The Student Room Group
Voting for TSRs Ultimate Study Playlist is NOW OPEN >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Voting for TSRs Ultimate Study Playlist is NOW OPEN >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Need some advice on essays!!!!

Is it possible to do a university level 3000 word essay and two 1000 word essays in a month????
Just need some advice on how to effectively do this????
Reply 1
Avatar for OxMus
OxMus
16
Original post by Anonymous
Is it possible to do a university level 3000 word essay and two 1000 word essays in a month????
Just need some advice on how to effectively do this????

I know you’ve posted about this before, but hey ho. Here are my thoughts.

As an absolute maximum, spend a week on the two 1,000-word essays, and a week on the 3,000-word essay. Seriously, if you manage your time well, you can definitely chuck this out within 2 weeks, and spend the rest of the month enjoying the summer.

For each essay,
1) Consider/pick apart the title and consider avenues for what you might argue, and what you might focus on in your reading.
2) Do the reading. Read in a focussed manner; ie make sure you know what you’re looking for in advance of reading the texts, otherwise you are wasting your time. First, read the conclusion and skim the main body of the text, so that you can get a sense of its overall thrust, before honing in on the bits that seem interesting/useful. Record quotations and references as you go.
3) Plan your essay. This should occur concurrently with your reading.
4) Start writing. By this, I mean spit it out. Don’t worry too much about the quality of expression; it’s important to just get your ideas/arguments onto the page.
5) Proofread: now you can go back over your work and tidy it up. Make sure you have cited everything correctly and have adhered to the word count.

Work 09:00–17:00. Sleep well, and have a good breakfast and lunch (and supper, of course). Go to bed at a sensible time.

Suggested timings for 1,000-word essays:

1) 1 hour
2–3) 3 hours
4) 2 hours
5) 1 hour

Suggested timings for 3,000-word essay:
1) 1 hour
2–3) ... maybe spend the rest of the day reading/planning.
4) a day
5) finish it off in a day.

Consider Parkinson’s law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.[1]

Don’t allow yourself a whole month. Allow yourself two weeks (if even that), and get shot of your assignments ASAP.

I hope this helps.

OxMus.

[1] Parkinson, Cyril Northcote (19 November 1955). "Parkinson's Law". The Economist. London.
https://www.economist.com/news/1955/11/19/parkinsons-law
(edited 3 years ago)

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you