When a student is assigned a writing task, one of the first things they may think to do is take out their laptop and start typing. They try to write the whole essay word-for-word – because that’s how they’ve been taught to write. However, there are many other ways you can write your essay faster without giving up quality work.
In the following paragraphs, I have listed 10 different methods you could use to save time during your next essay assignment. Use this list as a reference guide when you have future essays due.
- Writing by Hand. Writing your first draft by hand instead of on a computer can be a great way to increase speed while still maintaining an element of creativity. When you write longhand, it feels more like you are brainstorming ideas rather than actually writing an essay. This allows the ideas to flow freely and quickly.
- Start with a Template. If your instructor has given you some guidelines for your essay, try starting with one of these templates. Templates are pre-formatted outlines that give you guidelines on how to write or organize different parts of your essay. You can find numerous templates by doing a quick Google search.
- Use Digital Tools. There are many tools available online that will help you write and organize your essays.
- Stick to an Outline. To help you organize your thoughts, try writing out a clear and concise outline before beginning your essay. This way you won’t lose track of what points you want to make, and you’ll be able to come back to it if you need some extra inspiration.
- Write Out Your Introduction Once You’re Done With the Body. If you write out your introduction after completing all of your body paragraphs, it will act as an incentive for you to finish faster so that you can move on to the next step of editing your intro!
- Save Your Work in Different Files. Although most word processors allow this feature, many students forget about it! Make sure that whenever you open a new document to work on your essay, save it as a different file name so that you won’t lose the work you’ve already done.
- Add an Introduction Paragraph Later. This seems contradictory because this article is about writing faster….however, hear me out! Many students spend several hours working on their introduction paragraphs, only to scrap it entirely and start from scratch. Although I recommend spending at least a little bit of time planning your intro, if you never get around to finishing it – don’t worry too much because there’s nothing wrong with starting with a blank page.
- Don’t Spend Too Much Time Proofreading Your First Draft. In many cases, the first draft is not going to be perfect – and that’s OK! It might take some time to get into the flow of writing, and that’s something you need to experience for yourself.
- Don’t Be Afraid to Change Your Essay If You’re Not Happy With it. If after completing your first draft you notice there are several aspects in which you could improve, don’t be afraid to make revisions. Remember, this is an assignment in which you will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of the topic; changing references or statistics is not cheating!
- Use Sentence Starters. Using sentence starters like “in conclusion,” or “in my opinion” can help improve your initial introduction and conclusion paragraphs by giving you an outline to follow while still allowing for creativity and individuality.
But what to do if the time limit is going to end, your paper is not done, and you have not started on it yet?
Well, an urgent essay writing service can help you with that.
These are just a few ideas to help you speed up your writing process when working on essay assignments. Remember that the point of essays is not to write as fast as possible, but to convey knowledge in an accurate and effective manner. If you can manage your time effectively while still producing quality work, then you’ll be able to produce several papers over the course of a semester without suffering from writer’s block or burnout.
Good luck! And now you know about 10 different methods to save time during your next essay assignment!