Essay writing is a unique writing skill – whether at the level of a college essay or in school or for any contest or in general. To be a great writer, one has to be able to concentrate. It is not the only thing one will need, but it is certainly a good start! It sounds simple enough, but often people struggle to stay on-task. There are a number of things that help one stay focused.
Nothing undermines one’s efforts to focus on the topic more than writing a bunch of stuff only to find that one does not quite address the essay question. The first thing one should do is take the time to digest fully the essay topic. What exactly does it mean? Which angle is best suited to answer the question? Do one already has initial ideas about how to bring the topic to life? Think about all of this – and jot it down in bullet points – before start researching, outlining and writing.
Editing is not writing. Don’t let mental self-editor get in the way of the super-productive copywriter. Learning how to write well is accepting that first draft might not be perfect. Leave notes – fact-check, tidy up, rewrite, condense. The important thing is to keep writing any time and edit later.
Water is soft, rocks are hard but a river can defeat a rock with patience and constant effort over time. It is the same with writing. A little of every day beats a lot once a year. If one keeps this in mind, focussing and concentrating for a short period every day becomes easier.
Here are some secrets for staying focused:
-Psychologists describe powerful form of concentration called ‘flow’. It happens when someone concentrates and is fully engaged with what one is doing. When writing like this, writing fluently comes naturally.
– Use timers when writing. A little bell every five minutes will help remind to put focus back onto writing if mind has wandered.
– Fresh Timings always help having new, great and creative ideas. Just changing routine can be helpful, so try waking up a little earlier.
– External noise can break concentration. So turn off radio, TV, shut the door, close email program, put phone on mute, close unnecessary tabs and use a distraction free word processor. The more one can do to stop distractions before they happen and allow to focus on writing, the better.
This is a special tip. If there’s something one doesn’t know, don’t stop to look it up. Just put ‘TK’ in the text. It means ‘to come later’. For example, ‘When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in TK DATE, he did not expect to meet little green men.’ Fill in the blanks later. TK is easy and avoids discontinuance of search for because it doesn’t occur often in everyday writing.
Effective structuring makes the difference between a good essay and a great essay. It will help in writing a successful essay that will win points and boost confidence. Write clearly and simply. Use an active tense. Use quality sources. Formulate own arguments and ideas about the essay topic. The main idea will go in thesis statement and usually will appear in the introduction of essay. By creating an outline of main arguments to guide writing, including citations and references. Write essay with as much clarity as possible from the essay introduction, all the way down to final conclusion. Review and edit essay, getting each body paragraph to flow well and progress overall argument.
When one does not complete the research process, one embark on a search for sources that consume too much time and energy, which is detrimental to rest of the essay writing process. The best way to avoid getting into endless research loops is to be clear about how much research is actually required for various points made in essay.
Take a broad research approach first, find a readable general source on the topic first, perhaps use an AI summary tool to get an overview and search the bibliography for interesting specific sources to consult. It’s also important to keep your focus on the topic while making research and writing. It’s amazing how quickly one can lose sight of the topic if one does not make sure it is always at the forefront of one’s mind while writing.
The most important thing is not to wait until the moment before writing to decide what one actually wants to say. When writing an essay, one should have a good idea of what one wants to say, how one wants to say and how one wants to support the thesis. One will also be better able to present the arguments clearly and engage in good writing practices, that will serve well whether one needs to tackle an essay or even a research paper.
By: Kamlesh Manchanda
Write and Win: Participate in Creative writing Contest & International Essay Contest and win fabulous prizes.
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