I’m sure, as any students reading will know, that there are a ridiculous amount of worksheets on how to deal with essays. How to research them, how to plan them, how to and how not to write them, how to cope with writing them – the list is endless. These tips are useful as teaching aids go, and I give no discredit to those who have taken time to offer their valuable advice. However, no matter how hard we try to avoid it, essays always seem to cause a new challenge. While all these tips are being thrown around sometimes it seems so hard just to catch a break. This week’s blog is designed to give any potential or current uni students a bit of reassurance to know that essays are hard, but there are ways of getting through them (involving baked goods and dance routines.)

1.  Remember that other people find essays difficult too!It’s been all too easy for me to sit in my room and think that I am the only one struggling with my assignments. In my mind, I imagine my classmates sitting at their desks with a cup of tea breezing through the content, formulating decent analysis and using sources to the very best of their argument. I (rather briefly) imagine this while I too sit with a bucket-load of tea but I find myself diving in and out of books, scrolling through articles, attempting to fit my various paragraphs into some marvellous jigsaw. The inevitable question rears its head: ‘why is this so difficult?!’ – (I think I know why, and it’s all to do with the insane amount of pressure we, as students, put on ourselves) and I am left feeling bit lost and quite worried about what I’m supposed to do.

2.   However, having spoken to people on my course this week, I am now somewhat aware of the fact that there are other people who ask the same question. It’s weirdly reassuring to know that I am not the only one with ridiculous amounts of caffeine filtering through my body while I scan various books and attempt to piece together a coherent essay. I have learnt that I am not alone in my essay struggles and that I can talk it through with my friends to be able to get a better idea of what on Earth I’m trying to discuss. It’s worth remembering that we’re all students together!

3. Breaks ARE allowed (and are particularly effective in combination with a dance routine)This is a very handy little piece of advice. Now, I am sure that it’s always been a focus in essay strategies that you should take time out, so that you can reassess your ideas and come back to them. However, sitting down and just solidly writing can seem like a way better idea. I admit, it is ridiculously satisfying to finish a section after a couple of hours and think ‘yes, I am actually quite pleased with that’, but achieving that sense of satisfaction can be tricky. But, it’s about what you put into the hours of work that matter. When achieving this sense of satisfaction, or even when you feel like you just need to step away from the computer screen, breaks are a good thing and they are allowed. Being in essay mode does not mean that you are bound to your desk. My little break routine often consists of a cup of tea, some form of biscuit or cake (the student essentials), a banana if I’m in need of some happy chemicals and a quick sesh of Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake it Off’ or a Zumba routine to ‘Dangerous Love’,  just to get the blood flowing and some real motivation! As weird as this may sound, I do find this particularly effective!

4.  You can always call back-upUni isn’t something that you should be doing alone. There are plenty of people around to go and have a chat with about essays. Seminar tutors are a definite go-to because they know what they’re talking about and have probably been through the same little stresses that you have. Friends are so helpful, and lovely, too! Even if they can’t offer you some advice on what to write, just having a friend around to have a quick natter to or to have Nutella crumpets with is just great. However, I have found this week that sometimes I just want to speak to my mum and dad. I couldn’t help feeling that this was me admitting that I was giving up the student-y independence, but this is not the case! Sometimes it’s necessary to have a chat, to get some reassurance and to gain a bit of perspective. Speaking to my mum and dad can just chill me out and calm me down.

4.  Keep a pen and a piece of paper next to you whilst you’re workingWhen I am starting out with my essay writing I always find I have thoughts all over the place and I just want to get them all down as quickly as possible, in the most fluent, fully analytical, accurate way imaginable. This is tricky, though! Yet, if I have a piece of paper next to me, I can just jot down my thoughts as they come, in relevance to something I’ve already discussed, or if it will aid the overall shape of the argument. This may be a tip you already know, or already adopt, if you’re a student – but it is so useful! It’s also quite entertaining to have a quick look at all the little scribbles you’ve made and think ‘how did I ever shape that into an essay?!

5.  There will always be cake I was scrolling through my posts a couple of weeks ago for some reason (most likely procrastination) and I came across this: ‘If I’ve learnt one thing…it’s to take each challenge as it comes. It may be struggle and it may cause stress or worry, but just remember that there’s always someone to talk to and there will always be cake’. I think this is a comment really worth remembering (even if I do say so myself!) I have really been stressed out this week – hence the lateness of this post, sorry guys, but sometimes it’s essential to gain that little bit of perspective: even when things get tough – you will get through it.  So there we go! 5, hopefully realistic, hopefully useful tips! This blog has probably given away quite a lot about me as a student too; I am quite a ‘stress-head’ and I like things to be right! However, these little tips do provide some perspective for essay writing. It’s all about personal standards and expectations, for me, and I hope that these little nuggets of advice will prove useful to help people reach their own expectations, or that they show you that there are definitely perks of essay writing in the wonderful form of cake!

History Hugs, Have a good week!

Thank you for reading!  Eleanor :0