# Essays or persuasive papers



## trewlaneyy (Aug 24, 2007)

Does anybody else panic before and after they turn in any kind of written work where they are forced to voice an opinion and back it up? I always feel like I have nothing worthwhile to say, but I still work hard to find something, but then I panic for fear that my work will be criticized. I take it personally, and lose what little confidence I started with. How do you get past this?

I just turned in a bunch of short essays giving my thoughts on Thoreau and Emerson--really, what the heck am I going to say about two greats? It was supposed to be a critical essay with lot's of creativity...so I tried to be real creative and yet said what I really thought, and now I'm afraid of getting ridiculed.


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## ultrayellow (Sep 8, 2007)

Marooned said:


> My experience (or lack thereof) is of little use here, but I will say that criticism is something to be embraced, not feared.


Yes and more yes!

Think: You are anxious for fear of ridicule. How best to avoid ridicule? Become so fantastic that all you recieve is praise, even if "so fantastic" means "try your heart out and get sort of good marks" not necessarily the "get 100% plus bonus marks in everything and gain God status".


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## sonya99 (Sep 5, 2005)

these scare the **** out of me :afr

I hate having even small opinions in day to day life i.e.would i rather go eat pizza or a cheeseburger? seriously, it's that bad.

Yes, constructive criticism is good, even for people for whom constructive criticism is especially difficult, such a person with SA. But that's the point--it's _extremely_ difficult for some people.

I'm not stellar at writing. Plus, I'm as uptight with what I say verbally as what I write down. I coped with SA and my fear of criticism in the same way--through avoidance. But if i want to get through school, I'm gonna have to at least deal with criticism regarding my schoolwork.

A personal goal of mine this semester is to *always* read the feedback on my papers. Anyway, you probably have that down already  Btw, way to go for really going for it in your essay


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## shelovescliche (Dec 17, 2006)

I'm actually kind of the opposite; I thrive on paper, but it's just TALKING that I'm bad at. I've found that I really do have more to say than I ever do, so it's actually easier for me when I can write an essay about it.

And for persuasive papers, you don't always necessarily have to feel STRONGLY one way or the other; it's more of, you take a side and you back that one up, even if you're kindof unsure of what side you're on.

The criticizing, though, does make me nervous. I don't handle it well. But I guess it helps that my writing's good enough that I rarely ever get criticizing comments :]. (I'm really not as conceited as I just sounded, I promise).


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## loserface (Sep 19, 2007)

Agggh. I don't mind writing essays, but writing a TIMED essay is hell. I freeze up and can't even think out a sentence. And I only have 40 minutes to analyze the rhetorical strategies used in the article. D:


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## roswell (Feb 4, 2006)

loserface said:


> Agggh. I don't mind writing essays, but writing a TIMED essay is hell. I freeze up and can't even think out a sentence. And I only have 40 minutes to analyze the rhetorical strategies used in the article. D:


ooh, sweet jesus! the exact same thing would happen to me. timed writings are my arch nemesis.. :fall

i remember looking around and seeing everyone else developing their essays even within the first 5 minutes or so. and i was NEVER able to get more than 3-4 fully formed sentences down on paper before the time was up. so of course everyone would walk up and place their 2-3 page essays on the stack and i would shuffle up there with my one sheet of notebook paper filled 1/3 with chicken scratch writing. this was of course embarrassing so i would put mine in the middle of the stack rather than on top so nobody would see it.

oh sigh, at least the days of timed writing are behind me now. as far as i can tell.... :afr


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## loserface (Sep 19, 2007)

roswell said:


> loserface said:
> 
> 
> > Agggh. I don't mind writing essays, but writing a TIMED essay is hell. I freeze up and can't even think out a sentence. And I only have 40 minutes to analyze the rhetorical strategies used in the article. D:
> ...


That's me alright. 
And I have to do this every week for my AP English class. I just can't think properly under such pressure. D:
And the students have to grade the other students papers! DDDD:
I die everytime. We have to write comments about each person's writing, and I always get "Immature writing style" on mine. 
OHOH. and in this same class, we do multiple choice over articles as practice for the AP Test, and we have cards that say A B C D E. We have to hold up our answer in front of everyone on every question. That class sure knows how to make me feel stupid. ]:


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## roswell (Feb 4, 2006)

loserface said:


> roswell said:
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> > loserface said:
> ...


Whaaat?! You grade each other's papers?? Oh, wow that's rough. I get nervous whenever I have to comment on someone else's paper. I'm afraid to give even light criticism for fear that they'll hate me or hold a grudge against me if I do.

I was in English AP 3 and 4. I guess I lucked out though because I think my teacher was singled out for being shy when he was a kid so he never puts anyone on the spot and whenever he reads any of our essays out loud it's always anonymous. Are you a senior?


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## loserface (Sep 19, 2007)

roswell said:


> Whaaat?! You grade each other's papers?? Oh, wow that's rough. I get nervous whenever I have to comment on someone else's paper. I'm afraid to give even light criticism for fear that they'll hate me or hold a grudge against me if I do.
> 
> I was in English AP 3 and 4. I guess I lucked out though because I think my teacher was singled out for being shy when he was a kid so he never puts anyone on the spot and whenever he reads any of our essays out loud it's always anonymous. Are you a senior?


Well, it's probably not as bad as you think it is, all of our papers have our names cut off (even though our handwriting kind of makes it obvious who wrote it), and the comments we have to make are anonymous as well. But it still hurts when I get negative comments on it, makes me feel like I'll never get better at the timed essays.
Yeah, I'm always afraid of being mean to anyone else when commenting, cause I know I don't want others to be mean to me either.

Lucky, that sounds like a cool teacher. 

I'm in AP English 3 right now. I'm a junior, so I still have another year of this evil class.  I'm thinking about leaving it because it puts so much stress on me, but at the same time I know I'll be bored in normal English classes.


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## nothing to fear (Mar 23, 2005)

loserface said:


> roswell said:
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> > loserface said:
> ...


oh god, i used to do that too. timed essays were the worst.. actually sometimes we were able to bring in notes, and since i'm so ****ing unmotivated i wouldn't have it fully planned out. i would get half of what i'm supposed to write done, and it's mostly **** because i can't think and some of it is scratched out, re-written... it's all a mess, my writing is terrible. i used to try and improve it by seeing the teacher and asking for advice but after a while i stopped caring (about school, altogether).


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## roswell (Feb 4, 2006)

loserface said:


> Well, it's probably not as bad as you think it is, all of our papers have our names cut off (even though our handwriting kind of makes it obvious who wrote it), and the comments we have to make are anonymous as well. But it still hurts when I get negative comments on it, makes me feel like I'll never get better at the timed essays.
> Yeah, I'm always afraid of being mean to anyone else when commenting, cause I know I don't want others to be mean to me either.
> 
> Lucky, that sounds like a cool teacher.
> ...


Yeah, I guess that's not too terrible.

My English 4 AP class was very stressful and I was pretty much borderline failing the whole year, but I wouldn't take it back because that class was so cool and interesting and my teacher actually had a passion for what he was teaching. I feel like I really got a lot out of it in the end, it was enlightening. Ideally for me though, I'd like to just be able to sit in on the class and not be obligated to do any of the work. :b


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## loserface (Sep 19, 2007)

roswell said:


> loserface said:
> 
> 
> > Well, it's probably not as bad as you think it is, all of our papers have our names cut off (even though our handwriting kind of makes it obvious who wrote it), and the comments we have to make are anonymous as well. But it still hurts when I get negative comments on it, makes me feel like I'll never get better at the timed essays.
> ...


Haha yeah. Too bad we can't just do that in every class. Like, listen to what they are saying and learn, but never do any kind of stressful work.
But then I'd probably fall asleep in some of my other classes. They are so boring. o_x

Lol. Today is the day we grade each others essays from the one's we wrote yesterday.  It was easier than the other essays because it was an opinion one, not an analysis. So I hope I did better. :B


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## roswell (Feb 4, 2006)

loserface said:


> Haha yeah. Too bad we can't just do that in every class. Like, listen to what they are saying and learn, but never do any kind of stressful work.
> But then I'd probably fall asleep in some of my other classes. They are so boring. o_x
> 
> Lol. Today is the day we grade each others essays from the one's we wrote yesterday.  It was easier than the other essays because it was an opinion one, not an analysis. So I hope I did better. :B


How did you do!?!!? (according to the fellow student of potentially questionable merit who graded it, that is) :b


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## loserface (Sep 19, 2007)

roswell said:


> loserface said:
> 
> 
> > Haha yeah. Too bad we can't just do that in every class. Like, listen to what they are saying and learn, but never do any kind of stressful work.
> ...


Heh, actually, we STILL haven't graded them. lol
The teacher is dragging it on by giving us example papers of what a 1 - 9 paper would look like. (we grade according to 1 - 9. 9 being the best)
After looking at the examples, I will probably get like a 2 or 3. D: *cries*


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## roswell (Feb 4, 2006)

loserface said:


> Heh, actually, we STILL haven't graded them. lol
> The teacher is dragging it on by giving us example papers of what a 1 - 9 paper would look like. (we grade according to 1 - 9. 9 being the best)
> After looking at the examples, I will probably get like a 2 or 3. D: *cries*


Haha, no no don't do that. I remember how depressing the 9 and 8 sample essays always were. Even the 7s. Especially when it was written by someone actually IN the classroom. :eek

Don't be intimidated though. You don't need to write some really flashy essay to score well on the exam.


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