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- by Charlotte King
- In Study Advice
Posted Oct. 15, 2014
How Not To Get to Work on Your First Postgrad Essay
Worried about committing some major mistake on your first postgrad essay? Don't worry - just do the opposite of everything here, and you'll be just fine.
Start work on it as late as possible There's no way you'll need to full time your tutors have given you - after all, you're a quick writer and university is all about having fun! You can probably get it all done within a few hours plus some reading time, so you only need to start a couple of days before it's due.
Read the bare minimum Your reading list was put together for a reason - clearly, that's going to contain all the information you'll need. Anyway, the less time you spend scrambling around for additional books, the more time you can devote to the actual writing part and that's what counts.
Only get the books when you need them It's not like the library is going to only have one copy of that particular book you need. You'll be just fine turning up the day before to grab it and use for your essay. Besides, what's the worst thing that could happen? If they don't have it, it should be easy to find an equivalent.
Don't book a timeslot with your tutor What would you talk about anyway? Surely the whole point of the essay is for them to see what you think and how you work, so why would you need to talk to them about it? Besides, you can always email them if you need to.
Get writing straight away There's no point spending time outlining a plan first - you know what you want to write and you've got it all sorted out in your head so that'd just be wasting time. It's not like you're going to forget any of it - the books are right there.
Just note down your sources It probably doesn't matter what formatting you use - after all, universities these days accept quite a lot. As long as you've got the title and page number, they can look it up easilt themselves.
Finished? Send it straight away!
Finished writing it? Great - send it through. You don't want to miss that deadline! Another readthrough won't help you - you wrote it, so you know what's there and you had your spell-check turned on.
And that's how not to start work on your first essay. Remember: as long as you do the opposite of everything here, you'll be fine. And if you're really worried, chat to your tutors about it. They want you to succeed, and as long as you're organised and don't leave it to the last minute, should be happy to help.
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Start work on it as late as possible There's no way you'll need to full time your tutors have given you - after all, you're a quick writer and university is all about having fun! You can probably get it all done within a few hours plus some reading time, so you only need to start a couple of days before it's due.
Read the bare minimum Your reading list was put together for a reason - clearly, that's going to contain all the information you'll need. Anyway, the less time you spend scrambling around for additional books, the more time you can devote to the actual writing part and that's what counts.
Only get the books when you need them It's not like the library is going to only have one copy of that particular book you need. You'll be just fine turning up the day before to grab it and use for your essay. Besides, what's the worst thing that could happen? If they don't have it, it should be easy to find an equivalent.
Don't book a timeslot with your tutor What would you talk about anyway? Surely the whole point of the essay is for them to see what you think and how you work, so why would you need to talk to them about it? Besides, you can always email them if you need to.
Get writing straight away There's no point spending time outlining a plan first - you know what you want to write and you've got it all sorted out in your head so that'd just be wasting time. It's not like you're going to forget any of it - the books are right there.
Just note down your sources It probably doesn't matter what formatting you use - after all, universities these days accept quite a lot. As long as you've got the title and page number, they can look it up easilt themselves.
Finished? Send it straight away!
Finished writing it? Great - send it through. You don't want to miss that deadline! Another readthrough won't help you - you wrote it, so you know what's there and you had your spell-check turned on.
And that's how not to start work on your first essay. Remember: as long as you do the opposite of everything here, you'll be fine. And if you're really worried, chat to your tutors about it. They want you to succeed, and as long as you're organised and don't leave it to the last minute, should be happy to help.
(Actually) Useful Links
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