Essay Phobia

Do you have Essay Phobia?

Do you see the words “write an essay” and feel like a deflated balloon?

Did you ever write an essay you thought was brilliant, and got an “F” on it?

Do you feel like the way you write an essay is never going to have a big impact on your life?

Consider this: you will have to write essays for school in almost every subject. Essay writing is part of the ACT test. You will often have to write them as part of college applications, and also for scholarships. If you go on to graduate school, you will still be writing essays that will be a big part of your grades. The quality of an essay could make all the difference in a grade, an acceptance to a school, or being awarded a scholarship or not.

Some common mistakes in essays:

• Run-on sentences (like when you write something that goes on for several lines and there isn't any punctuation and when people get to the end of it they feel like they need to take a breath like this one).
• incomplete sentences (examples: 'Because I could.' or, 'Yesterday.')
• Incorrect spelling
• Incorrect use of apostrophes or dashes (it isn't 'Do your test's or 'pick-up your garbage.')
• Descriptions that are too 'wordy' or too dramatic
• Wandering off the subject
• Did you ever notice that in Word, the number of words you have typed (as well as how many pages) is at the bottom left corner? You might be assigned a 1000 word essay, and that's how you can keep track of the number of words you have so far.

If you're stuck as to where to start, try starting with an outline--a plan on what the essay will include.

So, how do you know if your essay is written well enough to submit? Here are some suggestions:

• First, use spell check. Fix spelling errors. It will also alert you when words should be capitalized and possible grammar mistakes. Be sure to fix and then save.
• If you're stumped for a word, try the thesaurus that's part of your Word program.
• Check with a tutor. Colleges and high schools often have a tutoring center.
• There may be another instructor who'd be willing to look at your work and make suggestions.
• You can try an online tutoring app.

Here are some online sites you might try for help with writing:   https://www.grammarly.com/?q=essay&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search&utm_term=%2Bfree%20%2Bessay%20%2Bwriter&matchtype=b&msclkid=39400f7ea2791557810152e2056d91e9  
You can also try:  

https://www.tutor.com/subjects/essay-writing
        This site offers online tutoring in other subjects as well. 

 https://www.slickwrite.com/#!home
Don't be scared: It's only an essay!

Tell This Story

Write a story. For fun. You did read that right, for fun.
How? You ask. Just start with an idea, where you want the story to go, a basic plan.


Remember when some teacher at some point tried to suggest that an outline is really important, but you were bored and looking out the window trying to think what to do after school or whether you had enough time between classes to catch up with your buddy, or if you could make to your locker before your next class in time?


Should have paid attention. Just sayin'. 

An outline is going to be really helpful in any writing project, so instead of thinking of it as a chore, think of it as an interview. Ask yourself:

• What is the overall story?
• Who is the 'hero' of the story?
• Who are the other characters?
• Where does it take place?
• When does it take place?
• What is the problem the character(s) face?
• How does the main character solve the problem?
• Does the main character have a mentor or close friend? Who is that?
• Do you want to write in first-person; as if you are in the story? ("I first saw him when I stepped off the train. He was odd-looking, and I tried not to stare.") Or third-person ("Jack could see right through people. He had a sort of frightening instant insight.")

You get the idea. Now try making a simple drawing that shows the path of the story. It could look like this:

***Whether writing on paper or on the computer... Save your work!!***

As you tell the story, you'll think of details to add. Most stories have a 'bad guy' character. Do you want to 'analyze' why this person is a negative force, or do you simply want to have a suspicious person lurking around? Do you want to place several suspicious characters in the story, to make the reader guess who the true bad guy is? When you start the story, how will you fill in your reader as to the background of the main character? Do you want to simply describe who he or she is, how the person got to be where he or she is today, etc., or do you want to let that be known a bit at a time?


Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Listen to a song that tells a story, and tell that story in richer detail.
• Use a story one of your parents, grandparents, uncle or aunt has told you. You could just stick to the straight story... or meander off into a fantasy of it.
• Write about a building you think is interesting but know nothing about.
• Write about a pet that taught you something.
• Write about a friendship that helped or that disappointed you.
• Bring up a memory from when you were younger and start a story with that.
• One of the traditional writing 'rules' is, write what you know. You'll be surprised how much you know about a favorite subject-an activity, your background, or sport. Use that in your story.
• Sometimes a true story is even more interesting than fiction. You could start with, "I would never have believed this if someone had told me...."
• Don't forget the value of surprise in your story. You might not even know what that is until you're in the middle of writing it!

Try a prompt:(these could also be the opening line of a story: entice your reader to know more)

• I'm so bored right now that....
• When I heard it, I couldn't believe it.
• It looked bad, really bad.
• She didn't know her best friend as well as she thought.
• What was that doing there?
• I just stepped off the train, not knowing where to go.
• I never thought this would happen.
• My little sister or brother is impossible, really impossible.
• People think I'm crazy, but I actually do hear stuff no one else seems to hear.
• Everybody else thought he was a good person, but I knew he wasn't.
• When I first saw it, I didn't realize it was a hand.
• It was over. Wasn't it?

Or, try one of these pictures for inspiration:

The best thing to do when writing is to just start writing. You will probably toss out some of your starts, and that is fine. There will be re-writing, editing, and frustration, but when you're done, you'll have invented something that wasn't there before. How cool is that?

"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

                                                  -J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series