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Book rage

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I actually swore and starting fuming at my PC today :p. Basically, I have this awesome book called 'Power in Organisations' from the library which is basically my summative essay due in in a week wednesday in a nutshell. I've taken my ideas for my plan from it, and know where I'm going with the essay, referencing many of the ideas of conflicts of interest and so on.

Monday, 9am, first day back at uni. Go to exam. Get back, 11.25am (finished at 11) - got an e-mail saying someone has reserved it :grump:

I didn't have time to electronically renew the book, so now I've only got it for another 36 hours. I was thinking of taking the fine and keeping the book just out spite. It's a bit like road rage, except with books. It's the only copy and... rarr :mad:

It must be someone from my course too, and I didn't have the email this morning so they either skipped the exam, or they ran to the library afterwards and reserved it. Cos the first thing I did when I got back was to renew all my books for another week so I can use them to do my essay!!!

I'm going to do the sensible thing, waste my time re-going through it now so I know which bits I really need and then photocopying them, rather than just using it to refer to along with my notes when I'm writing my essay. :grump:

Just a mini rant. But seriously come the fuck on?!? It's my book that I'm using for my essay :( it's the main one! It's got everything I need. I don't wanna share :crying:
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Let me get this right, you're whining because someone else on your course, with the same work to do, wants the same good book?

    Outrageous, absolutely outrageous. How dare they want to use a good resource......

    I'd rant about how rubbish the library is, one copy of a core book is pathetic. :yes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I hope to God you're joking with this.

    I hate people who don't hand core books back in on time. I hate them with a passion, Durham's fines were high but not high enough IMHO. Still, at least at Durham core books were only reservable for four hours at a time, or from 8pm to 9am.

    36 hours is plenty of time to do an essay in, even a dissertation.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's not a core book, it's an ordinary loan. The brief for our essay was pretty open ended, we could discuss this case study from a perspective either of power, leadership or contingency. I decided to do power because it sounded interesting :p, picked up 10 books on power to read over christmas, read through them and now have narrowed it down to a few which are great sources which I will rely on in my essay, planned what I'm going to write and how I'm going to structure it and so on.

    Just a bit annoying that my need is probably greater (my essay does depend on this book, the other person is probably just seeing if they can get ideas) and yet it's first past the post, or rather first who gets to the library after the exam.

    Still, I'm just going to photocopy the relevent sections. I just don't think the other student (assuming they are doing the same assignment as me) is as deserving since we've had this set for a few weeks before christmas and I thought I was leaving it late, for them to come and swipe the book just as I'm about to start writing up!

    I was going to write it up finally on the weekend (due in for next weds) since I have 3 exams this week, giving convient days in between to cram. I can't cram and write this essay, unfortunately :(. Thing is, the essay isn't straightforward, you do need to do reading around the subject area to get an idea where to start discussing it from as many of the ideas aren't things I'd come across before in lectures and so on, at least not in any depth.

    As for the core text I have my own copy :p but Watson is a bit... basic. Gives a description of power and explains a bit but the in depth power books are necessary. Most of them are a load of waffle about irrelevent stuff - which is why I got them out with time to spare so I knew which ones were good! Then somehow Mr. Pyschic student knows the one I've found the most useful, and gone on to reserve it for wednesday. :grump: (Blowing my plan of writing the essay on the weekend out of the water, unless I photocopy, which I will, but I'm not skilled with photocopiers lol and I'm predicting it will take me an hour or so heh. Still should be time to cram :cool:)

    P.s. our lecturer said he expects approximately 8-10 sources for our assignment which we're supposed to trim to 2000 words, isn't that excessive? I've found about 6 I can throw in, though I'm not sure if I can get away with talking about corporate culture (it is relevent to the case study, but is it discussing power?). Then I need journal articles.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can't you just go and buy the book from a bookstore or something? I know it might be expensive, but if it's that crucial then it's more of an investment in your degree.

    Failing that, just keep a hold of it and pay the fines :p

    And no, 2000 words to discuss around 8 - 10 sources isn't that excessive. The hard part will be being able to summarise the articles well enough that you stay within the word limit.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    I hope to God you're joking with this.

    I hate people who don't hand core books back in on time. I hate them with a passion, Durham's fines were high but not high enough IMHO. Still, at least at Durham core books were only reservable for four hours at a time, or from 8pm to 9am.

    :yes:

    Just read the introduction, find the chapters relevent from that then read them through.

    Photocopy the front bit so you can use it with referencing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can't you just go and buy the book from a bookstore or something? I know it might be expensive, but if it's that crucial then it's more of an investment in your degree.

    Failing that, just keep a hold of it and pay the fines :p

    And no, 2000 words to discuss around 8 - 10 sources isn't that excessive. The hard part will be being able to summarise the articles well enough that you stay within the word limit.

    Nah I'm just going to photocopy the pages.

    It's just annoying that I can't keep it until sunday, because my benefit from the wednesday to sunday will likely be much greater than whoever is picking it up, especially since they may just be reading it to get an idea of what to write. It seems late in the day (the week before) to start picking books off the shelf. Surely they should have a plan like me? Especially since we're busy this week anyway!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Has it crossed your mind that this person may have already had it out once, and has realised that they want it back to double check something? They may have been far more organised than you, started when it was set and are simply polishing their essay at this stage.

    But frankly, I still think you are being a bit of a prima donna, rabbiting on about how you are more deserving. There's a lesson to be learnt here, if the book is a really good book for the essay it's very unlikely that you're going to be able to have the only copy for all of the lead up to the deadline. :rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was having a rant :p i.e. letting off steam.
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