# How do I stop procrastinating on essays?



## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

I am taking English 1A (English Composition) for the third time. The first time I dropped it and the second time I failed it.

I have a 4 page essay do on Wednesday the 15th and so far I have only 1 paragraph written.

I get really anxious and overwhelmingly confused when trying to write essays. I don't know why. I waste most of my time just searching for sources and reading on how to do research and how to write essays.

How do I get over my anxiety and procrastination and just start writing this essay? Does anyone know how? Any suggestions? Thanks.

By the way the essay is on explaining the concept of marriage.


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## Perfectionist (Mar 19, 2004)

Does your school have some sort of writing centre? Sometimes you can go there to get tips on how to write and research essays, or even have a tutor person look over your paper.


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

Work on it in spurts. I'm like the ultimate procrastinator, and I've found this system helpful: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

If you break it up, you won't get so overwhelmed. Start by brainstorming - write up a list of main points then string them together. http://www.write101.com/brainstorm.htm

You might want to start out on the pros and cons of marriage. Perhaps its relevance to modern American society. For example, it is much more common today for women to get married later, or not at all. But, that also differs regionally.

The sooner you start, the easier it'll be. Good luck!


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## marenubium87 (Jan 11, 2009)

Procrastination is often a by-product of perfectionism. Not sure if it's your case here, but at the risk of making an erroneous assumption:

Don't get hung up on making your first draft perfect. Don't spend ages trying to figure out the perfect way to craft that sentence. It is merely a first draft. If you know what you're going to write in a section but don't have the right words for it at the moment, just write something like (insert stuff about topic x here later). I find that eliminating or reducing these hang-ups helps me get something down on paper quickly and makes the process of filling in the blanks much easier when I sit down to look at it again.


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## Greg415 (Aug 24, 2010)

I'm procrastinating on an Essay for English 151 right now just by reading this. Only have my intro paragraph. Good tips in here though people, I will be checking back. I know how you feel OP, we just have to stick with it and not give up.


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

Neptunus said:


> Work on it in spurts. I'm like the ultimate procrastinator, and I've found this system helpful: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/
> 
> If you break it up, you won't get so overwhelmed. Start by brainstorming - write up a list of main points then string them together. http://www.write101.com/brainstorm.htm
> 
> ...


I find taking breaks makes it harder to go back to the task. Maybe a short water or bathroom break, but that's it. But that's just me -- I like to do everything in huge chunks of time.

When I write longer papers, I don't like to start with an outline. I go through all my sources and mark possible citations, then list them either by source or theme. If whatever I'm reading gives me an idea or I see a relation between two quotes, I make a note next to the citation.

Only after I'm done doing that do I start the outline. That way it's much easier to organize ideas and you can see exactly where you need to find another citation if something's missing.


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

marenubium87 said:


> Procrastination is often a by-product of perfectionism. Not sure if it's your case here, but at the risk of making an erroneous assumption:
> 
> Don't get hung up on making your first draft perfect. Don't spend ages trying to figure out the perfect way to craft that sentence. It is merely a first draft. If you know what you're going to write in a section but don't have the right words for it at the moment, just write something like (insert stuff about topic x here later). I find that eliminating or reducing these hang-ups helps me get something down on paper quickly and makes the process of filling in the blanks much easier when I sit down to look at it again.


This too. If I have a clear idea of what I want to say later in the paper but the part I'm working on is a bit fuzzy, I just put [see point x in outline] and then come back to it later.


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

Belshazzar said:


> I find taking breaks makes it harder to go back to the task. Maybe a short water or bathroom break, but that's it. But that's just me -- I like to do everything in huge chunks of time.
> 
> When I write longer papers, I don't like to start with an outline. I go through all my sources and mark possible citations, then list them either by source or theme. If whatever I'm reading gives me an idea or I see a relation between two quotes, I make a note next to the citation.
> 
> Only after I'm done doing that do I start the outline. That way it's much easier to organize ideas and you can see exactly where you need to find another citation if something's missing.


Everyone has their favorite system. The Pomodoro technique I listed advocates breaks no longer than 5-10 minutes between 25 minute blocks of time.


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## SAgirl (Nov 15, 2003)

I have difficulty with essays. Go see your TA or your teacher so that they can specify exactly what they want. Ask questions. What kind of essay do they want? Do they want you to evaluate the article? Do they want you to summarize the article? A critical analysis? So many times my sister told me just read the questions. 

If you've failed twice it could be the fear of failing or doing bad on the essay that is getting in the way of you writing it. 

Since they want you to explain it..you could start with what marriage is, I guess. I'm not good for advice on this topic since I don't do very well on essays. Asking questions is my best advice.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I used to have horrible paper-writing anxiety. Here are things that have helped me:

- Write it out by hand. Something about writing it on paper makes it less official and thus less terrifying.
- Quote like a mofo. I like to go through the text(s) and highlight everything I want to quote. Then, I organize the quotes by topic. And finally, I write a bit of stuff down about each quote. This gets your brain in essay-mode and produces a great deal of content. Excellent for those of us who struggle to meet the word length. 
- Talk to the professor. This is scary but extremely useful. For me, a large part of essay anxiety has to do with the fear that my instructor will think I am a moron. If you talk to the professor, at least you'll find out ahead of time that he or she isn't on-board with your topic/argument. You may still feel silly, but at least you won't write a paper your professor will hate.


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## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

Thanks everyone for the replies. I will try out that pomodoro technique and see if that helps.

The major problem I have is I don't understand how I am suppose to do research and use sources. I use my schools library website database to find sources, but I don't know which sources to use. Most of them are really specific and over my head, they are written by Phd's for other Phd's. They are mostly like scientific studies. I also tried using google scholar but a lot of the articles I had to pay like $15 for.

I also don't know how much research I am suppose to do. I find 30 articles related to my topic and each of them are 25 pages plus. I don't have time to read them all.

Anyways once I do find some sources, I don't know how to incorporate them into my paper without just summarizing them or paraphrasing everything I read. For example I don't know much about marriage, and my book says to basically cite everything that I didn't think of myself. And since my paper is based on what I read in my sources and isn't my original ideas, I guess my entire essay is suppose to be just quotes and paraphrases from my sources?

I just feel like I don't know how to write about a subject I know nothing about without plagiarizing or summarizing what I read from my research.

Thanks for reading my rant. Right now It's 9:30pm and my 4 page essay is due tomorrow at 7:00am and so far I have only written the first paragraph. I did go through and read two articles that were about 20 pages each, and I took notes outlining and summarizing what they said. Now I need to figure out how to turn those notes into an essay without plagiarizing.


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

^ I guess this probably doesn't matter so much now, but for future papers...

For research articles, the abstract should usually give you a good idea of what will be useful. See what databases your school subscribes to, it's usually better than Google scholar because the subscriptions will ensure you won't run into any "give us $20 to read the rest of this article." Also, when I look through articles, I try to ctrl-f for key words pertinent to the subject, or, if it's a book, go to the index and look for key words.

Sometimes, most of what you're going to be doing is summarizing research. That's basically what a synthesis paper is -- summarize research and then comment on its relevance to your overall point. What you want to do is identify the specific points or data in the sources that lend support to your idea.

Don't worry so much about appearing original. Profs assign papers so you read and consider the research on a topic. I used to get worried about papers a lot until I realized that most undergrad papers are just very glorified HS papers. If you were expected to produce an original argument, you'd be writing a dissertation.


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## Teehee (Aug 7, 2005)

I have the same problem. In my head, ideas are swirling and I sort of have an idea what I'm going to write. But when it comes time to transcribing my thoughts into text, I just sit there.

The problem with writing from scratch is you have SO MANY ideas that you want to just throw onto the paper that your thoughts get mixed up and you have no idea how the heck you're going to organize your arguments and thoughts.

Some people can just start writing and write away. For me, *making an outline is a must*. A messy one...whatever, as long as I have a basic framework. As long as I group common themes or ideas so that it flows logically.

So maybe for one idea or argument, dedicate 3 paragraphs for that one idea.
Paragraph 1 - introduce one of your arguments or ideas. 
Paragraph 2 - analyze your argument or idea. Basically tell us why it's important or whatever.
Paragraph 3 - talk about its implications or effects.

Repeat for another idea, and another idea, and another idea, and another idea. And you end up with a 12 paragraph essay. Add the intro and conclusion, bam, 15 paragraphs. 

Sorry if Im confusing you. This is just the way I do it. With an outline, you can't go wrong.


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## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

Well I actually got it done. I literally did the entire essay in one night. It took me about 6 hours or so. I mostly just summarized, paraphrased, and quoted the two sources I had and then added my own intro, thesis, and conclusion. I hope I don't get blamed for plagiarizing because he said he was very strict on that. We even had to submit the paper to an online plagiarism checker before he would grade it.

I will let you know what grade I get.


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## TogahPartee (Sep 19, 2010)

Good job! I'm currently procrasting on three essays, and a pretty hectic project. 

You've inspired me and I'm finally gonna get to it  

After I sort some other stuff out which totally kind of matters (not really). *sigh*


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Break up the main assignment into stages.
Write an outline about the details of your composition.
Each stage will be a mini-assignment.


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## LittlePinky82 (Sep 24, 2010)

I'm sorta the same way. With me and essays I've always enjoyed them and been good at writing them. I wait until I'm inspired. If I don't my essay sucks and I ramble and things like that. If there's a lot of research involved in it I at least try to get started on that as soon as I can. If you can do the essay whenever until the due date I'd try to get it done as soon as you can and turn it in. If you can get someone to do a peer review perhaps, like at a writing center or maybe even your professor can look at it, that would be good. With me and procrastination I just have to keep mentally telling myself to do it. I try to split it up and do a little bit at a time, take a break, do a little more etc.


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## LittlePinky82 (Sep 24, 2010)

Neptunus said:


> Everyone has their favorite system. The Pomodoro technique I listed advocates breaks no longer than 5-10 minutes between 25 minute blocks of time.


Yep I do that type of system. With me if my brain starts to feel like it's heavy and just rambling together I stop and take a break. If it's reading I split things up and I've noticed I remember things a lot better for exams and whatnot. It's helped me a lot.


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## LittlePinky82 (Sep 24, 2010)

lde22 said:


> Well I actually got it done. I literally did the entire essay in one night. It took me about 6 hours or so. I mostly just summarized, paraphrased, and quoted the two sources I had and then added my own intro, thesis, and conclusion. I hope I don't get blamed for plagiarizing because he said he was very strict on that. We even had to submit the paper to an online plagiarism checker before he would grade it.
> 
> I will let you know what grade I get.


Glad you got it done.  I think as long as you properly cite you shouldn't have any problems. It's good to be strict because you can make sure you don't have any issues and you can get into the habit of doing that well for the future. Especially if you have to for a job you can already have the habit down pat.


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## TogahPartee (Sep 19, 2010)

Phew! I'm done too. And everything in on time. Now for the next essay due next week. 


Great.


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## OrbitalResonance (Sep 21, 2010)

I am going to buy a pomodoro, i need something like this.


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## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

I finally got my grade back on my essay. I got a B, 88/100! I'm pretty surprised, I didn't think it was that good.

Now I have to write another essay, "Finding Common Ground" on same-sex marriage. I did the rough draft last week and of course wrote the thing the night before it was due (I only got 2 pages done so far).

My main problem is it takes me forever to finally decide on what write about. Once I am certain what I am going to write about and have a clear idea of how I am going to write it then it is easy.


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

Tip to avoid procrastination on school assignments: if the instructor tells you a paper is due in three weeks, tell yourself it's due in two weeks.


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

lde22 said:


> I finally got my grade back on my essay. I got a B, 88/100! I'm pretty surprised, I didn't think it was that good.


Hey, that's awesome! Congratulations!!!! :boogie

ETA-

They must have dropped the plus system, because that's technically a B+.


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## Pumpkin Head (Feb 26, 2013)

> marenubium87 Procrastination is often a by-product of perfectionism.


Yup.

I know this is weird but hear me out. Something that's helped me in the past is to literally write a contract stating that I will work on it X hours a day until finished, no matter what, and then I sign it at the bottom. I know if I break the rules, I'll feel worse than if I didn't.


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## Stephallen (Jan 24, 2017)

Wow, signing a contract might be a good practice. Need to remember this trick for my children education))


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## Stephallen (Jan 24, 2017)

And also I remembered, that when I had to much essays to write and labs to do, once, I bought one. I read pretty good reviews, and they turned out to be truthful. But that are extreme measures only!


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## Greys0n (Mar 30, 2016)

You know I hate writing essays. I just have no time for it. That's why I often use essaymasters writing service. It's much more convenient to cope with the paperwork. They are also good in proofreading and there are many interesting articles and examples of argumentative essay topics +writing tips.


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## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

I'm just looking through my past posts and saw this one. After that essay we were supposed to do half of our final project essay and I could never decide on a specific topic and ended up dropping the class lol. I still haven't passed English 1A. But I took English 50 (the class you are supposed to take before 1A) and was able to pass with an A somehow. I managed to get my Associates degree several years ago and was trying to work towards getting my bachelors but stopped going to school because I couldn't afford it anymore. I want to go back and get my bachelors someday eventually, hopefully soon. 

To those who suggested paying for essays. I thought about doing that but I'm worried that I'm going to get caught.


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## Skeletra (Aug 30, 2012)

How about rewards? Give yourself a little bonus when you complete a task. Maybe a treat or a movie.

Do you have any motivation for studying? Like, do you see your studies giving you a brighter future? Try to imagine your future ****ed up by your procrastination. The misery and devestatibg pain it would cause to fail this. If that doesn't motivate you, I don't know what will.


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