You procrastinated, and now all your time is gone. What are you going to do now? Stay up all night speed-reading 400 pages of Melville's Moby Dick, or spend about four dollars on those little yellow and black books called Cliffs Notes?

W.F. West students discover Cliffs Notes as they get older and have higher reading expectations placed on them. Some students utilize Cliffs Notes as they are intended, while others abuse them.

For those who may have slept through their school years , Cliffs Notes are small booklets providing summary and analysis of classical literature.

Using Cliffs Notes

You can find these notes in various places. The W.F. West library has some on hand. "They come in and use them [Cliffs Notes] as a reinforcement; they don't abuse them in this library. I've seen them all read the books," said Chris Deutsch, a W.F. West librarian.

"I've only done it once [read just the Cliffs Notes] for Billy Budd and I still got a 45 out of 50, but I'm trying not to make a habit out of it," said senior Steve Papineau.

Others have made the mistake of getting into the habit. One 1997 graduate admits reading Cliffs Notes instead of the required books. "I never finished a book I was supposed to read in high school but I still graduated with honors. Now that I'm in college, I'm finding it hard to do the 400 pages of reading each week," said one 1997 W.F. West High School graduate.

Cliffs Notes can be bought at Hatch's Bookstore in the Lewis County Mall. "We're the only store in town that sells them and I know we get a lot from W.F. West because they use their gold cards," said Jean Olson, manager of Hatch's Bookstore.

Book N' Brush has all the books on hand that students are required to read, but they make it a little more difficult to get just the Cliffs Notes. "We would prefer the kids read the books instead of just getting the Cliffs Notes. We have a list from the teachers of what books they read. The books are here but if the kid wants the Cliffs Notes then they have to be special ordered," said Debbie Swigert, book purchaser for Book N' Brush.

Indeed, having to read many pages of classics isn't exactly a day at the beach for most students. Some students choose to take advanced placement [A.P.] classes which require more reading. "We all get busy, but if you choose to take the class then you need to do the reading," said English teacher Carol Ogden.

"There are kids that I know that have tried to read just the Cliff Notes at the last moment and gotten confused, lost and end up blowing the test," said Paulette Rich, W.F. West library aide.

Consequences of Cliffs Notes

Teachers are sometimes aware when students try to slide by just reading Cliffs Notes. "Cliffs Notes are O.K. for understanding difficult parts of novels/plays. They should not be used as a substitute for reading the book, but should supplement the reading, and help to improve understanding. I try to make sure that a student who only reads Cliffs Notes won't do well on the test. They have to have read the material to succeed," said English teacher Patty Howard. "I read the book. Obviously I just use the Cliffs Notes as supplements because they help you get ironies and insight that you wouldn't catch when you read it," said junior Jenica Spogen.

Some students, for different reasons (missing school, procrastination, lack of motivation) end up resorting to the misuse of Cliffs Notes. The introduction to every Cliffs Notes booklet states, "These notes are not a substitute for the text itself or for the classroom discussion of the text, and students who so attempt to use them this way are denying themselves the very education that they are presumably giving their most vital years to achieve."

Cliffs Notes are critical evaluations of novels by experts, but are only one interpretation. "Using Cliffs notes instead of the text, the student sees only the secondary source and they are not developing their own opinion, insight, and understanding," said Ogden.

"If you read the book as well as the Cliffs Notes then they help out. If you just don't understand they're good to fall back on. If you just read the Cliffs Notes alone, sure you might ace the test but you're cheating yourself in the long run," said junior Kristie Fenn.