boyfriend is out of the apartment for the evening 🤭 you know what that means 🤭🤭 (time to watch a horror movie so scary i can't sleep when i'm all alone in bed at night)
herobeater replied to your post: Imagine for a second that Shark only owns v-neck...
ain’t nothing wrong with v-neck tees? I mean, I guess if they’re all as super duper low as his there might be something hipster going on, but. V-neck tees are pretty standard. I only have one solid-colored crew neck.
I amended the post cuz you're right. V-necks are ok, but v-necks low enough to see underage man-cleavage....
For Herobeater's sister, but probably useful for anyone taking a humanities subject. Of course, my word is not law: the most important thing is to find out what works for you. But these work as pretty solid general rules and they helped me onto my Ph.D program, so hopefully they'll be of use.
You will be set a lot of critical essays that you may not understand the point of. Hang in there. Read them, understand them, take notes. It might not be immediately apparent how they're relevant to your subject (or any subject), but they will be. Even if you ultimately end up disagreeing with them, they will be of use. Just persevere.
If your course doesn't set you an anthology of important critical essays of the last century you need to get your hands on one and read it. I use Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader.
If you have any interest in theory (which you probably should), don't approach your degree as though you're only using theory as a tool for interpreting texts. While you're still learning, it may be helpful to do the reverse: use texts as tools to explore theory. This will help you understand the different theoretical schools, how they interact, and how different novels adhere to (or deviate from) such schools. It will help you develop a broad understanding of the evolution of literature and theory and give you a strong basis for when (if) you decide to focus on specific texts and authors. If you keep applying the same narrow pool of theory to your texts from day one you will stagnate. Don't be afraid to go wild and throw some Bakhtin at Ben Jonson once in a while. When you're an undergrad you are still learning, and your professors will (should) appreciate you trying something new rather than producing yet another postcolonial reading of The Tempest.
If you want to be a journalist or post-postmodern ironic poet or something similarly hip, don't write off everything written before the 20thC. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight might not seem very relevant to your interests, but if you look hard enough there is something to learn and enjoy in almost any text.
Familiarise yourself with your library. You will need it.
Writing to your professors' interests is a dangerous game. Unless your professor is an asshole who only gives high grades to obsequious bullshit about his own work, I'd recommend avoiding it. Generally, limiting your scope like this just isn't worth it and you'll hurt your essay.
Unless you are an actual genius, you are not going to be writing a world-changing essay for every assignment. Look at your assignments as practice for when you will be able to write such essays, and don't panic if you struggle to say anything novel at first.
Any professor that sets you Heart of Darkness with no postcolonial criticism to accompany it is a professor not to be trusted.
Contrary to popular belief, film adaptations of books are a great thing and can really enhance your understanding. Just don't use them as a substitute: read the book as well. If it's a terrible adaptation, all the better. Invite some friends around to watch it and laugh at how badly it mangles the text. You will learn and socialise at the same time - admire the efficiency!
Save money by taking advantage of free book sites. Gutenberg, archive.org, scribd, among others. Full texts are rarely on Google Books, but it can be useful to check out whether a book is relevant to your research before making a trip to the library or breaking the bank. Piracy is always an option for the poorer student.
Most English degrees are full of liberal types, but it's always worth checking with older students if a professor is secretly a mad bigot before taking their class. It can honestly save your degree.
Use Evernote or a similar note organising program. Evernote is free and has an excellent tagging system, so I recommend it. Categorise all your notes and tag them by discipline. You never know when that essay you read in first year is going to become relevant to your dissertation in third.
If you're planning to do postgrad study, the earlier you find out what you want to specialise in the easier it will be. Don't panic if it takes you a while to figure out what you want to do (I was a very late bloomer), but keep it in mind.
Your university will subscribe to a whole bunch of different journals, academic sites, and other goodies. You should be notified of these right off the bat, but some universities just, yknow, forget to tell their students. Your best friend will be JSTOR, but Muse and Lion will be of great use too. Use Google Scholar to find articles and then check if you have access to them. EEBO is a vital site if you're studying the Early Modern era.
Find a trustworthy friend with whom you can exchange your assignments for mutual proof-reading. The rich kids can just hire someone to do it for them.
My general rule of thumb is that an assignment will take (X thousands of words)*weeks to complete from scratch, including research. So, 1000 words = 1 week, 4000 = a month, etc. Some people spend much less time on them, but this has always been the perfect amount of time for me.
Finally, do what you love. Study what makes you happy. My life would have been a lot easier if I'd figured this out in first year.
