I'm terrible at writing essays in psychology - how do I write/form sentences?

All my life I've always been better at maths than essay writing. But I think that due to my lack of volcabulary knowledge but more importantly, it's due to a lack of knowing how to intelligently form sentences in a sophisticated manner. In other words the reason why i can't write is because I find it difficult to choose good words and order the words to form a good sentence in my head. How do you think I should go about working on my weakness?

I'm thinking of reading more literature to improve forming a sentence but I don't know how to improve my word choices - maybe a thesauraus?

Reply 1

ThePsychKid

15

You don't really need to write sophisticated sentences in psychology. As long as they're simple sentences that get to the point then you'll be fine. Make sure you know what you want to say before writing the sentence. As a person who was used to science subjects, an A level essay based subject was a bit of a shock to the system but I managed to get an A. So just keep practising. Try reading student written essays and examiner reports as well. When writing an essay, I found it helpful to just note down all the keywords I'd need to talk about. Just keep practising and eventually it will click. You seem to be quite fluent in english so I'm guessing you're probably just doubting yourself and your ability :smile:

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 2

muhammad0112

OP

11

Original post by ThePsychKid

You don't really need to write sophisticated sentences in psychology. As long as they're simple sentences that get to the point then you'll be fine. Make sure you know what you want to say before writing the sentence. As a person who was used to science subjects, an A level essay based subject was a bit of a shock to the system but I managed to get an A. So just keep practising. Try reading student written essays and examiner reports as well. When writing an essay, I found it helpful to just note down all the keywords I'd need to talk about. Just keep practising and eventually it will click. You seem to be quite fluent in english so I'm guessing you're probably just doubting yourself and your ability :smile:

Well, I'm in yr 13 now, and I do maths, physics and biology. I have a history of being really bad at essay bassed subjects (eg. gcse sociology and english) it just never clicked with me. Also, thanks for the help, but the question was intended for people doing a degree in psychology, as thats what I want to do in the future.

Reply 3

GabiAbi84

21

Improving you essay structure and content comes with practise and revising rough drafts. Thesauruses can help to some extent but really you’re wanting to expand your vocabulary so that the words you use come more natural to you. This can be done by using a combination of thesaurus to get used to the types of words you want to use and by reading as much as you can of academically written essays or books

There are several essay report writing guides/books for the social sciences that can be invaluable to those who struggle to make their essays “academic” enough.
There are also some free courses in OpenLearn that help with essay writing techniques.

(I’ve just graduated from psychology.)

Reply 4

ThePsychKid

15

Original post by muhammad0112

Well, I'm in yr 13 now, and I do maths, physics and biology. I have a history of being really bad at essay bassed subjects (eg. gcse sociology and english) it just never clicked with me. Also, thanks for the help, but the question was intended for people doing a degree in psychology, as thats what I want to do in the future.

I did bio too so if you ever need help with any topic, feel free to pm me :smile:

Oo ok. You're welcome. Lol I'm gonna be starting my degree in psychology this September xx

Reply 5

-Eirlys-

Debate & Current Affairs Helper

21

The most important thing is organising your essay and paragraphs correctly. Using big fancy words is never required. Simple, clear, straightforward sentences are preferred. Every sentence should have a reason for being there, not waffle or repeating what you've already said.
Each paragraph should be laid out with this structure:
Point
Evidence
Explain (why is this relevant to your point)
Link to your next paragraph

Essay structure, for me, is the hardest part of writing an essay. But once you have a good plan set which can take about 50% of your time, the essay kind of writes itself.

Original post by ThePsychKid

You don't really need to write sophisticated sentences in psychology. As long as they're simple sentences that get to the point then you'll be fine. Make sure you know what you want to say before writing the sentence. As a person who was used to science subjects, an A level essay based subject was a bit of a shock to the system but I managed to get an A. So just keep practising. Try reading student written essays and examiner reports as well. When writing an essay, I found it helpful to just note down all the keywords I'd need to talk about. Just keep practising and eventually it will click. You seem to be quite fluent in english so I'm guessing you're probably just doubting yourself and your ability :smile:

I'm terrible at writing essays in psychology - how do I write/form sentences?

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