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Originally Published: November 29th, 2022
Updated: June 25th, 2023
This article will show you how to start that essay.
So, I see that you have found yourself avoiding that essay….again.
Don’t worry, here are some writing tips to make your paper easier.
Hopefully, by the end of this post, you will be inspired to start writing instead of reading about how to start writing. 😉
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Writing is definitely a learned skill and the school system, at least in the United States has made essay writing a fundamental part of the English learning experience.
…..Um, thanks.
But not to fear, I have been through this process many times throughout my educational career and I can assure you, that there are ways to get over the biggest hill, which would be starting.
First, we should address the main question that comes into the heads of stressed-out students who keep hitting this roadblock “Why is it so hard to start an essay?”
Why it’s so hard to start an essay
Again, I have been through this angst many times and I sometimes still have trouble with the beginning. A few reasons why it is so difficult to begin an essay is that many people do not have a plan. This plan comes in the form of an outline.
It is very hard to write an essay when you only have one idea. Essays usually require some sort of organization that allows the writer to take the reader on a journey.
Another reason that people find it hard to start an essay is because of the growing pressure for it to be great. People have Shakespeare-level expectations of themselves in 10th-grade research papers!
Remember, that you will likely have a chance to write another one if you don’t do well. If nothing else, you have an example of what not to do with that particular professor.
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Also, writing is a skill that requires time to cultivate and practice.
It will get easier over time to write and you will find techniques that work for you and make you a better writer.
If you begin with the mindset that this paper isn’t really that serious, you will release yourself from your internal limiting thoughts.
One thing that you will learn is that essay grading is painfully subjective. No one really knows what “good writing” is, at least creatively speaking.
It largely depends on who the work is for. You can bring one essay to a professor and get an A, while another would grade the same paper with a C.
You will find it beneficial to learn what your professor likes to see and then do that.
How to Start That Essay That You’ve Been Avoiding
Lower Your Expectations
Remember, that you are just trying to start that essay. Therefore you have to make it as easy as possible to start writing.
If you consider in the beginning that your essay will probably not be a masterpiece, especially the first draft, it will be much easier to write or type that first word.
People also tend to feel pressured by the need to be creative. Somehow you are meant to pull a certain number of words out of your head on the fly?
The truth is that life doesn’t always give us the opportunity to wait for creativity or a good idea to strike.
Deadlines are very real and sometimes we have to begin without a stroke of genius.
Lowering your expectations helps you to begin even when you don’t necessarily have the whole paper figured out.
You may even warm up that creative muscle that will give you new ideas to carry you through the paper once you start.
So remember to lower your expectations to help you get the strength to start that essay. It is only the first draft after all!
Do give yourself time, and Do Not procrastinate.
Some people say that they work best when they procrastinate, I being one of them.
It is also likely that those same people have never not procrastinated, so they really do not know if their writing would be any better had they given themselves more time.
Procrastination may be tempting because it gives you a hard deadline, but procrastination is a gambling activity.
You may or may not finish your essay by the deadline. You may or may not finish re-reading your work before you submit it.
There is no guarantee and that is the risk of procrastination.
Giving yourself more time to write may not result in the genius thoughts that result from a time crunch, but it allows you to reread your writing.
You can catch and fix more mistakes by rereading thus, improving your grade.
You may also retain the information that you write better because it will be more thought out and not just a pump and dump to reach the word count.
You will also have more time to research and find parts that interest you about a topic. This may help you increase your word count because you will find more information that is worth mentioning.
Write any and every related thing that comes to your mind down
Yes, I did mean to say everything.
I encourage this because many people put their words through a mental filter before they put them on paper.
By doing this, people subconsciously decide what is and is not good enough to include.
The truth is that you haven’t written the paper yet, so you really don’t know.
Plus, in the beginning, once I have my outline, my primary goal is to inflate the word count.
If I start cutting too early, it will be much harder to meet the word count after I feel like I have used up all of “the good stuff”.
Another good reason to write down everything that is related that you can think of is that it forces you to actually reread the paper at the end.
If you are writing the essay knowing that you have some nonsense amongst the gems in there, you will be forced to go back and remove everything that doesn’t belong.
Organize Your Thoughts
You can do this step before or after you do the brain dump. The important thing is just to start that essay.
Once you get the momentum going, you will find it much easier to write.
Taking the time to organize your thoughts will give you the direction of where you need to go and landmarks or specific topics that you need to include.
Doing this work upfront will make it much easier to actually start that essay.
Writing the essay would just be filling in the blanks and including the sources that you find.
There are many examples that you can reference to get an idea of what an outline should look like. If you don’t know where to begin, you can begin with the Harvard College Writing Center.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, these tips encourage you to begin your essay. A lot of the fear surrounding writing essays is internal and when you conquer that, your worlds will flow. Rid yourself of the expectations and give yourself time to let your creative juices flow. No need to put yourself in a box.
Writing is one of the opportunities where you can share your story, insight, and experience with others and that can be liberating.
I believe that everyone has something to say, so share it! You never know where it could end up! Speaking of sharing… I would greatly appreciate it if you could share this post!
If you liked this post, you’ll love these:
- 5 books to read about imposter syndrome
- How to Stop Overthinking and Take Back Control of Your Life
- The Simple Guide | Why you Can’t Get Things Done
For more content like this, you can check out my Pinterest here.
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