Could Spark Notes be used to help catch up when I am behind the rest of the class? Should I just read it through, or do the chapter summaries contain enough information so that I could just read it on Spark Notes.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Do yourself a favor and read the material. You're not in high school anymore.

Is it useful at all?

Just curious, there probably it a use for it, but I do not know if it would be concise enough to use after I read a chapter, or for clarification.

i used it for my political theory books ie plato's republic, philosophical books like that which i didnt understand by myself, was very useful when i went to write essays but i still read the books to get quotes and understand the material but sparknotes helped to fill in the gaps in interpretation

No. No, no, no. As a third year English student, I can tell you that you absolutely should not ever use Sparknotes. Others will tell you otherwise, but I know from experience from reading the text and then Sparknotes afterwards that Sparknotes leaves out major themes of a novel/play. It may highlight some general topics, but the purpose of Sparknotes is to summarize, and that's just what it does. What is most important is that you miss the language. How are things being said? This is usually crucial as the language pertains to the author, the genre, and the time period the book was written. Additionally, TAs don't want to read essays that include the ideas of others. What is your impression of the book? That's what's important.

As chappy said, you are not in highschool any more. You are paying $500 for this course, do the work to not only reap the benefits of a decent grade, but also to actually learn something, which, afterall, is what school's about.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

And Liz, if I used it after I read the chapter to clear up something, but I still read the chapter in its entirety, would that be fine, or should I just read from the book straight out.

Thanks again.

Is this about English 1A03/1AA3?

Definitely use it to help you get a quick summary of events/characters/themes for common novels. Despite what some people here are saying, Sparkenotes is very very helpful for 1st year English because it covers all the common interpretations. If you go to lectures, use Sparknotes (to help you get the important stuff quickly), go to tutorial and attempt to read the books on your own you'll do fine.

Bit of advice---1AA3 exam is basically going to be a list of characters from all the books and you discuss their importance/role, which Sparknotes does really well.

I use Sparknotes as background reading. For the most part, I generally use it before exams to refresh my mind on what I had previously read (when you read a lot of books, the plots start to intertwine!). However, I suggest at least attempting the assigned reading. If you get super far behind, then maybe it could be beneficial to use it to catch up on a book you missed or something, but make all the effort to do the actual reading, as you won't get the proper detail necessary to write an above average essay.
Also, profs and TAs are aware of the existence of Sparknotes. If you rip your entire essay off of a major theme highlighted in the Sparknotes synopsis, they will most likely catch you. And they probably wouldn't be too happy while grading it.

Its good for a refresher (if you had a lot of readings over the year) but never used to just purely learn from. Especially decent for elective type people (i.e. I'm not an english major )

Originally Posted by Darkenmal

Thanks for the replies everyone.

And Liz, if I used it after I read the chapter to clear up something, but I still read the chapter in its entirety, would that be fine, or should I just read from the book straight out.

Thanks again.

This can be contested. Sometimes that works, sometimes is may not. That method should probably be okay for a 1st year course when your thoughts are not yet expected to be critical or analytical. Sparks is usually just point blank "this is what happened," and not an educated, critical evaluation of the work.

However, you may get an entirely different impression from a text than Sparksnotes will, so sometimes Sparks may mess up your interpretation or even throw you an entirely new way. I suppose Sparks is good for a summary of a chapter after you have read the actual text. Afterall, sometimes it can be difficult to make links between pieces of the novel. I guess the point is to take Sparks with a grain of salt... although that also makes it difficult because when you only read Sparks and not the actual text, you don't know what is the important "take away" point. Even if Sparks does point out some major themes in a book, those themes may not be the ones you are supposed to be looking at for the purposes of your course.

I love SN. I have zero shame in this- I love it. I use it all the time, and for just about everything.

BUT

I use it to supplement what I have already read, not to understand the text in its entirety. What SN should do for you is further your knowledge; it should not be a starting point.

While a lot of the SN analyses are amazing (they are written by intelligent students, after all) many of them do not delve into the text in a way that is complex enough for someone to base a paper off of. If you go to lecture and talk about one of the primary themes in Macbeth is the supernatural, expect looks of disdain.