Writing good essays and submitting them on time is easy when you break down the work and organize it into small, simple steps. These steps will require a little work each day rather than an overwhelming amount of work and an all-nighter the day before the essay is due. The steps will be listed below and you can combine steps from different days depending on how long you have to write your essay. Here are the steps:
Days 1-2: Take a day to figure out what you want to write the essay on and what you think your thesis will be. Think about this as you go about your daily routine and as you fall asleep.
Day 3: Write an outline to layout the points and topics you plan to write about to support your thesis.
Day 4: Get a pack of index cards and write each topic/point at the top of its own index card. Arrange the index cards in a logical order. This is the order that the topics/points will be written about in your essay.
Days 5-10: Each day pick a topic or two to research. Print any electronic sources and photocopy any physical sources. Attach them to the relevant index card with a paper clip. Next, write notes and quotes (from the sources) that you plan to use in your essay on the index card.
Day 11: Write your introduction and revise your thesis if you think you can improve it now that you've done research and know the subject better.
Day 12: Write your paper! This will be quick and easy since you can go through your index cards in order and systematically convert your notes into paragraphs using appropriate citations.
Day 13: Proofread your essay for any grammatical errors and to make sure that everything flows well and makes sense. Ask a friend to proofread it too. Finally, make any changes that you see fit.
I hope this helps to make your next essay less intimidating! In general, by breaking complex challenges down into simple, easy to do steps, you can conquer those challenges with relative ease.
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