Shmoop is a scourge on the verdant landscape of information that is the Internet. Not only is it plagued by misinformation and endless invasive ads, but its misguided attempts at humor are tragically unfunny. This website, along with others of its ilk, have likely done more harm than good to desperate English majors struggling with time-management.
“In-slum-national, underground, thumamnow winna something, ow”
There’s really no way around it: if you want to complete an English degree, you’re going to have to read. A LOT. Cutting corners, like falling back on Sparknotes or breezing the Wikipedia article before class, is only going to result in failed quizzes and bad essays. It may surprise some undergrads to hear this, but just like the audience at karaoke while you’re mumbling through the verses of Outkast’s “B.O.B”, professors know when you’re faking it. You’re just going to have to do it the old-fashioned way, which I guess for the purpose of this metaphor is “Born To Run” or something.
But reading is time-consuming! There are so many words. Hundreds of them! How can a student possibly find the time to cover all of this material while also balancing work, other classes, and a social life? Surprisingly, it’s definitely doable, as evidenced by our recent interviewees, who ::gasp:: completed their English degree. In my personal experience, there are a handful of methods that helped me balance the reading for four upper-level English classes without absolutely losing my mind.
Oh?
I’m so glad you asked!
Of course I’ll share those with you!
Get The Reading List Early
With very few exceptions, your professors will have their reading list available for the upcoming semester well before the semester starts. Oftentimes it is listed in the course description on SOLAR, however if it happens to not be on there, you should absolutely contact your professor and ask for it. Whether it’s over the Summer Break or in late-December and January, this is optimal time to be knocking out a few of your assigned readings before the upcoming semester. If you’re an English major, there’s a pretty good chance you would be reading during this time anyway, so why not make the upcoming months a little bit easier for yourself? You can read at a leisurely pace, without the pressure of a deadline looming over you, and you can pick whichever novel interests you the most, since finishing any piece of literature before the semester starts is sure to make your life that much easier. Make sure you take notes or mark the copy of your book in some way, since the novel won’t be quite as fresh in your mind when it’s time to discuss it in class.
(Professors, please skip ahead to the next section)
psst.
::whispers:: If you need a quick refresher on the novel once the semester comes around, that’s when the Wikipedia summary can come into play. ::whispers::
Keep a Calendar of Every Assignment For The Upcoming Semester
Everything is connected.
The moment you’ve received every syllabus for the semester, take a few minutes to write down the due dates of every assignment for every class. Whether it’s color-coded in a pristinely-kept planner, or scribbled on a sheet of looseleaf and taped to your bedroom wall like some kind of research-paper-serial-killer, having every due date mapped out in front of you is tremendously helpful.
By finding the weeks during the semester in which nothing is due, you can then find time to zip through some of your assigned readings, without the pressure of other classes looming over you. As an added bonus, it’s one hell of a cathartic feeling to cross off that last final of the semester, and start doing whatever young people these days do in your free time.
Try To Be Aware of Themes As You Read, and Mark Quotes You Feel May Be Important
This won’t necessarily make the reading go any faster, but it will make the papers you write far easier. I recommend using these Post-It flags instead of a highlighter, since you can flip directly to the desired page, and you can color-code each theme. As you’d imagine, writing papers is probably the second most time-consuming act for English majors, so any time you save will ease that burden even more. If you’re not sure about themes, like if the Creature in Frankenstein represents the biblical Adam, or if he’s God, or if he’s the physical embodiment of man’s hubris, that’s something your professor will almost certainly be happy to speak with you about.
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
With these tools, along with a little bit of luck, your semester should go swimmingly. As a final note, if you can manage it, do your best to space out your upper-division EGL classes so you’re not taking more than two or three per semester. Anything more than that, and you’re just asking for a stressful semester, no matter how good you are at time-management. Sometimes this can’t be helped, of course (like me this semester!),
It’s only three more months, it’s only three more months.
so if that’s the case, make sure your professors are aware of this. For what feels like the thousandth time I’ve said this: your professors want to help you, just make sure you communicate with them. Good luck this upcoming semester, and happy reading!
