Papers, exams leave students stressed
The last push toward the end of the semester is approaching.
Final projects, papers and tests are being handed out before students take their finals and go home for winter break. Teachers are trying to help prepare students as much as possible.
“One thing I do if there is a long-term project is have students do things step-by-step so they can turn in pieces of a project during the semester,” said foreign language professor Kristin Routt.
Routt said teachers do this so students do not feel overwhelmed and to prevent students from doing work for eight hours the night before.
As for making assignments due near the end of the semester, she said these assignments are usually a combination of what the students have learned in the class. She said it would not make sense to complete the assignments earlier in the semester, because students might not have learned all the material to complete the assignment.
“These papers or projects usually show a student’s progress in the class,” Routt said. “You have to have gotten through a chunk of the semester to complete them.”
William Searle, an English professor, also thinks a course depends on what is learned during the semester and that an assignment wrapping up all the information learned during the class might not make sense before the semester’s end. “If students know about it from day one in the class syllabus, though, they can be better prepared,” Searle said.
Searle said he usually passes out a study guide for tests and shows students samples of essays so they are better prepared. The study guide usually has trends, issues, important terms and sample questions of what will be on the test. He hands the study guide out about five days before the test and encourages students to ask questions about the content in the study guide.
“I go over it rather quickly in class and I would like to think this is helpful to students,” Searle said.
As for withdrawals, Searle has not seen a large number of students dropping his courses later on, but if they do, it is usually for a legitimate reason.
“Increase in work hours, family emergencies and other valid reasons are usually why I have seen someone drop a course,” he said.
Searle said students who were behind are usually the exception. “You would think it would be the other way around, but it is not,” he said.
As for the students, they think these final projects only add more worry and anxiety.
“I am just stressed out because I feel like I do not have enough time to complete things the way I want them,” said Meredith Jacobs, an undecided freshman.
Ellie Sternaman, a junior communication studies major, said she is stressing out because of a 15-page paper and another 20-page paper due this week.
“Even though we have turned parts of them in, I still need to put the papers together, type them up and, it is just really time-consuming,” she said.
Bob Hillman, a reference librarian, said while there are a greater number of students now working on papers or looking up research, the library usually gets quieter and less crowded around finals time, or a week and a half before students leave for break.
“It works like that every semester,” Hillman said.
Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or
Papers, exams leave students stressed
Students enter and leave a busy Booth Library on Tuesday evening. With only a few weeks left in the semester and finals right around the corner many students call Booth their second home to prepare for the final stretch of the fall semester. Finals week i
