How to Make a Tedious Writing Assignment Fun
Understand where your difficulty is coming from., Understand the assignment., Find something that interests you within the assignment., Break the assignment down into smaller parts., Focus only on the step you're working on at the moment., Build in...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Understand where your difficulty is coming from.
Many react to a difficult writing assignment by immediately thinking that they can't write and becoming intimidated.
The problem may be more specific, such as a limited vocabulary or a poor understanding of the subject assigned.
Once you understand what's causing your fears, you can address them by taking the appropriate steps to overcome them. -
Step 2: Understand the assignment.
This means two things:
The first is to know the subject you're writing about; you can learn this by researching in books, through interviews or on the Internet.
The second is to know what specifically you're being asked to write about in relation to the subject.
If you're assigned to write about Hamlet, you need to read the play.
If you're writing about Hamlet's hesitancy in fulfilling his late father's call to be avenged, you need to focus on Hamlet's meeting his father's ghost, his soliloquy and his catching his uncle praying after seeing "The Mousetrap."
If you're offered a selection of books to write about and one of them is one you've always wanted to read, choose that book.
If you're asked to contrast Beowulf to a modern hero and you are fond of comic book superheroes, you can choose one of your favorite superheroes to compare with Beowulf. , Looking at the whole assignment at once can be intimidating.
Breaking it down into smaller parts, such as identifying the sub-topics, deciding what order to arrange them in, researching each sub-topic and then actually writing them helps make the assignment seem easier. , Once you break the assignment into smaller parts, you need to focus on one step at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the number of steps.
You can be aware of the next step or the one following while you concentrate on the step you're working on, however, so that if you get stuck, you can move onto the next step and then return to the previous step later.
You can also choose to switch back and forth between steps as you need to, devoting the hours of the day in which you write best to the actual writing of the assignment and the rest of the day to other parts of it. , Just as everyone has a unique view on a writing assignment, so also everyone has his or her own way of working on it.
If you feel you work better with background music, listen to music as you work, with headphones if you're in a place where the noise would disturb others.
When you complete a step or section in your writing assignment, give yourself a small reward to celebrate that achievement, and give yourself a bigger reward when you finish the whole thing.
Just be sure to work on it regularly from start to finish so that you don't stress yourself out by trying to write a large amount of text at the last minute.
Also plan on taking breaks from working on your assignment as you need them.
Use the breaks to think about your writing assignment in a different way.
If you're writing about Hamlet, imagine the duel with Laertes as it would play out as a fight scene on "Batman" or imagine the prince lamenting his troubles to a Simon and Garfunkel song.
These kind of breaks let you get away from the stressful parts of the assignment while still keeping it in mind. -
Step 3: Find something that interests you within the assignment.
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Step 4: Break the assignment down into smaller parts.
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Step 5: Focus only on the step you're working on at the moment.
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Step 6: Build in rewards and diversions as you work.
Detailed Guide
Many react to a difficult writing assignment by immediately thinking that they can't write and becoming intimidated.
The problem may be more specific, such as a limited vocabulary or a poor understanding of the subject assigned.
Once you understand what's causing your fears, you can address them by taking the appropriate steps to overcome them.
This means two things:
The first is to know the subject you're writing about; you can learn this by researching in books, through interviews or on the Internet.
The second is to know what specifically you're being asked to write about in relation to the subject.
If you're assigned to write about Hamlet, you need to read the play.
If you're writing about Hamlet's hesitancy in fulfilling his late father's call to be avenged, you need to focus on Hamlet's meeting his father's ghost, his soliloquy and his catching his uncle praying after seeing "The Mousetrap."
If you're offered a selection of books to write about and one of them is one you've always wanted to read, choose that book.
If you're asked to contrast Beowulf to a modern hero and you are fond of comic book superheroes, you can choose one of your favorite superheroes to compare with Beowulf. , Looking at the whole assignment at once can be intimidating.
Breaking it down into smaller parts, such as identifying the sub-topics, deciding what order to arrange them in, researching each sub-topic and then actually writing them helps make the assignment seem easier. , Once you break the assignment into smaller parts, you need to focus on one step at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the number of steps.
You can be aware of the next step or the one following while you concentrate on the step you're working on, however, so that if you get stuck, you can move onto the next step and then return to the previous step later.
You can also choose to switch back and forth between steps as you need to, devoting the hours of the day in which you write best to the actual writing of the assignment and the rest of the day to other parts of it. , Just as everyone has a unique view on a writing assignment, so also everyone has his or her own way of working on it.
If you feel you work better with background music, listen to music as you work, with headphones if you're in a place where the noise would disturb others.
When you complete a step or section in your writing assignment, give yourself a small reward to celebrate that achievement, and give yourself a bigger reward when you finish the whole thing.
Just be sure to work on it regularly from start to finish so that you don't stress yourself out by trying to write a large amount of text at the last minute.
Also plan on taking breaks from working on your assignment as you need them.
Use the breaks to think about your writing assignment in a different way.
If you're writing about Hamlet, imagine the duel with Laertes as it would play out as a fight scene on "Batman" or imagine the prince lamenting his troubles to a Simon and Garfunkel song.
These kind of breaks let you get away from the stressful parts of the assignment while still keeping it in mind.
About the Author
Amanda Ruiz
Writer and educator with a focus on practical practical skills knowledge.
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