Just to be clear, I’m not advocating procrastination, but we’ve all been there. Your essay is due at 8 AM the next morning, and after a week of putting it off, you finally sit down to write…and you’re staring at a blank screen. So, here are a few tips to get you writing that essay, and to get it done faster (so you actually get a few hours of beauty sleep).
1) Find your materials first. Get out the assignment prompt, and read it over. Keep it next to you while you’re writing to make sure you’re including everything and staying on topic. Then get all your readings that you might need at the beginning. Skimming through them every now and then might give you some ideas.
2) There is absolutely nothing worse than a blank Word document. Putting your thesis at the top can help keep your essay focused, and gives you a place to start from. But don’t spend too long on it at first, you can revise it when you’re done with your essay. Chances are, once you write your essay, you might find that your argument is slightly different than what you planned on, so it’s a good idea to rework your thesis anyway.
3) Starting with the introduction is one of the worst things you can do. How are you supposed to introduce an essay you haven’t written yet? Start with your body paragraphs first, then the conclusion, and then come back to the intro.
4) Just write. It’s a rough draft, just get your ideas down, without worrying about grammar or how fancy your sentences are. You can edit it after.
5) Edit, edit, edit! You’re probably pretty tired at this point, and making silly spelling mistakes. My favorite way to edit is to print out the essay, and use a colored pen to find all the errors. I find that looking at a hardcopy makes it easier to spot errors than on a computer screen.
I hope I helped some of you Collegiettes get your papers done and still get some sleep!