You're changing the way I view education completely. School is starting to feel more like a journey rather than a countdown between today and graduation. Thanks
ALSO sometimes the way some people write their books an articles is like so ALIEN like i dont understand why they put certain words together it makes it hard to read and understand.
Starting with tertiary sources to gather bibliography, down to secondary and primary sources always helps narrow the topic and makes research easier! :)
It's sad most people won't discover the beauty of writing and learning for yourself. We've been force fed these topics and ideas that we want no part of, and then from there we're turned off by the idea of writing and learning in general. My hope is that one day people learn that schooling doesn't represent everything there is about a certain something, and instead people are brave enough to venture out and explore for their own sake.
I love reading books And I hate school and writing papers Specially because I'm not studying in my mother tongue I absolutely feel miserable and it has affected my self confidence very much
@@rosea164 I agree with you on this, cause while I don't like writing essays and stuff I will be honest with it's better to just do the assignment so that the rest of us could get ahead in life. Even I think doing essays sucks along with the reading I would just do it cause the last thing I would want is to have my goals not fulfilled I would do whatever it takes to succeed but overall I agree with your statement.
I've always loved literature, but hated writing essays of almost any kind. As much as I'd love to blame ADHD alone for this, I must acknowledge my crushing fear of getting something cataclysmically (and, most mortifyingly, publicly) wrong. Even though there's no 'wrong' way to interpret most pieces, I find myself unable to choose an angle, and so I arrive at one of two outcomes: Half a dozen discarded plans but no essay, or no plan at all, but a frankenspiel massively over the maximum word count, and so bogged down with unrelated ideas that it never arrives at a solid conclusion. To remedy this, I'm doing a Bachelor's in Biochemistry. Checkmate, anxiety.
I feared writing essays back in high school and in my early college years 😆. I felt I wasn’t a “writer”. One day, I was telling this to a friend and he replied, “Just talk”. And that’s when I had my epiphany. I thought of writing as separate from speaking. That response lives rent free in my mind. As a result: • I began writing using my own voice (still trying to find it). • My interest for writing grew 😊. And even more so when I heard it was a great way to straighten out your thinking. Also, I wanted to learn how to communicate more accurately with friends, family etc. • I’m learning English Language for funzies 😅.
You actually made a video on it 😭😭❤️❤️❤️ Honestly, being a Literature Student I have always been excited to write/read essays but I never found people appreciating it enough. My batch mates are always concerned about touching the word count instead of actually enjoying the process of writing so that is kind of sad.
"Clarity of thought is more important than all the complicated words..." and "Be very specific about what your target is... don't be afraid to narrow..." "Give yourself the space to think." YES! YES! and YES! As a college professor, I am astounded by the number of bad essays I read. Besides general laziness of grammar, not capitalizing proper nouns and lack of spell checking there is often a disconnect. I always tell my students to read their essays out loud to see if it makes sense and catch grammar mistakes. And NEVER to turn in their first draft. A first draft almost always deserves a first draft grade. It is usually not that the student isn't smart or isn't other wise communicative, but that they don't understand what their essay is trying to say. Or they know what they want to say, but don't know how to get it out of their brain and on to the page. Like everything else, writing essays take time and practice to be good at. I wish their was more emphasis on using essays to examine subjects before they get to the college level. A fellow teacher once broke it down in a pretty good way: expecting a student with very little exposure to writing to be good at an essay is like asking someone to draw who has barely picked up a pencil before. Teachers are often people who "know how to draw" and can't understand why someone else (in this case, their students) can't just sketch a nice picture. If you can draw well and it is normal to you, you may think it is normal for others, but this perspective is off. Drawing (or writing essays) is an acquired skill. I think this video will help a lot of people. Good work.
Agreed to everything you said! I think the thing that annoys me the most when writing an essay is that you're not given enough time to read everything, process, procrastinate and then write. Last week I had to write about Brexit so I literally read and watch every single thing on the internet just to actually sit and write a day before the deadline- the adrenaline tho
I can't recall where I read it, but my favorite singular piece of advice for essay writing was: the last sentence/ line should be a mic drop. If you just say the same thing as in the intro paragraph but in slightly different words, you follow the formula of essay writing often given but it's inherently forgettable. And I guess, personally, that also meant that I spent the essay building up to that mic drop, and that if ideas were too complicated or not helpful, I ditched them. I only remember one paper where I used that and was proud of my work... but I also had to use every truck in the book to pad out my paper otherwise because it didn't nearly meet the length requirement. Which I understand, to a point... but bleh.
This just hit me at the right time. I'm in the middle of my last year of college and I can't help thinking about how my past essays don't represent me and my thoughts but they're rather a description of other people's ideas without me exploring my own thoughts about the subject. What do I think about what these people are saying? That's a question that sometimes, because of the pressure of time and deadlines, I forget to contemplate. Won't happen anymore. Thank you so much for this video. Hugs from Argentina :)
I love writing essays, but hate the process of translating the ideas of someone else into my own words. I love outline and editing but LOATH writing a first draft.
A piece of advice I will share about the essay/research paper writing process: You are not alone; if you are struggling with thesis statements, outlining, etc. it is okay to ask for help. If you are a university student, most universities and colleges have writing labs or tutoring centers staffed with knowledgeable tutors who can help guide you through your project. Please seek them out, that is what they are there for. Also, don’t be afraid to use your instructor’s (or the TA’s) office hours to get clarification on the writing prompt, or anything in the assignment you are not sure about. What many people don’t realize is just how collaborative the writing process is (editors, publishers, audience, etc.). Always remember that writing is about communication, about the SHARING of your knowledge with others. If you have decent writing skills, I would encourage you to volunteer as a writing tutor, and help others improve their communication skills. Or even consider becoming an educator. Don’t be selfish. Don’t be solipsistic. You are not alone.
Thank you for this, Robin! When I first started university, even though I already wrote on my own often, essays were so daunting for me. I fell into the category for students that tried to "sound" smart without really knowing what I'm writing about. Also, taking a walk or simply a break to contemplate what you've read about is so crucial to truly understanding the subject of your research. I'm really looking forward to more of your rants on the educational system. They're what got me into your channel and I always gain a lot of perspective from your ideas.
I love love love writing essays. My website has two separate pages for essays and blogs. To me, blogs are about experiences and essays are about information. With essays, we have to do so much research to write something well rounded. Then we marry that information with insights and opinions (well-formed). It's beautiful ❤.
I've struggled with essays and for a while felt unsatisfied with my knowledge on how to write one. I failed essays in high school because my teacher told me I missed the point of the essay, yet when I employed the same writing techniques in my first assignments at university my professor said my essays were of a high quality. I agree with your stance on grades as I've held that sentiment for a while. This has me concerned I've been taught essays incorrectly. So now I am trying to teach myself to write beautiful essays. I believe a beautiful essay is one which can demonstrate the course of thinking about a subject, and will present one's ideas about said subject. It doesn't have to be for the sole purpose of proving a point, as university and high school prioritise with their thesis statements. Once I learn to write an essay well i will feel satisfied. From today onwards I will practice, practice, practice.
I had a professor in college (History major) that once gave us a list of how to do the essay she was asking us to do and one of the parts was literally to just take a walk or go to a cafe or something of that type (cant remember clearly) to take a break from the desk and think about it
Writing essays has become a formula for me. Intro Paragraph 1: idea Concrete detail Concrete detail Concluding statement that leads to next Paragraph. Next Paragraph rinse and repeat until final conclusion. I got so used to it, only one professor caught on to it and ripped me apart on grading it. Sort of made me better but then i keep using the formula again the following year. Its how you "survive" classes. I never got less than a B. maybe i should have pushed myself more but i was depressed back then, so there was really nothing motivating me. When it comes to writing fiction though, i do strive to be better.
Greetings; I am a retired ESL teacher and among other things I taught writing. I recommend "Effective Writing", Cambridge University Press; which teaches how to write various kinds of texts. "Writing with Power" by Peter Elbow. "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" also gives a lot of tips. I suggest doing free writing to begin. Many people think that they are going to write one draft. You are going to write many drafts. You can begin research on google but only to get the list of references where you will actually get the information. "The craft of research" is helpful. The movie "Finding Forester" has tips and Ray Bradbury"s Zen in the art of writing is good. And remember writing actually is fun.
I dont remember where i saw this, my be in your video or maybe in Leo's, but in earlier years of education it was about discovering new things, new ideas, new ways of living and thinking etc, whether that be in science, philosophy or what have you. But now, like you said, we spend years studying a collection of other peoples thought just to find new worlds to say the exact same thing. Its almost like they dont want us evolving beyond who we are right now.
I just finished a degree in social anthropology, and my entire degree we were allowed to study before an exam and write down everything we knew about a topic, and discuss things as much as we wanted. In those moments I loved writing, because I had the freedom to use the literature as I wanted to. But whenever I have to write an essay at home with references, I kind of hate writing, only because I can't get into the flow state of writing. I need to stop, double check, reread while I work, but I truly prefer just planning a text, then writing everything at once and look through it after it is done. This happened to me while I wrote my philosophy exam as well. I had so much more fun, thinking about the topics and talking about it with friends, than looking for references on every idea I had.
I know references are important though, but I feel like it stops the writing flow when you constantly have to look for things and double check everything.
As an econ grad, reading many research papers and writing an essay maybe daunting as from each paper, the marginal information you finally include is so less. But the best part is you learn so much more in the process. Nothing is a waste. Thanks for the video
This is really such an insightful video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this topic, it's sure to have helped many people including me. The only shame is the fact this video hasn't reached a wider audience. You're truly someone to look up to.
Every time I have to write an essay I come back to this video. You remind me what my goal actually is. It's not just to meet some quota of words, but rather truly learn and develop my own thoughts and then share them in a simple way. Very thankful that I clicked on this video over all the other "Essay Hack" recommendations.
Reading Joan Didion and Susan Sontag helped me with essays, I just love them. Edit: Waldun, if you're reading this, please, give a chance to brazillian writters. I think you would love Clarice Lispector, trust me.
Thank you Waldun🥺 This video is refreshing. As a Politics student, I often experience a situation in which I can't think of anything new with all the informations, systems, ideologies, developments and definitions. The fourth tip you gave here helped a lot✨.
HE ACTUALLY DID BOOTH! Right now I have to make three essays: One about the evolution of Plato's Dialectic from Meno to Phaedrus. The meaning of the absurd in The Stranger, by Camus. & the philosophical scepticism in Descartes. So I really apreciate this video right now. Thank you so much. Note: dont misunderstand me, I love writting, but my motivación just went down; nevertheless with this it can go up.
Thank you for helping refocus my thoughts. Schools focus so much on backing up every idea you have with research, but that has the unfortunate effect of keeping students from expressing original thought. Thank you for reigniting my curiosity.
The problem I face while writing is recollecting the thoughts and good points after reading a lot of research papers and books.... and end up copy pasting which is stupid I know!😿.. I am literally a mesh in writing essays
Mr. Waldun: Thank you for this video. I have played it for my students. The making of ‘artifacts’ is something I’ve stormed against as a teacher. Yet, I find that my students are addicted to grades as a measure of their value and quality. Sigh. It’s uphill all the way to change their minds. But, I can show you to them and hope. Thanks. Mrs. Spencer
Generally speaking, I love writing essays. I agree with all the points that you give in the second half of the video. However, I disagree with the notion that an essay is to make something new. Essays are, as you said, a collage of other works, and there is nothing wrong with that. You take different sources to research, preferably a narrow topic as you said, and write an essay to consolidate what you learned. An essay is to learn. Dissertations, theses, (research) papers are for new ideas. They are different tools for different purposes. This I have gathered from professors and lecturers online when researching to streamline my essay writing process. One of those that come to mind is "Leadership Lab: The craft of writing effectively" here on youtube. It is, of course, ironic that my lecturers never made that clear. It does make sense to me. I tend to recall information better from writing an essay than from studying, although there might be a causal relation with my rather non-existing studying ethic. I am nowadays trying to read more actively, taking the pencil into the book, highlighting, and taking notes in the margin, which I never imagined doing, might I add. I then digitalise those highlights and notes (which I do in Obsidian, each idea or concept gets its own file). Then when I have read multiple chapters or books on a certain topic, I write an essay on that topic which forces me to review my notes and connect those ideas and concepts. I wish I started doing this earlier, as I would have read more and then writing essays would be very quick. I would already have done a bulk of research (depending on the research topic). Alas, it might have been prudent to start five years ago with this, but now is the second-best time to start. Taking a couple of days off from writing my bachelor thesis on arthropod infestations in cereal storage to research Japanese castles.
I'm a history major, moving into being a history grad student next year, and I use a combination of Zotero and Notion to build my "garbage pile". I keep a running bibliography with Zotero, and embed all the pdfs of papers into Notion, organized by primary/secondary source, subject, and the year it was published. I've had so many of these papers, even just skimming to verify a quote or something, spark a new idea, and I have another section of Notion that is nothing but a running list of ideas for papers. It made my last couple of years far less miserable.
I don't think now is the time for me to watch the video, even though I just finished it and I'm in Year 8. But I've understood the process of writing an essay thanks to you, Robin. Thanks! I'll use this information later in life.
Lmao, a good excuse to procastinate writing my essay 💕 Awesome video I believe that UZH at least in philosophy has a good approach to essays. They require usually two sections, reconstruction (4/10) and personal argument (6/10). The second section is the most interesting part where you actually do philosophical work and engage with the notions. The first part usually guarantees around a 4 (sufficient).
Yes, people really don't understand that an essay is the non-fiction version a short story. It is not a difficult thing to do, if you let yourself create and write in your voice and not worry about seem "academic". Read Mark Twain, he was amazing essayist.
sir, i have never seen your video's before, but thank you for this. sincerely - girl who just cried after attempting to write an argumentative essay and almost smashed her laptop into pieces. (also i have never been properly taught how to write an essay and my university only wants us to tick boxes when it comes to assignments, obviously completely limiting our creativity and opinion forming, so i am very glad to hear there's people out there showing that's NOT the vibe)
Remember an academic essay is an argument. You are trying to convince the reader that you idea is correct. (The hardest part is coming up with an idea and that's where reading lots and lots comes in. Remember text books are great for an intro to a subject but monographs and papers are more important) Intro - should define any key words e.g. what does renaissance actually mean in the context of your essay (e.g. its just all art, literature and music made in Italy during the 15C or is it a a broad reaching philosophical movement where the reigning ideology moved away from a god first perspective to a humanistic world view) then introduce your points some that back up your idea and some that don't. PEE (point example explanation) - state all your points. give an example and then explain why it back ups your idea. If the point goes against your idea explain why its wrong or that you other point shows its wrong. Conclusion - state all your points again and state that we have won the argument and then just summarise by merging all the explanation parts of your points into one. P.S. I agree with the point about using 'big' words. An essay is like having a debate with a peer, only you have to make points on behalf of the other person, So write like you would speak in that debate.
Writing papers are what have made me hate living I honestly have wished to die rather than write an essay I know it seems extreme, but it is how I have been feeling
Lol i’m about to work on a art history essay/s to help my cousin with 😅 and ironically i genuinely do like writing essays, it’s just under the school curriculum or that it being for school that ruins it. And i do love the essays for school, i literally get excited for them but it just gets exhausting and takes away some part of the joy i have for them.
They’re absolutely exhausting. Especially when you’re writing multiple 10+ page papers. It takes the joy out of exploring a subject, analyzing and researching it, and writing it.
the two modes way of thinking is true, i had no idea what that means until now, for me was first process of thinking is the practical experience or practical knowledge while the secondary way of thinking as you said the thinking of focusing (algorithms, really complicated process) that for me is the conditional process or theoretical knowledge, you conditioning the practical experience or the practical faculty of thinking with a theoretical knowledge. That’s how I plotted my essays and overlay it with some of anecdote based from practical experiences then how would I apply these theoretical concepts towards it. It’s fascinating because it’s really hard to understand it without having two perceptions of the world or in the manner of faculty of thinking on perceptions like abstraction to concrete that’s why it matters to think logically and which is which not. I tried pushing dualistic approach on some matter to the fact how bad is how people just so focused on the single approach, the formalities and informalities. What showing here is studying philosophy would matter for a lot of people. I’m just glad although no one has told me or push me to read philosophies at 14 years old, I didn’t know what exactly I was reading back then I’m very interested in the way of learning like reading nerdy encyclopedias until my friend told me that what I was reading is weird
I liked revision option on myeasypaper. I asked writer to write in easy words but paper still was too difficult to me. I asked to revise, writer asked what exactly is difficult, I replied, and he revised. My final paper was as I wanted. All was done on time.😍😍😍
Writing is horrible. I hate it. Im here because i am terrible at it. Each english class iv taken in college my grade gets dumped on because essays tank it. I stopped going to college because of my sucking at writing essays. After nearly 4 years ive decided to get over the hatred for essays and get better at writing them.
My first experience with English was Eng 101/102, it was awful. I thought it was going to be about engaging with English, but it was more so writing about social issues and doing research for that. It didn’t feel like a liberal art, it felt like political science or social work. I am getting a dual degree in English and Theology, and I’m hoping that I will actually be engaging with both of those subjects, rather than political science, or whatever lol
Because we have to think, make some sense of whatever is going on up there and then put it on paper/page. That's effortful, and difficult, so we don't like it.
I hate essays simply because I don't know how to write one. Not because I'm lazy or stupid but because I have a teacher who should not have graduated from school let alone having a master degree who doesn't know how to do her job, who literally didn't give us an example on how essays should look. Watching all those people on YT writing their essays in 4 or 3 hours deadline makes me feel like a loser 💔 Oh and by the way, I have to do my first ever essay on Saturday bc the teacher decided out of the blue to give us a homework. Welcome to the life of a student from a developing country 🙂 If anyone can recommend a website, a video or even a book on how to write essay then please do. It will be appreciated. Thank you, I commented before I watched your video.
"Western Michigan University", a doctoral research university with the largest donation in public university history, is the best. If you get admitted they have tons of generous scholarships and they even pay for your internship and in some cases, for your dorm. Cd
i love writing, but i struggle with getting motivated to start. when i start researching for my essay i only care about that and literally ignore everything else lmao so im always hesitant to start so i put it away for as long as possible 😩 but also, to anyone who struggles with writing, i highly recommend Milan Kundera:-) especially “The art of the novel” (very insightful) and “Immortality” (my all time favourite)
This is great advice. I love the process of writing a paper. I love how all consuming it is. There is no greater thrill in life (yes, including sex). I would love to hear more about your choice to leave sciences for the arts. I started in biology/ecology and have found myself gravitating towards the social sciences (sociology and psychology) and humanities (English, specifically poetry, and philosophy). What encouraged this? Did you go back for a second bachelors? What doubts did you have about this?
Not quite sure why, but despite my disinteresting (and oftentimes, boredom for) the humanities as a computer science student, I do find analytical writing to actually be enjoyable. If you do it the correct way rather than just regurgitating other peoples' papers, it is quite an interesting way to process thoughts. That said, I do feel like you can very easily be pigeonholed into a particular stance by your professor. I suppose that's the point, but it limits the possibilities for novel ideas. Not a fan of reading though, very much struggle with it.
In my case, I have a more specific problem: I find it easy to write essays for the university, but I find quite difficult to write essays or articles on my own. For at least a year, I´ve been wanting to start a blog or a youtube channel. Problem is, my research is very chaotic and I can´t be concrete enough. I study psychology, but I am very interested in philosophy, sociology, politics and economy. Thanks to a Reddit post, I recieved some help: step down some levels of abstraction in order to get me started in writing. Nonetheless, It´s still quite difficult to organize my ideas. Any tips on this??. By the way, love your channel and your videos. Cheers from Argentina.
I would just like to add that grades do matter, especially with the financial burden on students! How can I justify getting myself into obscene debt exploring topics and having fun with ideas, when I need to pass, in fact I need to excel, just to make a fraction of my money back and stay afloat in the future? The pressure on students puts us off taking intellectual risks in our essays. Not only this but all the restrictions on word counts, references and deadlines give us boundaries to adhere to that interfere with the freedom of the writing process, restrictions that the introspective rich French writers of the past didn't have to think about.
I've always hated writing essays and I chose to study... literature. I did manage to get better at writing them though and now I often genuinely enjoy the process. I still should've gone for compsci instead though.
history student here and yeah essays are the bane of my existence so thank u for the video BUT YES we just got told to write an essay. no other instructions. and we don't learn how to write them in highschool either. they don't teach us.
When I go back and read some of my academic objects I am amazed at my ability to create piles of garbage in so many ununique but varied ways -_- (take this comment for example, sounds like I'm trying to be clever)
You're changing the way I view education completely. School is starting to feel more like a journey rather than a countdown between today and graduation. Thanks
This comment hit deep
@@brybry865 the depth is real
I don't mind writing essays but I find research so hard, especially when the topic is really broad or uninteresting.
Yee
I am the opposite. I love the researching but I always have a hard time knowing when to stop the researching and start the writing...
@@starwolvie same, I can totally relate to you
ALSO sometimes the way some people write their books an articles is like so ALIEN like i dont understand why they put certain words together it makes it hard to read and understand.
Starting with tertiary sources to gather bibliography, down to secondary and primary sources always helps narrow the topic and makes research easier! :)
It's sad most people won't discover the beauty of writing and learning for yourself. We've been force fed these topics and ideas that we want no part of, and then from there we're turned off by the idea of writing and learning in general. My hope is that one day people learn that schooling doesn't represent everything there is about a certain something, and instead people are brave enough to venture out and explore for their own sake.
I love reading books
And I hate school and writing papers
Specially because I'm not studying in my mother tongue
I absolutely feel miserable and it has affected my self confidence very much
@@rosea164 RIP
@@rosea164I could understand where your coming from because basically I’m also in the same situation as you
@@rosea164 I agree with you on this, cause while I don't like writing essays and stuff I will be honest with it's better to just do the assignment so that the rest of us could get ahead in life. Even I think doing essays sucks along with the reading I would just do it cause the last thing I would want is to have my goals not fulfilled I would do whatever it takes to succeed but overall I agree with your statement.
I've always loved literature, but hated writing essays of almost any kind. As much as I'd love to blame ADHD alone for this, I must acknowledge my crushing fear of getting something cataclysmically (and, most mortifyingly, publicly) wrong. Even though there's no 'wrong' way to interpret most pieces, I find myself unable to choose an angle, and so I arrive at one of two outcomes: Half a dozen discarded plans but no essay, or no plan at all, but a frankenspiel massively over the maximum word count, and so bogged down with unrelated ideas that it never arrives at a solid conclusion.
To remedy this, I'm doing a Bachelor's in Biochemistry. Checkmate, anxiety.
same experience lol
Ahh I used to love writing literature essays in high school. I miss it so much. But now I’m doing a Bachelors in Biochemistry as well sooooo...
you just put the problem i have into words
I like the idea of writing essays, but idk if I’d survive writing for four years…. Therefore, I will be doing either Biomedicine or biochem 🥲
I feared writing essays back in high school and in my early college years 😆. I felt I wasn’t a “writer”. One day, I was telling this to a friend and he replied, “Just talk”. And that’s when I had my epiphany. I thought of writing as separate from speaking.
That response lives rent free in my mind.
As a result:
• I began writing using my own voice (still trying to find it).
• My interest for writing grew 😊. And even more so when I heard it was a great way to straighten out your thinking. Also, I wanted to learn how to communicate more accurately with friends, family etc.
• I’m learning English Language for funzies 😅.
Dude, I was just about to write an essay to college and this video appears in my notification box... Thank you, really🙏
You actually made a video on it 😭😭❤️❤️❤️
Honestly, being a Literature Student I have always been excited to write/read essays but I never found people appreciating it enough. My batch mates are always concerned about touching the word count instead of actually enjoying the process of writing so that is kind of sad.
"Clarity of thought is more important than all the complicated words..." and "Be very specific about what your target is... don't be afraid to narrow..." "Give yourself the space to think." YES! YES! and YES! As a college professor, I am astounded by the number of bad essays I read. Besides general laziness of grammar, not capitalizing proper nouns and lack of spell checking there is often a disconnect. I always tell my students to read their essays out loud to see if it makes sense and catch grammar mistakes. And NEVER to turn in their first draft. A first draft almost always deserves a first draft grade.
It is usually not that the student isn't smart or isn't other wise communicative, but that they don't understand what their essay is trying to say. Or they know what they want to say, but don't know how to get it out of their brain and on to the page. Like everything else, writing essays take time and practice to be good at. I wish their was more emphasis on using essays to examine subjects before they get to the college level. A fellow teacher once broke it down in a pretty good way: expecting a student with very little exposure to writing to be good at an essay is like asking someone to draw who has barely picked up a pencil before. Teachers are often people who "know how to draw" and can't understand why someone else (in this case, their students) can't just sketch a nice picture. If you can draw well and it is normal to you, you may think it is normal for others, but this perspective is off. Drawing (or writing essays) is an acquired skill. I think this video will help a lot of people. Good work.
Very well said, especially that metaphor at the end about expecting someone unfamiliar to art and expecting them to draw a good sketch.
Agreed to everything you said! I think the thing that annoys me the most when writing an essay is that you're not given enough time to read everything, process, procrastinate and then write. Last week I had to write about Brexit so I literally read and watch every single thing on the internet just to actually sit and write a day before the deadline- the adrenaline tho
now I´m watching this instead of writing my essay :´)
edit: I´m going to construct a pile of garbage right now
I can't recall where I read it, but my favorite singular piece of advice for essay writing was: the last sentence/ line should be a mic drop. If you just say the same thing as in the intro paragraph but in slightly different words, you follow the formula of essay writing often given but it's inherently forgettable. And I guess, personally, that also meant that I spent the essay building up to that mic drop, and that if ideas were too complicated or not helpful, I ditched them.
I only remember one paper where I used that and was proud of my work... but I also had to use every truck in the book to pad out my paper otherwise because it didn't nearly meet the length requirement. Which I understand, to a point... but bleh.
This just hit me at the right time. I'm in the middle of my last year of college and I can't help thinking about how my past essays don't represent me and my thoughts but they're rather a description of other people's ideas without me exploring my own thoughts about the subject. What do I think about what these people are saying? That's a question that sometimes, because of the pressure of time and deadlines, I forget to contemplate. Won't happen anymore. Thank you so much for this video.
Hugs from Argentina :)
I strongly agree on the point four. I get most good ideas when I take a walk.
I love writing essays, but hate the process of translating the ideas of someone else into my own words. I love outline and editing but LOATH writing a first draft.
A piece of advice I will share about the essay/research paper writing process: You are not alone; if you are struggling with thesis statements, outlining, etc. it is okay to ask for help. If you are a university student, most universities and colleges have writing labs or tutoring centers staffed with knowledgeable tutors who can help guide you through your project. Please seek them out, that is what they are there for. Also, don’t be afraid to use your instructor’s (or the TA’s) office hours to get clarification on the writing prompt, or anything in the assignment you are not sure about.
What many people don’t realize is just how collaborative the writing process is (editors, publishers, audience, etc.). Always remember that writing is about communication, about the SHARING of your knowledge with others. If you have decent writing skills, I would encourage you to volunteer as a writing tutor, and help others improve their communication skills. Or even consider becoming an educator.
Don’t be selfish. Don’t be solipsistic. You are not alone.
Thank you for this, Robin! When I first started university, even though I already wrote on my own often, essays were so daunting for me. I fell into the category for students that tried to "sound" smart without really knowing what I'm writing about. Also, taking a walk or simply a break to contemplate what you've read about is so crucial to truly understanding the subject of your research.
I'm really looking forward to more of your rants on the educational system. They're what got me into your channel and I always gain a lot of perspective from your ideas.
I love love love writing essays. My website has two separate pages for essays and blogs. To me, blogs are about experiences and essays are about information.
With essays, we have to do so much research to write something well rounded. Then we marry that information with insights and opinions (well-formed). It's beautiful ❤.
I've struggled with essays and for a while felt unsatisfied with my knowledge on how to write one. I failed essays in high school because my teacher told me I missed the point of the essay, yet when I employed the same writing techniques in my first assignments at university my professor said my essays were of a high quality.
I agree with your stance on grades as I've held that sentiment for a while. This has me concerned I've been taught essays incorrectly.
So now I am trying to teach myself to write beautiful essays. I believe a beautiful essay is one which can demonstrate the course of thinking about a subject, and will present one's ideas about said subject. It doesn't have to be for the sole purpose of proving a point, as university and high school prioritise with their thesis statements.
Once I learn to write an essay well i will feel satisfied. From today onwards I will practice, practice, practice.
I had a professor in college (History major) that once gave us a list of how to do the essay she was asking us to do and one of the parts was literally to just take a walk or go to a cafe or something of that type (cant remember clearly) to take a break from the desk and think about it
Writing essays has become a formula for me.
Intro
Paragraph 1: idea
Concrete detail
Concrete detail
Concluding statement that leads to next Paragraph.
Next Paragraph rinse and repeat until final conclusion.
I got so used to it, only one professor caught on to it and ripped me apart on grading it.
Sort of made me better but then i keep using the formula again the following year.
Its how you "survive" classes. I never got less than a B. maybe i should have pushed myself more but i was depressed back then, so there was really nothing motivating me.
When it comes to writing fiction though, i do strive to be better.
I love writing essays, it's just that the inhumane deadlines are really.. well, inhumane:))) cracked ma brane
Greetings; I am a retired ESL teacher and among other things I taught writing. I recommend "Effective Writing", Cambridge University Press; which teaches how to write various kinds of texts. "Writing with Power" by Peter Elbow. "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" also gives a lot of tips. I suggest doing free writing to begin. Many people think that they are going to write one draft. You are going to write many drafts. You can begin research on google but only to get the list of references where you will actually get the information. "The craft of research" is helpful. The movie "Finding Forester" has tips and Ray Bradbury"s Zen in the art of writing is good. And remember writing actually is fun.
I dont remember where i saw this, my be in your video or maybe in Leo's, but in earlier years of education it was about discovering new things, new ideas, new ways of living and thinking etc, whether that be in science, philosophy or what have you. But now, like you said, we spend years studying a collection of other peoples thought just to find new worlds to say the exact same thing. Its almost like they dont want us evolving beyond who we are right now.
I just finished a degree in social anthropology, and my entire degree we were allowed to study before an exam and write down everything we knew about a topic, and discuss things as much as we wanted. In those moments I loved writing, because I had the freedom to use the literature as I wanted to. But whenever I have to write an essay at home with references, I kind of hate writing, only because I can't get into the flow state of writing. I need to stop, double check, reread while I work, but I truly prefer just planning a text, then writing everything at once and look through it after it is done.
This happened to me while I wrote my philosophy exam as well. I had so much more fun, thinking about the topics and talking about it with friends, than looking for references on every idea I had.
I know references are important though, but I feel like it stops the writing flow when you constantly have to look for things and double check everything.
As an econ grad, reading many research papers and writing an essay maybe daunting as from each paper, the marginal information you finally include is so less. But the best part is you learn so much more in the process. Nothing is a waste. Thanks for the video
This is really such an insightful video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this topic, it's sure to have helped many people including me. The only shame is the fact this video hasn't reached a wider audience. You're truly someone to look up to.
Sometimes it only needs to reach the right audience. :)
I have 2 essay for my finals right now! I have about 12 hours left .. and when the notification popped up i just said yeah I hate it to much😂😂.
Every time I have to write an essay I come back to this video. You remind me what my goal actually is. It's not just to meet some quota of words, but rather truly learn and develop my own thoughts and then share them in a simple way. Very thankful that I clicked on this video over all the other "Essay Hack" recommendations.
Reading Joan Didion and Susan Sontag helped me with essays, I just love them.
Edit: Waldun, if you're reading this, please, give a chance to brazillian writters. I think you would love Clarice Lispector, trust me.
Oi amigo, bom vem um br aqui
@@joaovictor_of Opa, tudo bom? Bem difícil achar os brasileiros por aqui mesmo
Thank you Waldun🥺 This video is refreshing. As a Politics student, I often experience a situation in which I can't think of anything new with all the informations, systems, ideologies, developments and definitions. The fourth tip you gave here helped a lot✨.
I don't even go to school or write essays anymore and still found this interesting.
he looked straight into my soul and said "Your vocabulary is so shit, you can't even think of a quote that I might say." (me thinking to myself)
HE ACTUALLY DID BOOTH!
Right now I have to make three essays:
One about the evolution of Plato's Dialectic from Meno to Phaedrus.
The meaning of the absurd in The Stranger, by Camus.
& the philosophical scepticism in Descartes.
So I really apreciate this video right now. Thank you so much.
Note: dont misunderstand me, I love writting, but my motivación just went down; nevertheless with this it can go up.
those sound like interesting essays!
What are you a student of?
@@crystaljefferphetamine thank you! They are very much.
@@gwenseamstress5076Im a philosophy student at UNAM in Mexico. Haha, it is not a school of intelect!
Thank you for helping refocus my thoughts. Schools focus so much on backing up every idea you have with research, but that has the unfortunate effect of keeping students from expressing original thought.
Thank you for reigniting my curiosity.
The problem I face while writing is recollecting the thoughts and good points after reading a lot of research papers and books.... and end up copy pasting which is stupid I know!😿.. I am literally a mesh in writing essays
Mr. Waldun: Thank you for this video. I have played it for my students. The making of ‘artifacts’ is something I’ve stormed against as a teacher. Yet, I find that my students are addicted to grades as a measure of their value and quality. Sigh. It’s uphill all the way to change their minds. But, I can show you to them and hope. Thanks. Mrs. Spencer
Generally speaking, I love writing essays. I agree with all the points that you give in the second half of the video. However, I disagree with the notion that an essay is to make something new. Essays are, as you said, a collage of other works, and there is nothing wrong with that. You take different sources to research, preferably a narrow topic as you said, and write an essay to consolidate what you learned. An essay is to learn. Dissertations, theses, (research) papers are for new ideas. They are different tools for different purposes.
This I have gathered from professors and lecturers online when researching to streamline my essay writing process. One of those that come to mind is "Leadership Lab: The craft of writing effectively" here on youtube. It is, of course, ironic that my lecturers never made that clear. It does make sense to me. I tend to recall information better from writing an essay than from studying, although there might be a causal relation with my rather non-existing studying ethic.
I am nowadays trying to read more actively, taking the pencil into the book, highlighting, and taking notes in the margin, which I never imagined doing, might I add. I then digitalise those highlights and notes (which I do in Obsidian, each idea or concept gets its own file). Then when I have read multiple chapters or books on a certain topic, I write an essay on that topic which forces me to review my notes and connect those ideas and concepts. I wish I started doing this earlier, as I would have read more and then writing essays would be very quick. I would already have done a bulk of research (depending on the research topic). Alas, it might have been prudent to start five years ago with this, but now is the second-best time to start. Taking a couple of days off from writing my bachelor thesis on arthropod infestations in cereal storage to research Japanese castles.
Thank you so much..this video was exactly what I've been looking for for 2 years😭you saved me
I'm a history major, moving into being a history grad student next year, and I use a combination of Zotero and Notion to build my "garbage pile". I keep a running bibliography with Zotero, and embed all the pdfs of papers into Notion, organized by primary/secondary source, subject, and the year it was published. I've had so many of these papers, even just skimming to verify a quote or something, spark a new idea, and I have another section of Notion that is nothing but a running list of ideas for papers. It made my last couple of years far less miserable.
I don't think now is the time for me to watch the video, even though I just finished it and I'm in Year 8. But I've understood the process of writing an essay thanks to you, Robin. Thanks! I'll use this information later in life.
As a first year college student who struggled enormously with my essays the whole year, this was much needed.
Lmao, a good excuse to procastinate writing my essay 💕
Awesome video
I believe that UZH at least in philosophy has a good approach to essays. They require usually two sections, reconstruction (4/10) and personal argument (6/10). The second section is the most interesting part where you actually do philosophical work and engage with the notions. The first part usually guarantees around a 4 (sufficient).
Also YES!! clarity is so so important!
Thank you so much! I was really needing it! ❤️
Yes, people really don't understand that an essay is the non-fiction version a short story. It is not a difficult thing to do, if you let yourself create and write in your voice and not worry about seem "academic". Read Mark Twain, he was amazing essayist.
Wow I didn’t think this video would help much. But this has really made a difference. I have a 5 page research paper due in 4 days . Wish me luck
sir, i have never seen your video's before, but thank you for this. sincerely - girl who just cried after attempting to write an argumentative essay and almost smashed her laptop into pieces. (also i have never been properly taught how to write an essay and my university only wants us to tick boxes when it comes to assignments, obviously completely limiting our creativity and opinion forming, so i am very glad to hear there's people out there showing that's NOT the vibe)
I love writing essays, maybe that's because I love literature, or because I love writing, or both.
Thank you so much for actually making this. Love it
This made me want to write another essay!
Too bad I'm going on summer break tomorrow...great video Mr. Waldun.
this is jus what ive been needing, so on point, god bless
Every single video of yours seem like an essay (the good and well redacted ones ;). My greetings!
Great timing! I was about to do my 8 day due essay :)
Remember an academic essay is an argument. You are trying to convince the reader that you idea is correct. (The hardest part is coming up with an idea and that's where reading lots and lots comes in. Remember text books are great for an intro to a subject but monographs and papers are more important)
Intro - should define any key words e.g. what does renaissance actually mean in the context of your essay (e.g. its just all art, literature and music made in Italy during the 15C or is it a a broad reaching philosophical movement where the reigning ideology moved away from a god first perspective to a humanistic world view) then introduce your points some that back up your idea and some that don't.
PEE (point example explanation) - state all your points. give an example and then explain why it back ups your idea. If the point goes against your idea explain why its wrong or that you other point shows its wrong.
Conclusion - state all your points again and state that we have won the argument and then just summarise by merging all the explanation parts of your points into one.
P.S. I agree with the point about using 'big' words. An essay is like having a debate with a peer, only you have to make points on behalf of the other person, So write like you would speak in that debate.
Writing papers are what have made me hate living
I honestly have wished to die rather than write an essay
I know it seems extreme, but it is how I have been feeling
Lol i’m about to work on a art history essay/s to help my cousin with 😅 and ironically i genuinely do like writing essays, it’s just under the school curriculum or that it being for school that ruins it. And i do love the essays for school, i literally get excited for them but it just gets exhausting and takes away some part of the joy i have for them.
They’re absolutely exhausting. Especially when you’re writing multiple 10+ page papers. It takes the joy out of exploring a subject, analyzing and researching it, and writing it.
Thank you very much . this a perspective that I needed man , really cool stuff
the two modes way of thinking is true,
i had no idea what that means until now, for me was first process of thinking is the practical experience or practical knowledge while the secondary way of thinking as you said the thinking of focusing (algorithms, really complicated process) that for me is the conditional process or theoretical knowledge, you conditioning the practical experience or the practical faculty of thinking with a theoretical knowledge. That’s how I plotted my essays and overlay it with some of anecdote based from practical experiences then how would I apply these theoretical concepts towards it. It’s fascinating because it’s really hard to understand it without having two perceptions of the world or in the manner of faculty of thinking on perceptions like abstraction to concrete that’s why it matters to think logically and which is which not. I tried pushing dualistic approach on some matter to the fact how bad is how people just so focused on the single approach, the formalities and informalities. What showing here is studying philosophy would matter for a lot of people. I’m just glad although no one has told me or push me to read philosophies at 14 years old, I didn’t know what exactly I was reading back then I’m very interested in the way of learning like reading nerdy encyclopedias until my friend told me that what I was reading is weird
Wow... this video is amazing.
“Courageous enough to study the humanities”. Yeeees! 👏
I liked revision option on myeasypaper. I asked writer to write in easy words but paper still was too difficult to me. I asked to revise, writer asked what exactly is difficult, I replied, and he revised. My final paper was as I wanted. All was done on time.😍😍😍
Writing is horrible. I hate it. Im here because i am terrible at it. Each english class iv taken in college my grade gets dumped on because essays tank it. I stopped going to college because of my sucking at writing essays. After nearly 4 years ive decided to get over the hatred for essays and get better at writing them.
Loved 🥰
thanksss, your channel helps me
Wow this was so much more helpful than i thought it was going to be
This is really helpful. Thanks a lot.
My first experience with English was Eng 101/102, it was awful. I thought it was going to be about engaging with English, but it was more so writing about social issues and doing research for that. It didn’t feel like a liberal art, it felt like political science or social work.
I am getting a dual degree in English and Theology, and I’m hoping that I will actually be engaging with both of those subjects, rather than political science, or whatever lol
Not an English speaker but this channel's sooo good 👌🏻
You are just so amusing, so “originale”! Lol. Thanks for this video!🙏🏼
I find it hard to find words and put them together so it can at least sound coherent.
I don't mind essays, but man timed essays scare me.
Because we have to think, make some sense of whatever is going on up there and then put it on paper/page. That's effortful, and difficult, so we don't like it.
Hey ! Thanks for making it, useful 💯
I hate essays simply because I don't know how to write one. Not because I'm lazy or stupid but because I have a teacher who should not have graduated from school let alone having a master degree who doesn't know how to do her job, who literally didn't give us an example on how essays should look. Watching all those people on YT writing their essays in 4 or 3 hours deadline makes me feel like a loser 💔 Oh and by the way, I have to do my first ever essay on Saturday bc the teacher decided out of the blue to give us a homework. Welcome to the life of a student from a developing country 🙂 If anyone can recommend a website, a video or even a book on how to write essay then please do. It will be appreciated. Thank you, I commented before I watched your video.
"Western Michigan University", a doctoral research university with the largest donation in public university history, is the best. If you get admitted they have tons of generous scholarships and they even pay for your internship and in some cases, for your dorm. Cd
i love writing, but i struggle with getting motivated to start. when i start researching for my essay i only care about that and literally ignore everything else lmao so im always hesitant to start so i put it away for as long as possible 😩 but also, to anyone who struggles with writing, i highly recommend Milan Kundera:-) especially “The art of the novel” (very insightful) and “Immortality” (my all time favourite)
This is great advice. I love the process of writing a paper. I love how all consuming it is. There is no greater thrill in life (yes, including sex).
I would love to hear more about your choice to leave sciences for the arts. I started in biology/ecology and have found myself gravitating towards the social sciences (sociology and psychology) and humanities (English, specifically poetry, and philosophy). What encouraged this? Did you go back for a second bachelors? What doubts did you have about this?
Not quite sure why, but despite my disinteresting (and oftentimes, boredom for) the humanities as a computer science student, I do find analytical writing to actually be enjoyable. If you do it the correct way rather than just regurgitating other peoples' papers, it is quite an interesting way to process thoughts. That said, I do feel like you can very easily be pigeonholed into a particular stance by your professor. I suppose that's the point, but it limits the possibilities for novel ideas. Not a fan of reading though, very much struggle with it.
In my case, I have a more specific problem: I find it easy to write essays for the university, but I find quite difficult to write essays or articles on my own. For at least a year, I´ve been wanting to start a blog or a youtube channel. Problem is, my research is very chaotic and I can´t be concrete enough. I study psychology, but I am very interested in philosophy, sociology, politics and economy. Thanks to a Reddit post, I recieved some help: step down some levels of abstraction in order to get me started in writing. Nonetheless, It´s still quite difficult to organize my ideas.
Any tips on this??.
By the way, love your channel and your videos.
Cheers from Argentina.
me in the middle of finals: 👁🧍🏽♀️
Omgg same
It is surprising that this video just poped up while I am writing essay.
👋 Would you please share an example of your real life essay writing approach. Perhaps a live class to see your thought process and techniques 🤗
my thoughts are a collage tho
also writing an essay about montaigne
I would just like to add that grades do matter, especially with the financial burden on students! How can I justify getting myself into obscene debt exploring topics and having fun with ideas, when I need to pass, in fact I need to excel, just to make a fraction of my money back and stay afloat in the future? The pressure on students puts us off taking intellectual risks in our essays. Not only this but all the restrictions on word counts, references and deadlines give us boundaries to adhere to that interfere with the freedom of the writing process, restrictions that the introspective rich French writers of the past didn't have to think about.
I graduated in International Relations and I have to say I hate what I wrote lol
'' who you trying to get crazy with ..'' ....essay ...
I've always hated writing essays and I chose to study... literature. I did manage to get better at writing them though and now I often genuinely enjoy the process. I still should've gone for compsci instead though.
bro is sounding exactly like a uni professor😂thx
You just exposed my career goal. ;)
Nailed it.
I have to write a term paper where the task speciffically says "do not include your own ideas".
Ghaawwd.... How did you know that I needed this video? Thank You, Sir_/\_
history student here and yeah essays are the bane of my existence so thank u for the video BUT YES we just got told to write an essay. no other instructions. and we don't learn how to write them in highschool either. they don't teach us.
I always found doing the research such a pain…the writing part was always better.
narrow of scope is helpful until you can't find any research papers on what you want to discuss
When I go back and read some of my academic objects I am amazed at my ability to create piles of garbage in so many ununique but varied ways -_- (take this comment for example, sounds like I'm trying to be clever)
Title: 3 tips.
Reality: 5 tips.
It felt like a personal attack when you said we gonna work at Starbucks 😅
you suddenly became my doctrine
What if you think broadly? How do you narrow a topic down?
how timely, im currently writing an essay for a college scholarship