How To Write a Last Minute Essay

It's finals week in the world of college, and that means tests, essays, studying, and lots and lots of coffee. Oh, and stress. Lots and lots of stress. This semester, several of my finals include essays, and unfortunately, I am not one of those students who sits down the week before and writes her essays ahead of time. I am a procrastinator (darn YouTube!), and I now am having write several essays in just a day or two. This isn't the first time it's happened to me, and I have developed a method of researching and writing an essay in a short period of time.

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We were all taught how to write outlines when we were in middle school. They were such a pain the the butt then, but I have realized how invaluable they have become. Now, it can be time consuming to fully write out an outline, so I have re-vamped the way I use my outlines. Basically what I do is I start  with a numbered list on my computer and write out all the main points I want to make. Instead of just writing the topic, I write a full sentence that will work as the start of a paragraph. Then I add information to each of the points until I'm happy with the amount of information I have. After each section is done, I reformat the whole thing into essay form, throw in a few connecting sentences, and check it for grammar and punctuation mistakes. BOOM, you have an essay.

It's also good to set goals for yourself and then reward yourself when you accomplish them. For example, tell yourself you will go eat dinner after the rough draft is finished. You should also find a way to unclutter your mind. I get distracted very easily while I'm writing, so I've learned to just write down things that keep popping up in my head. doing that helps me save the thought for latter and also gives my mind the permission to stop stressing about that question.

In addition to all of this, learn to know yourself and your limits. Push yourself to get the work done, but don't push yourself so far that you will become a nervous wreck. Know when you can't handle it anymore and just stop. Come back to it a half hour or so latter and finish the job. Nothing is worth a panic attack.

To all of you who are in college and are taking finals in the next few weeks, good luck! I hope you do really well on your papers; I know you can do it! Enjoy your break and have a great time with you family.