Writing an essay doesn’t have to be a chore. Instead, it can offer a fantastic opportunity to spend time researching and writing about a topic you find genuinely interesting, or further exploring a subject you may not know much about. Sometimes, however, it can be tricky to get started.
Encouraging the creative juices to flow can be a real challenge, and we have all suffered the nightmare of writer’s block! To help make sure that you produce your best custom writing, we have some top tips to get you thinking, inspire your creativity, and help you enjoy the process!
Make The Most Of Mind-Maps
If you are stuck on picking a topic, a mind-map can be your new best friend. Start with a broad, general topic in the center, and use this as an opportunity to write down everything you can think of about the subject. No matter how seemingly random or obscure, it can all be relevant and may spark an idea down the line.
As you note down information, start to make links and connections, and these can be identified with a line. This action will help your thinking and planning to become more structured, introducing possible arguments and conflicts which could be tackled further. Carry on until you have exhausted the subject, and are left with an array of ideas.
Narrow It Down
Once you have explored all possible avenues, it is time to narrow down the topic until you have something you can write about. Use a highlighter to highlight the areas you find most interesting, and perhaps make a list of these on a fresh piece of paper. Make sure to make a note of areas which are linked and connected—this will help when it comes to structuring your writing.
Make A Choice
Once you have a list of potential topics, spend some time picking the area you would like to focus on. A good way of tackling this is to pick each point and add five potential sub-topics as fast as you can. If this is easy, it indicates that this could be an interesting topic, as you clearly have a great deal to say.
Play With Post-Its
Once you have your idea, you need a basic structure. An excellent way to do this is to use the power of Post-Its. Write each of your key points on a slip, and place them in order. You can then read the order out loud to see whether the piece has a nice flow and a logical structure, and quickly switch the slips around to experiment with different formats. This allows you to play with the arrangement before you start writing, and should help the process to be smoother and more natural, allowing you to focus on the content logically and coherently.
Register References
One of the best things you can do to help the writing process is to keep track of useful sources and references as you find them. Make a list of author, title, date and page number, and use a colored slip to mark the page. These sources can then correspond with the Post-It for the paragraph, allowing you to find and keep track of your sources more efficiently.
