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A level literature coursework

Hello,

I made this account just to ask to ask for advice. I am really struggling with my coursework. It’s a comparative essay in which I have to compare 2 texts (The Great Gatsby and The Kite Runner). The word limit for my coursework is 2,500 words but I am currently only at 1,176. Whenever I sit down to do my coursework I always get writer’s block and it just feels like I can’t continue it. I am always doubting the points I am making in my essay. The deadline is in just over a week however I honestly don’t know if I will be able to submit this coursework in time and to the best of my ability.

Please help
Heya! I was very similar with writer's block, I'd suggest that you aim to write 150-200 words per day (probably no more than 10 sentences). That way, even if it takes a long to to get it done each day, there's less pressure to write a huge amount at a time. Other than that, I'd also suggest that you aim to write a first draft that only you will ever read, and then edit it later to hand in. That way, there's also less pressure on the quality of what you write, and you're aiming to get your vague ideas down to refine later. Editing is easier than writing from scratch in terms writer's block, in any case! x
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Samxy12
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Original post by redmeercat
Heya! I was very similar with writer's block, I'd suggest that you aim to write 150-200 words per day (probably no more than 10 sentences). That way, even if it takes a long to to get it done each day, there's less pressure to write a huge amount at a time. Other than that, I'd also suggest that you aim to write a first draft that only you will ever read, and then edit it later to hand in. That way, there's also less pressure on the quality of what you write, and you're aiming to get your vague ideas down to refine later. Editing is easier than writing from scratch in terms writer's block, in any case! x

Hello,

Thank you for the helpful reply. The piece I'm currently writing now is my second draft which is what I am going to be handing in next week. Honestly I really want to get a B overall in English literature and the coursework is 20%.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Samxy12
Hello,

Thank you for the helpful reply. The piece I'm currently writing now is my second draft which is what I am going to be handing in next week. Honestly I really want to get a B overall in English literature and the coursework is 20%.

I know how you feel - it really can be overwhelming. A technique I used was to read a paragraph, highlight all the different assessment objectives in it and underline any parts that I thought were unclear or not as good as I'd like, and then I'd just work on each individual section by cutting bits out of the main paragraph rather than starting the next draft on a new document... You could try that? I really hope you get through it ok.
Original post by Samxy12
Hello,

Thank you for the helpful reply. The piece I'm currently writing now is my second draft which is what I am going to be handing in next week. Honestly I really want to get a B overall in English literature and the coursework is 20%.


Original post by redmeercat
I know how you feel - it really can be overwhelming. A technique I used was to read a paragraph, highlight all the different assessment objectives in it and underline any parts that I thought were unclear or not as good as I'd like, and then I'd just work on each individual section by cutting bits out of the main paragraph rather than starting the next draft on a new document... You could try that? I really hope you get through it ok.


Redmeercat's advice is brilliant here (shame TSR won't let me rep twice!). I had to do English Lit coursework last year too and I really struggled with writer's block (don't worry, almost every English student suffers from this). I followed three steps to overcome it:

1) First, to build on my word count, I simply wrote all of my core ideas down in one block without thinking too much about the quality of writing or hitting assessment objectives (one of my friends briefly changed the font to comic sans which helped her do this!).

2) Once I had a core essay body I did exactly what @redmeercat has advised above. I'd focus on a particular section and edit the paragraph so that assessment objectives were reached and that the section was much more coherent.

3) Once my argument was clear I would then review my section a third time to inject more flair and creativity in my writing.

My main advice would be if you've been struggling on a particular section for a few hours and have made little progress, simply walk away from it! Do something else entirely and come back to it the next day with a fresh mindset. You might have a revolutionary light-bulb moment if you keep reviewing your essay with a new perspective! Coursework is tough, but you'll get through it :smile:

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