How to Write an Essay Fast/Quickly: A Solution to Procrastination
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Have you been procrastinating? Do you have a paper due in less than 24 hours? Do not panic. While you should have managed your time more wisely, there is still a way to finish your paper in time and get the grade you deserve. This article will help you write an essay as quickly as possible.
READ
Before starting your essay, you have to read the related text(s) or source(s). If you do not have time to read the entire text, you can do one of the following: read a summary/analysis of the text(s), read an analysis of the text(s), look up and collect relevant and important quotes from the text(s). While you speed read or quickly search for your quotes, make sure to never “steal” ideas from another writer.
COLLECT
While you read, either underline or copy-and-paste the quotes or passages that you feel are important to your paper. Make sure to add quotation marks and cite your sources properly before adding your own commentary. This will save time later when you write the original text of your essay.
FORM A THESIS
Use the quotes you collected to form a thesis statement. To learn more about what a thesis statement is and how to develop one, please read my other article, “How to Write an A+ English Paper.” Do not write your thesis paragraph yet. You do not have enough information to do this until you have written the body and conclusion of your essay.
PICK TOPIC SENTENCES
Once you come up with your thesis statement, list at least three points that back up your thesis. (You may make up to ten points depending on the length requirement of your essay.) These points should not be made up; each one should have at least one quote that supports it.
Take the points you listed and construct complete sentences out of them. (For example, if your thesis is “Jimmy’s father is mad at him,” and one of your supporting points is “Dad grounded Jimmy,” you will want to reword it so that it acts as a topic sentence: “One indicator that Jimmy’s father is angry with him is that he grounded Jimmy in Chapter Three.”) Once you have all of your points in complete sentences, type them onto your word processor and rearrange them so that they are cohesive, pushing your argument further.
REARRANGE
Paste them in order with the relevant, supporting quote(s) underneath. You will begin to see the structure of your essay form on the page(s). After you have arranged all of your quotes and topic sentences, you may have formed a conclusion. If so, write the concluding paragraph now. If you are still unsure about the conclusion, continue to the next step and write it after that.
ADD YOUR OWN WORDS
Now that you have the structure of your essay and the main idea, you will want to start adding original sentences to your paper. Start with the body of the essay (if you have not already written your conclusion). Explain each quote and topic sentence so that they form paragraphs of 3-5 sentences. Once you have done this, it is time to write your concluding paragraph (if you haven’t done so already) and your thesis paragraph. After you finish these, you will see that you have constructed an essay.
EDIT
You aren’t done yet. You will need to edit this essay (especially if you wrote it quickly). Editing shouldn’t take too long unless you had trouble with the other steps. Read your paper all of the way through and fix any grammatical errors. Make sure your paper flows and if you have time, have someone else read it for clarity.
CONGRATS!
You have just written an essay in record time. Good luck with your assignment and maybe next time, you will start your essay a little earlier.
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I totally agree. Thanks for reading. I did find some people that were unable to use this method because of their lack of critical thinking skills, but hopefully they aren't the ones procrastinating. Thank you so much for reading/visiting my page.
Unfortunately, I don't think they teach thinking skills so much anymore. At least they don't seem to where I live. If you are a procrastinator, you will have to learn quickly to think on your feet or quit procrastinating. Otherwise, you will never survive in that environment. This is a great way to write a paper. I will have to share this with some of my younger friends who are going to college.
I agree, homestead. Thanks for reading/sharing.
This is a helpful read. I like reading books but sometimes I just skim through the pages to have an overview and see if it's interesting enough to read everything. Am bookmarking this.
Thank you, Chin Chin. I hope it comes in handy!
..well we can all learn from one another - I try to learn a new word or concept or idea every day - the key is to have an open mind and a good attitude - and you my friend are what I would call a writer's writer - I can see/read it throughout your hub subjects - I am learning from you - and it's all very inspiring - thank you for what you do and the passion and intelligence in your words and writing lake erie time ontario canada 6:51am
just arrived home from night shift to high winds by the lake and winter on the doorstep and two well fed pussycats
Thank you, Epi. I never thought about myself as a "writer's writer" before, but I like it. I'm glad you learned something from this piece. Thank you again for your kind words.
BrittanyTodd: What a clear, logical, practical summary of the last bell effort to submit an "A" paper in 24 hours! It is most impressive the way in which you jump right into the helpful advice and specific details. You do not waste time guilt-tripping so there is a strong chance that your readers will learn from the tips, get their "A," and be more organized the next time. Part of procrastination can be the absence of a readily adaptable role model.
Thank you, voted up, etc.,
Derdriu
Thank you, Derdrie! This is definitely a hub for those that do not have time for the normal way of writing a paper. Hopefully it will help out those who have already procrastinated, but encourage them to take more time on their essay in the future. Thanks again! - Britt
I love this and am definitely passing it on to my high school son. I think we all have procrastinated but I like that you show the way out! Voted up!
Thank you, Riley! This is definitely not a hub encouraging procrastination, but gives a solution for times when it's too late.
My dad always said am a Procrastinator. This is a great tip that can be work out to be a guide in life in general. Thanks for sharing
great useful information. i also find listening to classical music puts me into the right mindset zone to write...
Hey there! This is a good hub about writing. But you missed to include planning. So how do you plan your writing?
I have a short hub about this on how to plan your writing.
Wonderful hub dear heart, and I must become your fan. Thank you for the continuing education in the wonderful joy of writing. God Bless you.
Thank you so much, stars!
Thank you!
I am a terrible procrastinator and this was very very helpful for me. The video link at the end has some good ideas, hopefully I can put them to use next time and avoid the last minute rush!
Clare, I am so glad this article was helpful to you! Just make sure to do a little a day and the task won't seem so daunting. Good luck and thanks again for the compliment!
Rising Caren 6 months ago
That sounds similar to my technique.
Assuming it's an essay that requires reading
1) Skim through reading, focusing largely on opening and ending sentences of each paragraph so I have a general idea of what to talk about.
2) Decide on a topic. Think of a few points that might make a good outline.
3) Write entire essay from introduction to conclusion using own words based on previous mental outline.
4) Find quotes that somehow relate to what was spoken
5) Elaborate on quotes to further analyze on current content
6) Use online citation generator for bibliography
Using this method, which is just a slightly different version of yours without editing, I can often write an A or B+ paper in only 1 or 2 hours (including the skimmed reading). I once wrote a 7 page paper on a book I never read - only skimmed it as I was writing the paper - in only 2 hours and got an A.
Unfortunately, a lot of people who know these methods still cannot do as it requires the writer to be able to make quick connections between quotes and readings. I've had classmates for whom I tried to help them write an essay in this way, but they didn't have the critical thinking skills needed to make connections just like that and therefore could never get passed the topic sentence stage without feeling overwhelmed.
I've noticed some of the best speed essay writers I've met are very good at logical things such as [hard] sudoku puzzles.