Finals Toolkit, Part 1 of 3: Finish Smart

The Ames Library is here to help you finish the semester smart, strong, and well. For the next three weeks, we will be sharing tools for your Finals Toolkit–reminders to help you make the most of your time, strategies for taking care of yourself, and ways to help you relax. You’ve got this!

We all know the end of the semester goes by fast. Take some time now to prepare for the next few weeks with these tools, which can help you plan ahead for your study sessions and final projects. Your future self will thank you!

• Schedule an appointment with a librarian: Librarians can meet with you for 15, 30, or 60 minutes, either in person or on Zoom, and can help with brainstorming keywords to finding sources for a research paper. Choose “Ames Librarians” from the dropdown menu to make an appointment.
  
  
• Schedule an appointment at the Writing Center: Writing Center tutors can help you organize your thoughts for your final papers. Choose “Writing Center | Tutoring Services” from the dropdown menu to make an appointment.
  
  
• Reserve a study room: You can book a study room or project room in the library up to one month in advance. Reserve your finals study space now!
  
  
• Review Research & Course Guides: Now is a great time to review the library’s Research & Course Guides, where you’ll find information to help you research, tips for using the library, citation tools, and more. Search by subject (like biology or English) or for a specific course.
  
  
• Renew your library materials: Think you might need that library book until after finals are over? Extend the due date by renewing it!
  
  
• Request books or articles with I-Share and ILLiad: If the book or article you need isn’t available from The Ames Library, don’t worry! It’s easy to request articles to be delivered to you electronically via ILLiad or to request books from other I-Share libraries (you’ll be notified when they arrive and can pick them up at the Library Services Desk). It’s fast, but it’s not immediate, so planning your ILLiad and I-Share requests sooner rather than later is recommended.

Next week, we’ll be sharing strategies for taking care of yourself!