This column is meant as an entertainment opinion, not an advice column.
With papers due every week and students having to juggle school, friends and other obligations, it’s no wonder when people find themselves faced with the last minute assignment.
We’ve all procrastinated a major project, essay or assignment until the night, or even the morning of. At these points students fall into one of two categories. One category embraces the rush of adrenaline and can plan out a an organized, well written piece of work with thought provoking points and witty structure.
These are also the people who never have to study for tests. For the other 90 percent of the population, the last minute paper is a compiled piece of babble and random thoughts that pop into the writer’s head. These papers usually have a few valid arguments worthy of a C.
Nobody plans to wait until the last minute to do his or her work. No one gets a major project and decides, “I’ll wait until the last second and totally stress out about it.” When I’m trapped in that self-destructive setting there’s a template I like to follow. A quick method to finishing that paper with time to spare is a simple checklist. Mind you, this only works on critical reviews and English papers less than five pages in length. Mathematicians, engineers and chemists are on their own.
First things first, determine what your paper is about. That’s the single point that makes or breaks a paper. There are piles of papers, even those well thought out, that do not have a point to them and teachers hate that. So once you have your specific point, go ahead and state that in your introductory paragraph. Also, throw in some quote from the material you are writing on that supports your topic.
The rest of the essay should follow that basic writing style we learned back in third grade. Think up three main things to talk about that relate to your point. Give a brief description on the background of that related topic and then how it relates to your main point, then cite another example to prove your point. Do that three times. Each section should take up about 600 words each.
As for the conclusion, all you have to do is restate your point and reiterate how the three sections relate to it. Your conclusion should try to prove something. If your teacher reads the essay and can’t find whether it sways toward something or not, you didn’t use a good topic.
Now for the structure of the page: Double-spacing is the normal form of spacing teachers require. However, if you can adjust the page to 2.25 spacing instead of two, you will take up almost an additional five lines on the story. Also make sure to space everything, including the four lines at the top of the page with your name, the teacher’s name, the class number and the specific assignment you’re working on. Put a space between those and your title and then center the title. Add another space after that and you’ve taken up almost half a page already.
Essays don’t have to be time consuming, difficult things. But the best advice for finishing an essay is to manage your time better and start on it before there’s only 12 hours left until the class it’s due. Follow these quick and easy steps and you’ll be done in no time at all.
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