We have all felt the struggle of sitting down to write an essay and facing the dreaded blank white screen. Here are some tips and tricks to bust through your wave of essays.
1. Pre-write
I know that you think pre-writing just takes up more of your time. But, honestly, it will only save you time while writing your actual essay. Taking a few minutes to figure out what order you want to put your ideas in will help your actual essay make more sense and help you not have to stop in the middle of writing to figure out what comes next.
2. Get in the zone
Find a way to get in the right headspace. This may mean going to a study room in the library, putting on music, or just being in a place where you can think. If there is too much going on around you will lose your flow and it is really hard to get back. Find what works to get you in the right mindset to write.
3. Write out of order
For some people, introductions and conclusions are a real struggle. If this is the case, start with the meat of the essay. Once you are done with that it is easier to write and introduction and conclusion to beautifully tie it all together.
4. Make your intro interesting
Your introduction doesn't have to be a perfect little summary of what you are going to write about. Your introduction can be a story or a larger topic that your essay topic relates to. Use your introduction as a way to express why the topic interests you. If the topic doesn't interest you, make it. Find a way that your essay topic relates to life, and use that to propel you.
5. Write now, edit later
When you first sit down to write your essay just write. Don't worry if it is perfect or even makes sense, just get words on paper. This will help you feel like you have actually done something. After you have gotten all of your thoughts on paper you can look back and see what you have done.
6. Have someone else read it
It could be a friend, teacher, or writing tutor-- just have someone other than yourself go through it before you turn it in. Since you are the one who wrote it you know what it is supposed to say and it is easy for your brain to skip over mistakes because it will see what is supposed to be there. Having a fresh set of eyes take a look at it will allow them to catch errors that you may not.
7. Learn from it
Professors don't assign essays just so that they have more papers to grade. They assign essays because they want you to grow and learn on your own. Let yourself learn from what you are writing. Let it become a part of your knowledge reservoir. Isn't that what we are in school for anyways? To learn. Take advantage of essays and allow them to teach you how to be a stronger writer or grasp the material more strongly.
