All students experience what is described as "student’s block", so they should not be unduly alarmed if they find that they have an essay to write and they can’t even bring themselves to sit down and begin it. The time will come, nonetheless, when the deadline has to be met and if you have left your preparation to the night before you are hardly going to do either yourselves or the essay justice.
I like this topic---it branches away from what we normally see on The Artifice and displays an academic and practical side to the magazine. Be sure to include, possibly, some research relating to procrastination, common causes for "student's block," and speak with a constructive air. – Dominic Sceski5 years ago
Definitely a pertinent topic; also, one that tends to strike students, educators...everyone!
There's numerous insightful tips on how to combat writer's block. As a literature professor, I first advise students to not fall trap to the blinking cursor of self doubt and to get up from their laptop and take a mental break. Suggestions also include formulating the essay to match the thesis, not the other way around; encouraging the shifting of paragraphs; if one paragraph is not coming along, but the next point is bustling, just put the troublesome paragraph in a different color font to return to later; also suggesting switching the closing paragraph as the introductory paragraph tends to helps some students.
But, all of these suggestions detail the writing process, not the pre-game strategy. So, one of the best suggestions--I think--is to free write all ideas as they come to mind while disregarding sentence structures, spelling, but just jotting ideas as presented through a stream of consciousness. Hope this helps! – danielle5775 years ago
The topic seems to be good as these types of tips are given by the services providers which are banned in all over the world. – mohsinrafiq805 years ago
A good topic. How do you give advice on writing? For forty years of teaching I've been addressing this question and always feel frustrated with the advice I give. Basically, I try to get students to realize you need to write daily. Writing daily can consist of nothing more than a few sentences about what they are looking at while sitting there thinking about writing. The point is you need to see something on the page. You need to get students to realize they can play around with words and create different images. Writing is something that is not done infrequently. – Joseph Cernik5 years ago
I really like this essay topic because it’s a struggle I see often times in students I work with as a writing tutor. I advise students to think about the essay sooner rather than later. The deadline may give a student the pressure they need to get an essay done, but the stress isn’t worth it, especially when the student has multiple assignments for other classes, too. It’s important for students to remember that they don’t have to sit down and finish an essay in one sitting. It’s good to space out the writing process – maybe brainstorm today, pull out quotes tomorrow, and begin working on an outline or first draft over the weekend.
For myself, I try to brainstorm ideas for an essay as soon as I get the assignment – if not the day I get the assignment, then over the next couple of days. I also write everything that comes to mind. Sometimes I’ll think an idea is stupid, but if I decide not to write down one idea, who’s to say I’ll stop writing down all ideas altogether? Often times it can also help to look at materials from the class. I know that sounds obvious, but a lot of students I work with don’t think about looking at the book they’re trying to write about or they don’t think about class discussions that may spark inspiration. – Heidi5 years ago