Writing resources
Annersten & Wredling (2006) How to write a research proposal. Read to understand the key ingredients of a research proposal and why each element is important. Note, not all aspects are needed for all research proposals (e.g. ethics, facilities).
Turbek et al. (2016) Scientific writing made easy: a step-by-step guide to undergraduate writing in the biological sciences. Read to understand some basic of writing a scientific paper, with a focus on how to structure your paper.
How to construct a Nature summary paragraph. Although you may not be considering submitting your paper, chapter or thesis to Nature, this guide is quite useful for how to generally construct a summary or abstract paragraph. The only thing it is missing in this guide compared to many abstracts is a brief description of the main methods used in a study.
Ecarnot et al. (2015) Writing a scientific article: a step-by-step guide for beginners. Read to understand some basic of writing a scientific paper, with a focus on how to structure your paper.
Pautasso et al. (2013) Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. Read to understand what type of literature review you may need and some basic principles of writing a literature review.
Gangaraju & Cushman (2023) How we write a manuscript discussion. Read to understand how to structure your Discussion section, from opening paragraph, to middle paragraphs, to you conclusion paragraph.
Analysis resources
Harrison et al. (2018) A brief introduction to mixed effects modelling and multi-model inference in ecology. Read for a general introduction about what mixed modelling is (fixed and random effects) and some of the ways to tackle it in R.
Coding Club’s ‘Introduction to linear mixed models’. Aimed at people new to mixed modeling, serving as “a starting point when it comes to both the concepts and the code syntax in R“.
Johnson & Omland (2004) Model selection in ecology and evolution. Read for a good overview of use of AIC, Akaike’s weights and model averaging, and it has some nice explanatory text boxes.
Stephens et al. (2005) Information theory and hypothesis testing: a call for pluralism. Read for a balanced summary of the arguments for using null hypothesis testing or AIC model selection when carrying out model selection.
Dr Brian Davison’s webpage on the systematic literature review method. Read to for a useful introduction into the motivations for, process of, and examples of systematic literature reviews.
James et al. (2016). A methodology for systematic mapping in environmental sciences. Read for details of how to carry out a systematic mapping analysis and how this differs from a systematic review.
Visualization resources
Jambor (2025) A checklist for designing and improving the visualization of scientific data. Read for some advice for creating clear and engaging figures in your work.
Bird identification resources
Vocal identification
Fraser’s Birding Sounds & Sonograms and Maurice Baker’s British Birdsong YouTube playlist. For many UK species, these resources include songs/calls plus sonograms of the song/calls being heard so you can visualize the changes in frequency, harmonics etc. May help if you learn well visually.
BBC Radio Scotland Day of Bird Song and BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the Day. Contain some one minute long clips of many British species with some interesting and useful commentary provided.
Birdsong Lessons with Lucy Lapwing YouTube channel. A series of videos explaining how to recognize of some of the most common bird songs heard in the UK.
Visual and vocal identification
BTO #BirdSongBasics YouTube playlist. This great video series was developed initially during the COVID lockdown and is a great resource for learning common bird vocalizations alongside visuals of the species in some of the videos.
BTO Bird ID Workshops YouTube playlist. A great series of videos on bird ID that discuss visual and vocal features, particularly focussing on easy to confuse species species and groups.
Nord University BirdID quiz. Requires registration but is free to use. It has some great quizes to test you knowledge, including visual, vocal, and both together. You can select what European country you want to be tested for, and choose difficulty settings (from just including the most common birds to rarer species). You can limit your time per question to your train yourself to make quick identifications.
Pat White | Method(Ec)ology 