Essays are no fun for a lot of us. They can be boring. They can be tedious. They can take away time that you could be spending hanging out with friends, binging that new Netflix series, or working on projects for your other classes. Luckily, there are several things you can do to cut down on the stress and time it takes to write that paper. Here are some of my favorite hacks to get your essays squared away so you can spend your time doing what you like:
- Divide and Conquer
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Worried you can’t write 10 whole pages on a topic? First, set aside two pages to cover your introduction and conclusion, giving you eight pages. Next, come up with eight different questions somebody could ask you on the topic. Now you’ve got eight different one-page papers. You’ll find it’s a lot easier to write one page on a topic than eight pages. Stitch your “assignments” together and you’ve got your paper.
- Comic Sans is Your Friend
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This tip has been making its rounds on the Internet lately. If you’re struggling with writer’s block and can’t get yourself to think creatively, switch your font to Comic Sans. Not only can the font help you get out of your rut, but it can also even increase your overall writing speed. Just make sure to change it back before handing in your final draft.
- Use Rhetorically-Accurate Verbs
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We all hate hearing that we can’t get the right “style” for our professors. A high school teacher once told me that the best things you can add to spice up your writing are verbs, and if you’re doing any kind of academic writing, you’ll want to use rhetorically-accurate verbs to drive your point home. You can just pluck them out of this comprehensive list and take your writing to the next level.
- Steal Your Sources from Wikipedia
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We all know that citing Wikipedia on academic papers is a big no-no, but there’s nothing in the rule book against using it to help you find sources. When a Wikipedia article states a fact, it will often be followed by a little blue reference number. Click on it and it will lead you to wherever this fact came from, be it a scientific study, a scholarly article, or a primary source. These sources are often academically-appropriate and you can cite them directly in your paper. You can also do this with news articles, educational videos, documentaries, and any other form of media that cites its sources.
- Let the Internet Come Up with Your Topic
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Answer the Public is a game-changing tool for content creators that you can for free. It’s especially helpful if you’re trying to come up with a topic for your overall paper or a supporting point for your thesis. Simply type whatever subject you’re writing about into the search engine and the site will give you hundreds of the web’s most-searched questions on that subject. Find the tool here.
Now that you have these tips, all you need to do is sit down and actually write your paper. Good luck!