Struggling to write an essay

eoakley · Post by **eoakley** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:11 am

hi everyone I havent posted in a while hope you are all ok
i have an essay due in on monday which I am really struggling with its only 1500 words but is proving to be one of the hardest essays ive written so far during my degree its about regional geography and Mallorca I am hoping to get to 1000 words before i go to sleep just over 200 more but it is proving difficult I am writing this essay trying to take on board the comments of my lecturers last semester.

I think i am going to sleep now ill get up early and do it

Emma

Post by **Daniel** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:49 am

Good luck with the essay Emma, and good to see you on the forum again.

Sometimes it can be worth calling it a night and see what the morning brings.

Can't help on the geography side really. Spent many holidays on the island when young, and remember old windmills and beaches but that's about all!

Lucy_Rush · Post by **Lucy_Rush** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:53 pm

i don't have much experience in essay-writing i'm afraid (it's not a problem that comes up much in my maths), and i don't actually know anything about geography or mallorca. But taking a break and doing something different for a while does certainly help with it.

When doing some homework earlier this week i spent forever (or it seemed like it at least) struggling on this one small problem - just couldnt get it to work at all. But after going away for a break / some fresh air, and coming back to it, it seemed quite obvious that i had in fact just copyied the question down wrong, and was in fact trying to solve something that was quite obviously impossible - no wonder i was confused!

Ok so essays don't quiet work like this i know, but taking breaks from it helps i'm sure - hope you get it done. Good luck with it - Lucy

david456 · Post by **david456** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:28 pm

Forget counting the words. Is what I have to do or I waffle on. I do what I think covers everything and then look.

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:46 pm

Gotta disagree with david there, I'm afraid. I tried that approach and ended up with just over 5,000 words for a 2,000 word essay and needed to make a load of cuts. (I got doubly annoyed when the only criticism the lecturer had of the essay were things that had been omitted) Knowing how long each section is going to be in terms of word count (roughly) helps a fair bit.

I think the best essay advice I ever got was to know exactly what the essay is going to say before I write it. Electronic essay writing has made it easy to spend an hour or so writing bullet points for what needs to be said, arranging them into paragraphs and finding the best organisation of information to make the essay flow well. Putting pen to paper is the easy bit, it's the planning beforehand that makes an essay sink or swim.

Also whether the essay is stored on a memory stick or printed out are relevant to that problem :P

eoakley · Post by **eoakley** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 11:32 am

Hi I finally finished my essay at 7.30 this morning before going to my lecture Ive handed it in now Thank goodness all I have to do now is just hope for the best thank you all for your support
Emma

david456 · Post by **david456** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:06 am

Ok, maybe I should have been more specific. I do look after I've finished writing for a night say, but I'm not checking every 20 minutes to see if I've written another 50 words.

I make sure I include all the points I have to and If I am over, I cut out the bits that aren't essential, as the limit is there for a reason, mainly in my opinion because lecturers don't want to read it. If lecturers have 30 essays, I personally doubt whether they read it word for word, just scan it for the key points.

I also know roughly how much an A4 page is likley to be.

eoakley · Post by **eoakley** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:23 pm

I essay back last week I got 52% for it a 2.2 I was reasonably happy with this. but it really upsets me when I know people who didnt put half as much effort in as i have and they get better marks I wish i could get a mark in the 60%s

emma

Post by **Daniel** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:29 pm

Don't worry Emma, I had that at Uni with my dissertation. I found it a real slog to get such a piece of work organised and after untold weeks of work I got a 58 for it. A friend of mine from my course wrote his in 18 hours flat and got 62. Justice? Pah! Come the revolution... lol!