in wanting you all to give me a right kick up the butt to get my esssy done?

[sweetkitty]

I have an essay due the middle of January for uni course, haven't started it and most people on my course have finished it. I had a week off before Christmas sans DC and did nothing.

It's years since I wrote an essay I don't know where to begin, the course goes on about academic and critical writing and referencing and I feel all lost.

It's stressing me out so much I could cry I need a great big kick up the bum please

I have 5000 words to hand in mid January as well - have opposite problem of needing to cut about 1500....

I use Zotero for references - its free and will put references into Word for you and then put everything in that essay folder into a bibliography for you. You just select the referencing style you need from a menu of hundreds and it does it all for you.

I just made a start on my 15,000 word MA dissertation today so I feel your pain. Urgh. I use EndNote for my references (my uni uses the Harvard system. Yy to checking which is required). I have a couple of papers to read tonight that I am studiously ignoring.....

My mark for the 4000 word essay last year wasn't very good and when I spoke to my tutor about it she said it was due to my referencing. She suggested that you should aim for about 10 reference for every 1000 words.

I hope this isn't overkill, but I've got a few resources here which might help anyone who is struggling to write.

Free resources:
Essential visual guide to essay writing structure: www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/Essay%20Structure%20Handout%20(David).pdf

The above is taken from a much longer document written by Australian university teachers on how to plan and write essays: library2.lincoln.ac.nz/documents/essayWritingVisualGuide.pdf

Lots of universities have essay writing skills and critical thinking/reading guidance on the student or learning support sections of their websites. I'm listing a few I think are useful (the Bolton one is wordy but on page 5 has a list of the command terms/ instructional words in essay titles and what they actually mean.)

My advice is to use only one of them (or the Australian one listed above) and not to get bogged down reading around the topic as you want to crack on with the writing. Choose whichever appeals to you when you have a very quick look on screen!

Cardiff: www.cardiff.ac.uk/learn/assets/PDF/student_information/The-learning-guide.pdf

Anglia Ruskin: web.anglia.ac.uk/anet/students/documents/2010/helpful-guide-to-essay-writing.pdf

Bolton: www.bolton.ac.uk/library/librarypublications/studyskills/essays.pdf

Free online course (Open University OpenLearn)
Extending and developing your thinking skills (introductory level) www.open.edu/openlearn/education/extending-and-developing-your-thinking-skills/content-section-0

Paid for (cheap) resources:
Student Essentials: Critical Thinking by Debra Hills
£1.99 on Kindle - you can download a Kindle app for phones/ ipads etc if you don't have a Kindle. Short and snappy text book to guide you through what tutors will be looking for in your writing.
www.amazon.co.uk/Student-Essentials-Critical-Debra-Hills-ebook/dp/B0065GF4RW/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483044570&sr=8-4&keywords=critical+thinking+students

Student Essentials: Essay Writing by Sophie Fuggle
Also £1.99 on Kindle It has a suggested 1 week timetable for completing an essay in manageable chunks that do not overwhelm you.
www.amazon.co.uk/Student-Essentials-Critical-Debra-Hills-ebook/dp/B0065GF4RW/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483044570&sr=8-4&keywords=critical+thinking+students

I hope some of this is useful to somebody!

Good luck to everyone who is facing deadlines.

Thanks
Done nothing tonight got really upset with DH and DDs so have stormed off to bed

Tomorrow is a new day and the day I start

Dimsie, thanks I will take a look at that information. I think what I find difficult is how different / difficult it is studying with youngish DC. Pre-DC I could leave things till the last minute but actually had plenty of time to research and could pull all-nighters if I needed to.

Now I find myself stealing bits of time at soft play / parties etc which is so slow and ineffective and never feel as if I have done a good enough job as I don't have enough time. I could do more in the evenings but would feel I was neglecting my family. Any tips anyone or is it just a case of ploughing on?

Good luck for tomorrow sweetkitty

Google scholar really helped me for referencing.
Re the actual essay - write anything to begin with then use the thesaurus to change stuff like 'this shows' into 'this phenomenon manifests as....'
And berocca (or generic equiv) in the morning
Good luck . .

I've did a 5000 word masters essay at the end of November. I found it much harder to do now I have 3 children than when I was a childless student (I studied undergrad twice, once single then a post-grad course when married).

Endnote is fantastic - you can download the style set for your own university so it formats instantly. There is a Word plug-in, so it creates your bibliography for you.

Do the maths: paragraphs should be around 250 words long. Introduction and Conclusion should each be 10%. You can normally exceed your word count by 10% without penalty (check your regulations). So:

5000 word essay. 10% tolerance = 5500 words.
10% intro/conc. = 550 + 550
Main body = 5500 - 1100 = 4400
4400/250 = 17.6

So you can have roughly 18 paragraphs in your main body. 1 paragraph per point, so you can make 18 points/arguments/discussions in your essay (although many of them may link into one bigger argument/discussion).

So depending on your subject, you could have 6 areas to discuss, each with 3 paragraphs, or 3 areas to discuss, each with 6 paragraphs, etc.

Then you build a structure to make your argument flow throughout your essay.

You could start by dividing the essay into sections.
Then just jot down random key words or phrases.
Assign each to a section.

The next stage is to incorporate these words and phrases into sentences.
Then embellish.
Pop in some quotations.
A bit of research of your own maybe.
Edit.
Add a brilliant beginning.
A thought-provoking conclusion.
Re-edit.
Give to someone else to proof-read.

Why not set your phone timer for an hour and just see how much you could get done in that time?!

Try not to use direct quotes if you can help it. If you have to use a direct quote, you must show some critical analysis of it. If you just plop it in you won't get any marks for it.

As an undergrad I was taught to make the penultimate paragraph the conclusion as it gave you a paragraph spare to diss the question - nothing quite like a bit of well reasoned revenge....

As an undergrad I was taught to make the penultimate paragraph the conclusion as it gave you a paragraph spare to diss the question - nothing quite like a bit of well reasoned revenge....

OP, are you a fellow 'cormorant'? If so, panic not. Plenty of your fellow coursemates are in the same position.

Just get on with it. Most of us have been there and you are not unique.

Shameless placemarking for next term and a helpful read for the procrastinators here
waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

Plan

Divide your essay into sections

Do a bit each day

Start at the bit where you've got most to say

Remember: "shitty first drafts"

Use a timer/reward system:

• set a timer for 15 minutes
• then just write like stink - whatever comes into your head.
• Don't edit, don't judge, just write non-stop for 15 minutes.
• Take a break & do something physical - run up & down the stairs 3 times, do a couple of sun salutes, whatever.
• Write for another 15 minutes
• Keep going for 2-3 hours.
• Then do something else
• Then go back & edit

Buy & download the Freedom app (best $US20 I ever spent). Set it for 3 hours. Write as above.

Jodie Proulx once said: "You can edit bad writing, you can't edit a blank page."

Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" is good on writing.

Download 4 scholarly papers on health & wellbeing. Read & highlight main points. Start to put together what you want to say. So intro health & WB is important because. Then make your arguments 5/6. Then sum up what you've said.

You'll also find when you look at articles they'll start referencing each other.

Just start. Give yourself targets per hour.

Memories, memories. The best kick up the bum I can provide is that it will all be worth it in the end.

My OU degree, was the gateway to Professional qualifications, a much better job and eventually enough money to lift me out of the poverty I experienced as a single parent.

Keep going !!

I'm in the same boat, essay due on the 16th January and I've not written a word.

So OP have you started yet or are you looking at Mnet?

Still procrastinating still not done a thing! I've done a good shop, walked the dog and done washings.

I have 4DC and fibromyalgia so am in constant pain doesn't help the thought processes.

Essay is divided into 3, first part the academic writing part, second part is a teaching plan third plan is personal reflection. I have loads of references printed out and saved and some quotes wrote out.

Right two hours in 30 min chunks

Can I join in with the procrastination? I'm 600 words into a 4000 essay and I'm foundering!

There is no hope left for me! I've lost my grasp of English!

*floundering

I've done 300 words it's a start!!

OP that is indeed a start! There's a free OU course/book on being a reflective teaching practitioner on openlearn that's really good. Otherwise I recommend Brookfield and/or Gibbs's models for reflection on teaching. If you work through them systematically (e.g. experience, feelings, evaluation, analysis including links to theory and policy, conclusion and action plan) the reflective part should be fairly straightforward.