More essays have been required from me this semester than any other. I had experience of writing essays before from my Composition I class, and from honors high school classes in the past, but none had required me to write and review them in so little time. At first I thought I could keep a similar rate for writing my essays as my Composition I, but after barely getting my first essay done in time, I realized I needed to pick up the pace. This class taught me how to use my time wisely to write better essays.
My first essay was the closest to being late. I had looked over it, but did not start it till a week and a half after it was assigned. I assumed that picking my sources would be easy, but it ended up taking me much longer than I thought it would. By this point, I only had a week left to write it. I did my outline on the Monday before, and due to dumb luck, I had a day off that Wednesday, and was able to get my rough draft done. I then asked my friend who was in a different Composition 2 class to review on Thursday, and she was kind enough to get it done in time for me to submit it on Sunday.
That experience taught me a valuable lesson, that for some reason I decided to ignore when I was doing my The Plague Analysis. At least for this one, I knew I had spring break to do it. What I did not know was that I was going to hit a deer the Friday before break, and spend most of my break looking for a new car. The one good thing that came out of that ordeal, was that I ended up being stuck at home with nothing to do for a few days. Without that break, I probably would not have finished it.
At this point, I realized that my procrastinating was going to get me in trouble, especially because of how much research was required for project 2. This time, I started the project right after turning in my literary analysis. I found and read through my sources, and cited them as soon as I knew I was going to use them while doing my outline. I then set aside a day two weeks before the essay was due to write it. This gave my friend plenty of time to review my work, and edit it. I ended up finishing the project a week before it was due.
I have gotten much better at utilizing my time to complete my essays. In fact I’m writing this essay nearly two weeks in advance. At the beginning of the semester, I struggled with getting essays done on time, and would stress about them for days. Now, I start my essays as soon as I can, and start writing knowing I have plenty of time to work on it.
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