HOW TO SURVIVE WRITING A UNI ESSAY
Essays. Aren't they just the biggest inconvenience in the world? Whether you're currently at college or uni now, have been previously or will do soon, you'll probably agree that essays very quickly become the absolute bane of your life. A dark cloud continually looming on the horizon that refuses to budge until you bow down to it in some sort of sacrifice, and just get on with writing the damn thing. You don't really want to write it, and in theory, at those levels of education you don't even have to write that essay. You could just say 'nah mate, got better things to do with my time, see ya laterz', and be done with it. But for some reason, most of us, in spite of considering that very course of action numerous times, don't. We stick it out. We send ourselves to the library for hours, days at a time. We lock ourselves in our room and refuse to emerge till night falls again. We dramatically plod around procrastinating, exclaiming 'woe is me', flopping on the floor in despair, consuming endless cups of caffeine, and wondering why we were ever so determined to access higher education in the first place and if life will ever be good again...
Okay, so I might be over-exaggerating just a little bit here, but you get the idea. Essays aren't fun. I've had two to do this Christmas holiday (oh the joys!), as well as revision for two exams, and over the course of December I continually found myself questioning those higher powers about how exactly was I actually going to do this. I was terrified I wouldn't be able to do it. I didn't even know where to begin. It just all seemed so daunting, and when you've spent the last four months busy as a bee and living away from home, the Christmas holidays are supposed to be the perfect time to relax, see family and friends, chill out, recharge the old batteries. Not to mention, it had been exactly a year since I had last written an essay, and with uni essays especially seeming very intimidating for the first year or two, I was extremely tempted to dig a hole somewhere and hide in it till February, when all this stuff would be over. Obviously I didn't do that. As always I just sucked it up and got in with it, and almost a month later, I've finally finished both essays, learnt a hell of a lot in the process, and I've managed to start revision too, so not too bad in my books, not too bad at all. Freedom, I'm thrilled to report, is now just around the corner, instead of a far off speck on the horizon, and I therefore want to do some dancing like those dancers in Justin Bieber's Sorry video to celebrate this. I'm getting there slowly but surely.
Whilst I was writing my essays, well supposedly writing them, because there was an awful lot of procrastination, it got me thinking. What makes writing an essay easier? What are good things to do in the essay writing process? How do you maintain concentration and determination? How do you even finish the damn thing? When I'd figured out a few of those very nuggets of information, I thought it would be a rather good idea to make a list out of them and share it on the old blog in case they might be of use to you dear readers now or in future, or for future me, a I always conveniently forget how to write an essay. So below is said list for you to peruse. I hope it's helpful in some way and just remember you can do it. And when you do, please do come join me in my re-enactment of Justin's video.
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-TOP TIPS-
Essays. Aren't they just the biggest inconvenience in the world? Whether you're currently at college or uni now, have been previously or will do soon, you'll probably agree that essays very quickly become the absolute bane of your life. A dark cloud continually looming on the horizon that refuses to budge until you bow down to it in some sort of sacrifice, and just get on with writing the damn thing. You don't really want to write it, and in theory, at those levels of education you don't even have to write that essay. You could just say 'nah mate, got better things to do with my time, see ya laterz', and be done with it. But for some reason, most of us, in spite of considering that very course of action numerous times, don't. We stick it out. We send ourselves to the library for hours, days at a time. We lock ourselves in our room and refuse to emerge till night falls again. We dramatically plod around procrastinating, exclaiming 'woe is me', flopping on the floor in despair, consuming endless cups of caffeine, and wondering why we were ever so determined to access higher education in the first place and if life will ever be good again...
Okay, so I might be over-exaggerating just a little bit here, but you get the idea. Essays aren't fun. I've had two to do this Christmas holiday (oh the joys!), as well as revision for two exams, and over the course of December I continually found myself questioning those higher powers about how exactly was I actually going to do this. I was terrified I wouldn't be able to do it. I didn't even know where to begin. It just all seemed so daunting, and when you've spent the last four months busy as a bee and living away from home, the Christmas holidays are supposed to be the perfect time to relax, see family and friends, chill out, recharge the old batteries. Not to mention, it had been exactly a year since I had last written an essay, and with uni essays especially seeming very intimidating for the first year or two, I was extremely tempted to dig a hole somewhere and hide in it till February, when all this stuff would be over. Obviously I didn't do that. As always I just sucked it up and got in with it, and almost a month later, I've finally finished both essays, learnt a hell of a lot in the process, and I've managed to start revision too, so not too bad in my books, not too bad at all. Freedom, I'm thrilled to report, is now just around the corner, instead of a far off speck on the horizon, and I therefore want to do some dancing like those dancers in Justin Bieber's Sorry video to celebrate this. I'm getting there slowly but surely.
Whilst I was writing my essays, well supposedly writing them, because there was an awful lot of procrastination, it got me thinking. What makes writing an essay easier? What are good things to do in the essay writing process? How do you maintain concentration and determination? How do you even finish the damn thing? When I'd figured out a few of those very nuggets of information, I thought it would be a rather good idea to make a list out of them and share it on the old blog in case they might be of use to you dear readers now or in future, or for future me, a I always conveniently forget how to write an essay. So below is said list for you to peruse. I hope it's helpful in some way and just remember you can do it. And when you do, please do come join me in my re-enactment of Justin's video.
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-TOP TIPS-
1) Know what your lecturer wants you to write about and break it down into all the component parts so you know what to cover, and what's expected of you.
2) Layout. Plan roughly what parts of the essay will go where and how many words you're going to use per section.
3) Check your word count regularly, especially when getting towards the end of your essay. If you have to go for the chop, the word chop, keep all the words that are crucial to making the essay make sense, and remove words that technically you don't need, as your essay still makes sense without them. Remember, you're trying to convey the most amount of information with the least amount of words, and you want it to make sense.
4) Take a look at the books in your library and take out four or five good ones, and use on-line library resources like books and journal articles too.
5) If you use Google Scholar, click on the little button that says cite and it will give you the citation you need, in whatever reference style you need.
6) Spend time making sure that you understand the information you're writing about, even if that means googling stuff for your own sake. You need to have a solid understanding to ensure that when you write about the information in your own words, it makes sense. It will also make you feel very clever, which is always a bonus.
7) Write down key things from the resources you read, that you think may be of use to you. Title your piece of paper or word doc with the name of the resource, the author and publication date, and if it's a book note down the publishers name, and for articles, note the publication name, volume, issue and pages used. It's really helpful when writing your essay and doing references.
8) Begin to search for articles on your uni's online library or Google Scholar. Normally it leads you to other information sources and databases that might be useful.
9) Use your lecture notes as guidance.
10) Pester your lecturer if you don't understand something or want to clarify. They're normally very helpful :)
11) If you feel overwhelmed, which you probably will on multiple occasions, don't give up. The feeling will pass, and the best way to tackle it is do what I do: go eat something. Then, take a little break and come back to it and be productive, determined, carry on! Normally it all starts to fall into place, but if you're still really struggling, let your lecturer know and get some extra support and guidance.
12) Try and start doing parts of your essay as soon as you can, like putting bricks into place to build a house. It relieves you of the tension and pressure, and you'll really notice the progression you've made every time you come back to your essay, which is pretty motivating. Don't put your essay off to the last minute, it isn't worth the stress and pressure. Just think the sooner you crack on with it, the sooner you'll be done, and the sooner you'll be able to do fun staaaffff darling.
13) Sometimes it's best to just stop and let yourself rest when you've done a big stint on your essay. Even though you may not be finished, it's good to call it a day, chill out, think of other things, and come back to it the next day with fresh eyes.
14) Make sure you reference in the text as you go along, and likewise write down the reference in the list at the bottom as soon as you use it. That way you won't forget and have to go back and find it later, which is a right ball ache. References are done in alphabetical order and typically in Harvard style. I find websites like this very useful to double check how to reference, and don't worry, referencing gets super easy as you go along.
15) Essays normally seem like a big inconvenience designed to poop all over your parade, but I assure you that as time goes on, you will start to see the relevance and you might even be secretly glad (shock horror) that your lecturer gave you the essay in the first place.
16) Whenever you're about to do a stint on your essay, prepare a drink. For some reason, I always find it makes me a lot more focused, motivated and ready to work.
17) Have a snack pile near you to keep you going. V. important.
18) It's good to stop every hour or so for five minutes and get up, go for a walk, whatever, or likewise work for a few hours, stop for half an hour or so and treat yourself.
19) Regularly read through what you're writing to make sure it makes senses.
20) Format your essay in the way it's been asked, even if that means using Arial Black size 12 font with 1.5 spacing, when ur fave font is Calibri size 11 with 1 spacing.
21) Have a treat planned for when you submit your essay. Normally something food related is defo the way to go.
22) Don't beat yourself up about getting certain grades. Take note of what will get you a higher grade, try and aim for that if you can, but the most important thing is that you do your best. Submit an essay that you actually wouldn't mind showing your grandkids when in future, just 4 the lolz.
23) Don't be afraid of feedback. You'll probably already be aware of what you might get picked up on, so if that's the case, make the changes now if it's bugging you that much, or submit your essay and wait and see what happens. It might turn out that you were worrying for nothing, and anyway, all feedback you get is good feedback because it all helps make you more amazing than you already are.
24) Have some music on during those times when you find yourself writing like an absolute boss, to keep that momentum going. And if things are getting a bit dry and confusing, opt for silence so you can concentrate on getting yourself out of that rut. Likewise stop, go blast some music and crazy dance out all those emotions, then get back to it.
25) I find that doing some kind of exercise in the morning or evening helps gives your body a work out, so that your mind can just relax, and it's nice to get outside (and rejoin humanity).
25) If you want to procrastinate, do it. Don't feel ashamed about it. Give into those urges. Normally I find when I'm writing an essay, I get very productive in all other areas of my life instead, and I think that's something you should ride with. Just make sure that 1) your choice of procrastination is satisfying and 2) when that guilty conscious says 'alright luv, now back to the old essay' valiantly follow that urge and get that damn essay done and dusted. You can do it.
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