How to Write an Essay You Don’t Want to Write

How to write an essay you don’t want to write? We’ve all been there! Perhaps you never want to write an essay but some essays are definitely easier to write than others, that’s for sure. 

If you’re stuck writing an essay, whether that’s because you don’t like any of the options of the questions you were given to choose from, or you’ve fallen out of love with studying, or you’re struggling with writer’s block, here’s how to write an essay you don’t want to write. 

Read more around your subject

If you haven’t got enough to write about for your essay and are struggling to reach the word count, you haven’t read enough. It’s as simple as that. 

Go to the library and take out more books, Google your subject and soak up as much information as you can while making copious notes. What I’m saying is, read read read until you know so much about the subject you could write an entire book about it, let alone a 2,000 word essay. 

The added bonus to reading more around your subject is that you’ll get more to reference, which can lead to higher marks. Tutors love to see you’ve read widely and not just regurgitating what they taught you in a seminar. 

So, put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your door in your student accommodation in Southampton and get your head down for some serious swotting up. 

Do some freewriting or create mind maps

Freewriting is a great way to get ideas flowing. The idea behind freewriting is to simply write and write and write whatever comes into your mind without thinking too much about what you’re writing and without stopping to edit what you’ve written.

You may think this sounds like a waste of time and all you’ll write is a load of rubbish. To be honest, most of what you write won’t be usable, but you’ll be exercising your brain and creative muscles and ideas will soon start to bubble up. 

Mind maps work on a similar premise. Instead of writing sentences and paragraphs though, you write a keyword or two and then write an associating word, then another, until something useful comes up.  

Talk to your tutor

If you’re really stuck writing an essay you don’t want to write, don’t suffer in silence on your own, fretting about it and wondering how on earth you’re ever going to get it written. 

Your tutor is there to help you, so talk over your concerns with them. They’ll be used to students struggling to write essays and will be able to advise you on how to tackle it. 

They may be able to suggest books for you to read, point you towards previous essays or guide you on the route you should take to get the essay written. 

Whatever your problem is with the essay, talking to your tutor should bring you some relief. 

Don’t put off writing an essay you don’t want to write

The very worst thing you can do when it comes to writing an essay you don’t want to write is to put off writing it. Unfortunately, this is usually the route we take when we don’t want to write an essay. 

However, putting off writing an essay doesn’t make it go away. It only makes the deadline closer and the last thing you want to do when faced with an essay you didn’t even want to write is to have to write it in a rush. 

A rushed essay will result in mistakes being made – whether grammatical or factual and you’ll end up with a lower mark than you otherwise might have achieved. 

Take the above advice into account and you’ll find writing that essay you don’t want to write a lot easier than it would have been. Who knows? You may even enjoy writing it.