College Essay Writing Tips

Some essays may be assigned far enough in advance that you will have lots of time to write a fabulous essay. Other essays may be due only in matter of hours, so you'll wonder how you can possible write it in such a short period of time. This article will take you step by step through the pace of writing the first kind of essay. Whether you have three months or just three hours, all you need is plan for action.

When asked whether you'd be given a timed or untimed essay, most of us would probably say we'd chose an untimed essay so that we could, essentially, have as much time as we needed to write this essay. However, given so much time, you may find it difficult to avoid procrastinating. Calling an essay untimed is a bit misleading, as even such essays have to be completed at some point; you have some set amount of time for completion of your work. You have a large enough chunk of time that you're not worried about being able to finish it, but how do you budget your time so that you don't end up rushed in the end?

Step 1: Make a Plan

What you need is a long-term plan. The more time you have to spend working on your essay, the netter your essay will be. You have more time to think through your ideas, more time to write, and more time to fix any mistakes you may have made along the way. Having more time won't help you, though, if, for instance, you don't budget enough time to revise. This is where a long-term plan comes in.

First, you'll need to establish how much time you have to complete your essay. It could be a week or a month. Whoever assigns you the essay will tell you when it is due. For example, let's imagine we have a month. Once you know you have that long of time before your essay is due, you can make yourself a schedule so that your time will be budgeted to include all the necessary steps in creating a great work. Break the month in 4 weeks, and assign each week a different task: prewrite and outline, write, write and revise and edit accordingly.

The important thing is not only to make a schedule, but to stick with it as well. We all have tendencies toward procrastination, but having a schedule really helps you visualize what you need to be doing, and when. If you know that procrastination is a real problem for you and know that you may leave all your prewriting for the last moment of week 1, then make yourself a more detailed schedule. Allot yourself specific amount of time for free-writing, webbing, and outlining. This way, you'll have smaller, more manageable goals along the way to keep you on track.

Step 2: Brainstorm

If you are not assigned a specific topic for your essay, set this time to brainstorm some specific ideas. Make lists of potential topics and test a few by doing some prewriting and research to see if the topic would yield enough material for a whole essay. Some topics make seem like great ideas, but when you actually start trying to think of a thesis as well as support for that thesis, you may find that you don't have enough to say about it. Use general literature on your subject to find interesting and little researched topics that may inspire you.

Step 3: Start to organize

Once you have a juicy topic, it's time to begin organizing your thoughts. Take all your thoughts and ideas and sort them into a web or chart. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand the importance of organizing even before you make an outline, but imagine making an outline without determining your main points and how you will support those points. Each step thoroughly completed along the way makes the next step easier. So, don't skip this step, even if you're tempted.
At this point in the process, do some research if your essay requires it. This is the time to gather all of the information that will end up in the outline.

Step 4: Make an outline

Now, make an outline with all the thoughts, ideas, and information hat you've gathered. Just as the webbing and charting makes creating the outline easier, an outline itself makes writing your paper easier. Having an outline will ensure that your essay is as clear and as organized as it can be. Your reader won't wonder what you're talking about halfway through the essay. The outline keeps you in track with your ideas in the same way that making a schedule keeps you on track with your writing time.

Step 5: Write

You should spend the larger half of your alloted time actually writing your essay. But, because you have purposely scheduled in time to revise and edit when you're finished writing, don't worry about it being perfect. Sometimes it can slow down the flow of writing if you stop to rewrite what you just wrote. Concentrate on getting all your ideas down in sentence and paragraph form, making sure to include all the parts of the essay. You'll be able to go back later and fix your mistakes. Just make sure you stick to your schedule.

Step 6: Revise and Edit

This is one of the most important steps in the essay writing process, because no matter what you're written up to this point, now is your chance to improve it and make it shine. At this point, you should have a completed paper in front of you. Use this time to read over what you've written as many times as you need to in order to correct any mistakes you may have made along the way. Ask yourself the following questions before you consider yourself absolutely done:

• Does your essay have compelling introduction and draws the reader it?
• Does your introduction have a clear thesis statement?
• Does each paragraph in your essay have a topic sentence that relate back to the thesis statement in some way?
• Does your essay have a conclusion that restates your thesis without being repetitive?
• Does your writing flow logically and smoothly from one idea to the next?
• Have you eliminated all grammatical errors and errors involving spelling and work usage?
• Have you addressed the assigned topic and answered the question?

Step 7: Turn it in

You're done! Congratulations! You should be proud of all the hard work you've out in and of turning in a paper that was written tot he best of your ability. Just remember to put your name on it.