There may have been times when you had to produce an essay in a short period for an exam that was scheduled, such as on a high school entrance test. At other times, you might find yourself in an embarrassing situation that requires you to finish an essay quickly because you’ve put it off several times or because you’ve been caught off guard. Although an essay written at the last minute is never as good as an essay, you spent more time producing an appreciable essay quickly. With a bit of planning and a lot of hard work, you can write a perfect (or if you prefer good enough!) essay in a short period.
1) Develop a plan. Consider the time frame you have to finish your essay and develop a writing plan based on that. This will help you determine how much time you will spend on each part of the essay and follow the various instructions.
Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses as you develop your plan. For example, if you are excellent at researching but not so good at writing, spend less time when it comes to researching so that you can spend more time editing. Also, be sure to schedule breaks for yourself to refresh your brain and recharge.
An example of a plan for a one-day essay project might look like this:
- 8:00 – 9:30 am – come up with a problem and an argument for the topic
- 9:30 – 9:45 am – take a short break
- 10:00 – 12:00 – do the research
- 12:00 – 1:00 – develop the essay outline
- 1:00 – 2:00 pm – take a lunch break
- 2:00 – 7:00 pm – write your essay
- 7:00 – 8:00 pm – take a lunch break
- 8:00 – 10:30 pm – proofread and edit your essay
- 10:30 – 11:00 pm – print and prepare to submit your work
2) Consider the issue. You may know the topic when your professor asks you to write an essay, but even if you don’t, think about the question and the different ways you can argue about it first. This initial thinking will not only direct you to the appropriate research but will also help you move more quickly through the writing process.
3) Develop your argument or thesis. Your argument or thesis is the point of view you make in your essay through examples and analysis. Develop your argument to focus your research and speed up the writing process.
If you don’t have too much experience with your topic, it might be challenging to develop an argument. In this case, you can seek help from Online Essay Writing Service, thus solving the problem of missing expertise. You can still analyze your discussion and then use your research to support or refute the ideas you will want to make.
An excellent exercise to help you quickly come up with the problem and argument of your essay is to write this: “I am studying (choose a topic) because I want to understand better (what you want to know) to show (this is the time to develop the arguments)”.
Here is an example. “I am studying the witch trials in medieval times because I want to understand how lawyers used evidence in their trials to demonstrate that the judicial process influenced legal and modern medical practices.” Consider the counterarguments to strengthen your essay.
4) Research your essay topic. You will need to strategically research your topic to find ideas that will help you build your argument and form the body of the assignment. You can use several sources for research, including online newspapers and newspaper archives and primary sources at the library. Since you don’t have much time to write, focus on an option or two to research. For example, the Internet and libraries offer enough helpful information.
Make sure you use reliable sources, such as scientific journals, university or government websites, and professionally written newspapers and magazines. Do not use personal blogs, which are biased or unprofessional sources. You can draw on the information you have to speed up the research process. Just find a reference (but a reliable one) to back up your essay and add it to your assignment.
Doing the preliminary research online can lead you to sources in a library like journal articles or books. It can also direct you to online sources like archives of journal articles or other research on your topic.
If you are reading books, “dump” the book to quickly go through it and move on to the other sources. To do this, try skimming the introduction and conclusion to find the main arguments, then pull some details from the body of the book to use as evidence.
Make notes on the sources of your research. These will show that you have legitimately researched the topic while crediting the author of the ideas. This is especially important if you plan to use direct quotes and will also help you add cross-references and bibliographic information to your essay without requiring the reader to consult the sources.
5) Write the outline of your essay. Develop an outline for your essay to guide you through the writing process. Structuring it in the same form as your essay and adding examples will simplify and speed up the writing process. You will also be able to identify any parts that need further development.
Structure your outline, just as you would with your essay, using an introduction, body, and conclusion. The more detailed your outline, the easier and faster you can write your essay. For example, instead of writing a simple paragraph for the essay’s body, flesh it out with big points or sentences that present arguments and evidence.