7 Spooky Study Tips

Can you feel that chill in the air? It’s October, which means it’s officially spooky season. Ghosts and gremlins are out for monstrous mischief, wild creatures are howling at the moon, and you’ve got a feeling of dread creeping up your spine because you’re behind on assignments. Eek! Stay prepared for pop quiz jump scares with CPL’s Spooky Study Tips.

1. Bar the doors. Keep out hordes of zombies and other distractions while you study. Keep a clean and quiet space at home for you to do your work and keep that juicy brain for yourself.

2. Beware of asking spirits for help. It can be tempting to turn to a Oujia Board or ChatGPT for help writing a paper, but supernatural beings and large language models don’t always have your best interest at heart. If you’re not careful you could end up on the hook for plagiarism or a curse that will persist in your family for generations.

3. Keep garlic on hand at all times. It’s a well-known fact that vampires can’t stand garlic. Make sure you’ve always got a few bulbs on hand to ward off bloodsuckers. Garlic has also been shown to enhance memory function, making it a delicious and practical snack in more ways than one. Regularly popping a fresh clove will both increase your cognitive performance and make you unpalatable to creatures of the night.

4. Remember to double tap. This is a useful technique when battling the undead, and a helpful reminder to double check your work! Make sure you hit that monster one more time to make sure it’s really down because the only thing more embarrassing than getting eaten by a zombie you thought was dead is getting points deducted from an essay because you used the wrong “their”.

5. Don’t go in there. Sometimes it’s just obvious that you shouldn’t do something. Whether it’s an old door you could have sworn wasn’t there before, a dark hallway with sinister laughter echoing down its walls, or a particularly enticing internet rabbit hole—just don’t. Before you know it, you’re either kidnapped, possessed, or on your 13th article about Taylor Swift’s secret relationship with Karlie Kloss and it’s after midnight and you haven’t even started working on your presentation about the French Revolution that’s due tomorrow.

6. Don’t split up. Unless we’re talking about a complicated math problem or a large project, in which case it will probably be easier if you can break the assignment down into smaller tasks. This will be easier for you to manage, and can give you a sense of accomplishment each time you finish off one of your smaller victims—er, tasks.

7. Visit the library. When all else fails, we here at Canton Public Library are here to help. Whether you are looking for information on how to defeat an ancient evil that has reawakened, old news stories about a mysterious tragedy that befell your small town a few decades ago, or need a study room to work on your group project, our librarians can connect you with the information and resources you need to succeed—and survive!