There are probably more approaches to writing an academic essay than academic essay writers. For those unfamiliar with essay writing, not knowing any ways, or conversely being able to conceive of many ways, can be quite paralysing. I will address this feeling of paralysis in greater depth later, but let's start at the start, and get you writing good essays.
You probably already know the best place to start is at the start, wherever and whatever 'the start' may be.
In essay writing1 , I think the start is typically in understanding the question or subject matter you are writing on.
If you don't understand the essay question/statement, you will probably want to talk with the lecturer (or tutor) as soon as possible. Seeking such help assumes you have done any required class reading and at least have a dictionary definition of the words within the question.
Don’t wait until a week or two before the essay is due to ask. You may feel embarrassed about approaching the lecturer/tutor, especially if at a late stage. Do it anyway, and earlier rather than later. We understand what it is like to be starting academic learning; we care about you; we want you to succeed and we certainly won't think less of you for seeking clarification.
Make a habit of reading the assignment questions within the first week of receiving them. Then, if you don’t understand what is being asked of you, discuss with the lecturer/tutor what the best way of seeking clarification is.
Once you are clear on how to proceed, it is time to make a start.
To reiterate in further detail what I said on the preceding Introduction page, what I am about to outline is one of many approaches - my approach - and represents one way you might want to consider moving forward with completing an essay.
To this end (or should I say ‘to this start’ 🥁), I would encourage you to think in terms of ‘a,’ not ‘the.’ That is to say, try to find 'a' way to start; a way forward; not the way.
Write an essay that addresses the question; not the essay to end all essays, that answers the question.
The truth is, if you tried to write the best possible essay you could on a given topic, and then several years later attempted the same essay, you would most likely end up producing two similar but quite different essays, of similar quality. But neither would be the ultimate essay on the subject. At best, they would be two great, albeit similar yet different essays on the same subject.
I make this point to highlight a phenomenon that, I think, causes much procrastination for many would-be essay writers. In an attempt to do one’s best, all honest attempts to find the best way forward; the best way to start to write the best essay., results in much delay.
As the days tick by, and the due date approaches, a mounting sense of pressure, stress and despair start to overwhelm you, as you struggle to write the essay.
With mere days remaining, this stress builds and builds, until you eventually feel forced to write something! Anything!!! Finding the way forward is now a luxury you can no longer afford, so you boldly begin, writing whatever you can, desperately seeking to find a way, any way forward, that will get the essay completed.
What I am proposing is to consider achieving this in a more planned, structured and timely fashion, without stress forcing your hand.
The more you discipline yourself to get writing early, the more time you will have to explore options that otherwise rush past you when you’ve left it all to the last minute. This will give you the opportunity to consider researching aspects of the essay question that you’d have missed or had to knowingly leave unaddressed if pressed to complete it due to time constraints. Writing in a planned manner that is not rushed, or looking to produce perfection will greatly improve the quality of the end product.
You will also feel and be more in control, less stressed and experience a sense of satisfaction as you produce better writing.
So get cracking early, press on regularly, and you’ll find the steady stroll up a long and winding path to be infinitely preferable to the mad scaling of ‘last-minute mountain.’
Continually reconsider what the ‘next action2’ is; the next physical, tangible thing you need to do, to move the essay forward. Then do it!
Next Post: Pressing On
1. Whilst I continually refer to writing 'essays', I appreciate there are many other written forms of assignments. The same methodology should be similarly useful in most instances. I typically refer to 'essays,' however, as this is the most common form of academic writing, but you will be able to use and adapt these principles for a variety of academic writing.
2. See David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity for excellent advice on how to plan the various 'actions' of your workflow in a way that reduces stress and maximises productivity.
March 2018 (Updated January 2021)