My College Thread

The textbooks don't have any cutting edge research. Anything they inspire me to research has been discussed ad nauseum online.



Do you find it free offline?

Do have you access to interesting reference sources online via the college library or things they subscribe to on-line because you are a student?

So, Craven, are you paying for online journals and such?


And I was not speaking of text books.

This isn't an argument, I am interested to see if I am missing good stuff that is readily available for free.

I can't afford to subscribe to the journals I would like to.

I amn't a student, though I do have graduand access to the libraries of the two unis I attended.


In my previous job, it WAS possible to access stuff, from the hospital library, but it took forever because we didn't work onsite.



Now, I actually work onsite at a hospital, and they have good library resources, I just have not yet found the journals I want. It will be interesting to see what they do have (I am having a library orientation soon) and, wait for this, they will BRING STUFF TO YOU!!!!! This could be good. But, as I said, I just haven't found, yet, in my desultory searches, the stuff I am looking for. (I have a pile of books I already need to read sitting here, so I am not looking too hard just yet.)

Interestingly, I was net searching for the work stuff before I started the job, (I was waiting for the books I needed to arrive from the USA) and found nothing of any value. But, a colleague I was giving advice and resource info to, siad she has, so I have no great faith in my web search abilities.



At present, cos I am doing such a specialized job, I have my head full of reading the stuff for that.



What I find works for me is accessing a friend, who is writing a paper about the stuff I am interested in, who tells me about what she is finding, gives me the odd paper, and we are kind of sharing the best books. They are not, by their nature, absolutely up to date, but they summarize everything. Where I am now there are also a few other people really interested, and that is great, too.



I am getting what I want in my area, but if it is available online without paying hundreds per journal, and there are so MANY journals stuff appears in. Good books are great, cos they point you to the best articles.


Craven is generally great at finding stuff on the net, and I was hoping to find sources I don't know about.

When I am interested in content on the net that is only for sale I usually buy it. But I have probably bought very few of the types of texts you spoke of.



I know, but I was. And what I was trying to explain was that the textbooks I am reading now are unlikely to cover subjects I would have to pay to read about online, and I think this is why I am not having the dillema you are talking about.



That's why I asked if you are talking about information you would have to pay for offline as well.

If so, then you probably aren't going to have anything online to help you, if not then perhaps it can be found.

In Brazil I used to help a professor with his articles for the New England Journal of Pediatry (or somesuch) and I remember that he used to pay a lot of money for those articles. I am pretty sure that the same is the case online.

I don't know what you know about but here are a few:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/

http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/

http://www.medscape.com/ (I know that the psyc resources here tend to need subscriptions)

Ah, thankee Craven......you really had me wondering, and chagrined, eg I had to give a paper yesterday, and I had left a much needed book at my other job. I was desperately trying to get the same info online, and it would have cost me a mint. I was kicking myself if I had missed being able to obtain it because of simple ignorance.


I had to speak from memory.



I shall have a good look at the sites you mention.

I just have too much on my plate to study for the class. I've already missed 2 of 7 classes and stopped reading the textbook.

That particular test you were talking about would have required memorization time I didn't have for the A, and I got a B+ without spending any time on it.

Not going for A's really bothers me, but I've got to reconcile myself to it. Right now I'm reconciling myself to crusing at around 84 and trying to get the A with extra credit. If I miss so be it. But I'm closer to having to drop the class than take time to go for 100s. Heck, I didn't even get around to getting the mono bloodwork and my sleeping is so sporadic I don't know if I'm any extra tired.

Anywho, I'm going for the overall A if I can get it with one extra Psyc paper, but want to try to do this without spending more than 50% of classtime and an additional 3 hours for the semester. Otherwise I can cruise to B.

Craven--

Hold your dominion.

OK, Craven. I'm sorry I brought it up. I didn't know you were operating at such a deficit energy-wise. You must be seriously sick. I hope you'll see about yourself. Those things can drag on, and be seriously debilitating--for long periods of time.

A B+ plus added sleep was the better choice for you. Sorry you're so sick. I should've known you wouldn't sluff around. You're such a brilliant person--I was fussy that you seemed to be "taking it for granted," for lack of a better explanation...

Really hope you'll see about that blood work--and check out some holistic remedies. (Betting less sugar, less carbs, more fruit and vegs and protein, do what you can to reduce stress, but who am I....? Can you find some appealing person to give you a deep muscle massage three times a week?)

Take care.

<<beams Vitamin C to the Boy Wonder, dry cleans his cape for future use>>

Screw grades this semester. You can bring them up.

No no, I'm not particularly sick or anything. I just have a particularly full plate (I budget my time at about 16 hours of work a day and lesiure and study cut into it).

I sometimes think I have a slighly harder time waking up in the mornings, but my sleeping schedule has always been freakish and there's not enough consistency for me to be sure.

Bottom line is that there are too many things that take a higher priority right now than acing tests and because I still think I can get my A through an extra credit paper I will keep it as is.

Bugs me too, but part of dealing with my workload is learning to let go on this kind of thing. I don't have to be the number 1 in the class just for the sake of it. Gotta let go... gotta let go... gotta write that paper for the extra 40 points too though...

Ah. Glad you aren't so sick.

Prioritizing.

FYI--I never saw you as one in competition with others over grades--just with yourself--but it has to be a good thing to be able to relax over it. I tried that. I loved Human Geography--didn't have to take it, but I really wanted to get both Western Civs and the Human Geog.

I had an A, and then he wanted us to know the same info on Asia that we had the other continents--about 20 cities, 10-15 rivers, 15 or so provinces. (Here's a hint--they are in another language. Heh.)

Everything was basically a jumble of X's, i's and c's. I mean:: how to remember something you can't say...? So, I had a bunch of other stuff going on and I sacrificed an A in Human Geog--at the time, it was the sensible thing to do. I'm still burned about being expected to learn a freaking LANGUAGE in two weeks. Seems incredibly unfair.

That fat B sitting on my transcript drives me insane.
Everytime I see that Prof., I feel my teeth grinding... Gotta learn to let go... learn...to...let...go.... arg....

I'm doing a PowerPoint presentation in Bio for extra credit right now. 5 points on the final grade, if it's ten minutes long and vaguely associated with biology. It's more like a stand up routine.

The 40 points-- Damn. I wonder how that translates. My bio guy is on a points-rather-than-grades system, too. His is structured so that 40 points would equal an 80 on a test. Do you know how much of a boost your 40 points will be?

CDK on the other side, I imagine you are doing a great thing for your employer.

Ah, memories...

bring on the music..

my serology class - that was where they introduced immunology to some extent for the first time...

Three of us did some multiple night all night experiment and got an A for that.

some of us missed the midterm for flu, real, serious flu.

Some of us had to take a makeup quiz.

In our case it was one question and was theoretical and none of us got what the hell she was talking about. Blank then on midterm, though the rest of the class had a more normal midterm, I guess she thought the best of us and we farted.

Thus I went toward the end of the semester with a rolling C.

I got an A on the final.

B on the course.

Snarl.

Funny what you remember years later.

Love the way you tell it, osso.

Yeah.

Interesting watching all of this from the other side now. E.G. is teaching his first real class -- 200 students, lots of smaller sessions, yadda yadda. He's been making quizzes and they're too hard for the students and it's driving him to distraction. He keeps trying to make them easier and the students keep not doing that great. (Averages of 12 out of 20, that sort of thing.) Last night he had to finish the midterm and he was totally wigging.

I tried to give him some "since I know you kinda well" pointers. (For one, he often glosses over basics since he thinks they should be patently obvious when just 'cause they're obvious to him doesn't mean they're obvious to everyone.)

Oooh, can he bear you to do that?

Give him the "since I know you kinda well" pointers, you mean? He's actually very very good about that, actively solicits my opinions in that way, for good or ill. He sends me emails to check over before he sends them to people he works with, etc. (I recently nixed one and he was, afterwards, extremely grateful.) He calls me his agent.

In general, I've been giving him teaching pointers, as it's not something he's done before. (I actually have more experience teaching adults than kids -- several ASL classes at the college level, and 3 years creating curricula and teaching at my center [16+].)

He's a natural at the straight teaching stuff, though, and has been doing spectacularly well with the actual lectures, answering questions, getting his students engaged. It's the tests that are driving him crazy.

By the way, it's not that he runs EVERY email by me, just some that he wants feedback on. Point is that when he asks for feedback on work stuff, he actually wants feedback, and not only accepts but appreciates it even if it's negative.

I hadn't gone to class in over a month, and had to make up 5 chapter tests last Monday (felt like 75-85 on most).

I have the final on Monday and will try to write up a paper this weekend for extra credit (I want an A).