Raise your hand if you:
- Have always gotten poor grades
- Constantly put off essay writing until the last minute
- Are under extreme academic pressure
- Hate writing essays.
All these factors can result in students who do not enjoy essay writing. How can you love something that is always associated with stress and fear?
And the sad part is that most students feel the same way. . .
For most students – essay writing is a chore they suffer through until they learn how to write essays that score well every time. Almost everyone feels the same in the earlier part of their school careers. If you plan to study further then you are going to make peace with essay writing. For many students – university is the time when essay writing becomes easier. Thus there is no choice but to learn to love essay writing.
Essay writing is often referred to as an art – and with good reason. It can take years of practice to perfect the craft. Most often students really become good at writing essays when they reach the end of their school careers!
The good news is that you can make essay writing fun through some simple shifts writing the essays assigned to you.
The key to academic success is to become efficient and to learn to love the process. After all by writing essays you are expanding your mind.
Efficient Essay Writing
With any essay the hardest part is to begin. The act of sitting down and putting pencil to the research paper is the biggest hurdle.
Leaving an ample amount of time before an essay deadline is crucial. If you are always time pressed you will not have time to absorb the question, do the research and come to educated conclusions. By adding a little buffer you will be able to think, research and write up a beautiful essay with minimal fuss.
By removing some of the stress associated with your essay writing you can help create a good feeling about essays.
The essay writing process
Begin by breaking each part of the process up into steps. By breaking down what needs to be done you make the overall task easier. Tackle each part of the process – one at a time and you can make the task less daunting.
This also leaves more possibility for fun!
1. Thinking/absorbing/processing the question:
This is the most important part of the essay writing process. Once you have properly understood what the essay question is asking you – you can analyze what kinds of supporting research you will need. There is no need to formulate your entire argument yet – save that for later in the essay writing process. For now you need to understand exactly what the question is asking you. Highlight key terms and brainstorm some possible angles.
2. Research:
Thanks to the Internet - research has become much easier and more fun that it was in past generations. Without this super research tool we would all have to spend a great deal of time in the library searching for information.
But this doesn't mean that libraries are obsolete. You can still find better information in a library (although soon there will be vast libraries in the Internet too!). If you are even slightly interested in the topic – simply typing the keywords in your assignment and googling them can provide a wealth of information and viewpoints. Be careful to keep the two separate. Whatever resources you use you must be sure to take good notes for referencing. Include the year, page number and any other information you can. This will make the process of writing much easier for you later. When writing university level essays you will have to reference each point you make so you will do yourself a huge favor by getting into the habit early.
3. Mapping out your argument:
With all that great research under your belt you can be sure that the next step will be easier. Take good notes and fit all your points into sections. Mind mapping is a great tool for organizing information in an efficient and fun way.
4. Writing it all up:
Undoubtedly the hardest part of the process is crafting the essay. But now that you have prepared thoroughly you will be able to relax and have some fun putting together your essay.
5. Referencing:
Because you took such good notes you are going to sail through the reference pages.
6. Polishing/Editing:
The easiest part, and definitely the most enjoyable. Going through your essay with your own red pen and editing it ruthlessly will ensure that you have a perfect essay to turn in when the deadline comes.
For many students – these kinds of tips can do little to ease the struggle of essay writing. You can also improve your academic performance by buying a custom written essay, term paper or research paper. Let a professional write essay for you – and use it to learn about how to answer essay questions.
