I don't really know what I want...

[LibraryLady]

Librarians and other people who deal with the public, aren't you tired of hearing this sort of thing?

This morning we had a lady who was sent to our Library to research something. She did not know what her assignment was. She said her Professor didn't tell her what she had to do but the people here in the Library would know. We've never talked to him. We've met some of his students before but it seems that each student has been assigned a different object to research. We can discern that she was given one of ten or fifteen objects to research but we don't know which one she was assigned With absolutely no input from her we couldn't couldn't give her much help. All we could do was direct her to books in the readig room and hope some of thse would jog her memory.

From better students we know that the paper was due either today or tomorrow. I wish the lady well but I don't think she'll get a very good mark on her assignment.

I feel even worse for the lady who showed up when I was shutting the Library down for the night. I was going out as she was coming in.

"Oh, you're closed?"

"Yes. We close at 4:30 but we'll open tomorrow at 10 AM".

"But the paper's due tomorrow and I need to get stuff from here"

"I'm sorry, Miss. You can't. May I suggest the big public library down at the corner?"

"I'm gonna have to walk all that way?"

Hey, you and I both know that you aren't going to get your paper done tonight. How do I know that?

1) You have a cell-phone surgically implanted in your ear and you're making plans for a fun evening as we speak.as we speak.

2) You came into the Library without a pen, pencil or pad of paper.

3) You've got "Juicy" written in sparkles on the Daisy Dukes that (almost) cover your behind.

[Andara Bledin]

Oh, I so totally wouldn't feel sorry for either of them. We all know they had a lot longer than just today to do their research.

^-.-^

[Chanlin]

It makes me want to smack people sometimes and ask them why they are here when they blow off class, assignments, the professor etc.

I just don't get why people bother coming to college and then squander their time and goof off in general and then wonder why they get bad grades.

[bainsidhe]

Hmm, I remember my college days when the on-campus library closed at midnight and 12:30am most nights. Sounds terrific, right? Well, not when you had to research and write a paper within two days, you went to school and worked full time. I wouldn't get out of work until right before the library closed, which meant hauling butt to check out a book or something quick to "research" so I could write my paper at home into the wee morning hours, then trot off to campus the next morning and type the damn thing between classes. Keep in mind this was a decade ago and not having a computer while being a student was pretty common. Internet was also in it's youth, so much research was still books and hard copy.

[jnd4rusty]

I am one who actually waits until the last minute to write my paper. I had one due yesterday for finals and finished it in six hours on Tuesday, but I had my research done and my notes written out. The only reason I do this is because I am my own worst critic and I have found that if I write it early I end up scrapping it about a dozen times. I always get "A's" on all my papers because I put my best work into it under pressure. Now those who do not do any research until the very last day are asking for an "F". That is pure laziness!! I use the whole semester to gather my research and refine my notes so then I can put my thesis statement and paper together with ease.

[froglet]

I am one who actually waits until the last minute to write my paper. I had one due yesterday for finals and finished it in six hours on Tuesday, but I had my research done and my notes written out.

But! You actually did the research ahead of time. Writing at the last second is one thing, but leaving all of it to the last possible second is not wise.

[Gerrinson]

But! You actually did the research ahead of time. Writing at the last second is one thing, but leaving all of it to the last possible second is not wise.

Well, technically, I used to fall under this category. It was my final research paper of the term in my freshman year of college, which made up 25% of my grade. I got to the library 15 minutes to close, the night before my paper was due (at 8:00 AM the next morning). I checked out a 1/2 dozen books and jetted off the computer lab, which was open for 3 more hours.

I proceeded to spend 1/2 an hour flipping pages in the books and choosing quotes. I then wrote a 9 page paper in the space of two hours. Went to print it, and the thing crashed halfway through. Turns out I hadn't saved since the end of page 4. This was back in the mid 90's, so there was no autosave to bail me out, either. I was stuck with only 1/2 an hour left before the lab closed and no lab time to print in the morning before it had to be in my professor's hands. I don't know how I managed, but I wound up with a printed 10 page paper just before they locked up the lab.

I got 98 out of 100 on it, with the 2 points taken off solely for typos.

[Meadhands]

But! You actually did the research ahead of time. Writing at the last second is one thing, but leaving all of it to the last possible second is not wise.

Actually, I tend to do just that. Right now, my GPA rests at a comfortable 3.6 (damn calculus class brought it down). I usually leave all work and research to the last day, but when that last day comes, I up to 18 hours working nonstop without gripes. For example, this semester (which just mercifully ended), I finished two powerpoints, three papers, a webpage and eight homework assignments (cumulative, all due at the end of the semester) in one day.

I don't like to brag (well, maybe I do a little ), but so long as you have your head about you when you do the assignment, and know the most efficient way to go about completing it, and know how the programs that you are using work (etc. etc.), then you can complete just about anything in time.

I say JUST about anything, because the one time it REALLY backfired on me was in an architecture class, in which I waited until the last day to build a model of my house. I am already bad with my hands without adding a deadline. It was either 12/100 or 19/100, which was probably overly generous since the roof caved in and the walls flew apart after the glue stick glue (what the hell was I thinking?!?) dried out.

But hey, aside from that, it has worked for me for 15 years of schooling.