Alyssa Rankin

Uwrt 1102
Knudson
Vignette
Observation
I walked into the library yesterday and instead of finding a quieter, isolated area to study,
I sat around many other students to observe the different study habits and rituals. While in the
library, I saw many different kinds of students using very different study methods and patterns.
Some studied in groups while others chose to study alone. Many were very focused and
seemingly determined to get work done and others socialized with friends for the most part.
Although many of the study methods were different, all students had a final goal, complete class
work.
When I first sat down I immediately noticed a noisy group of five friends with laptops out
in front of them on a large table. None of them were actually looking at the screen, they were
laughing, talking, and socializing among themselves. Through the next 3o minutes they never
completely stopped talking but they would occasionally glance down at their laptops and type a
few words before they continued their conversations.
The second type of student I noticed were the ones that were in small groups, between
three and four people that were helping each other and not socializing at all. They were clearly
focused on the material and helping their friends, often pointing at each others computer screens
and referencing their notes.

Many students studied in pairs as well. Some were friends sitting quietly getting work
done, others though seemed to have gossip sessions just drinking iced coffee without touching
any kind of writing or study material. I noticed a few couples not writing, but mainly flirting
with each other the entire time; although I did see some couples getting their work done.
When observing people studying in groups I did notice something they all had in
common. A majority of the groups had one member who seemed to be doing the least amount of
work or no work at all and just watched their friends. This immediately made me wonder why
they would come to a library and not get any work done. I assumed it was for the social aspect,
just spending time with friends. It also could have been perhaps because they were just
procrastinating their own work or simply taking a break while watching the rest of their friends
study.
The most common type of student in the library are the students like me, studying alone.
I find that I get a lot more work done when I am alone. I am able to focus and finish assignments
faster than I would in a distracting group. I noticed that although we were all studying alone, we
all seemed to study slightly differently. Some students listen to music and stare endlessly at their
laptops. I watched other students vigorously switch from looking at their notes, to looking at
their laptops, to writing in their notebooks, and typing in a word document.
Doing this exercise and observing all of these students and their different study methods
showed me how many different ways there are to get work done, even though some methods
seem more effective than others. It was interesting to see many different types of people in the
same building with a common goal and dozens of ways and approaches to achieve that goal and
complete tasks and assignments.