Can't bring myself to work on this essay, please help

I'm not at university yet but gosh I know how it feels when you just can't start and have thought so much about the topic but can't seem to formulate the correct response, in fact I'm doing that right this minute and it feels horrible, at the moment I feel like I'm playing around with words.

I feel like I might be the only person in class who just can't understand the texts. I try to keep my confidence and motivation in place but somehow I just can't anymore...

You're not alone, I'm in a similar position to you, also my work is extremely late and I actually feel like I want to die. But that won't help I suppose...

Just try not to get upset (I should follow my own advice), make the simplest notes possible on the text, and then expand on that? That is what is helping me construct this awful essay, I'm trying to understand the argument, writing a sentence or two connecting it to the research and then expanding upon it and turning it into paragraphs.

I don't know if that will help, but try not to be sad. Even though I understand this feeling.

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll try to write down some ideas... I am just very afraid I can't get it right though, because I need a good grade on this essay to get an A in the course, so I can keep a good GPA to get into dental school. Also the professor told me "you shouldn't try to be right, just understand the text", which confused me because from the other comments she gave me...isn't there a "right" understanding that I'm supposed to have? Ugh.

Maybe by understand he means interpret on the text, give different perspectives to further your understanding?

I'm sorry, do you have a making criteria you could look at to see what is required of you?

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll try to write down some ideas... I am just very afraid I can't get it right though, because I need a good grade on this essay to get an A in the course, so I can keep a good GPA to get into dental school. Also the professor told me "you shouldn't try to be right, just understand the text", which confused me because from the other comments she gave me...isn't there a "right" understanding that I'm supposed to have? Ugh.

And then I wrote many short essays on the subject, mainly about Rousseau, but nearly every one of them come back with comments like "you need to reread" or "you don't understand this", even when I read and reread The Social Contract. As for that big end-of-semester essay, I actually already wrote a first draft and had the professor read over it, but she told me I need to rewrite. She was kind enough to give me hints on which direction to write in though, but I can tell her opinion of me is sinking lower and lower.

If you dont do anything then you face disaster. so worrying and sticking your head in the sand does nothing but make it worse.I have no idea about the books, but it seems you cant see the wood for the trees and are just undergoing a crisis of confidence.When that happens go back to basics. Break it down into tasks so you can feel some progress if you complete them..1. Read the comments by your tutor and if need be chase her up again. Presumably you are doing ok on other subjects.2. Understand the very basic concepts in the books. I mean as much as you can fit on one or two sides of paper. It seems from the feedback it shows you dont fully grasp the books and you are either waffling or making points that reveal your lack of appreciation of the basics.3. Go to the bookshop or Amazon and look for some revison books or text books that cover these textx really briefly.4. When you rewrite, then use a very simple structure that is clear. Do not make claims about things you dont understand.5. It might make it easier if you got a friend to read your essay and maybe they could you their impression on whether it was clear or confused. Thats nothing to do with whether they understand Rousseau.Keep it simple and make it clear. Avoid extravagant claims on points you really dont feel comfy with. Walk before you cna fly, crawl before you can walk.You can only do your best in the time left.

See to be honest, tutors will tell you officially that there’s no one standard way to interpret texts/historical writings, provided you can justify your own opinion on them. But you’re supposed to understand (and read between the lines) that that’s provided you completely agree with everything they have taught you, and agree with the current, ‘trendy’ interpretation of historical documents. Disagreeing with them – even if you might be right – will just get you bad marks. So your tutor undoubtedly does have a particular slant on the text and you also are supposed to find it the correct, natural and obvious one. If you deviate from this you will face the accusations of ‘misunderstanding’ stuff like you’re getting. Maybe consult the feedback, course notes, lecture slides, etc for hints of what you’re expected to take out of studying this text (and sorry I don’t know anything about the French Revolution other than what I’ve read on Wikipedia while being bored!). In some way, the take away message of the historical text should reinforce what is a current trendy dogma, politically and socially – so that is your first clue (source for this: my first degree is in Archaeology and I used to get **** marks in all my essays until I realised this was the unspoken academic rule)! Could it be that in some way, you are expected to use this text's interpretation to justify something about the US and how amazing and philosophically unimpeachable its constitution is? I would guess Rousseau is being forced down the throats of US college students for some ideological reason unrelated to European history...

Also, try googling for the text and consulting websites – it’s cheaper than buying books and less time consuming. You might even find links to historical academic books, journal articles, etc from online sources that you can quote or use as reference material in your essay (although be selective and never quite from anything that’s not a trusted and respectable source). At the very least, online sources might provide you with the means to deciphering the slant you need to take on this text, and then you can dig a bit deeper in the resources you have to hand, with this focus in mind. Stuff like web forums, discussion boards, etc might provide you with starting points about what the ‘standard’ interpretation actually is, if you can locate anything like this for what sounds like a classic text from Revolutionary France.

And then in writing the actual thing: just try to break the topic down into natural chunks, telling the story in formal, third person English of how the tutor’s interpretation is – although sometimes challenged on x,y, and z grounds by people who ‘misunderstand’ the text – completely and utterly correct and manifestly obvious. And then quote from some book on your reading list, or use a referenced fact from a journal article or something to serve as proof for what you’ve asserted, to massage the tutor’s ego and justify that you understand. That always worked for me! Good luck!

A low grade is much better than no grade. And you don't know that you will get a low grade. My advice is to start writing the very basic stuff you do know and once you've got something written down you can work on padding it out, improving and editing. Ive been in your position in the past but you really have to just buckle down and make a start and take at one step at a time.

Thanks youve given me some context. I wouldnt worry 1000 words is tiny. Its either your professor is telling you, that you havent grasped the basic ideas needed for the essay or your structure and argument are poor or both. There isnt a right view, but there is one that shows you understand the basic arguments/ideas. You cna still be original. Its something other students have grasped, but it seems to be eluding you..That entry to Rousseau is a start.