Help with Tech...

[Monk]

The tier 1 philosophy techs also carry with them bonuses for increasing research speed. One allows you to upgrade schools to colleges, I forget its name atm. Royal Observatories also add a base % to research speed, to get them follow the entertainment line of building in one of your larger cities.

Gentlemen over time spent researching a certain tech tree, will become acclimated to that tree and will increase the speed of research for those types. (Bonus for military, ect)

You can also destroy a factory and build a school in its place, allowing you to research more than one thing at a time. Ect. This may also have the side effect of hurting your economy since you just trashed a factory. Multiple schools will also increase the clamor for reform in your people, but early on this is not a worry you need to occupy yourself with.