Have a paper due in 12 hours? Haven’t started? Been procrastinating just a smidge?
Well, here’s the complete guide to pulling off an all-nighter.
8:00pm – Put on your game face.
Pull out those dusty old books. Find a pen and notebook. Log off Facebook, Youtube,
and every other distracting website known to man. Put your phone on silent and
turn off the television. Start off the night with completely no distractions.
9:00pm – Eat a snack & review your notes.
Any snack that doesn’t have too much sugar will keep you awake. Don’t go for the
coffee, it won’t be able to keep you up all night. All it will do is give you a quick buzz
but soon after you will crash. Instead, go for water, which will keep you hydrated.
Then while munching down on something, pull out your class notes. Reviewing what
you went over in class will get your gears turning.
10:00pm – Jot down some thoughts.
Now that you’ve gone over your notes, write down your immediate thoughts. Try
typing them on a Word Document so that you can rearrange them into an orderly
fashion. These bullet points will eventually be the outline of your paper.
11:00pm – Take a mini seventh inning stretch.
Thinking and planning was the hardest part. Now that it is done, take a little break.
Stretch out your arms and legs. Do some jumping jacks. Run down to the hall to the
bathroom. Wash your face with cold water. These will all keep you going.
12:00am – Start typing out a rough draft.
Nice, it’s midnight. You have eight hours left until the paper is due. But you only
have some messy and muddled bullet points! Now’s the time to get sentences
forming. Use your bullet points to get the main body of your paper started. Don’t
worry about making it sound amazing and impressive just yet. Get the nitty-gritty
down.
1:00am – Jam to some music.
Okay, an hour of straight typing is enough. Take twenty minutes to listen to your
favorite jams. The beat will keep you up incase you were getting sleepy. And
perhaps the lyrics will boost your confidence and bring inspiration to keep going.
Just don’t start to procrastinate. Put a timer on and get back to work when it rings.
2:00am – Eat another snack.
It’s been a while since you last had some food. Time to scourge the fridge for
food. Opt for something light. A light snack will give your brain energy but won’t
overwork your stomach while its getting tired. An apple is a good option since its
nutritious and juicy.
3:00am – Turn down your screen lights.
By now, you should have a plan on how much more typing you have left. If you are
nearing a closing, try turning down the brightness of your screen. Too bright of a
screen will strain your eyes if you are staring at it for long periods of time. Also if
you plan on crashing, a lower brightness allows your eyes to relax in time for sleep.
4:00am – Make the finishing touches.
Great your paper is turning out really well! All you have left is making an interesting
and compelling introduction. This should be easier now that you know what your
whole paper is about. All it takes is those last finishing touches.
5:00am – Crash
Can’t go on… Too tired…
6:00am – Zzzzzz…
7:00am – Reread and revise.
Moring already? Now that your mind has had a couple hours of rest, get up and look
over your paper one last time. Your paper probably has copious amounts of errors
since you exerted your mind to its limit. Take the morning to revise any you come
across as you reread it.
8:00am – Print it & get to class.
Congratulations! You made it! Just don’t forget to print it out before you sprint to
class. Or else, that would be a huge bummer.