How to be Reading Smart (When the Deadline Looms)

Some may be surprised by this statement, but I’m going to say it anyway. At university, you’re expected to be reading smart.

By reading smart, I don’t mean keeping up with all your Facebook friends’ status updates, or scanning through Buzzfeed’s home page (Although I do admit, some can be rather educational from an anthropological point of view.) I mean actual textbooks and journals required for your school assignment.

Unless you’re looking to pass a course called: “Useless information you wish you didn’t know”,  anything off-reading list is likely to be detrimental when a school assignment deadline looms. As my mother used to say whenever I even glanced at a glossy magazine, “The more crap you put in your brain, the more good stuff gets pushed out.”

If you’re one of those people that can actually use 100% of your brain (Is this you?), then you have nothing to worry about. However, if you’re the type of person that gets sleepy at the sight of a thick book, but can spend hours trying to discover the truth behind Beyonce’s baby bump, then you might need a bit of guidance.  Here are a few things which may appear innocent and informative to read, but is actually stopping you from getting your school assignment done on time.

You may be thinking, it’s a news website! This enhances the brain! Yes it’s important to keep in-the-know, but is the story about how-the-dog-got-stuck-in-the-tree-when-chased-by-a-cat really going to help with your paper on medieval history? Probably not.