To google or not to google? That is the question...

Wikipedia. Spark Notes. Google. Saviours for students but an academic's worst nightmare. As an English student, I hold my hands up. Yes, I have occasionally read the summaries instead of the books. It's just so hard to resist when someone offers you a whistle-stop tour through Jane Eyre. Why spend hours wondering what Mr Rochester meant when you can find a neatly bullet-pointed list in under a minute? In all honesty, it just seems more efficient.

However, it seems I'm not the stereotypical English student. Through studying English, I've discovered that there are certain assumptions made about English students in particular. At some point in time it seems the English student was defined, and there have been certain expectations ever since.

Firstly, that we are all budding actors: a fact which is entirely untrue for the majority. My dislike for acting stemmed from aged eight, when I was chosen to play the role of the 'bauble' in the Christmas play. Yes, a bauble. School were clearly desperate after 'Shepherd number five' had been allocated, so felt it necessary to personify a bauble. And from that pivotal moment, my acting career was clearly over before it had even begun.

Next, that we have read everything that has ever been published. From William Wordsworth to Jeremy Clarkson, the entire spectrum. Again, entirely false. Would you ask a paediatrician about the elderly? No. So please don't assume that I have digested the library.

And the third major assumption? That my attire should be that of an 'artsy' student. I was once asked if I owned a beret. Ludicrous. As if studying English would somehow persuade me to want to look like a French wannabe.

I would like to remind those select people who make these assumptions that yes, I am an English student. But I am also nineteen. I like to go out, let my hair down, take off my beret. I don't spend Friday nights pouring over Pride and Prejudice with a cup of cocoa. I don't want to be in the West End. I would just like a degree to enable me to get on in life. Now that is the truth. And that is also why I called on spark notes so I would be able to go out tonight.