With less than a week of regular classes, Fresno State students are gearing up for finals week.

Students are hard at work in the Henry Madden Library studying for finals. These often include exams, term papers and presentations.

In almost every nook and cranny of the library sat a student with a laptop or a textbook, or both. Some students discussed work; others ”” presumably ”” discussed their plans for summertime fun.

In three days the university will cancel classes in honor of “dead days.” During this time, professors are to be on campus, and the library is scheduled to be open with extended hours.

Dead days can tempt the students with thoughts of relaxation””a preemptive attempt at summer fun. However, some students have plans for studying during the four days between Wednesday and Monday of finals week.

In addition to the stacks of reference books and journal articles lining the library corridors, students can find other resources available to assist them in cramming for finals. The lower floor of the library is home to the laptop checkout center, where students can borrow laptops for free for a few hours. The Learning Center offers writing and tutoring assistance for a variety of subjects. Students can reserve personal study rooms on the second and third floors to work in silence or on group projects in private.

Peter Bowie, a junior Fresno State student majoring in information systems said he will have to utilize dead days this year.

“I might take a one day break, but the rest is mainly studying,” Bowie said.

He said his time will be spent studying for his Management 110 class. The classes difficulty is founded in its forcing the student to “understand the material completely””in all scenarios,” Bowie said.

Many students gathered near the Starbucks, on the second floor of the library. There they took advantage of the many electrical outlets for their laptops while remaining close to their source of caffeine.

History graduate student Dalia Haitayan was working on a draft of her thesis paper. Her work consists of studying the history of Evangelical Christianity in Fresno, Calif., from the 1920s to the 1980s.­ Along with her thesis project, Haitayan said she will be working on papers varying in topic. One being about the German Blitzkrieg of World War Two, the other on Latin American and U.S. diplomatic relations, and a third paper on research methods.

“Oh my gosh! Dead days will be spent in the Student Union or the library,” she said. “I’ll be working on all three of my papers.”

Business major Elizabeth Medina, a junior majoring in business administration, said her most difficult final will be accounting.

“It feels like no matter how much you study for it… you might feel confident going in, but in the back of your mind, the results won’t be what you expect,” she said.

Medina believes her least taxing final will be in a marketing class. She said much of the work is service learning, unlike the accounting class that requires many hours of online homework.

Another business student ”” Alina Contreras ”” was studying with Medina. She is anticipating the difficulty of an upcoming business law final.

“I’m a finance major, so business law is not my strong suit,” Contreras said.

Trino Correa, a junior majoring in information systems, said he looks forward to his business law final as the easiest for the semester. Correa, however, did say an increase in the number of dead days would be helpful.

“If there could be a little more time, it could help, but as it stands, it’s sufficient,” he said.

The library will extend its hours for the weekdays leading up to and during finals week, closing at midnight instead of the usual 11 p.m.