You, too, can own this many books!

Last week, I wrote about taking all of the resources you could from your Canvas and Courseworks sites. But what if you want to learn about topics you don’t cover in class? It’s so hard to find time during your few years at Columbia to read about anything other than your courses, but as soon as you graduate, you can’t make the same use of the University’s ample resources. Here’s a quick guide to procrastinating by downloading full books and articles from Columbia’s library system so that you can read them ten years down the line.

Good CLIO Practices: CLIO’s Catalog may be the best starting point for using Columbia’s resources. Whenever you search, use the navigation bar on the left to narrow your terms. If you’re looking to download full books, set your format to search for “Book” and “Online.” Set the location to “Online” and the language to “English.” If you’re searching for a relatively obscure subject in academia (say, internet memes), you should use an “All Fields” search (the default search) to find that topic in the title, publication, or any other searchable area. If you’re looking for a more established topic (music, for instance), you may want to use a “Subject” search to weed out irrelevant works. When you find works that interest you, select them with the checkboxes on the left. Go to “Selected Items” in the upper right and click on “Add to My Saved List.” Keep your list going, and you can work on weeding through it downloading from it later on.

Sources Other than CLIO: CLIO will bring you to a lot of other websites – online libraries, journals, university presses, and more. If the website has its own search functions, try to use those! Also use other major databases such as JSTOR to find articles that may not come up on CLIO. You can even use Google to look for books and articles to see if Columbia has access to them for free. Lastly, consider using department-specific resources. If you study psychology, use CLIO to pull up psychology journals to dig through.

Full Downloads and Chapter Downloads: Many popular resources such as IEEE and Oxford may not allow full text downloads of books. However, they may allow downloads of each chapter. While it’s less convenient, you can still download each chapter as long as you keep them together. Set your browser’s download settings to allow you to name and locate files every time you download. Keep the chapters together in a folder, and number and name the chapters so that they stay in order.

Keeping Organized: Keep your list of sources on CLIO trimmed down by going through article abstracts and book summaries to make sure the sources you want to download are actually worth reading. When you download your books, actually name them and file them away so that you can use them several years down the line.

Image of a library better than Butler via Betsy Ladyzhets

Please think twice before choosing Moonlight Sonata. I’m begging you.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that, no matter what time it is, if there is a piano in the vicinity, any Columbia student who can play it will play it.  Love it or hate it, we’re never going to get them to stop, so here’s some suggestions to make the soundtrack to our studying slightly more bearable. Put your requests in the comments!

1. Piano Man, Billy Joel: Honestly, it’s just the first thing I thought of when I thought of pianos but upon further investigation, it’s generally a nice song, and you can definitely adapt the lyrics to the people sitting around you, and their sad, studious little lives.
2. Heart And Soul​:  This might be basic, as a duet, you have to force someone to play with you. This way, no one will wonder if the reason you’re playing the piano in Lerner at 1 am is because you have no friends.
3. 1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky: If you’re dramatic enough to choose this suggestion, you are definitely dramatic enough to bring in an entire orchestra to the piano lounge, cannon included. I applaud you.
4. Rondo Alla Turca, Mozart: Play this if you want to amuse all the people who are hanging out and annoy all the people who are trying to get work done. Plus, it moves fast enough that it’ll wake up anyone who fell asleep on top of their chemistry textbook.
5. Bring Me To Life, Evanescence: A throwback to the good old days of middle school angst and yelling at your mom because she “just doesn’t understand.” Lets everyone around you know that even though you play the piano, you were an emo kid once too.
6. Gymnopédies, Satie: This also allows you to get in touch with your emo side, but in the most bougie way possible. It’s really pretty though.
7. Linus and Lucy, A Charlie Brown Christmas: You might not recognize the title but you’d recognize the song as soon as you heard it. It’s the closest thing to a theme song Charlie Brown has, and guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of anyone who hears it.
8. A Thousand Miles, Vanessa Carlton: This song is iconic and everyone around you will thank you for the sing-along you’ll inevitably inspire.
9. Mii Channel Theme Song: Shows your sense of humor and impeccable sense of taste. This song is perfect and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
10. Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2, Chopin: Lets people know that you have an emotional side, but also tells people that you only play pieces that other people know. You like Chopin, but only his popular stuff. (Fun fact: Chopin changed his name from Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin to Frédéric François Chopin. Similarly, your semester at Reid Hall or Sciences Po made you a new person. “Paris changed me,” you say, which is obvious considering your newfound love for Flaubert and Victor Hugo)
11. 4′ 33″, John Cage: Please just give us five minutes of peace. That’s all we ask for.

tickle those ivories via Public Domain

This room’s only functions are to be invaded by members of the marching band and screamed in

Bwog Baby and full-time critic Idris O’Neill contemplates her time at Barnard, providing arbitrary number assignments (like GPAs) to things that aren’t real (like academia). This time, Columbia is the one that gets graded and there is no P/D/F-ing this review. 

Primal Scream – 7/10

Worth it. Did not know at first this was a campus tradition – I heard other people screaming and I joined. Right there. In Butler. Got strange looks from people studying as if my single voice inside Butler was even remotely more distracting than the tens of people outside. Whatever.

Big Sub – 1/10

More like Big Disappointment. Get that dry ass sandwich out of my face.

Stacks sex – 2/10

Took a history major to level 9. Some guy who (I think) posted about me on Columbia Crushes. Experience was bad from start to finish. We awkwardly sexiled the single person studying in the stacks which like why are you studying here anyway? So anyway I’m having this awful time – cobwebs in my hair, dust literally everywhere, and this dude is calling me some other girl’s name. The experience was so harrowing my virginity came back.

More unorthodox reviews of conventional experiences after the jump

Once, I had a nightmare that i couldn’t find my assigned exam seat in Havemeyer 309

Welcome back to Science 101, Bwog’s weekly column where we share tips and tricks on navigating STEM at Columbia. In this week’s column, Bwog Science Editor Alex Tang shares his tips for succeeding in large, introductory science courses. He draws from his experiences in gen chem, Mowsh bio, and gen physics.

Many students claim that the introductory lecture courses are the toughest part of being a science student. Just picture a large lecture hall (does Havemeyer 309 or IAB 417 strike fear in your heart yet?) and potentially hundreds of classmates (so much for the small class sizes touted by Columbia’s admissions department). We’ve compiled some tips that you’ll hopefully find helpful, whether you’re in gen chem or orgo, Mowsh bio or Physics 1402. You might find some of these tips obvious, but you’ll be surprised at how ahead of the curve you’ll be if you follow every single one of them.

Figure out what type of student you are, and work towards your strengths:
Some students are auditory learners, and learn best during live lectures. If this is you, make attending lecture your priority. This might mean signing up for a lecture at a reasonable time (maybe not an 8:40?). Others prefer to learn by reading (including yours truly). For these types of learners, reading the class notes or textbook may be sufficient, and might be more helpful than merely going to lecture. Note that we’re not condoning that people skip lecture! Just analyze your learning style and organize your time accordingly.

Do the assigned problems (the most important tip):
If you chose to ignore every tip except for one, follow this one! Introductory lecture courses tend to be straightforward; the questions that you encounter in your assignments will be very similar to the questions that you encounter on exams. For every practice problem you encounter in your textbook assignments, practice tests, or additional problem sets, circle the ones you don’t get right the first time. Return to them before the exam, and make sure you know how to do them. This may mean doing the same problem twice or thrice. (And even if you don’t end up getting through every problem until a couple of nights before the exam, it’s still good practice.)

Be mindful of details and know the exceptions:
This is particularly pertinent in biology and chemistry. Your professor will introduce a concept to you, and will test you on how well you know the details. Easy detail-oriented questions might ask about certain exceptions to concepts. Gen chem, in particular, tends to come with lots of exceptions to rules.

Never walk into a test or quiz intending to drop it:
Just don’t. The material invariably gets harder.

Click here for more tips!

After you’ve been here for a semester, are you really new anymore?

We’ve convocated, and we’ve welcomed and now we’re officially inaugurating Barnard’s new president, Sian Beilock. The ceremony will take place tomorrow, February 9, at 2 pm at Riverside Church, with the doors opening at 1:115 pm. (Walk-ins are welcome, or you can RSVP here.) This marks the official conferring of the presidency and will feature remarks from Prezbo, Kathleen McCartney of Smith College, and Robert J. Zimmer of the University of Chicago, followed by a reception from 4 to 6:30 pm in the Diana Center.

Aside from the official ceremony, there will be a series of events today in anticipation of the inauguration:

• Open House for the Council on Diversity and Inclusion from 12 to 1:30 pm in The James Room,  on the fourth floor of Banard Hall. You can meet Council members, provide your feedback, learn about new and ongoing activities across campus, and they’ll even provide lunch.
• Greenhouse Tours at 2 and 4 pm. Meet on the fifth floor of Milbank Hall ten minutes before the start of each tour.
• History of Barnard College exhibit on the lower level of Altshul Hall, in the Tunnel Gallery. The exhibit is curated by Robert McCaughey, Professor of History and Janet H. Robb Chair in the Social Sciences, and apparently , you can “add your own highlights,” whatever that means.
• As we’ve probably all heard, the Empire State Building will be lighting up Barnard Blue at sunset (around 5:22 pm) to mark the occasion.

 it’s pronounced see-ahn ia barnard.edu

the new #imwithher?

Happening in the World: Months after September elections left no party with a clear majority, Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU seem to be close to creating a coalition government, after coming to an agreement over the division of key ministries with center-left Social Democrats (SPD). The deal still needs to be approved by SPD members but gives their party control over ministries including finance and foreign affairs. (BBC)

Happening in the US: Following last month’s government shutdown, the Senate has reached a 2 year, bipartisan budget deal that raises spending for defense and other programs. The government has until midnight to reach a deal or trigger another shutdown. However, the bill still has to get through the House, where some Republican opposing the spending increases and some Democrats object to the lack of protections for Dreamers. (BBC)

Happening in NYC: Google is in the process of purchasing Chelsea Market for a reported $2.4 billion. There are no reports yet as to what Google might do with the building, and evicting tenants with long-term leases would be a lengthy process. However, this can be seen as part of a larger trend of the tech sector increasing it’s presence on the East Coast, and in New York in particular. (NYT)

Happening on Campus: Register by noon today for “A Conversation with Russian Presidential Candidate Ksenia Sobchak.” Taking place from 6 to 8 pm in the Kraft Center, Ms. Sobchak is the main democratic opposition candidate to President Vladmir Putin in the upcoming 2018 elections. You must register and provide a photo ID in order to attend the event.

Word of the Day: Sprezzatura is an Italian word for something that’s effortlessly elegant, like the international student who rolls into your 10:10 in a 3-piece suit.

i hope she kicks putin’s butt via Columbia University Events

PrezBo?

He would probably eat Deantini. He also wouldn’t fit in his Audi.

PrezBo via Bwog Archives