How to Write Essays Quickly on a Deadline

Essays are supposed to give enough information and featured facts. They're supposed to tell the truth with coherence without deleting a logical and unique form.

If you are commissioned to write an essay and/or article or a story for a publication, you have to be serious at this matter. Editors wouldn't like writers who cannot submit on a deadline. They abhor irresponsible writers who are just for a show and making promises, but not submitting on time.

In the Philippines, I have worked with respectable editors like Melba Bartolome of Women's, Dinah Ventura of Tribune, Nancy Reyes - Lumen of Cook, Reynaldo Duque of Liwayway, Danilo Meneses of Dandelion, Mona Gonzalez, Ricky Lo of Philippine Star, Eugene Asis of Peoples, Leoncio Castillo of Buy and Sell, Dave Frias of Wealthline International, and June Ranera of Rogate Ergo, among others; and I thank them all (forever and ever), for teaching me the guidelines of good writing.

It was not easy. It required a lot of patience to write something the editor will publish conforming to the needs of the paper, magazine, or book.

How to Write the Essays Quickly

The writer needs facts. Primary and secondary data can be used for more details. If necessary, a first-hand interview and witnessing of an event would help. The more details one gets, the better. Moreover, the writer has to be sharp to identify what details to include and what to omit. It is not just getting something to write. There must be some insight and/or added knowledge from the new work.

Write clear sentences. Remember the KISS theory of composition (Keep it simple, stupid.)

Organize data as to theme of the paper or magazine, or audience.

You've got to put your soul and heart into your work.

Be ready to rewrite.

A Stock of Subject Matter

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The essay/article writer needs a stock of subject matter. In short, he/she has to be well-read. His/Her senses must be keen and free about the facts of life. Francis Bacon once said, that he took mankind as his field of study; Montaigne and Whitman made use of their lives as the subject of their work. Authenticity and freshness are markers of a good essay.

Theodore Cheney said that an effective essay/article writer needs the skill of the storyteller and the research ability of the reporter.

How To Deal With Essay Writing Rejections

IF YOU want to become an essay writing expert, you must learn how to accept rejections. 

Who says that seeing your teacher grade your essay with "D" is totally a bad thing? It may sound silly, but if you always get negative comments about the essays you write, you are on your way to becoming an essay writing whiz! 

But there are ways to switch this negativity into positive things.

Take a break from your essay writing routines first. If the human body gets exhausted after doing strenuous physical activities, the human mind is not exempted. Writing essays is an arduous task, so it's important to take a break once in a while to "recharge batteries:" Take a walk in the woods, fill your lungs with fresh air, binge with your favorite food, talk to your family or friends, and so on.

Ask yourself some questions. Your teacher is just grading all outputs of the essay writing tasks that he or she assigns to you. So do not blame him or her if your recently-submitted essay didn't pass his or her standards. Ask yourself, "Did I really do my assignment well?," "What went wrong with my work?," etc.

Improve on the worst. If your essays are always getting rejected or your writing style doesn't make the grade, think of the worst thing that would happen: You'll get lower grades in school. Try to improve on the worst by listing possible solutions-such as "I will read a lot," "I will strive harder," "I will seek the help of an essay writing service," etc.-and then pick out the best possible solution.

Try to laugh at your essay writing mistakes. Remember that nobody's perfect, so admit the hurtful truth that you write crap, but that's only for the meantime. Laughing at your mistakes means that you can bravely recognize one of your weaknesses. But you can also be up for the challenge of doing things better. Humor is a wonderful weapon that any writer can use to his or her benefit.

"Next essay please!" The only way to flee from rejection is to do other things which are of value to you. This may have something to do with improving yourself, such as reading more books, picking up on the styles of other great writers or writing about things that you like.

"Trade" your essays. The essay writing preference of your professor is different from the taste of let's say an editor of a daily or glossy. Your essay might be horrible in the eyes of your teacher, but it might be a handsome piece of writing to others. Cliché as it may seem, but there's an opportunity for every difficulty.

Move on! Past is past. If your professor thumped the essays you recently wrote, do not dare to ask him or her why your essay didn't pass his or her standards. "Knowing the truth" behind your recently rejected work will not help.

Above all, believe in the truism that brilliant ideas surface from rejections: Instead of crying over torn-out or thrown-out essay that you previously submitted in school, take rebuffs as a wake-up call, a driving force that will get you going!

Markus Michaels is an English proficiency instructor at a high school in Sligo, Ireland. He also acts as a moderator of language arts circle club, which teaches the basics of essay writing and fiction appreciation among junior and senior high students. Still single at 35, Markus spend his free time by either traveling to different places or playing football with his co-teachers.

Battling Out Writer's Block

The hardest part in essay writing isn't actually choosing the best topic, but how to start writing. This holds true to students who are having difficulties in coming up with well-crafted essays. Not that you don't have anything in mind to write about. You have a lot of inputs-ideas as well as facts and figures from a wide variety of resources to complement your piece of writing-but the problem is you don't know how to start the ball from rolling. This phenomenon which involves partial loss of skill to begin writing is simply called the writer's block.

Is there any game plan to prevent this enemy from attacking you whenever you have to submit essays to your teachers?

The good news is there are many methods to blocking your way out of the writer's block! Here are some suggestions:

Motivate yourself. This is the basic requirement to keep you from working hard. Set goals why you have to finish an essay, like "I have to finish this so I could watch my favorite TV show later," or "I have to finish this assignment three hours before my dinner date," and so on. You may also place a picture of your movie idol, your school's prom queen or sought-after basketball hunk on your worktable while scribbling anything. The bottom line is to be inspired-it may sound corny, but it really works!

Your initial draft isn't perfect! Admit the fact that your first page will consist of mistakes. Just go with the flow and write, write, write.

Begin with five words. Whether it's for the title of your essay or first paragraph, write five key words then develop sentences using them. Let your hand move so that your brain would function. And do not set limits as to the required number of words because it will change your point of view.

Do some rituals. Take a walk, take deep breaths and stretch your lungs, sweep the floor or get a glass of water. Physical activities will help to pep you up. You may also take a bath first before you start writing, as a clean body and fresh mind give fresh ideas!

Stay away from your computer. If you've been looking at your monitor for half an hour now and you haven't written a single word yet, then it's high time to shut down your PC. Grab a pen and paper and look for a place conducive to writing, like your garden where you could smell the sweet rose, hear the birds chirping, see the lush trees and feel the air. New environment can help you think and write better essays.

Do something "musical." Listen to the CD of your favorite artist while writing an essay. But make sure that it would just serve as a background music or you might end up keeping your writing tools and just have sound-tripping until bedtime

Essay Writing Importance - Breaking Student's Delusion

Essay writing remains to be one of the hardest and complicated tasks that the marvel of modern technology has yet to make easier for man. Everything nowadays is simply keystrokes away, but the process of assembling thoughts into an engaging written piece still proceeds at an old fashioned pace.

Since the days of paper and pencil, essay writing has never really changed a lot. It still entails tons of hard work, in-depth research, logical organization of thoughts, and sophisticated style of writing. As a lot of students continue to hate this writing activity thinking it's just a time-consuming worthless activity, there are four good reasons why writing essays is to be considered as more beneficial than burdensome. Here are some important purposes of essay writing:

* knowledge internalization

* intellectual development

* feedback generation

* good practice

Barely listening to a lecture or simply reading is not an assurance of knowledge internalization. Knowledge has been really internalized if it has been taken by someone as his own. Knowledge possession is best achieved through writing. Essay writing is a good way to internalize the facts that has been heard or read. Eventually, writing activity stimulates the intellect and leads to intellectual development. Aside from that, writing essays is a healthy way to improve writing skills. It is a good practice for future written exams.

Essays are essential for development and evaluation of students' skills - writing and reading skills, analytical and critical thinking skills, research skills, and the ability to write under time pressure. All these skills are assessed in the entire essay writing process.

Therefore, essays are tools to gauge students' level of knowledge and skills that greatly affect their grades and academic performance.

Essay writing remains to be a big challenge to students and even to the most consummate writers. However, essays affect too many things in a student's academic life: grades, reputation, admissions, and abilities. Essays produced by students serve as reflection of their thinking skills.

Students find essay writing to be a burdensome activity. There is a great need to let students understand the importance and benefits that the writing essay brings - that it is intrinsically valuable to their academic growth.

As many students think that the essay writing experience is just a waste of time and simply another great means to add burdens in their academic life, appreciating the skills and knowledge it offers breaks this futile delusion.

Interview Essays That Reveal

Many people use interview essays to reveal the personality of an individual. Interviewers at universities and companies, in particular, use interview essays to check if an applicant has the necessary knowledge and skills to be accepted. An interview essay is also a guide that allows an author - or interviewer - to gather information from an individual who he wants to reveal to his readers. That is why questions formulated for interview essays should focus on the subject's work, opinions, interests and favorite activities.

Just like any form of essay, interview essays must have a goal to be considered professional and to attract readers. An author can accomplish this by formulating questions that lead to a specific aim. When preparing for the interview, an author needs to prepare a variety of questions that answer the four W's - What? Where? When? and Why? He should avoid questions that are too personal. Expressing personal opinions about the interviewee is allowed; however, they must not veer off from the goal of the interview. An author should remember that a good interview essay is not a summary of the answered questions or a personal reflection of the subject, but a clear personality portrait of the interviewee.

Generally, interview essays make use of four different types of questions to help the author better understand the interviewee.

Direct Questions. These are questions that can only be answered by a yes or a no. Interviewees who receive these questions are asked to further explain their answers.

Closed Questions. The correct answers to these questions are limited, making them extremely useful in checking the knowledge of an interviewee on a particular subject.

Loaded Questions. If an author really wants to know the character of an interviewee, he should ask loaded questions. These questions are provocative in nature; presuppositions and guesses that are aimed to compel an interviewee to give a straightforward answer. For example: Do you still like to torture animals?

Non-verbal probes. These represent statements or phrases used by the interviewer to make the whole interview process relaxed and more productive; statements such as, I'd like to know more about your job as a district attorney. Non-verbal probes prompt the interviewee to give more details on a specific question.

Interview essays, like all other forms of essays, has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion in its structure. The introduction contains the general information about the interviewee. It talks about peculiarities such as profession, family life, location, sports or hobbies. The body discusses the topic or the intended goal of the interview. Quotes from the interviewee must be included to show readers that the body's contents are not based on the author's personal opinion. The conclusion is where the author can give his personal reflection on what the interview was able to prove.

With the many different personalities in the world, authors of interview essays will never run out of topics to write about. Authors, however, must check if he has a keen knowledge of the topic and if the topic will interest a lot of readers. A successful interview essay provides an author a complete information about the interviewee and a satisfaction that can only be felt when one has reached his goal.