To think I can write a 2000 word assignment before Monday?

[Littlefluffyclouds81]

Me and the dc have been plagued with illness, and now I have 4 days to get this done.

Don't know much about the subject area so will involve a fair bit of reading.

Please tell me your stories of how you started an 8000 word assignment the night before and got a first, or suchlike.

Although, to be fair, a 40% pass would be fine. First year of my degree so it's not the end of the world.

I may be procrastinating by writing this thread.

lol
I could do it. Presuming somebody else minded the sprogs (mostly).
Wanna tell us what the topic or question is?

Of course you can.

Make sure you plan it - don't just start writing.

My 1500-2500 word essays have taken me around 2-2.5 days to read up on and write and I've been getting between 80 and 100% on most.

2000 words is only about 6 handwritten sides of A4. I expect the students I tutor to produce that in an hour under exam conditions!

Just get started - don't go to bed until you have made a plan of contents and written the introduction. Will then get easier - 2000 isn't too bad

Good luck and get off Mumsnet till Monday!

I wrote my PhD thesis in ten weeks, whilst rocking my DD in a baby chair, much like one of those sewing machine pedals!

This was however, long before i discovered mumsnet!!!!

2000 words isn't THAT many words, your problem is not being familiar with the subject area. What is it, roughly?

I would start with course texts, then reviews, don't bother with primary research papers. you can of course cheat and reference them via the review ;)

I think you could pull it off!
Go go go!

Stop wasting time haha.
I know the feeling though, I am the master of procrastination so I can't talk!

I think you could pull it off!
Go go go!

Stop wasting time haha.
I know the feeling though, I am the master of procrastination so I can't talk!

2000 words is nothing! You'll be done in no time. Can you also do ten percent under? Taking it to 1800?

What's the topic?

YABU to start this thread when you have the assignment to do!
How many words do you have to write? 2000 or 8000?

1. Get off MN
2. Write 500/2000 words a day for the next 4 days

Done!

I do sympathise, because I'm a terrible procrastinator, so I may not be able to follow my own advice, but I do know it's what you have to do!

I have written every one of my 2000 word essays in no more than 7 hours. Every single one. It's how I work best, just sit down and write it in one go. It's really stressful but feels GREAT when it's done.

I have done that the night before it was due. I wouldn't recommend it though!

That's loads of time! I can only write in one go with a deadline so only start the day essays are due.

I've done this a few times- I've pretty much wrote an entire 2000 word essay in a day before although I did had a good idea where I was going with it.
What's the question?
Have you got a plan together I always had to break my words up so i could just get each section done 300 words intro, 400 for conclusion, point 1 etc.
You have more than enough time to churn it out/ get words on paper you can fuddle around with it at the end if you have time .

You can definitely do it! And stop aiming for a 40% pass - you'll do better (you got on the course, so you're qualified).

A lot of it is not being scared. Imagine you're explaining what's important about the question, and your answer, to someone else - that really helps me to get over the initial 'blank page panic'.

I used to really hate writing at length, but I'm nearly a decade out of my degree and I've written around 300,000 words in the last ten months, usually with 3 hours to write a 5000 word piece. A lot of it is just having confidence to get the words onto the page.

Yes, you can do it! Just get started. That's the hardest part.

Have you got someone who can look after the DC while you concentrate? That's essential.

I write for a living and generally power through 1000 to 2000 words in a day when I'm on deadline. It isn't as hard as you think.

Ways to get through it:

• plan a treat for when you've finished (facial, night out)
• reward yourself, as you go along, with copious cups of tea and biccies.
• stay positive..... you can do this!!
• oh, and log out of mumsnet. Immediately.

PS actually just read properly and realised you have reading to do first. So:
Thursday: essential reading (start making notes for your plan or even drafting your plan as you go)
Friday: write detailed plan and introduction
Saturday: write as much as you can (try and finish it apart from conclusion)
Sunday: edit, write conclusion, proofread

Do try and factor in some

Whoops rogue last sentence, sorry

Good advice from ginzillas

How accommodating is your place of study? I work in Higher Ed; people get ill, extensions can be given. That said, 2000 words in a couple of days can be done easily; it's the reading that takes the time! Good luck.

Formulate your argument and write an outline first, then you can tailor your reading to it and not waste time on reading that turns out not to be relevant.

You can definitely do it. I've skimmed the very arse off deadlines my entire academic and professional life, and I always seem to do better with things I've produced on a very tight turnaround ~ nothing focuses the mind like a looming, seemingly impossible deadline (at least, once the blind panic has subsided!)

Good luck

This is all MOST reassuring! I knew I had loads of time really.

It's sociology. It's split into two bits and I have to make my own essay titles up. Choose a contemporary issue in sociology and use a theory and a metaphor to analyse it. The pic explains it better than me!

The topics for the second half are class or death.

Seriously? Where I went to uni two essays a week was the standard (no limits but around 2000-3000 words). Depending on what else was on I would sometimes write them in 24hrs (but don't do that, it's horrible). If you don't know much about the topic spend the next 2 or 3 days reading and making notes then one day to write the essay. (I assume someone else can take DCs, if not it might be harder)

You could do that in a few hours if you put your mind to it tbh.

2000 words is really not very much; I found the easiest way to do an 8000 worder was to roughly write an intro then decide on my sections and write a line for each. That's your foot hold and then it's easy to expand.

Good luck.

By the end of my degree, I'd mentally checked out and left everything until the last minute. Essays were written overnight the day before they were due. I got 75-80% for those ones. The essays I slaved over for weeks earlier in the course, I struggled to scrape a 2:1 for.