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Hardest Part of an Essay

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
What's the hardest part of an essay to write? I think it has just got to be the introduction, when you need to try and open the whole essay up. That's the hardest part for me. (NB. Wahey! I've got 1000 posts!! Hurrah :D)
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its when it gets to the last third, and i'm starting to run out of things to say and all of a sudden the word count seems to be really slow!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    all of it. :p

    nah, i sometimes find starting off the worst bit. but it depends what the essay's on and whether i like what it's about or not.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    starting to write the essay is the worst bit!! Definately.Once i get going its not so bad. That reminds me...i better go finish mine...eek!

    i usually do the introduction last...i find that easier :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm sitting here just now, attempting to write most of it before tomorrow, and it just ain't happening... Damn the internet!!! :mad:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    here's a tip for essay writing

    tell the marker what you're gonna say,(i.e introduction), tell him (the essay) and tell him what you've told him (conclusion) works for me.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    See, that's all well and good, but that linear path doesn't totally work if you've got more than one thing to tell the marker, or you've got to give conflicting views on stuff. You've got to figure out what order, what supporting quotes to use and how to make it easy to read, what's relevant and what's not, the language, how to lay it out so it flows. No offence indended if you're not Turlough, but are you still at high school?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yes i am, i suppose uni essays wud be harder and more complex but i was reffering to essays in general
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i find its the intro too, then i know what i'ma say and it just kinda flows
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Generally that's what essays do, but at uni yeh, it does get a bit more complicated (DAMN). I am now past my intro and am buzzing through it, but I've lost a page of quotes I'd done :( I am also losing my mind on the crimson room game... :mad: (see entertainment thread 'Time waster')
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Taking maths worked for me - not a single essay so far :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm hopeless with conclusions. Almost every essay I've ever written has been handed back with 'good, but stonger conclusion needed Laura', or similar, scrawled underneath the last paragraph. :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And the most tempting way to start a conclusion is like 'In conclusion...' :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by TheKingOfGlasgow
    And the most tempting way to start a conclusion is like 'In conclusion...' :D

    That's exactly what I do. My conclusion is usually so bad that the marker doesn't realise that's what it is otherwise ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If that's what you do, then stop. It's not very 'stylistically advanced'. Basically a conclusion should just sum up everything you've said in your essay into about 100 words or so. DOn't try and be too clever with it, like leaving a big important fact to the end and stuff. It should be nice and compact. If you want I can post some examples up of different conclusions I've done on other essays to give you an idea of what a conclusion shoudl be like.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I hate conclusions too! You just can't be bothered at the end of it all when you've written 5 pages and then have to bring it all together in a couple of sentences to show what it all means. I usually never bother writing it til I'm literally handing it in :rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    See, I think a good conclusion can really make or break an essay. I mean, all that work for 5 pages and then it all goes to bits at the end. Personally I would rather not have to do any of it, but hey ho...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i find that introductions and conclusions are best left till last, many of the essays ive done are more reports than arguements so most conclusions are just summaries of what ive said, also with introductions i tend to state the basic facts about the topic without going into any detail

    forgot to add im doing my final year dissertation at the mo, ive done 800 out of 4-5000 words and its due in next friday, dammit ive left it late again, thought i might have learnt by now
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by TheKingOfGlasgow
    See, I think a good conclusion can really make or break an essay. I mean, all that work for 5 pages and then it all goes to bits at the end. Personally I would rather not have to do any of it, but hey ho...

    I just struggle to summarise it all, generally. I'm getting better now, but at school the concept of 'just answer the question in a few sentences to finish off' baffled me. I just answered it in that lot I just wrote? :confused: Obviously, my dislike for essays didn't affect my A Level choices - three essay based courses. Some people never learn, hmm?

    Off-topic, am I right in thinking you study English Language?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I just put a few however's in my work and it's all good. :D

    Well...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm good at introductions, then the main body takes a bit of planning. I find conclusions hardest, as you're almost at the end and have run out of energy. You don't want to be repeating yourself, but you're not meant to put anything new in at the end!:rolleyes: KoG, it would be helpful if you can post some conclusions on here, as examples of how it should be done!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The intro is the worst i find. Once I have it then im slow to start off the main section, the i can get into the flow but it always slows up towards the end.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The start is definitly the hardest-
    Try a few then try piece them together a good quote or asking a sking a question is a style I prefer, but that depends largely on what your writing on!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Just getting my thoughts in gear and managing to put them down on paper as I want them. I'm a real perfectionist when it comes to essays and usually end up changing bits 58486 times before I'm satisfied.

    I'm also sure that my note making technique is crap - surely I shouldn't still be doing it by copying down half the books I'm reading :confused:...4 years of uni and I still haven't got it sorted.

    I've got a 5000 word essay to hand in on Friday and it's been a real struggle
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The hardest part for me, is when i have absolutely nothing in the essay that can be cut out, its all so important, i still have loads more arguments i want to make and im already 300 words over the word limit.

    so bloody annoying.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Lil Laura
    Off-topic, am I right in thinking you study English Language?
    Yup, well remembered! Just about to do my finals in a month and a half... Take about nerves... :nervous:

    I went and saw my lecturer about my essay (wrote about 1000 words yesterday) and she said it was fine. There is some truth about writing a conclusion and introduction last, but it feels really odd for alot of people, me included. I'll have a sniff round for my old essays and post some ways that I've concluded an essay. There're not brilliant, but it might give some people who hate them an idea of what to do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The worst bit of essay writing, at least here, is that after all that effort, it doesn't count for anything. Everything is calculated on Finals, and yet I still have to write 4000 words plus a week for 24 weeks. It's RIDICULOUS!

    *Ahem* Rant over. I find it really difficult to follow 'typical essay writing' approaches, as I don't like to say things like "This essay will deal with ..." I just don't like the way it sounds.
    Tend to write my intro after everything else though, that way you already know what your essay's about and can introduce it properly!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by TheKingOfGlasgow
    See, I think a good conclusion can really make or break an essay. I mean, all that work for 5 pages and then it all goes to bits at the end. Personally I would rather not have to do any of it, but hey ho...

    no it's definately the intro, if the intro is some long winded thing the reader is just gonna be in a bad mood for the whole essay, whereas you give 2 key sentences with a good theses then your in there, the conclusion for me is like tying up the ends of a piece of string, just put ur essay into 2 or 3 key points
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by lil_minx
    The hardest part for me, is when i have absolutely nothing in the essay that can be cut out, its all so important, i still have loads more arguments i want to make and im already 300 words over the word limit.

    so bloody annoying.

    Agreed, writing a good essay then finding it is over the word limit, looking back over it and realising there is nothing you want to take out but you have to take out something is bad..........
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