How to Write a Last Minute Essay

Sometimes students get caught up by time, and he/she is forced to write an essay uncomfortably quickly to meet the deadline. Students find themselves in this situation for either having postponed writing the perfect essay for too long or he/she has been busy to find the time and work on the assignment. However, do not worry, is it very possible to write the essay in the last minute. Needless to say, as a good and focused student it is advised you make preemptive plans to beat the assignment deadline and avoid last minute rush since it is not advisable for your grades. This article offers some insightful tips, do’s and don’ts on how to write a last-minute essay.

Adopt the right mindset

When it is too late to start the work, anyone can panic and restlessness. Such emotional discontentment would worsen the situation and make you lose focus. Remain goal-oriented and optimistic that you would meet the deadline and get to work. Last minute essay writing requires focus and attention and intolerance to negative thoughts.

Plan and prepare your workstation

Pick a good working station or create one. Ensure you have a comfortable seating position, clean environment and proper and lighting. Assemble all the materials you need for the essay writing and keep them on the working table.  Plan how to execute each of your tasks ahead and slot time for them. Start with the easier tasks and handle the more complicated ones later.

Switch off your phone and social networks

Distraction is the last thing you need when writing an essay at the last minute. To avoid unnecessary distraction, switch off your mobile phone and log out all social networking sites. This allows you to focus on finishing the work. The irresistible urge to open social network or your phone is much lower and aggressive is they are out of reach. Inform your friends and family members that you will be busy doing your homework for a while, and you do not need interruption or distraction unless it is a serious emergency.

Read the question carefully

Read and understand the tasks very well. If you rush to answer the questions, you are more likely to miss some details or give irrelevant information. Irrelevant information is the last thing you would wish to have at this time, needless to say, it would set you back and threaten your scores.

Type your essay rather than handwriting it

Handwriting and then transferring the typed work wastes a lot of precious time. Therefore, type rather than handwrite to save on the work. Keep saving your work as you go along. This is the last time you need your computer, and therefore ensure you save your work on your computer and online to eliminate any chance of losing your progress to an electrical fault. While typing directly into the document, make your notes on the document to avoid using hard copies that need more time to integrate into your final document. Rewrite the notes into the essay with notes or support sentences to explain them.

Save the introduction and conclusion

To write a good introduction and conclusion requires time, which in this case is in limited supply. Therefore, avoid writing the introduction and conclusion after you are through with the body paragraphs. Writing the body paragraphs would give you leverage in writing them. For the conclusion, try to rewrite the conclusion whilst reasserting the thesis statement. Wrap the conclusion with a good summative statement in an interesting manner that wraps the content.

Do the references as you go along

Saving to do the referencing for the last minute is not only time consuming, but also likely to do unintentional plagiarism. For each time, you quote someone, ensure you reference properly since tracking the quotes later can be time-consuming and could lead easily be missed.

Proofread as you go along

Ensure your work is perfect as you progress. Proofread as you go on writing the essay to avoid later revisiting the whole essay to find and correct your mistakes. It also helps to avoid leaving out important content in the essay writing. Each mistake is handled early and less likely going to be catastrophic.

Don’t be tempted to copy and paste

Do not be tempted to plagiarize your work. Do not assume your course instructor cannot note plagiarized work and if caught you will suffer grave consequences. Copy pasting also lowers the quality of your work since integrating distinctive texts from various sources may not be possible without proper synthesis of the information and editing it to fit your situation. Always remember, better late than never.

Keep your style concise

Do not attempt to try to violate the standard formatting guidelines according to the grading rubric. Large fonts, wider margins or over-spaced work not only looks ugly but also a sign of low-quality content. It also insinuates that the student did not do adequate research. Such theatrics are easily identifiable and do not assume your course facilitator cannot pick them up just by a glance at your essay.

Take a break

If you have to take a break, have it when you absolutely need it. Make it as short as possible and am sure you can also endure some pressure till you finish your work. Make sure you maintain your energy levels at optimum by taking a snack and keeping hydrated to avoid unnecessary breaks while working. If the scene you are working from is uncomfortable, try seeking refuge elsewhere where you can focus. Taking a break and returning to the same workstation may not be helpful in the long run.

Concisely, the aforementioned tips and guidelines can be very helpful when doing last minute essay writing. This is the ultimate guideline on how to write an essay at the last minute, and hopefully, you found it helpful. However, do not dwell on it, rather get working to avoid the deadline from catching up with you.