College Essays

Homework in college isn’t at all like it was in High School. There isn’t going to be a lot of fill in the blank or multiple choice type questions. Instead, you’re going to be writing essays. A lot of essays. And not just for English. Obviously, you don’t have to be an English Major to write an essay, but you can’t use the “I’m not an English Major” excuse to not write well-written essays. No matter your major, you need to put time and thought into crafting your essay and you can’t just sit down and simply write. You really, actually need to plan.

First of all, you need to read the essay directions. This may seem like common sense, but you really need to read them. Take the time to thoroughly read, take notes if you need to, write out the different parts of your topic you need to cover, highlight, do whatever you need to in order to fully understand. And if you have questions, ask your professor immediately. They understand there will be questions when they first hand out the assignment. They won’t be so understanding if those questions come a week before the essay is due when you’ve had the assignment for weeks prior.

Once you fully understand your assignment, you need to plan it out. You don’t need to spend a huge amount of time creating an in depth outline unless you’re creating a hefty essay that is along the lines of 20 pages, but you do need something. You can’t just sit down and write what comes into your head. You’ll end up wasting time, becoming stressed, and then giving up and procrastinating until the last minute. Don’t do that. That is not a thing you should do. There are many stages to your essay and they can’t all be accomplished two days before the due date. Plan the sections of your essay and what you plan to talk about in each one. What really helps here too is if you write the title of the source you plan on using in that section.

Once you’re ready to sit down and actually write your essay, you need to devote large chunks of time to it. It isn’t like reading one of your textbooks where you can set aside 20 minutes here and there. You need an hour or more at a time and it needs to be uninterrupted. This isn’t a time to watch one of your favorite TV Shows while you work. You need full concentration and you need to go where you can get that, whether it’s the library or your dorm room.

Once your essay is written, you need to proofread and edit until it’s perfect. Don’t rely on spell check for your grammatical mistakes and misspellings. You need to re-read your essay a few times to make sure it’s perfect. As weird as it sounds and as awkward as you feel, you even want to read it aloud. Hearing your sentences aloud will allow you to catch run-ons and other things that don’t quite sound right.