Essay Writing Tips

Being an English and Journalism major I have a lot of writing to do; however, I would rather write an essay than do 80+ Spanish activities (I actually had to do that for every Spanish test…worst thing ever). I've also been writing research papers since middle school and perfected my technique in high school when I had to write 4,000 word research paper. Today I am going to share my tips which can be catered to people who work better with a pen and paper and those who prefer technology. I also figured that now would be a great time to tell you how I write essays since it is finals and I have an English essay due this week. Here is my writing process and tips that I've figured out along the way.

#1 Know your topic

Regardless of whether or not your teacher or professor assigns a specific topic, a list of topics or you have to create your own topic, you need to make sure that you know your topic. Make sure you pick something you are interested in or can argue for/against if you are able to choose your own topic. If it’s not something you enjoy learning about and writing about then the writing process is going to be tedious. However, sometimes you won’t be able to choose your topic and it sucks but it’s still do able.

#2 Research

This is, in my opinion, the most tedious part of writing. Even though research has gotten easier with technology, there is so much out there that it can often be overwhelming. Many teachers now require paper and electronic sources and require that those electronic sources are credible and aren’t just google searched. Most universities and a lot of high schools have subscriptions to databases like Academic Search Premier and EBSOHost that can provide credible articles and research. Also, your public library may be subscribed to some databases that one can use. Learning to use these can be difficult, but most librarians should be willing to help you learn how to use them to get the sources you need. Take advantage of the resources your school has. Finally, do more research than you think you will need. It’s better to have too many sources than too little.

Citations, I feel, would also fall under this category. Citing sources is terrible, but it’s something you have to do. If you do not do it correctly, then you may get expelled or kicked out of university forever. That’s a lot of pressure. However, Microsoft Word can take some of the stress off of you. My teacher in ninth grade told me that if have 2010 or above you can go to the References tab and then to the Citations & Bibliography section and choose your style and then click on insert citations; all you have to do after that if fill out the form for each source! Word will take care of all the pesky periods, commas, italicizing, and all the other things that come with citing a source. After you have everything cited, go to your citations page and then click on bibliography and it inserts all the citations almost formatted. All you have to do now is change the font and size, double space, and do a hanging indent and you’re done! Isn't that so much easier? The first picture is how I compile my research if I'm keeping it together in a Word document. The second two pictures are what I do if I'm doing index cards.For the index cards, I organize it to have the source card on top and the quote cards for that source behind it; then another source card, quote cards etc. 

#3 Outline

A lot of people skip this step and admittedly, for small essays, I don’t make a detailed one. But I do find that having some kind of outline or plan before you start writing so that way you have a little bit of an idea of what you’re going to talk about and you don’t repeat and write in circles. For long essays I do like to do a detailed outline because…all you have to do is add fluff and the essay is done! When I wrote my extended essay for high school, I did a detailed outline and the paper pretty much wrote itself because all I had to do was add fluff to the quotes and it was done. I still do that now even though it seems pointless while I’m doing it but when it comes to writing it actually does help.

#4 Let’s get writing

I don’t have any tips for the actual writing of the paper except just write and don’t worry about how it looks or sounds. Get all of your ideas and explanations and fluff out onto paper/screen. Starting is the hardest part so maybe don’t start with the introduction and start with the body paragraph. Also, depending on your teacher, you may not have to write a full paragraph for the introduction. Often I just have a sentence or two in order to introduce the reader and then go straight into the thesis; although none of my teachers mind that make sure that it is okay with your teacher.

#5 Finishing up

Edit, edit, edit. Send it to your friends, sometimes if you get the essay done early enough your teacher might be willing to read it and edit it for you. If your university has a writing center where they edit essays for you, then make an appointment and take your essay there. Sometimes in the act of writing one might make a lot of silly mistakes that could be marked off, so it’s important that you or someone else reads the essay for those mistakes. Finally, make sure you turn it in as soon as you are finished! Don’t wait. I waited once and was like I’ll turn it in later tonight (it was due online) and totally forgot! I e-mailed my teacher and luckily she was really cool about it, but it was terrifying! Take my word for it, turn it in as soon as you finish completely.

I hope that these tips help you out during this stressful time of finals. Good luck!

Thank you for reading!

Kylie

How to get good grades!

The new school year is in full force now. Most of us have started school within the past month and the work is already piling up and stress is reigning. I always strive to get the best grades that I can and over my 13+ years of school, I've found some tips and tricks that have helped me.

#1 Use a planner!

I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep a planner or calendar of some sort whether paper or electronic to help keep track of assignments, tests, dues dates and activities. I could not live without mine. I use a paper planner from Target that I write all of my assignments that I need to do in the weekly section along with due dates, tests, work schedule, and club meetings. In the month view I only keep due dates, tests, and club meetings so I can glance and see the most important things coming up. Without this I would probably miss meetings and forget about my tests and homework and I would be completely and utterly stressed…then probably fail. We can’t have that.

Whether you use google calendar, a Filofax, a store bought planner or anything else. Something to plan your days, weeks, and months is essential.

#2 Color-code

If you aren’t someone who likes color or someone who works with color well then this isn’t required but I found that it helps a lot! I don’t write my notes in color, I just use a black pen or pencil so that I can highlight and not have the pen color interfere with the highlight color. However, in my planner I love color! I love being able to look at my calendar and see that there are four days with pink, 6 with light blue, 8 with light blue etc. I don’t have to read everything looking for right item. I also have a highlight color-code for my notes so if I’m trying to find something I can look for that color and find it quicker. Here’s my color-coding system. You can take mine, alter it change it, create your own if you want to.

#3 Go to Class

I know this is obvious, but I’m serious. It’s so important to go to class even those dreaded 8:00 AM classes. If you don’t go to class you might miss important information, hand-outs, notes, or even syllabi changes. Make sure you also pay attention in all your classes and take notes. Plus, once you skip class once for no reason, you will continue to skip class and then you will fail. So even on those cold, rainy mornings make sure you get up and go to class.

#4 Utilize your syllabus

In high school, the syllabi you receive aren’t as important as they are in college. In college these tell you the weight of your assignments, due dates, tests and exams, the reading schedule, textbooks and other books you may need, the teacher’s office hours and e-mail and basically everything you need to know for the class. As soon as you get them for all your classes, plan out your semester. Write all due dates and exams in your calendar so you can see how much time you have to prepare for all of them. But after you do this don’t just not look at the syllabus again for the rest of the semester, make sure you continue checking back on it to make sure you are on track and not forgetting anything.

#5 Use a different notebook or binder/binder section for each class

This helps to keep things organized so you don’t mix up notes and handouts from one class with another class. I will later put up a post about how I organize my notebooks and binders. But whichever method works for you, make sure you have one or a section designated to each class so that you can keep track of your notes and handouts.

#6 Make sure to do the reading before going to class

This can be difficult, with so much reading for college it’s difficult to do all the reading before class. But doing this is important, it gives you an overview of what will be said in class, you will already know what topics you understand and what topics you do not understand and you can be prepared to ask any questions you might have. I also like to take notes on the reading and then take class notes in class so that I can see what the teacher though was important and have to different ways the topic was said. While talking about notes, I like to re-write or re-type my class notes after class to fill in any empty spots and get it engrained in my head.

I hope this helped! What kind of tips/tricks do you guys have to get good grades?

Thanks for reading!

Kylie

Self-Worth

I was watching this YouTube video from Sarah about self-worth (if you want to watch it click here) and it really got me thinking. I see so many females, young adults and women that are so dependent on other people and on men that they don’t believe they have any value or worth outside of their partner or their friends; often times believing that they can’t live without their partner so they stay in these horrible relationships because they are scared to be alone. It upsets me. I don’t know if I would classify myself as a feminist per-say but I do believe that women should be able to be independent and have confidence and know that they can live without a man or people in general.

I want to tell all the females reading this post that you have self-worth. You have value. You do not need anybody to solidify that for you. If you have confidence and know that you are worthy of a great life with great friends and a nice guy who treats you the way you should be treated (like a princess) then you will attract those people.  Learn how to be alone and comfortable with yourself! I don’t mean alone like no friends, sitting inside all the time and not socializing; I mean alone like being comfortable going out by yourself, living by yourself and not being dependent on someone else. I promise, you will feel so good about yourself knowing that you can handle whatever life throws at you because you’re strong. Build up that woman power! Seriously though, confidence is attractive. Having high self-confidence (not a high ego or no confidence) is super attractive! You will attract the most amazing people and you will have a much better life.

I understand that if you've been dependent on people you’re whole life that it can be scary to begin gaining confidence and independence so here are my tips;

1) This is cheesy and it’s going to feel weird but every morning when you wake up and every night before bed either write in a journal things you like about yourself or say in front of the mirror that “I am confident, I have value, I am beautiful.” Eventually you will start feeling a change in your attitude toward yourself and others. It may take a few days for some or a few months for others but it does work.

2) Find something you love doing! For me that’s reading, I am a total bookworm and I can sit and read for hours upon hours and never get bored. But take that thing you love or try out new things like dance, art, reading, sports, etc until you find something you do like and pursue it. It’ll be something you can do alone but since it’s something you love you won’t feel so alone. Also, doing things you like or love, especially an artistic or athletic activity can help build confidence and are great mood boosters!

3) Slowly start going out alone. I’m not saying you can’t ever go out with friends or even a guy, but sometimes it’s nice to go out by yourself. A good way to introduce yourself into this is to go see a movie, the theater is dark so no one will notice that you’re alone and people go see movies alone all the time. I mean think about it, what if there was a movie you really wanted to see but none of your friends want to see it, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to go see it. Take as some personal *insert your name here* time. Then try doing your grocery shopping alone and then getting a new book at sitting at a coffee shop and reading while drinking a nice hot cup of coffee or tea. Before you know it, you’ll be loving your alone outings as much as your group outings.

4) ENJOY LIFE! I can’t stress this enough. Find your dream and pursue it, try new things like new food or new movies, travel (alone or with a friend). The happier you are, the more likely you’ll be to do stuff alone; and as you do stuff alone you’ll gain personal happiness and you’ll just radiate happiness and strength and you’ll find that life is just better. It’s a never ending cycle where you know that even when things are rough that you’ll be able to be happy again because you’re strong, beautiful, and know yourself.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. I just wanted to make a post that might help some girls become stronger and more confident.

Thanks for reading!

Kylie