Drafting an essay fast

The blank page is the enemy. A method that produces a full draft in a sitting, so revision has something to work with.

Good essays are rewritten, not written. The goal of the first sitting is a complete, imperfect draft; polish comes later. Most WRIT 101 stress comes from trying to do both at once.

Before writing (20 minutes)

1. Reread the prompt and copy the key verbs: analyze, argue, compare, reflect. The essay has to do those things.
2. One sentence: what you think and why. That is the working thesis. It will change; write it anyway.
3. Three to five bullet points of supporting ideas, each with a piece of evidence (a quote, an example, an experience). Order them.

The draft (one sitting)

• Set a timer in the Focus room and write without stopping to fix anything. Typos, weak words, "[find better example]" in brackets are all fine.
• Write the body first, one bullet per paragraph. Start each paragraph with the claim, then the evidence, then why it matters.
• Write the introduction last; now you know what you are introducing.
• Aim to overshoot the word count by a fifth. Cutting is easier than stretching.

Revision (next day, not the same one)

• Read it out loud, or let the read-along reader in Mathub do it. Your ear catches what your eye skips.
• Paste it into Hemingway and look at the long-sentence and passive-voice highlights. Fix the ones that hurt clarity; keep the ones that are deliberate.
• Check every paragraph against the thesis. If it does not support the argument, cut it or change the thesis.
• Citations last: the Mathub citation builder or ZoteroBib formats them in MLA in seconds.
• Book the Writing Center for a second pair of eyes on anything that counts for a lot.