Back to School: What to Do if Writing is an Issue

Back to School: What to Do if Writing is an Issue

In August, you might have some romantic vision of going back to school and starting a completely new year and a new life. Many people who graduated long ago have a similar feeling, because the majority has their vacations in summer. Besides, this is a kind of a genetic memory: ?Summer is over. New season. New life. Harvest and stuff.? But when September (and especially October) comes, everything changes. It seems that being happy back to school is only a prerogative of Harry Potter. He was so bored at home that he actually preferred a chance to get slain by the Dark Lord every school year to spending it with his beloved family. Other students all over the world, however, would choose a different option. For those who enjoyed their summer, one of a terrifying things about school is the abundance of writing assignments. It can become a real problem if you don’t start handling them the right way.

Why Going Back to Writing Is So Hard
The answer is actually in the question. The next year, try to practice during your vacation to reduce the effort it takes after you are back to school or work. Now, when we have the reason, we still have to find a solution. First and foremost, stop panicking. It doesn’t matter whether you were good at writing the previous year. Nothing can stop you from mastering it now. Attention to detail and perseverance will change your attitude and improve your performance.

No Regrets
What you shouldn’t do is blame yourself for not practicing. Actually, a why-haven’t-I-done-it-before plague interferes with every sphere of our lives. It is partly connected with perfectionism towards ourselves. But, in most cases, this is a form of procrastination. You keep accusing yourself, then – the circumstances, then – the people around you. After a while, you start blaming society, the educational system, and your family for letting you become so lazy. But you don’t start writing. Even though this is the only thing you have to do!

Get Motivated
This is general advice for everyone going back to school and work. It can make you more productive in writing too. The easiest way to do it today is via social media. Browse for accounts dedicated to studies with all the fancy stationery and beautiful handwriting. Watch back-to-school hauls. Go shopping yourself. It is not necessary to buy tons of stationery you don’t need. But paying attention to such details can set you in the right mood.

Write by Hand
It doesn’t matter that you write all your essays on a laptop! Handwriting boosts your productivity and makes you think of what you are writing. It may be a flow of thoughts, a diary, morning pages, letters you are not going to send, etc. Write with a pen or a pencil as much as it takes you to free your mind and get focused on your ideas.

Improve Your Typing Skills
As stated above, you?ll have to come down to earth and start typing. At this point, many students realize that their typing has become much slower. Seriously, writing social media posts is one thing, but dealing with great amounts of text is an entirely different one. Fortunately, typing is a mechanical activity that can be set up quickly. On the other hand, if you’ve never typed fast, it’s definitely the right time to learn. You’ll get more and more writing assignments during the year, so don’t let them take you more time than already necessary.

Read
The fact that reading makes our writing better is a universal truth. However, a lot of us rarely find time to read something for this purpose. Unfortunately, the scope of an average contemporary student? (and, let’s be honest, a working adult?s) reading is limited to social media. E-books and even paper versions are still popular in some groups. But improving your writing requires you to read a lot of different works. You obviously need to read every day. Besides, it is not necessary to read for the sake of the plot. If you don’t have to get the information, you can read different pieces just to make your style better.

Revise Styles
You are to write a lot of different papers. The majority of them need some preliminary research. But you will finish the paper faster if the research doesn’t include tips on how to write this type of paper. This is one of the most common mistakes students make. They get the assignment ?Reveal one of the argumentative essay topics .? And it is only then when they start bothering what on earth an argumentative essay is. Isn’t it so hard to get a little prepared? Besides, you can read a couple of papers to make some notes on the language required. And it is definitely the best time to start skipping short forms in your writing.

Don’t Forget about Sources

Some students don’t get a writer?s block. They are able to produce plenty of ideas and keep writing compulsively. If this is the case with you, please, mind that most academic papers require background research. It means that they can’t be based simply on your ideas and experience. Besides, each essay demands proper citing. This is the reason a lot of students keep procrastinating, especially at the beginning of the year. If you are not sure what are the citing rules for this or that format, check with reliable websites or turn to your teacher. Make sure you understand how to process the information you get both from primary and secondary sources. This is initial to create a unique, plagiarism-free paper.

Don’t Make Your Writing? Abysmal
?Abysmal? is the word that has a very strong negative meaning and a slightest positive one. In most cases, it means dreadful. One of a hilarious sitcom authors of all time used this word as a basis for a pun. The character uses it as a compliment having no idea what it really means. This reminds some students’ papers in which difficult bookish words pop up randomly and, often, in the wrong meaning. You shouldn’t stuff your text with such words for the sake of style. It has nothing to do with it. The word choice can’t be grounded on whether the word is difficult or not. Each word (a term or a cliche) has to be appropriate.

Proofread Like You Are a Pro
The beginning of a school year is the time when attitudes and opinions are usually formed. We have discussed what to do with your attitude already. What your teachers (or bosses) think of you is not of the least importance. It may determine your future relationship during the whole year. You don’t have to be too obliging. All you have to demonstrate is your desire to learn (or work, or work and learn) and respect. It is peculiar that a disrespect may be shown through writing. It is obvious that anyone makes mistakes, and a lot of them are caused by the lack of knowledge. However, some things could have been corrected. This can be a grammar or spelling mistake any grammar checker would notice. Or a typo that you see when you read the text once. Or a confused word, like ?word? instead of ?world.? Such mistakes indicate that the writer never found the time to reread the paper at least once. So, it looks like he or she doesn’t care either about teachers? work or the grade.

Get Rid of Perfectionism Once and for All
Perfectionism makes us postpone writing assignments when you are a student. Later, you’ll procrastinate with projects and presentations. The fact that you sincerely want your job to be done perfectly doesn’t matter to anyone. The only thing that matters is the result. It can be good, average, or bad, but you have to achieve one. Students strive for perfection when they?ve just got back to school more often than during the year. No wonder, it is always hard to say goodbye to your image of an ideal student and finally starts doing something. But the earlier you break through, the easier it will be for you to adapt. There is a great technique for perfectionists to start acting. You need to work out rituals. Alongside with everyday routines that help you not to focus on minor things, it can be something special triggering your productivity. For example, when you can?t start writing because of the perfectionism, you can push yourself into action with a cup of coffee, a glass of water, a Youtube video, a short cardio – whatever makes sense to you.

Being back to school and work after a long relaxing vacation may be tough or inspiring. It all depends on you and what you do. Don?t let any aspects of your studies or work get in your way to success. If you are struggling with writing, this guide will surely help you (if you follow it thoroughly).

Sophia Clark graduated from the University in the City of New York with B.A. in Journalism, 2011. She is a creative writer who loves to share her thoughts with readers, now she writes for EliteEssayWriters . In her free time, she enjoys writing fiction as well as reading it. Connect with her on Twitter and Google +.