How to Write an Essay Without Procrastinating

Procrastinating is a common problem for professional writers and students alike. The causes of writing procrastination include fear of failure, lack of interest in the topic, embarrassment, and a desire to simply be doing anything else. By organizing your time and breaking your workload down into more manageable chunks, you can avoid staring at a blank screen for hours and progress through your essay more steadily. It's perfectly normal to procrastinate a bit, so try to set aside enough time and don't too put much pressure on yourself.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Drawing up a Work Plan

1
Break the essay into small chunks. A good way to start organizing your work is to break it down into smaller and more manageable chunks. Doing this will mean you can progress through the essay piece by piece, stay focused and measure your progress more easily. Having clearly defined sections of work means you will never be too far from the end of one particular task.^{[1]XResearch source}
- If you start from scratch with a blank page and want to write the whole essay in one sitting, you could find it a very imposing task. This could put you off and lead to procrastination.
- The blocks you could use include: research, essay plan, introduction, first draft, part one of essay, part two of essay, conclusion, referencing, and proofreading.
- Knowing you are only doing one thing at a time can make it easier to maintain motivation.^{[2]XTrustworthy SourceUniversity of North Carolina Writing CenterUNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing processGo to source}
2
Set a limit on the research you will do. Some procrastinators suffer from a need to have a thorough knowledge of a subject before they can begin writing. For others, the research is the more enjoyable part of the assignment than the writing, where there is less pressure and you can browse the internet and books without having to put pen to paper.
- Remember that you are writing an essay, not a book, so you need to limit the amount of research you do and ensure that you don't let it take up all your time. Ending up down a research rabbit hole will not help you finish your essay on time.
- If you have made endless pages of notes on your research, you won't necessarily be able to use it all in your essay anyway.
- Try to keep your research tightly focused to the topic of your essay and avoid the temptations to broaden it out too far.
Advertisement
3
Make a to-do list with deadlines. Once you have broken your tasks down into more manageable sections, you can organize your priorities. Drawing up a to-do list will help you to visualize the amount of work you have to do and the amount of time you have to do it in. Structure your list around the sections you have already identified and try to attach specific deadlines to each job. For example, if you want to finish your research two weeks before the essay is due, write this down on your list and stick to it.
- When you are writing, you might give yourself a set number of pages or words to write each day. Two pages or 1000 words can be a good and reachable daily target.
- Be sure to cross off items as you complete them. This can be a satisfying moment. You will see your list of tasks diminishing as you progress, which will help you to maintain motivation and focus.^{[3]XResearch source}
Advertisement

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Organizing Your Time

1
Draw up a time schedule. Once you have broken down all your tasks and organised them into a list of things to do, you need to plan your time around these jobs. Go through your diary or timetable and set aside time each day to work on your essay. Try to be as specific as possible and assign particular tasks to particular timeslots. For example, you might write Monday 7pm - 8pm: revise introduction.^{[4]XResearch source}
- Try to be realistic about the amount of time each task is likely to take you. There's nothing worse than being too optimistic about how quickly you can work and finding yourself behind schedule right from the start.^{[5]XResearch source}
- Writing is very personal and different people will have different approaches, so think about whether you are someone who writes freely but needs more time to proofread. Perhaps you write more slowly, but your writing is very accurate.^{[6]XResearch source}
2
Compile a schedule of non-work activities. When you are scheduling in the time you need to spend working on your essay, you should not forget about the world outside the essay all together. Go through your timetable and mark in all the times when you are normally occupied by other work, social, family and sporting activities. Try to protect some of these to give you a break from the essay.
- This schedule will also reveal how much time you really have to do the essay, which is likely to be less than you think.
- Once you have a clearer picture of how your time is occupied, you will be able to plan your work schedule more effectively.
- You might think you have two weeks to do the essay, but once you have factored in all your commitments you could discover the number of free hours you have shrinks dramatically.^{[7]XTrustworthy SourceUniversity of North Carolina Writing CenterUNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing processGo to source}
When you are scheduling in time to work, you might think that you always need to set aside a couple of hours in order to make in worthwhile. This isn't necessarily the case. Experts believe that one hour blocks, or 50 minutes with a 10 minute break, may be the best way to organize your schedule, but if you have half an hour or 45 minutes free you can still get a good amount of work done if you concentrate.
4
Stick to the schedule. Once you have developed a schedule for your work it's important that you really try to stick to it and push through any tough patches. Having clear goals for each session can help to motivate you. Be prepared to be a little flexible, but if you lose essay time doing something else be sure to make it up later.
- Reward yourself as you progress through your work. Anything from a cup of tea to a break watching an episode of something on TV can be a good reward to work towards.^{[8]XResearch source}
- Taking scheduled breaks can help you study more effectively and be more focused.^{[9]XResearch source} The Pomodoro Technique encourages you to set a timer for a certain period of time, such as 35 or 50 minutes, and then take a break when the timer rings.
- Although it's important to have scheduled breaks, you need to be mindful not to let a 10 minute break extend into a 30 minute break, or a half hour break stretch into an hour.
- If you notice that a break has run on, don't give yourself a hard time, but do make up for it by rescheduling the lost time. You may need to take time away from other fun things to make up for the extra break.
5
Analyze how much time things take you. You can use the experience of writing an essay to learn about how you work and how you can improve your work in future. Keep track of how long certain tasks take you compared to other ones. If you find yourself spending much longer on your introduction than you had imagined you would, remember this the next come you come to write an essay.
- Learning how long tasks actually take you is an important part of improving your study skills and your essay writing.
- Learn from the experience so you set aside enough time to write the best essay you can every time.^{[10]XTrustworthy SourceUniversity of North Carolina Writing CenterUNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing processGo to source}
Advertisement

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Writing Your Essay

1
Plan your essay structure. Before you begin writing your essay you should make a complete plan that details the structure of your essay. The plan should give you the opportunity to organize your notes and thoughts before you start writing properly. One of the key things to remember when you are planning is to maintain focus on the essay question.
- Plan your essay with a clear basic structure of: Introduction, Discussion, Conclusion.
- One way to plan an essay is to break the question down into sub-questions, but be sure you keep returning to the main question and answer it fully. For example, if your essay topic asks you to "Discuss the impact of nature vs. nurture on human development," sub-questions could include "What is the impact of nature?" and "What is the impact of nurture?" You could even break it down further by asking questions of those, such as "What are sources of nature and nurture?"
- Planning makes it easier for you to have a clear trajectory and coherent argument in your essay.
2
Write draft versions. Often people procrastinate because they don't feel they have a complete enough knowledge of a topic, or a clear enough idea of their argument. The fear of failure or underachievement is thought to be a big factor in procrastination. Try to counter this by allowing yourself to write a first draft that is not up to your usual standard. Remember this is just a draft and is not the finished article, and nobody needs to see it apart from you.^{[11]XResearch source}
- A first draft can give you the opportunity to get your basic ideas down on paper and get some momentum going with writing.
- Analyzing a draft will also help you see where there are gaps and weaknesses in your knowledge and argument.
- When you look through the draft, ask yourself if you are really addressing the essay question. If you aren't sure, ask a friend or fellow student to see if s/he thinks you're on track.
- If you finish the draft before the due date, you can also ask your teacher or professor to look over your essay. You could also make use of facilities such as tutoring or a writing center consultation.
3
Always keep the word count in mind when you're writing. One good tip to keep in mind when you are planning and writing an essay is to be aware of the word or page count. If you know how many pages or words you need to produce you should factor this into your plan and try to stick to the outlines you give yourself.
- For example, if you say your introduction will be half a page long, stick to it.
- Keeping the word count in mind will also help you see the progress you are making in the essay.
- Monitoring the word count as you write and revise your essay will give you the best chance of producing a well-balanced and structured essay which doesn't end before you have fully made your argument.
- If you're having trouble meeting your word goals, try something silly such as Written Kitten, a website that rewards you with funny cat pictures for every set number of words you write.^{[12]XResearch source} If you respond more to fear as a motivator, you can try Write or Die, which will sound alarms or start deleting your writing if you don't meet your set goal in a certain timeframe.<re>http://writeordie.com/</ref>
4
Give yourself time to proofread. It is always important to set aside time to proofread your essay and make some revisions before you submit it. As well as an opportunity to check and correct any grammar or spelling mistakes, reading through your essay thoroughly gives you the best chance to analyze its strengths and weaknesses and ensure that you are focused on the essay question.
- If you have gone over the word or page limit, proofreading enables you to see which parts you can cut out to get you back under the limit.
- When you are proofreading, think about the precision and concision of your language, too. Things like the passive voice make your writing less clear. (In passive voice, that sentence would be "Your writing is made less clear by the passive voice," which you can see is wordier and not as clear.)^{[13]XResearch source}
- Be sure to check you have written and referenced it according to the appropriate style guidelines.
- The more practice you get proofreading your essay critically, the better you will be able to analyze your writing in the future.^{[14]XTrustworthy SourceUniversity of North Carolina Writing CenterUNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing processGo to source}
5
Avoid distractions. If you are trying to write your essay but you have all sorts of distractions around you, it should not be a surprise to find yourself procrastinating. Try to avoid distractions by finding a quiet comfortable place to work, switch off your phone and think about turning off the wi-fi on your computer.
- You can even install browser applications that will block specific websites like Facebook, but still allow you to use the internet for research.
- Make sure everyone in your house knows you are studying and not to disturb you unnecessarily.
- Only listen to music if it doesn't distract you. For some people instrumental music can help them focus, but this doesn't work for everyone.
6
Be positive. Sometimes it can be a major help just to try and modify your attitude towards the essay and think of it as an opportunity rather than a chore. Taking a positive attitude towards a task will help you stay focused and avoid procrastinating. Think about what you are learning and the writing and research skills you are developing. Talk to friends and classmates about the topics to try and develop your interest.^{[15]XTrustworthy SourceUniversity of North Carolina Writing CenterUNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing processGo to source}
- You might consider starting or joining a writing group with friends where you sit and write quietly in the same room.
- Being in a room full of people writing can be a good motivational tool, especially if you are going to discuss your essays together at the end.
Advertisement