college tips for english majors (or other reading heavy humanities)
making a post because I see a lot of “if you don’t understand a concept, note taking, studying” stuff but i’m well into an English lit degree and it’s not so much understanding a concept, or taking exams as much as it is dividing your time to read 700 pages in a week and writing essays, I’m writing this so I follow my own advice
reading will take longer than you think it will, schedule accordingly
even if you read fast, reading will, and should take longer than when you’re reading for fun. you’re analyzing bb
no one will care i promise. underline patterns, highlight writing idiosyncrasies
if you’re reading theory, read out loud
idk if this is an adhd thing, but I cannot read a giant hunk of critical theory. it’s like i’ve suddenly become illiterate. reading out loud helps a lot.
you don’t need to understand every reference of obscure writers in the 1800s
the hardest writing to read is when a famous author rattles off a bunch of names of authors you’ve never read. ignore them.
try finding an audiobook of the book you’re reading to listen to while reading
once again, reading comprehension can be difficult if you just stare at the page like me. a lot of old books have audiobooks available on youtube for free, plus you can speed it up. listening to it helps hammer it in. (libraries typically have audiobook sources as well)
google words you don’t know
and whip em out at parties to look smart and accomplished
every professor is different when grading essays, especially for different kinds of essays
forget everything you learned in high school about essays. none of it is true. in fact, forget everything you learned about essays every time you take a new class. every professor has their own made up rules. figure out what your prof wants, don’t take bad feedback personally.
read something you want to read in between
when you’re constantly reading stuff you’re forced to read, even if you enjoy it (and you won’t always) it can be hard to remember why you love books in the first place. read some wonderfully stupid YA novel and that’ll get you back on track
GOD, reading stuff you don’t understand over and over with professors telling you you’re analysis is wrong, sometimes it makes you feel DUMB. I PROMISE YOU ARE NOT. just because you’re not a tenured professor doesn’t make your analysis wrong, and it doesn’t make that professor right. and you’re in school for a reason! if you knew about it then you wouldn’t be in school.
I cannot stress this enough: TALK TO YOUR CLASSMATES
Discussions are literally the most important part of this entire degree. Zoom University is made even more difficult in this respect, but reach out! My survey of Irish lit class has no discussions and I’m sad because I want to know what other people think about Oscar Wilde ok? but I found someone who happened to be in that class, and now we chat about it all the time. It makes the class a lot easier to get through.
germansingergirl
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blakekathryn
vaporwave
turnnoffyourmind
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jacobvanloon
