:53exam literally plan out my essay,
4:56hitting each point of this essay
4:57structure. So, in my instruction, I
4:59needed a thesis statement. This is
5:01essentially your argument. Um but thesis
5:03statement makes it sound cooler I guess.
5:05Um secondly we have the historioggraphy.
5:08Um for a history degree for a history
5:10essay this is where we sum up the
5:12arguments that previous scholars have
5:14made in their research. So it helps
5:16situate the essay within other
5:19scholarship which is quite crucial to
5:21getting a first class or a high grade.
5:23And then finally the introduction needed
5:25an outline of the essay structure.
5:27Essentially you're saying I'm going to
5:28argue this point by explaining this this
5:30and this. So then moving on to the
5:32paragraphs, uh we needed a topic
5:34sentence. This is similar to a thesis,
5:36but it's like the the argument for each
5:38specific paragraph. What point are you
5:40making and how does this contribute to
5:41the argument? Then we needed the
5:43historiographical framework. We had to
5:45explain the argument of a scholar that
5:46we were using to explain each case study
5:49and how that was significant to the
5:51question. Then we needed two case
5:53studies compared to each other. This is
5:55very specific in this comparative module
5:58because the whole point of the module is
5:59to look at a theme across history and
6:01compare different case studies, compare
6:03how stuff was presented, how it's
6:05changed over time. It's very specific
6:07historical skills that you do learn
6:09throughout your degree but were
6:10definitely challenging at first. Um, and
6:13then finally, a concluding sentence that
6:15links back to the thesis. So, how is
6:17this point that I've just explained? How
6:18is that supporting my argument? How is
6:20that expanding on the question? Etc.,
6:22etc. And then for the conclusion, we
6:24just need to reiterate the thesis
6:25statement, briefly outline paragraphs
6:27and the case studies we used and
6:29conclude usually with a sentence that
6:31alludes to how commemorations will
6:33change in the future or how they have
6:35already changed. Another thing I
6:36included was from the actual uh exam
6:39guidance on the referencing. This is
6:41literally just copied and pasted from
6:43the guidance we were given is about the
6:45intex referencing. I knew I was going to
6:46get slightly confused because we usually
6:48use Chicago referencing which is
6:50footnotes and bibliographies but for
6:52this exam we didn't need to do all of
6:53that which was honestly so amazing
6:55because referencing takes forever. Um
6:58but using this referencing system I
7:00wanted to make sure I had all the
7:01details so I didn't get it wrong.
7:03Finally the last thing I have on this
7:05exam HQ is a preparation. This is a lot
7:08smaller than it was but I had made a
7:10reading list of all the essential
7:11readings that I prioritized I would need
7:14for the exam. So if I do just open this
7:16base which I have made for
7:18commemorations this is a base it's
7:20similar to my source index um and the
7:23way it is sorted is um this current view
7:27is where the module so you can you can
7:30choose whatever the filter is that you
7:32want. So I put where the module is
7:34commemorations the module will be within
7:37the properties of each note. So you can
7:39see the politics of war memory
7:40commemoration I have module
7:42commemorations.
7:44This way I can look at all of the
7:46readings I did for commemorations, which
7:4843 by the way, pretty impressive. And I
7:51always tick this box when I've read
7:53them. So we can see that even after
7:55sitting this exam, some of my readings
7:57are still unread. But having this
7:59overview, being able to filter by the
8:02type of source, the region, um any
8:04related things, it is just so helpful.
8:06And I went through this um before I
8:09started preparing for the exam and I
8:11thought through which are some key
8:12readings which I have missed out of
8:14doing in the semester for some reason or
8:16another. You know sometimes I'm sick,
8:17sometimes I can't, you know, I don't
8:19have the time. Um and what are the
8:21readings which I really really need to
8:22prioritize getting done for this exam.
8:24So I took those and I put them on the
8:26list here and you can tell that I've put
8:28red red because I had read them all in
8:31preparation for this exam. So that is my
8:33full exam HQ page. It's mainly uh lots
8:36of distilled information uh key
8:38information for the exam and these links
8:41which is where the bulk of my actual
8:44revision for this exam was. So the first
8:46one on the list is my thematic audit. So
8:49if we click it links us to this note and
8:52we can see this absolutely ginormous
8:57note. So if I scroll back up which you
9:00can probably hear my mouse going and I
9:02put on the sidebar. So this sidebar can
9:05show various things. It can show any
9:07outgoing links, any back links. It can
9:09show a whole lot of stuff. But what's
9:11really useful is the outline. So an
9:13outline will sort the document by each
9:16heading. So this is heading one. So it
9:17shows up as a big big heading. This is
9:20heading two. So it shows up as
9:21underneath the theoretical framework
9:24heading. And then heading three, so on
9:27so forth. So I like to be able to
9:30navigate this document using the outline
9:31on the side. So to explain this thematic
9:35audit essentially I look through all the
9:37past paper questions for this module and
9:40I look through any of my module notes my
9:42seminar notes and I identified
9:45five no six key themes. I identified six
9:48key themes for this module and then I
9:51identified various sub themes. So using
9:53the navigation pane on the right hand
9:55side if I click on meaning and
9:57contestation this is one of my key
9:58themes. I put it in heading two because
10:00it's underneath this key themes heading
10:02one. Underneath each theme I have a
10:04table which says themes, historioggraphy
10:06and case studies. Essentially what I did
10:09here was take my list of sub themes. I
10:12put them on the side and then I went
10:14through all of the readings that we had
10:16done throughout the whole module and
10:18identified the historioggraphy, the
10:21arguments, the scholarship, the research
10:23that contributed to each theme. I mean
10:25you can tell here that I haven't done
10:26all of them. Intended meaning versus
10:28reception. I only have um the case
10:30studies cell filled in. I don't have any
10:32historaphy but for a lot of them I have
10:34a huge amount of research on each sub
10:37theme. So a good example is space and
10:40landscape. This is one of the um themes
10:43that I really really focused on because
10:45the placement and the landscape in which
10:48a monument is placed or a memorial's
10:50place is so key to its meaning over time
10:53that I thought it was just one of those
10:55themes that could apply to a lot of
10:56essay questions that I really wanted to
10:58focus on it. So if we scroll down to the
11:01table, I've got all these sub themes. So
11:03for space and landscape, I chose the
11:05theme, the sub themes, statues,
11:07monuments, anti anti-ontimentality,
11:09memorials, memorials versus monuments,
11:12spatial dominance, everyday versus
11:13sacred places, digital and virtual
11:15commemorative spaces. A big mouthful,
11:18but you can see all of the scholarship I
11:20have here. Now, what I have done within
11:22this histography
11:24column is I've taken certain quotes from
11:27readings that apply to each theme. So,
11:30for example, this Cohen reading, I have
11:32lots of reading notes for this
11:34particular reading about symbols of
11:36power, about statues. What was really
11:38useful is taking particular quotes and
11:40making sure I had the page number, which
11:42would be crucial when referencing. And
11:44then here I have a great example of an
11:46argument someone is making about
11:48statues. So, if a question about statues
11:51comes up, it's super easy for me to take
11:53that um argument. I know exactly who
11:56said that argument. I know the date it
11:58was published, which makes referencing a
12:00whole lot easier. And it actually allows
12:02me to form arguments a lot quicker and
12:06arguments that a lot that are definitely
12:08informed. The trap you can fall into
12:10with an online exam is wanting to argue
12:13something just because you believe it.
12:15That's totally fine. You'd get away with
12:16that in GC and A level. But in
12:18university, you need to be able to back
12:20up what you're saying. Obviously, I only
12:22do a history degree, but I know this is
12:23similar with other humanities subjects.
12:25And I think this is why humanities is so
12:28good on Obsidian is because you can make
12:31these links. Having three different
12:34scholarship on one subthe of one of six
12:37key themes for a 5hour exam is so
12:41incredibly useful. So if we also scroll
12:43down, we'll be able to see that some of
12:45my case studies also are linked to an
12:48article here. This is an Atkinson
12:51article and it's all about um public
12:53memorials. She talked a lot about
12:54roadside memorials and what those kind
12:57of mean. So in here we can see that not
13:01only do I have arguments uh from from DW
13:04who's written a lot about memorial
13:05landscapes and is kind of the key
13:06scholar on this. I don't I don't just
13:09have his arguments, I also have case
13:11studies which demonstrate my point. And
13:12as we looked in that exam um essay
13:15structure that I need to write, I need
13:16to have two case studies per paragraph
13:18and I need to be comparing them. That is
13:21hard to do under time pressured
13:22conditions, but this thematic audit
13:25makes it so so so much easier. So, just
13:27scrolling down, we can see power and
13:30politics. Again, I really like being
13:32able to use the sidebar to navigate. Um,
13:36we will come to these essay plans in a
13:38little bit. Just scrolling down, you can
13:40see how many um readings I've put in,
13:43how many quotes. Um, some things
13:46obviously left without any content, but
13:48that's not the end of the world. It's
13:50just getting the sort of bare bones uh
13:52scholarship. That's what I was really
13:53focusing on. This whole key theme setup
13:56might not work for you if the questions
13:59are not about key themes, right? If your
14:01questions are focused on very specific
14:05statistical evidence, if they are
14:06focused on specific case studies, you
14:08need to adapt your Obsidian setup to
14:11reflect your preparation. But that's
14:13what's so good about Obsidian is that
14:14it's not like giving you some
14:16pre-prepared thing that you have to
14:17write down. It's completely
14:19customizable. One of the plugins I have
14:21makes it so much easier to create
14:23tables. I can rightclick, insert, and
14:26then just do a table. Um, and then if
14:28you don't press it in bold, it gives it
14:31to you in bold anyways. But my um style
14:34that I have on makes bold in red, which
14:36I really like. Um, and then if you just
14:38press tab, you can create new new
14:41columns, new rows. Uh, it's really easy.
14:44Um, I went straight into the key themes.
14:45So I do want to talk about the
14:46theoretical framework really quickly. Um
14:49I wanted to make a space on this
14:51thematic audit to have bigger questions,
14:56bigger thoughts, feelings, vibes about
14:59the module in general. So I created this
15:02table which has um definitions of
15:04commemorations just because different
15:06scholars analyze it in different ways.
15:08Different scholars emphasize different
15:10aspects of commemoration. So I thought
15:12if I had a question that focused on how
15:15do researchers define commemorations
15:17throughout the centuries, I could then
15:19take for example this idea of national
15:21commemoration. I could take an idea of
15:24like the commemorated past and how it's
15:26significant in certain circumstances. So
15:29having this framework was really
15:31helpful. Secondly, um having this
15:33framework all about memory is also
15:35really crucial. I didn't want memory to
15:38be a whole key theme because my key
15:41themes needed to be something that for
15:42each essay plan I could quickly uh talk
15:45about what theme is this essay targeting
15:48is this question targeting. However,
15:50with memory, memory is so synonymous
15:52with commemorations that I wanted to
15:54involve it within the theoretical
15:55framework. So the question/ theory kind
15:59of involves memory interacting with some
16:02sort of object, some sort of time or
16:04space and how that affects how the
16:07memory is perceived. So I've got memory
16:09and identity, memory and power, memory
16:12change over time, memory overload,
16:14individual individual versus the
16:16collective memory, and public versus
16:18private memory. Distinguishing quotes
16:20about memory in this way provides a
16:23really really good staple for
16:26historioggraphy in my introduction. The
16:28question is directly targeting memory.
16:30Memory is kind of a sub point within a
16:32commemorative essay. So these quotes
16:35were really helpful in sort of framing
16:37the underlying argument around an essay
16:40question if that makes sense. Um, and
16:43again I've got a similar thing where
16:44I've just put down a quote and then I
16:46have linked a reading here. Another key
16:49thing is if you do Ctrl+F you can search
16:52in the document. So if I search
16:54identity, this is the weird thing with
16:56doing tables and this is the first time
16:57I've actually used a table like this in
16:59Obsidian is that when you are searching
17:01it, it looks a bit like code which is
17:04fine. I don't love it but it's just one
17:07of those things you can't really change.
17:08If you do like click on it, it will take
17:10you to sort of where you are and you can
17:12see it. But um yeah, that's something I
17:15don't love about using tables. So I
17:16might have to experiment with different
17:18formats. But since we have looked at the
17:21thematic audit, let me show you another
17:23one of my revision notes that I use to
17:26prepare for this exam. Using the back
17:29arrow on the top left hand of the page,
17:31we can go back to my exam HQ and we can
17:33now take a look at my case study
17:34catalog. This note has a lot of images
17:37in them. And I am going to forewarn you
17:39as I scroll down, they're going to be
17:40loading. That's just the way Obsidian
17:42works. Um, and this case study catalog
17:46is essentially the evidence I'm going to
17:49be using to proving my specific point on
17:52each sub theme in an essay plan. The
17:54aim, the idea of this note is for every
17:57case study, I want to have certain
17:59information that scholars have written.
18:01I want facts about the monument. I want
18:03the time period because again in that um
18:06required information on the exam, we
18:08need to have two or more historical
18:10contexts. We can't just be taking
18:12everything from the same century. So all
18:14of that key information, all of the
18:15things that I'm required to do, I'm
18:18making my life easier by putting them
18:19all in one place. Because this is a very
18:21long note, I love having the sidebar
18:24open so I can literally see all of them.
18:27You can also see that I have some of
18:29them like um organized. For example,
18:32certain um monuments that are in the
18:34National Mall are all under a National
18:36Mall heading. So, for each case study,
18:38I'm using heading two, which is just two
18:40hashtags. I've then inserted an image.
18:42Um I do have a plugin. I am going to be
18:45doing a video on my Obsidian plugins
18:47that allows me to resize images, which
18:49is just amazing. So, you can use any one
18:52of these corners and simply resize the
18:55image. Um because on Obsidian if you
18:57have tried to um copy and paste an image
19:00it will paste it to be the entire size
19:02of the screen which is a little bit too
19:04much. I think on all of my case studies
19:07underneath the heading I have another
19:09table. I'm really loving tables
19:11recently. I don't know what's come over
19:13me. On this table we've got type and
19:15national is a monument/landscape.
19:18I don't know if it's actually a
19:19monument. It's more of a memorial
19:21landscape but it doesn't matter. It's
19:24just around about what it is. I have the
19:26time period, so 1800s to the present
19:28day. Location, Washington DC, US. And
19:31then I have themes. So then I have
19:34argument/ idea. Within argument/ idea,
19:37these are kind of basically uh seminar
19:39notes that I've taken because in the you
19:42can have a look in the commemorations
19:44module overview. Essentially each week
19:47we were doing different case studies.
19:49So, for example, in week two, we were
19:52doing stuff about the Stewarts and stuff
19:54about different statues. Um, and it was
19:56week three that we did kind of memorials
19:58in public spaces. We did the National
20:00Mall, and we did Trafala Square. I did
20:02make this commemorations canvas, which
20:04is another form of obsidian um document,
20:06which I really haven't utilized that
20:08much. And I I don't know how you move
20:10around in this thing. Here you can see
20:12that I've got commemorations at the top
20:14and then I've kind of like sorted it out
20:16by different readings and different
20:18statues that were referred to in
20:20different readings. So we've got the
20:21Pantheon, we've got the Scott Monument,
20:23we've got Byron statue, we've got
20:24Trafalga Square and Nelson's column
20:25there. In terms of statues, we have the
20:27the Hamburg, the Bismar Hamburg, Louis
20:30the 15th, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth the
20:33First, Mary, Queen of Scots. I don't
20:35know how I honestly feel about this.
20:36This is pretty cool. This is the
20:38presentation that I did for the National
20:40Mall. Oh, how do I make this bigger?
20:42Here we go. That's within the canvas,
20:45but I just wanted to show you this
20:46because I was thinking about it with all
20:48the case studies. So, going back to the
20:50case study catalog, the argument/ idea
20:52section is stuff that isn't um
20:55referenced. The way that the referencing
20:57worked, again, if we just go to the exam
20:59HQ, you can just say see how easy it is
21:01to navigate around all my stuff for the
21:03exam. um the referencing said um that
21:08they did put that there is no need
21:09however to reference facts and figures.
21:12So that's why according to the
21:14referencing that I had to do for this
21:16particular exam, I made sure that the
21:18sort of argument and the idea bit that
21:20didn't necessarily have to come from a
21:22reading. That could come from a seminar
21:24discussion, a presentation, um lecture
21:27notes. Um because for example, the fact
21:29that there is no body of author around
21:30the Vietnam or Korean memorial, that's
21:32just a fact. That doesn't need to be
21:34referenced in this exam. Again, I would
21:36be careful. Look at the referencing for
21:38your exam. look at what you need to do
21:40to make sure that your points are backed
21:42up. Don't just completely copy um a
21:45setup that won't work for you because it
21:47needs to work for your online exam.
21:48That's what I'm trying to get across. Um
21:50and I hope this serves as a really good
21:51inspiration, but I want you to be able
21:53to personalize and customize your
21:55Obsidian exam setup to help you in your
21:57exam. We have the scholarship. Now this
22:00is where I quote uh certain uh scholars,
22:03certain researchers, certain readings
22:05and I do include the page numbers just
22:07in case I do want to be quoting things
22:09in the exam. Um here we have Savage. He
22:11did a lot of work on the National Mall
22:14and this idea of the memorial landscape
22:15in this in the concept of the nation of
22:17the United States. Um we have Benton
22:20Shaw. She talks about the active role
22:22that the national war has played in uh
22:25especially like recent politics and
22:26you've got civil rights uh movement and
22:29you've got other like public events that
22:31happen there and then you've also got
22:33this idea of post national commemoration
22:36that is like Jillis's main argument. So
22:39here we have three different scholars
22:41all talking about different aspects of
22:43the national mall and it's all within
22:45one place. It has the context, it has
22:46the location, it has the themes. This is
22:50my kind of my perfect ideal obsidian
22:53setup where I have all of the key
22:55information in one place and then it is
22:58repeated within um a bigger document so
23:01I can just quickly navigate things. So
23:03just scrolling through I'll just uh go
23:05through and see some more. Sometimes it
23:07does this. You have to like click on it
23:08to see the headings. I think on the
23:10bigger documents it can just freak out a
23:13little bit. Um here we go. Our miss day.
23:15This is in um a smaller heading because
23:17it's under the like umbrella heading of
23:19national holidays. Yeah, it's just
23:21really useful for having this all in one
23:23place, especially statues. I ended up
23:25doing literally a comparison between
23:27Louis the 15th statue and Hamburg's
23:30statue in my exams that proved to be
23:32very very helpful. We'll just scroll
23:34down. I've got so many. And these this
23:36this note alone was so helpful. You can
23:39see on the bottom here that this note is
23:41literally 5,000 words, which is pretty
23:43insane. Um but yeah this is my case
23:46study catalog. This proved absolutely
23:48invaluable in the exam. Going back to
23:50the exam HQ we have now discussed the
23:53thematic audit where I have analyzed and
23:56collected all the information by themes.
23:59We have also talked about the case
24:00studies where I have again collected all
24:02the research by different case studies.
24:04Let's now talk about how I practiced for
24:07the exam a couple of days beforehand
24:09using past paper questions. So the third
24:11link I have here is essay plans.
24:13Straight away we can see that this is
24:15organized by each year. So this is how
24:18long the module's been running for.
24:19We've got some missing. These are just
24:21ones they provided us with. So I made
24:23this big list of all the different essay
24:25questions that this module has ever put
24:28on. And I decided that I was going to,
24:30especially last year's questions, create
24:33some uh mock essay plans that
24:35potentially I could use during the
24:36online exam. Now the thing that you
24:38should be really careful with in online
24:40exams in preparing for them is it can be
24:42so easy and so tempting honestly to make
24:45an essay plan in preparation. Then you
24:48get the exam paper and you think oh this
24:50question is super similar to this one I
24:51did. How about I just use the same essay
24:53plan. However, it is very unlikely that
24:56for an exam they will literally
24:58reproduce the same question that you
25:00have had access to. Obviously this will
25:02change in certain contexts. I don't do
25:04geography. I don't do English. I don't
25:06know what other departments are like at
25:08other universities. However, I knew that
25:10they weren't going to be repurposing the
25:13same question for my exam. So, in making
25:16these essay plans, I'm not trying to
25:18predict the question. I'm not trying to
25:21create an essay plan that I can use in
25:22every single scenario. What I'm trying
25:24to do is practice taking all of the
25:27information from the thematic audit and
25:28the case study catalog and condensing
25:30that very quickly under time pressured
25:32conditions because this gives me the
25:34soft skills I need to do really well in
25:36the exam. This is the sort of side of
25:39preparation that you can only do if you
25:40have extra time. If I was really short
25:42on time, I would focus on doing the
25:44thematic audit and the case study
25:45catalog and I would just kind of wing it
25:46in the exam. But because I had extra
25:49time, creating these essay plans was
25:50super helpful. So let's look at a couple
25:52of these. This is the essay plan. How
25:55helpful do you find the distinction
25:56between monuments whose purpose is to
25:58celebrate past triumphs or achievements
26:01and memorials whose purpose is to
26:03register collective loss or mourning?
26:04Obviously, the essay question had a
26:06question mark at the end, but you can't
26:08put a question mark within a note title
26:10on Obsidian. To explain how I was
26:13churning these out so quickly, I'm going
26:16to just show you an example of what I
26:17would have done. I would have gone new
26:19notes uh essay plan.
26:22How have commemorations changed over
26:26time. For example, what I created as I
26:30was preparing for this exam was a
26:31template. So if I do ctrlt, I have my
26:34three templates come up. I can click on
26:36commemorations essay plan template. Now
26:38what is on this template is properties.
26:41We have the tag essay. We have the
26:42module commemorations and then we have
26:45insert question here. So I would just
26:47take this question from up top, paste it
26:52and then we have literally the setup to
26:54creating the perfect essay plan. We have
26:57space to write down the relevant themes
26:59and sub themes. These will be directly
27:01taken from my thematic audit. What I
27:03would probably do at this point is split
27:06right here on the right hand side. I can
27:09open up the thematic audit and then
27:12whatever note you are clicked on is what
27:15the outline will be on the right hand
27:16side. So I can look at the outline here
27:18and I can think okay what relevant
27:20themes and sub themes are going to be
27:22changing over time. For example we might
27:24think about temporality that might be a
27:27relevant theme
27:29and then looking at the sub themes
27:31what's sort of changing here potentially
27:34anniversaries. How do anniversaries
27:36change commemorations over time? Another
27:38one to think about could be power and
27:41politics for example. So we'll put the
27:44the main theme as power and politics
27:47and potentially a sub theme could be
27:50regime transitions. How does a changing
27:52in political regime change how
27:54commemorations are over time? Um another
27:58point on the relevant theme could be
28:00memory. So looking at the thematic
28:03framework on this document, we can look
28:06at memory. We can see for example memory
28:08change over time. This will be a really
28:10helpful thing. So let's write this down.
28:12So here you can see how I am using the
28:15thematic audit in real time to help
28:18inform my essay question. These essay
28:20questions were broad. If we go back to
28:24the past paper questions,
28:27these were really hard questions. For
28:29example, how have crimitive practices
28:31structured time and temporality? But if
28:34I look at this question, I think
28:36immediately to my key themes. I hate to
28:38keep opening this up again, but I've
28:40literally got temporality and the
28:42structuring of time. Again, let's go
28:43back to this essay plan. I just did
28:46something similar to what you saw me do
28:48there. I wrote down the relevant themes
28:49and sub themes. So, we've got space and
28:51landscape, monument versus memorial,
28:53meaning and contestation, which I've
28:55spelled wrong. Let me spell this right
28:57because it's making me upset.
28:59Um, within that we've got fixed and
29:01fluidity of commemorative meaning. We've
29:02got memory, individual versus
29:04collective, and we've got violence and
29:05war, collective loss versus military and
29:07military death. My thesis point is the
29:09distinction between monuments and
29:11memorials is helpful to an extent for
29:13understanding commemorations, but it has
29:15limited value as an analytical framework
29:17in the postnational phase of
29:18commemorative culture. In this thesis
29:20statement, I am already explicitly
29:22referring to the scholarship by saying
29:24postnational phase. The postnational
29:26phase isn't something that everyone
29:27knows. This is a theory by Gilly who
29:31talks about this history of
29:32commemoration in the western world and
29:33how it is split into the pre-national,
29:35national and postnational phases. In
29:37this thesis statement, I am already
29:38showing the examiners I am um employing
29:41recent historical scholarship into my
29:44thesis statement. This shows I'm well
29:45read. This shows I am really thinking
29:47through the question, how it links to
29:49arguments and scholarship. So indicating
29:51all this within the first sentence is
29:52really really key. Then I quickly do an
29:55overview of the essay structure. The
29:56points I decided to write were monument
29:58versus memorial war commemoration and
30:00fixy and fluidity of commemorative
30:02meaning. Within each paragraph um and
30:04planning, I have a topic sentence, the
30:06point overview and the case studies. So
30:08the topic sentence for number one, which
30:10is about monuments versus memorials,
30:11I've written understanding monuments and
30:13memorials through the distinction of
30:14triumph and loss is helpful for
30:16analysis.
30:18This doesn't make sense. helpful for
30:20analysis
30:21about historical commemorations,
30:23especially in the nation state. Well,
30:24good thing this was an essay plan. It
30:26didn't have to be perfect. Um, I have a
30:28quick point overview and then I talk
30:30about the case studies I'm going to be
30:32using, which included the Hamburg,
30:34Bismar, the Louis the 15th, and the
30:35Senate. And you can see that I've just
30:38repeated this for each of the
30:40paragraphs. Now, this is an essay plan
30:42that has more detail than my other ones.
30:44I wanted to make sure that some of them
30:46had a lot of detail and some of them
30:47were just kind of bare bones. what case
30:49studies would I use, what historical
30:51research would I use, and what was my
30:52thesis statement? Because that's kind of
30:54the bare bones that you need, especially
30:56for this sort of exam. Now, the final
30:58thing I'm going to explain is an
31:00exemplar essay plan, which I literally
31:01did the night before the exam, which
31:03proved to be so so helpful in the exam.
31:05So, I'm so pleased I did it. The
31:06question was, to what extent do the
31:08spatial form and physical setting of
31:09commemorative sites shape the way in
31:11which the past is understood and
31:12experienced? Going through and looking
31:14at this essay plan, I really wanted to
31:16focus on the historioggraphy. I wanted
31:19to not only take quotes that were useful
31:22and frame my argument with the relevant
31:24research, but I wanted to paraphrase
31:26them and put them in my own words. So
31:28here you can see that I have linked the
31:30file at the top here and then I have
31:33written out basically the sentence that
31:35you would see in my essay. So for
31:37example, DW argues that landscape and
31:39memory are mutually constitutive of each
31:41other and therefore are entangled
31:42together in memorial landscapes creating
31:44a narrative of the past whilst
31:45reflecting contemporary issues. The only
31:47thing that DW has said verbatim is this
31:50quote mutually constitutive. I thought
31:52it was such a good um metaphor of
31:54describing memory and landscape that I
31:56wanted to keep in this specific quote.
31:58So in the reference here you can see
31:59I've reflected that I've put the last
32:01name, the date it was published and then
32:03the page number that this quote has come
32:05from. In these other ones, you can see
32:07with the references that I didn't need
32:09to put the page number because I wasn't
32:11quoting them verbatim. This is what has
32:13proved so so useful in my exam. I think
32:17I used most of these to be honest
32:19because space and landscape did come up.
32:20It was one of the questions I picked and
32:22having this paraphrased um overview of
32:25what the scholar was saying was so
32:28useful in writing my instruction. I'm
32:30pretty sure it saved me about half an
32:31hour. I then thought through what are
32:34the points I would use to explain this.
32:36Um and here you can see that just in
32:38bullet points I've kind of given an
32:39overview of the point here. I've then
32:42given the historioggraphy the framework
32:44the historical research and then I've
32:46given the case studies and kind of how
32:48I'm going to compare them. So here I'm
32:50going to compare the national mall mall
32:52as more democratic compared to the trapo
32:54square which kind of emphasizes this
32:56heroic and imperial idea of the nation.
32:58Um, but yeah, this was sort of the
32:59exemplar plan like last the night before
33:02the exam at like 8:00 p.m. I was like,
33:04let me just try this one thing and it
33:06was so helpful. So, I'm so pleased that
33:08I did it. Having looked through that
33:09exemplar plan, we have basically looked
33:11through every way in which I prepared
33:13for my commemorations exam. So, I really
33:16really hope that this video was helpful
33:18and it has given you some inspiration
33:20for how to revise for open book exams or
33:22just structure your notes for, you know,
33:24any revision that you do. I see a lot
33:26that people struggle with how to study
33:28with Obsidian. Um, and so I think this
33:30is a good way uh personally that I've
33:32used obsidian to study. Um, but thank
33:34you so much for watching and if you are
33:36curious about Obsidian, I have got a
33:38range of other videos on my page and I
33:40will be making more videos about my
33:41setup soon. Thank you so much and see
33:44you in the next video.

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