how to make essay faster

How to Write an Essay Quickly: 7 Speedy Steps to Success

Do you think you could write a 2000 word essay in 2 hours? How about a 20 page paper overnight? What if it’s getting into the small hours of the last night before due date and you’re starting with … 3 hastily written paragraphs? A title? A blank page? There’s hope. Let’s take a close look at how to write an essay quickly with 7 easy steps.

I’m going to save the lecture about how you should not have gotten yourself into this situation for another day. Right now, there’s more pressing matters. The essay itself.

It’s time to get started. There’s no time to waste.

Below, I have outlined 7 straightforward steps on how to write an essay quickly. Be warned: this list is full of shortcuts and emergency measures. It’s not the best way to do things, but it’s the best way to do it in your situation.

So here goes. Buckle in and get going on these 7 speedy steps to getting that paper written. I hope you’ve poured yourself a coffee:

1. Hack your teacher’s lecture slides

If I had 2 hours to write a 2000-word essay, this is exactly where I’d start – every time.

The lecture slides are your cheat sheet. They’re a summary of your teacher’s (yes – the one who will be marking your piece) thoughts on the issues. It’s literally a teacher’s translation of the content. They’ve read it, taught it to themselves, then put together slides translating the content into a way that they – your marker – thinks is relevant .

That’s the closest to a cheat sheet you’ll ever get off these people. So use it to write your essay quickly.

Go onto your course’s webpage (Canvas? Blackboard? Moodle?) and download the lecture slides for every week that seems slightly relevant. You know? The weeks where:

• Your teacher introduced the key theorist, scientist or scholar behind an idea;
• Your teacher explained the ideas you need to write about;
• Your teacher analysed different perspectives on that ideas.

It might be one week’s slides, it might be ten week’s slides. But you need to download them and start reviewing them.

Each time you find a point that you think is relevant to your assessment outline or question, quickly make a note of what key point is being made.

Also write down any ideas that come to mind that might fit into the essay. I find when I review lecture slides more ideas come to mind to add in.

If your lecture hasn’t provided lecture slides, some other places to look for ideas on what to write in your paper include:

• Your own lecture notes ;
• Readings your teacher set for you;
• Any online videos, websites or other content your teacher provided.

2. Write down ten to fifteen key points to discuss

Hopefully your research in step 1 got you a lot of key points written down so you’re off to a hasty start to writing your essay quickly.

Now’s your time to brainstorm – are there any other interesting points you can make about the topic that come to mind after reviewing the course materials?

Aim to gather between ten and fifteen key points. Anywhere less than 10, you’re not likely to have enough to say unless you’ve got a paper that’s less than 2000 words. Anywhere over 15, your teacher’s mind is going to wander while they go through all your ideas!

These points can be scrawled all over a piece of paper or listed on a word document, but make sure they’re written down!

Once you’ve got 10 to 15 key points, it’s time to list them in order of relevance. What’s the most relevant or useful or informative thing you want to say? Put that first. Then go down the list, so your best ideas are at the top.

3. Turn each point into a 4 to 6 sentence paragraph

Starting from the top of your list of 10 to 15 points to discuss, start turning each point into a 4 to 6 sentence paragraph. This is the ideal paragraph length to obtain depth without losing your reader’s attention.

In each paragraph make sure you mention:

• A topic sentence that explains exactly what your key point is.
• An explanation sentence (or two) that adds detail to your first point.
• An example sentence showing how the idea or point would link to the real-life.

You can keep expanding on that key idea if you want – but limit it to about 6 sentences max. Otherwise you’ll put your marker to sleep – who ever wants to read a super long paragraph!?

Make sure each key point is given one 4 – 6 sentence paragraph at least. You might find each key point needs two or three paragraphs to explain everything in enough detail.

4. Use readings while writing your paragraphs.

When providing explanations of your key points, go back to where you found these key points. What is the source? Did your teacher note on the lecture slides where this information comes from? If so, you’ll need to reference those sources in your paragraphs.

Then, add in more references from:

• The Assigned Readings. Start referencing the set readings that your teacher provided. Go to the course’s webpage and download all the set readings for weeks relevant to your assessment topic. If you download your assigned readings and open them with Adobe Acrobat, you’ll be able to use the search function to find the exact key ideas you’re looking for. For example, if your topic is on “Issues of doctor-patient confidentiality in modern medicine”, you might search through your set readings for “confidentiality” in order to find the right sections of your readings where you could find explanations that you can use and reference in the piece. Aim to cite each relevant reading that was provided by your teacher at least once in the piece.
• Google Scholar. You’ll also need to cite some other scholarly readings . I recommend going to google scholar and type in the keywords from your key idea. For example, if your key idea is “Climate change causes sea temperatures to rise”, you would want to type into the google scholar search bar: “Climate change” and “sea temperatures”. Find sources that have direct links to the pdf or html document of the text – these are sources that aren’t hidden behind paywalls. Make sure you get a good number of additional readings from google scholar (I usually aim for 50% assigned readings, 50% additional readings).

You might also want to make sure you have least one – preferably two –references per paragraph. If you have included two references, aim to reference two different sources rather than the one source twice.

5. Write a compelling Introduction and Conclusion

Keep an eye on that word count.

Hopefully for each paragraph you write you see that wordcount jumping by about 150 to 200 words. Before long you’ll be at 500, 800, 1400 words!

Make sure you stop writing when you get within 300 words of the word limit (about one page if you’ve been given a page limit). You’re going to want to use the last 300 words or so for creating an amazing introduction and conclusion.

If you hit the desired word count but don’t get around to some key points, that’s okay. We sorted the points from most to least relevant in Step 2 for just this reason: the ones you miss will be the least relevant, anyway.

Now, write your introduction.

A compelling introduction should:

• Identify the key focus or argument of the essay in the first sentence
• Explain the topic’s relevance. Why is it worth discussing at this particular time? What value does it have for your future profession?
• Let your reader know what you plan on saying in the piece.

Then write your conclusion .

A compelling conclusion should:

• Summarize your key points
• Explain how your key points support your argument and/or address the essay question
• Identify any contradictions , limitations or questions that remain unanswered within the topic area. What is the future direction of research into this topic in the next 5, 10 or 20 years?

Use the above bullet points to formulate your introduction and conclusion . Again, aim for 4 to 6 sentences (150 words or so) for the introduction and about 4 to 6 sentences for the conclusion. Make sure in the introduction and conclusion that you show your reader you have a good bird’s eye understanding of the topic you are covering and its relevance to real life.

6. Fix up that Reference List

Your reference list is probably a mess. It’s not likely to be in the correct referencing format that you need it to be in.

Thanks to Google Scholar, this part is a heck of a lot easier than it was ten years ago.

Here’s what you do:

• Type the name of each source that you reference into the Google Scholar search bar
• Find the source in the list that Google Scholar generates (it should be in the first few spots on the list.
• Press the cite button underneath the source. A pop-up should appear showing how to cite the source in each referencing style.
• Copy the citation and paste it into your paper’s reference list
• Check to see if the citation is correct: are there any missing details?

Once you’ve listed all the sources you used in your reference list, you’ll need to sort them alphabetically. Highlight the whole reference list then sort it using:

• Microsoft Word: The A>Z button under the ‘home’ menu

7. Edit it in the Morning

Once you’ve written a full draft, you’ve got a decision to make:

• If the piece is due in the next few hours, you’ve got to crack on and start editing immediately;
• If the piece is due tomorrow morning, give yourself permission to go to sleep. Having a break between writing and editing lets you look at your work with fresh eyes tomorrow. But, be prepared. In the morning you’ve still got some work to do.

Editing your work – even just once the morning before you submit – will earn you a big bump in your marks.

You probably will only have time to edit the work once, so I recommend this:

• Print the work. Editing work on paper is far more effective than editing it on the screen. Errors jump out at you more if you’re reading it on paper.
• Read through the work and cross out sentences that don’t make sense. Underline sentences that need rewording for clarity. Circle words that need to be changed or spell-checked.
• The name of the game while editing is increasing clarity. If a sentence is too long, complicated or confusing when you’re editing it, you need to find a way to say it more clearly. Sometimes that means turning one sentence into two shorter sentences. That’s okay. A good way to find sentences that need shortening is to use the ProWritingAid app which produces a special report identifying sentences that are too long.
• Once you’ve done scrawling your edits on the paper copy, jump onto the computer and go from the start: insert all the edits you wrote down on the paper copy into the computer copy.

This print-and-edit strategy is by far the most effective editing strategy. It dramatically increases the quality of any student’s work and bumps up their grades.

Editing your work is worthwhile, no matter how tight the deadline. It could be the difference between a C and a B or – even more importantly – a fail and a pass.

Read Also: 39 Better Ways to Write ‘In Conclusion’ in an Essay

Look, let’s face it. You should have written it earlier.

But, there’s always still hope. Now’s the time for action – get those top ten points you want to say on the issue done, then keep following the steps to the end. You can do it!

Let’s sum up those seven key steps one more time:

• Hack your teacher’s lecture slides
• Write down ten to fifteen key points to discuss
• Turn each point into a 4 to 6 sentence paragraph
• Use readings while writing your paragraphs.
• Write a compelling Introduction and Conclusion
• Fix up that Reference List
• Edit it in the Morning

If you’ve finished all the steps – Congratulations. You got through! Now make sure you don’t do it again with these strategies that can help you get started early on even the toughest paper. You might recognise some of them?

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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When You Write

How to Write Faster: 23 Tips to Speed Up Your Writing Output

As a writer, you already know the essence of learning how to write faster and putting out more writing work.

You hear other writers talk about “I average 7k words per day” or “my weekly output is roughly 20k.”

But your fiction has been lingering around chapter one for months… What are you doing wrong? 

I cannot diagnose your problem, but I will give you some tips that you can use to perform a self-diagnosis and increase your writing speed.

Writing Is a Game of Numbers

For 21st-century freelance writers, novelists, or any other professional writer, quality matters. But without quantity, you are just going to lumber in the abyss of the world wide web libraries. 

Writing is a game of numbers – the more you put out, the more you get noticed. Likewise, the more gigs you complete, the more money you get.

It’s as simple as ABC.

The faster you write, the faster the ‘cha-ching’ comes in. So once you learn how to write fast, you can get more work done in a shorter time and probably earn more.

So, writing-faster hacks are essential life hacks for any serious writer.

23 Tips To Writing Faster (And Better)

Out of the 23 tips, 1 and 2 are the most essential. That is why I have given them more meat than all the rest.

1. Learn How to Increase Your Handwriting Speed

Almost everyone learns the art of handwriting at a very young age, but we tend to forget this important skill as we grow older. This trend has been exacerbated by the more convenient computers and mobile phones.

With the dawn of the Age of Ultron digital age, handwriting has become an even more obscure skill.

However, handwriting speed is still essential for people who take notes using pen and paper (students, for example). 

There are a couple of benefits of increased handwriting,

• Better performance. You take better handwritten notes and save time in an exam.
• Increased Automaticity. This means that your brain will have to burden itself with other important intellectual stuff rather than the physical movements of your hand.
• Less writing gaffes. We often commit errors because we think faster than we write. But if the writing pace catches up, there will be fewer errors.

Handwriting Speed Tips 

Use Better Writing Tools: The type of pens you use affects your writing speed. Your ballpoint pens don’t rank in the speed ratings. You’d be better off having a fountain pen, a roller pen, or a gel pen.

Learn or Develop a Shorthand System: Instead of using bulky words, why not try symbols or abbreviations. There are no limits, so you can develop your own shorthand writing system or learn pre-existing ones like (Pitman, Gregg, Teeline).

Be Comfortable: Somebody might have shown you the ‘best way’ to hold a pen, you tried it, and it didn’t feel comfortable at all. Don’t force it, it’ll just slow you down.

Always hold the pen in a way that feels comfortable. The way you hold a pen doesn’t really affect writing speed, but if you are comfortable, your pace might improve.

Maintain a Good Posture: Writing is laborious; not only does it stress your fingers, but your spine also gets a beating too.

There are ergonomic kneeling and upright sitting office chairs which help you to improve your sitting posture. The chairs should be complemented by your own efforts. 

• Your feet should lie flat on the floor.
• Your knees should be at a 90-degree angle.
• The lower back should be supported by the chair.

2. Learn to Type Fast

The idea is that every finger should have its place on the keyboard. To help the fingers get used to ‘their’ position on the keyboard, you have to type without looking at the keyboard. 

Home Row Finger Placement: place four fingers (from your index finger to the pinkie) on the ASDF and JKL. The keys are in the center row of the letter keys, also called the HOME ROW.

When you are typing, you should always start and return to the “ASDF – JKL” letters (that’s why they are called the middle row and are called the home row). The letters ‘F’ and ‘J’ have little ridges for your fingers to sense the initial position by groping the keys. 

Your thumbs should always hover around the space bar, and the SHIFT key should be assigned to the pinkie opposite to the hand that is pressing the other key.

Good Sitting Posture for Typing

I also covered this when I wrote about ergonomic office chairs . But let me just hash over a couple of important tips:

• The top of your screen must be level with your head.
• Relieve the pressure in your shoulders, arms, and wrists. You can invest in a keyboard with a wrist rest so that your body weight isn’t shifted to your wrists. 
• Sit straight.
• Keep a good distance between your eyes and the computer screen (at least 40cm).
• Keep the elbows bent at a 90-degree angle.
• DON’T SLOUCH.

3. Write Rhubarb, Edit Later

Hi writer, no one is going to see your very first draft: nobody but you. 

When you start writing, all you need to do is pour raw thoughts. Forget the typos and coherence; none of that matters, for now.

Editing is actually the most arduous step of writing. That is because we tend to rewrite a lot of the initial stuff and pay a lot more attention to detail. Have you ever written a whole page only to come back and erase it because it is pure garbage?

So just focus on putting words to paper and leave the corrections to the other you, the editing you.

4. Follow the Cliché 

“Practice makes perfect.”

This is the most overused cliché and… the most accurate. You have to write every day. Do not force the writing speed. As long as you are applying the proper techniques and writing consistently, you will get better. 

5. Write the Intro at the End

Writing the introduction earlier than the main body will slow you down nine out of ten times. The introductory paragraphs (in some cases, an abstract) give a taste of the juice contained in the main body of your work. Writing this part first usually means setting unnecessary standards for yourself. 

The introduction will always mess up your head, trying to align your content with the introduction. 

But if you start with the main body, you will probably write faster and use the content to create an abstract afterward.

Introductions and abstracts write themselves.

6. Gather Information Before You Start Writing

Doing research is a vital part of writing. Literal work (especially academic) with unverifiable content exposes the writer’s knowledge gaps and stinks of unprofessionalism.

However, researching while writing is counterproductive. You spend huge chunks of time on the web or bookshelves instead of writing. And sometimes, you are ready to write again, only to find out that all the creative juices have dried up.

Google your stuff beforehand, scour the bookshelves and take notes and pictures before the actual writing begins. When you sit down to write, you should WRITE.

Another cliché, “failing to plan is planning to?”

Freestyling is good because you just hop around and before you know it, you have 25k words. But, setting an outline helps you save time thinking about what to do next.

Write an outline, then freestyle inside the outlined topics. You can jump from the first topic to the last, then back to a middle section.  

8. Set challenges

Challenging oneself is one of the greatest traits of successful people in any field. Most professionals, likely you too, work well with deadlines.

Give yourself word counts and deadlines. It may seem like a simple overused old hack, but when you start employing this technique you will realize that whatever the circumstance, failing feels bad.

You will zealously want to beat your deadlines.

9. Fragment Your Work 

Writing a book may seem like a tough thing to do (that’s because it is). But if you break the book into chapters or scenes and work on them one by one, the workload seems a whole lot lighter. 

As a matter of fact, Mark Twain did say something just like this, he said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one”.

10. Play Typing Games

Thanks to apps and websites, learning to type faster has become fun. Nowadays, there are a squillion web-based or offline games, tests, and YouTube tutorials. 

Websites like WordGames.Com and Typing.com provide typing games and challenges which can help you improve your typing speed.

11. Go blind and Invent 

You can do your research beforehand or completely write from your head. This is usually effective for fiction writers. Create worlds, words, names, cities, et cetera.

There’s a writing technique that I call “Blitzkrieg Freestyle Writing.” It’s something similar to the “write rhubarb, edit later” style, just that with blitzkrieg freestyle writing, you can include some nonexistent stuff and create your own stuff that can even make it past the final draft.

After setting up a few things beforehand, jump onto the chair and wing it! Just blitz through the pages without pressing backspace, googling, or verifying.

12. Ignore the Schedule (Sometimes)

Creativity is spontaneous, and sparks of genius usually occur sporadically. If you are writing a scheduled article but the words aren’t coming, it’s better to disregard your schedule and look at something different.

It might be another article or your poems from five years ago. You need to be concerned with the magic, not the time frame. 

Word of caution; do not mistake the “spontaneous creativity” that I’m talking about with that mischievous demon of procrastination.

13. Find Your Optimal Writing Times

The ‘night owls versus early risers’ thing isn’t genetic, you are not born to be a night owl or somebody that wakes early every morning. 

Our bodies have a reprogrammable biological clock. If you keep late nights a lot, your body readjusts and you start to notice that instead of feeling sleepy in the after-hours, your eyelids usually give up in the wee hours of the morning.

The issue here is not trying to program the clock but understanding it (although it’s okay if you want to). You must observe what time(s) of the day you’re most active. It’s during those hours that you’ll write faster, and the content will be of better quality.

14. Always Stop Writing Mid-Sentence  

This might seem counterintuitive at first; why would I stop writing mid-sentence? When my flow is so on point? So undue.

However, when you stop writing in the middle of an exciting, fully developed (in your head) plot, you exactly know what to write when you resume writing.

When you go back to write, you know where to pick from. It’s vroom vroom from the first keystroke, your phalanges going Luis Hamilton fast. 

15.  Set a timer

Just like the previous method, this seems counterintuitive too. Imagine blitzing through a paragraph, then the alarm rings. 

I know, I know, it seems inconvenient but, there are a lot of hidden benefits.

Taking breaks after the clock runs down also helps you refresh the brain and stretch your body. A fresher brain means more productivity, and since you are probably going to stop writing mid-sentence, you will have a lot of content already thought out (hence faster writing), and you save yourself a world of pain and stress. 

Sometimes the timer helps you pace up so that you can write a lot of stuff in the short given time.

16. Use The Pomodoro technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management scheme that helps people to effectively use time to their advantage when working. 

This is similar to the previous hack (you obviously use a timer), but unlike the former, it has preset time margins.

It’s a simple system, you have 25-minute focused work sessions followed by five-minute breaks. The breaks are what are called Pomodoros. After four Pomodoros, the break should be longer (about 20 minutes).

Just like the normal timer setting, you get the benefits of stopping mid-sentence, plus you save energy.

17. Schedule Undisturbed Writing Time or Just Hang a Sign.

For me, it is hard to hang a sign and expect that the other ‘creatures’ in the house will observe the new rules.

No no no no. Nope!

I live with toughies, and it’s almost impossible to tell them what not to do. My solution? Doing my writing when they’ve exhausted all their energy.

At night, the guys turn to sloths. That’s when I attack my keyboard with zero distractions. However, putting up a “don’t disturb sign” usually works, especially in a professional environment.

18. Start from Anywhere

When you are writing a book, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to think that you MUST write it chapter by chapter, chronologically.

You might start off quite brilliantly, but you will — 9 out 10 times—get stuck somewhere before you even the first chapter.

Start from wherever content seems to flow seamlessly. After a while, some other parts will start revealing themselves.

19. Write drunk, edit sober

I first saw this advice on a certain blog, and I said to myself, “this is rubbish, these people just write things just to fill up articles.”

But I found out, from my writer circles, that this actually works for a lot of writers. Apparently, a hard drink (a gentleman’s quantity) can spur creativity since it snaps some wires in the head. However, you should expect some content to be utter rubbish, so you’ll have to follow the “write Rhubarb, edit later” hack.

20. Get a Journal

Not only will a journal help you increase your handwriting speed (because you will be writing frequently), it will also help you save your ideas. You can use the ideas later, reducing the time you spend on brainstorming during a writing session.

You can also use the journal to create characters or write some rhubarb to be edited later.

21. Switch Your Perspective

Looking at a writing project just in terms of the word count and workload is demotivating. Somehow, the word count always seems like a mountain to climb.

And hiking isn’t for everyone. Ha-ha.

But seriously, you have to switch the perspective and start looking at a blinking cursor as a metronome, your chance to write creative stuff that will wow millions – Your chance to shine. 

22. Go Incommunicado 

The digital space is full of distractions; Facebook, Insta, Twitter, Pinterest, a movie perhaps.

Your computer or mobile phone can be both your ally and foe when you have some content to write. 

One minute, you want to see your Facebook inbox and an hour letter you’re pinning stuff on Pinterest. A few days later and you still haven’t started typing that chapter.

Shut it off!

But if you use the computer for writing, then shutting it off is equally counterproductive. You have to have software that turns your computer into a digital offline typewriter.

There is a lot of software that will block all the background distractions, i.e., FocusWriter , Typora , Mark text , and Ommwriter .  

23. Use Squiggly Line Reminders

Sometimes, your typing speed isn’t the problem. Sometimes, it is those missing words in your head.

You can blitz your way through a chapter only to get stuck explaining what kind of dress ‘Daisy’ wore. Then you go on the web and start scouring for dresses and fashion trends, and before you know it, you’ve spent a whole hour looking for a “dress.”

Many word processors use red squiggly lines to tell you that you’ve made a mistake. Using misspelled words or symbols when you get stuck helps you put markers to which you can come back to make corrections or fill with text.  

Final Words 

Experiment, the tips are not a “one shoe fits all” type of solution. Trial and error won’t hurt.

And… one more cliché. 

“If you want to be successful, you should do what you love.”

Make writing a top priority, a full-time thing. You’ll discover a lot of writing hacks on your own. Some things just come naturally.

Note: You cannot do all of them simultaneously. While some will work for you, others won’t make any sense at all. You just have to mix and match and see what works best for you.

Recommended Reading...

Best music for writing – be more focused and productive, what is the iceberg theory, why do authors use pen names, how to stay focused while writing.

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© 2024 When You Write

How to Write an Essay Fast: Tips and Examples

Almost every student has experienced a circumstance where they had just a few hours before the essay deadline. So, what is the best course of action in this case? We suggest that you should either begin writing right away or seek professional assistance. Hiring a pro to write your essay is an easy way out. You can just order essay from our research paper writing services , and in a blink of an eye, your piece is ready to be sent out on time. But, if you want to write it yourself, then you need to know how to write an essay quickly.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Write an Essay Fast

The essay writing process isn't simple. Especially when you want to do it quickly under the pressure of upcoming deadlines, but don't panic! Whether you’re wondering how to write an essay in a day or just an hour, you can still write an engaging and good essay fast. Here are some tips to help you write a paper faster:

• Make a plan for your writing process - The first and most important thing to do is to understand a thesis statement, spend 10-15 minutes planning your essay, and brainstorm some ideas about your main point.
• Start essay writing - Start with a hook in the introduction; add three body paragraphs and explain your major point. Make a clear image of your ideas in the conclusion.
• Edit your paper - Always keep the last 5 minutes for proofreading your essay; slowly read complex sentences to avoid any grammar mistakes; after editing, give the appropriate title to your work.

These are some useful short tips to do a paper fast. But if you don’t feel like doing any writing, you can use the help of qualified writing service to get yourself a solid essay.

How Can You Write an Essay as Fast as Possible

We discussed a few tips to write an essay fast, but they may still not be enough for everyone to do their essay quickly. There are many reasons why it can get difficult: you struggle to understand the essay topic and the main idea of it, you lack motivation, you overthink an essay prompt, you get constantly distracted, etc. Sometimes we all feel that way, and it's normal, but to make writing your last-minute essay easier, we should overcome those feelings.

So, let's dive deeper into how to write an essay fast to help you with the paper you completely overlooked.

Step 1. Get Rid of Distractions and Plan Your Time

One of the reasons why you can't focus on writing is a constant distraction. Our digital gadgets distract us not only from the essay writing process but from many important things in life. So when you need to focus, set your mind on it and keep the electronic devices away from the working space.

The next step is to manage time. If you want to learn how to write essays quickly, you need to know how to divide the time left correctly. If you have only 2 hours before your deadline, it's crucial to distribute it accordingly. You have to do it in three main parts: outline, body paragraphs, and conclusion paragraphs. Besides that, keep extra 10 minutes for proofreading and revising your essay. Spend 25 minutes on essay structure and half of your 2 hours on shaping the paper's body. Usually, body paragraphs are needed most of the time, but distribution is on you. Spend more of it on the part you struggle to write.

Step 2. Write First Ideas Which Spring up in Your Mind

While reading an essay question carefully, start making a note of the very first ideas that pop up in your mind. This way, you'll have a view of what to write about. Then start analyzing the thesis statement, highlight the major points of the key sentences you want to discuss and then choose which ideas fit best to them.

Don't overthink the statement. To write essays faster, you need to have a concise view of what you are writing about from the very beginning. You don't have much time, so do not spend any of it on overthinking.

Step 3. Elaborate a Plan to Write an Essay Fast

If you have ever had only an hour left to write your essay or are now in that situation, you're lucky to be here reading this. It's entirely possible to do your paper in an hour, and we'll show you an essential step-by-step plan on how to write an essay fast.

But before planning the whole essay, you have to choose your topic. This is a no-brainer, but people are often stuck at this point. If you have the freedom to choose your own topic, determine the kind of theme you are familiar with and can discuss without having to spend much time on research. But if you have several topics, choose the one on which you can deliver a more in-depth analysis.

Now let's move to the next steps on how to plan the process to write an essay fast.

Step 4. Conduct a Research

Conducting research may seem difficult when you have an hour for the whole essay, but don't worry. You can manage that too! You already have the topic and the thoughts around it, and now you need a little research. So be brief and concise, look for the specific information that you're definitely using in your paper, and don't waste time on general concepts. To write an essay fast, you have to conduct research faster.

While searching on the internet, save bookmarks of your needed pages. This will serve not to start looking for the information all over.

Do these tips to write an essay fast make enough sense for you yet?! Anyways, don't pressure yourself! If it's manageable for others to write essay fast, then it is for you too. So read through carefully, act according to this plan, and you'll make it.

Step 5. Make an Outline

Before you start writing:

• Create an outline of your ideas, and organize your thoughts around the theme.
• Write down your words on paper and determine how they are logically connected.
• List your ideas and relate them to the larger concepts.

This way, you can have a general structure for your paper and step forward to write an essay fast. Regardless of how much effort and time you put into the work, it's useless if you can't organize your thoughts.

Now that you have an essay topic and the main idea around it, you can think of creating the thesis statement. Refer to the outlines you noted and try to express the major points of your essay with them. The statement will have two parts - outlining the topic and outlining the objective of your essay.

Now you are one step closer to mastering how to write essays quickly. Several steps to go, and you're all done!

Step 6. Write a Draft with Key Sentences for Each Paragraph

You should develop your arguments in the body and turn every idea you outlined before into separate paragraphs. Remember that each of the sections should have the same format. Start to incorporate your primary ideas into the opening sentence. After that, add your secondary supporting ideas to it. Also, do not forget to use proper sentence format.

You should clearly explain your topic in key sentences to strengthen the arguments. Every paragraph should contain supporting evidence, main points, and summarizing sentences.

Does it seem easier now to write an essay fast? Then, let us make it completely manageable for you with further steps.

Want to research how Steve Jobs revolutionized the world?

Discussing how Steve Jobs shaped modern technology makes a perfect research paper. Our writers are ready to make it even more perfect!

Step 7. Intro: Start with a Hook

After finishing the previous steps, then it is time to write an introduction. But how will you introduce something that hasn't been created yet? It may be unusual to write the beginning after you've already got the middle part, but it makes sense. Now that you have your thesis and arguments on paper, you can take the interesting elements and turn them into an attention-grabbing intro. Write a hook preceding it - it can be statistical information, a dialogue, a relevant anecdote, a quote, or just some fact, but it has to tie in with your thesis.

Also, if it's more comfortable to think of the hook first and then about the other parts, you're free to do so. Starting with the hook can help your creative process, but don't think too much about it. This way is more adjustable when you don't need to search for ‘how to write an essay quickly’ and have enough time to spend on it.

Step 8. Make a Strong Conclusion

Writing the conclusion paragraph is an important part of making a clear expression of everything you wrote above that. It is your opportunity to reinforce the thesis. Restate the arguments to leave the reader with something interesting to think about. It should be 3-5 strong conclusive sentences that place the whole information into a broader context. Don't forget to avoid introducing new points or ideas in your conclusion,

The introduction and conclusion is often the hardest part to write. So, you should save both for last, especially when you want to write an essay fast. It will take all of your time if you start thinking about them in the beginning when you haven't discussed any arguments yet. When you have the body paragraphs of your essay, it should be much easier to write a summarized conclusion and introduction.

Step 9. Check Everything

If you just typed ‘how to write an essay quickly’ and now reading this, then you already know you have to review your paper besides how much time you have before the deadline. So you always have to keep extra minutes to revise your work.

Check if there are any grammatical errors, if the paragraphs are in order - the main argument should be the first and last paragraph in your body, or if your work makes sense at all. These little elements affect the quality of your essay, especially the one you're writing in an hour.

This is the ultimate guide and your last step in learning to write an essay fast. Just don't panic and set your mind on doing it properly.

How to Write 500 Word Essay Fast

The essay writing process isn't so easy, especially when you want it done quickly. But it doesn't mean it's impossible. For example, have you ever wondered how to write a 500 word essay fast? If you are reading this article, you already have the answer. The previous examples we examined about writing papers faster are also adjustable to 500-word essays.

Let's do a small recap! First, decide on an interesting topic you want to write about, but don't overthink it. Instead, choose the one you know more about. Secondly, make a quick, basic outline of your thoughts and thesis statements. Then start working on your body paragraph, and lastly, do your introduction and conclusion. You can read above how to do each of these steps very easily.

In addition, you might be writing an SAT paper. In this case, you can apply these tips to the writing process with specific needs.

How to Write a Research Essay Fast

If you ever looked up 'how to write a research essay fast' and couldn't manage to find the solution through research, then we're here to help you out.

While writing a research paper requires a lot of effort—from developing a compelling thesis to locating relevant literature—doing so may be more fun if you select a topic you are passionate about. In addition, you have an opportunity to consider other people's discoveries and draw your own conclusions about what they signify.

Most essays have specifics that should be considered to be worth a good grade. If you don't know these needs, it can be difficult for you to complete the task properly. So then, what's your answer to it? Are you just sitting there wondering, 'how can I get research paper writing help ?' If you still haven't found the way, click on it, and there is your solution.

Pros and Cons of Writing an Essay Fast

As with everything else, writing your paper fast has its positive and negative sides too.

Let's start with the cons:

• When writing fast, you may not leave yourself the time for proofreading and editing the work, which will lead to not a very good essay and a satisfactory grade.
• Knowing that the deadline is coming closer can pressure you while preventing the creative process which can be destructive for your essay.
• Time spent on each part of the paper may not be enough or correctly distributed, which can mess with essay structure.

Pros of writing essay fast:

• The positive side of writing an argumentative essay fast is that now you know how to do it and don't need much time to waste.
• You are always on time for deadlines when you know how to write a good essay fast.
• Improves your time management skills.

So, It's entirely possible to write a good essay fast. For example, if you need to know how to write a process analysis essay, consider what we have already discussed above, and just like that, you are left with a great piece in a very short period!

There are many reasons why you can't finish your paper before the deadline. But it's not the end of the world, right? That's why essay writing services provide support for students. When you are in a position where you need to get your paper done fast by a professional, you can turn to EssayPro's cheap essay writing service. It's not a problem you have to worry about.

It doesn't matter if you need, for example, descriptive or expository essays, EssayPro's experts can provide both for you. You're just one click away from your perfect paper!

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Related Articles

10 Ways to Increase Your Essay Word Count (AI Included)

Table of contents

One of the biggest challenges students face is writing long-form essays of 2,000 words or more.

Someone brought this up at a recent webinar I attended, and I couldn't help but think back to my freshman year. Several years ago, I had to write a long essay on an interesting but unfamiliar subject. It took me a lot longer than it should.

After writing hundreds of articles, essays and reports, I've developed my own list of 'smart hacks' to help increase word count on any written piece. 

Instantly increase your word count with this FREE AI tool > Instantly increase your word count with this FREE AI tool >

Let's dive into the word count expansion strategies I use today when I write various texts.

How NOT to increase word count

Adding fluff words.

Adding meaningless words only confuses the core arguments and distracts the evaluator. Whatever merit your actual content may have had will be obscured by a mountain of meaningless words.

The sentence in my essay read,

"Violent acts by adults are often caused by childhood exposure to violence.".  

If I try to forcedly add fluff words to expand the text, my sentence would sound stretched:

“Violent acts are often associated with the fact that adults who commit violent acts - acts that are seen as savage, harsh, rough, physically abusive, or otherwise unacceptable in society - have been exposed to similar harsh or extreme violence during their childhoods or when they were young”.

Voice and tone

Although passive voice makes a sentence longer, I have found that my writing is much sharper when I use active voice. Also, do not confuse the need to use a formal or academic tone with passive voice.

Quoting without context

This one is like digging yourself into a hole. I quoted so many out-of-context references that I found my essay running on all sorts of tangents. After spending hours trying to connect the dots between the tangents, I ended up having to rewrite the entire piece because I was unable to justify the distracting content. 

Mindless paraphrasing

You hear it from your professor, and spew it back at her. Mindlessly repeating content in different sections of an essay - as if your teacher wouldn't notice, won't really help you ace your courses.

Even more mistakes

After asking some of my classmates, I found out that some of them had resorted to even worse hacks that eventually got them in trouble:

• Using filler words - In order to fill more pages, some diverge from the specified format and increase fonts, margins, and spacing. You will lose credibility if you do this, and you will also lose points if you deviate from the writing style specified.
• Plagiarism - Plagiarizing large chunks from others' essays or research papers was not only seen as lazy, but it was a fast way from a not-so-great grade to a failed grade.
• Other sneaky tricks - These included whitening out gibberish text and increasing the size of periods. Teachers have seen it all and know every trick in the book.

The right way to increase word count

Eventually, my word count increased in a way that makes each word actually count (pardon the pun), and it turns out there are some pretty cool tricks to do that.

With the right tools and techniques, you spend less time on the heavy lifting, more time on the actual writing, and at the end of the day, you have a much more comprehensive essay that is a delight to read. 

1. Use an AI writing tool

Skip the manual paraphrasing and use a smart AI writing tool. For example, I added almost 50 words to a 125-word paragraph using Wordtune’s text expand feature .

How to add more sentences to a paragraph

One method to expand your word count is to find short paragraphs and adding more sentences that clarify what they mean. This task used to be pretty frustrating, but with the use of AI it's made simple. Start by going over the essay, and notice if there's a paragraph that stands out in terms of being lean and overly simplified. Paste that paragraph into the Wordtune editor, and click the 'Plus' icon.

You'll be able to expand the article in any number of ways, including adding a statistical fact, a joke, example, analogy, or a simple continuation of your idea. Then, simply scroll through the different suggestions that AI produces, and find the best one.

2. Take advantage of outlines

It may seem counter-intuitive, but completing your outline can help you meet your word count goal.

Say you need to turn a 200-word article into a 1,500-word essay. Make an outline of the article before trying to tackle this seemingly impossible task of writing the whole piece.This will give you a clearer picture of how your entire thesis works and how to logically support it.

As an example, suppose we're writing an essay on why kids shouldn't play phone games.

To begin, you need to summarize your message in a few sentences. For example:

‍ “Kids have susceptible brains, and games can change the whole chemistry of their brains in a bad way, causing them to go off on tantrums and screaming fits. Moreover, these games form addictive habits that will persist when the kids become older. By continuing to play phone games, the kids fail to develop emotionally, and may become unsocial introverted people. Moreover, there are signs that games make kids more violent and emotionally unstable. Since phones are always at reach, kids can continuously play throughout the day, not stopping even when eating lunch or when attending a school class.”

Before expanding it, write an outline to get a sense of its structure and flow. As a result, you can easily determine how much text is needed for each section, which ones require expanded text, and which ones can be kept brief.  This clarity not only helps me reduce anxiety, but also gives me a clear plan of action to finish this essay!

For example, for the paragraph on video games, my outline would look something like this:

Introduction (include statistics and research to argue that video games are harmful for kids) and state the thesis (250 words) Negative effects of video games on children: first build larger categories and then substantiate with smaller points, evidence and data within each point: - Effects on emotional development (200 words) - Effects on physical development (200 words) - Effects on social development (200 words) - Effects on intellectual development (200 words) Give counter-views Cite research that talks about potential positive effects of video games, if used the proper way and under supervision (250 words) Give solutions State why parents find it so hard to keep kids away from video games, especially mobile video games, and offer concrete solutions to set better boundaries with kids for video game usage (250 words) Conclusion Offer a strong conclusion that brings all of the essay together in a summary (250 words)

Note that I’ve planned to write a few hundred more words than the prescribed word limit, so I have scope to edit and tighten later on. 

3. Expand your text with intros and conclusions

I use this method all the time to get unstuck and write longer articles without worrying about word counts.

Let's say you finish expanding your outline, and the article is still short a few hundred words.

Two places you should consider expanding are the introduction and conclusion.

How does this work?

• In the introduction and conclusion, you can add free-flowing stories, ideas and paragraphs, without having to validate each sentence with technical reference, sources and quotes.
• You can use anecdotes, personal experiences, news articles, and research findings to introduce your topic, or to close it.
• You can also go into detail about why you were motivated to explore the topic in more depth and why it has helped you to develop your argument. We wrote about essay hooks in more detail here, so be sure to check it out.
• Remind readers why this entire argument matters at the human level in the conclusion. This is done by repeating the topic, the core of your argument, and why you have justified your thesis. 

Add these elements to your introduction and conclusion, and you will quickly reach your essay quota.

Here's an example from the Wordtune blog of an anecdote placed as part of the intro:

4. Use examples to illustrate your point

It is always helpful to provide examples to illustrate complex academic or technical points. As well as adding color and descriptiveness to your own words, examples help your arguments come to life in a way that academic writing cannot. Having read several essays about the same topic, your evaluator will probably find it enjoyable to read something more creative and genuine. 

Examples also help readers visualize your narrative. The situations can be real or imagined, but they must be authentic, relatable, and most importantly, relevant to your topic. Providing examples from your real-life experience will demonstrate to the teacher that you understand your topic.

I started this article by describing my experience as a freshman. The challenges I faced as a student are similar to those you are currently facing, so sharing my journey will help you learn from my mistakes.

5. Invest in serious research 

Research is the most effective way to increase a paper's word count. 

The more research you conduct, the more ideas, perspectives, and information you have to base your arguments on. 

Research takes time and effort, which you may or may not have. 

Here's where my smart tools come into play.

No matter how long a paper is, Wordtune Read will give you all the key highlights.

The following is a composite screenshot of how Wordtune Read summarized the effects of video games on children from a long and complex article. The key highlights on the right help you distill the core messages of the research in minutes, condensing hours of reading into minutes.

In just a few steps, you can add at least two supporting arguments or stats for each point you have in your outline. And just like that, you have several hundred very relevant words, added almost effortlessly to your essay.

6. Ask 'Why' questions

At this stage, the research has already provided you with some solid perspectives, but there's nothing like adding some original perspectives to the existing body of research. Asking ‘why’ questions is an effective way to do this. In addition to strengthening your arguments, it will also enhance your essay with relevant and original content.

Think back to the example of the negative effects of video games on children. Let's say one of the arguments you have is "phone games cause emotional issues". Use a series of 'why' questions to dig deeper into the text. 

Ask questions like: "why is that true?", "Why is it important?", etc. For each answer, ask another why question and develop some original angles based on the insights that may emerge. 

While it beats manual paraphrasing in terms of speed, I felt it also improved the overall quality of the writing.

7. Address the counter view

It's a foolproof way to score brownie points with tutors and also add some value - and word count - to your essay. 

Counter views or counterpoints are positions diametrically opposed to your own.

I argue, for example, that video games negatively affect children in the essay about video games. There is always some literature available (and there is always some literature available) on the counter-side of why and under what circumstances video games can actually have a positive impact on children. I am able to write a pretty solid section on that topic. 

By balancing the pros and cons of both arguments, I will also be able to bridge the two points of view.

Just like that, you've added about 200 words to your essay!

8. Use quotes and references

While the bibliography section doesn’t usually count towards the overall essay word count, there are some easy tricks you can use to maximize the references. Once you are done with the essay, run through your list of citations and find interesting quotes that you may have missed, which you can now incorporate.

9. Get feedback from a friend

If you're like me, working on the same essay for a long time with complete immersion means you develop blind spots to obvious misses and flaws in your text. This could be especially problematic for non-native English speakers .

Ask a trusted friend or peer to look over your essay again. Share your essay on Gdoc with your friends and find out if they spot something that seems missing, out of place, or that stands out like a sore thumb.

Also, ask them to question your assumptions in the essay - this may give you new angles and perspectives to explore, thus expanding the word count even further.

Your friends will help you find the problematic paragraphs in your writing and make them more concise and effective .

10. Add text while editing

Once you have finished writing your essay, you can use the review stage to edit and add text to your essay.

This is another great opportunity to use your AI writing tool, and get suggestions for ways to make your sentences more fluent . You can also replace superfluous words with stronger vocabulary, and pick alternative ways to word sentences that contain repetitive words.

Try and spot long, convoluted sentences and break them up to smaller sentences.

Keep it long and interesting

Essays that meet the prescribed criteria, including word count, indicate to your teachers that you not only possess subject matter knowledge, but also writing, grammar, logic, research, and communication skills.

You can find interesting angles even in the most mundane sounding topics if you challenge yourself to do the work and not worry too much about the word count. With the 11 smart hacks - including use of the smart writing tools - essay writing and meeting the specified word count becomes much easier! 

Learning how to expand a text in an interesting way - and not just by adding fluff - makes you a better writer regardless of the format - essays, reports, statements of purpose - even books! 

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How to Write High-Quality Papers and Essays More Quickly

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I’m not gonna lie: writing papers can suck. Even as someone who basically writes papers for a living these days (like this article), I still viewed every college paper with a tinge of dread.

After all, writing a paper isn’t like working math problems or reading a chapter of a book. As frustrating as those activities can be, they always seemed more finite than the monumental task of “writing a paper.” You can’t just open the book and start working : you have to brainstorm, research, outline, draft, edit, and add those pesky citations.

As I moved through college, however, I developed a system for cranking out papers in record time. This let me spend more time on things that I enjoyed, such as writing for this blog and taking long walks through the woods. Today, I’m going to share this process so that you too can write papers more quickly (without a decrease in the quality of your writing).

Sound impossible? Read on to see how it works.

1. Understand the Assignment

The ultimate waste of time when writing a paper is to write something that doesn’t even answer the question the professor is asking. Don’t be afraid to ask the professor to explain any part of the assignment that’s unclear.

If the assignment seems vague, it’s not because the professor is trying to trip you up. Often, it’s that they know their field so well that it’s easy for them to think some things are “obvious”…even when they aren’t to us non-experts.

Remember: asking for clarification because you don’t understand the assignment doesn’t make you stupid; what’s stupid is to complete the assignment without understanding it.

Yet, when I was an English TA in college, I saw this problem all the time. Students would spend hours researching and writing a paper on a completely different topic than what the professor assigned. It doesn’t matter how good a paper is–if it doesn’t answer the question, it’s going to receive a bad grade.

Best case scenario, the professor is nice and lets you rewrite it, but why do all that extra work? Furthermore, asking the professor for clarification shows initiative –that you care about the assignment. Demonstrating this level of engagement with your assignments can only boost your grade.

2. Research with Ruthless Efficiency

Once you understand the assignment, you need to start researching. But beware! If you’re not careful, research can be one of the best ways to procrastinate. “One more source” can easily turn into hours that you could have been writing.

To overcome the temptation to procrastinate on research, I employ my favorite approach for beating all forms of procrastination: setting a time limit. As I explained in my guide to research , you shouldn’t spend more than 30 minutes per page of the final paper researching. That is, if the paper is supposed to be 5 pages, don’t spend more than 2.5 hours on research (maximum).

Spending any more time than this puts you at a point of diminishing returns. Don’t worry about not having enough information. If you find that you need more info after you start writing, you can always do more research . The goal of your initial research session is to give you just enough material to start writing. Get into the library or database, find your sources, take your notes , and then get to writing.

3. Create a Flat Outline

“It’s impossible to figure out every detail of your argument before you sit down, look at your sources, and actually try to write. Most students abandon their hierarchical outline soon after their fingers hit the keyboard.” – Cal Newport, “How to Use a Flat Outline to Write Outstanding Papers, Fast”

Ever since I learned the traditional method of outlining papers in 8th grade, I felt the system was broken. I never created an outline with bullets and numbers and letters before writing the paper. I always just made one up afterwards because I was required  to turn one in with the final paper.

Starting in college, I developed my own outlining technique that was much more effective. As it turns out, my technique wasn’t so original after all. As Cal Newport explains, it’s called a flat outline . In Cal’s words, the flat outline works as follows:

Don’t build a hierarchical outline. Instead, list the topics you want to tackle in the order you want to tackle. Revisit the library to find sources for the topics that still need support. Dump all relevant quotes from your sources under the topics. Transform your topic-level outline into your paper. Don’t start from a blank screen.

Isn’t this so much better? The flat outline works because it mirrors the writing process . No one sits down to write with a perfect idea of what they’re going to say. You discover what you’re going to say through the process of writing . The flat outline gives you just enough structure to overcome the dreaded “blank canvas” while still leaving room for discovery.

Struggling to write your draft? Here’s how to overcome writer’s block .

4. Create the Perfect Writing Environment

Okay, so you have a rock solid understanding of the topic, you’ve done your research, and your flat outline is ready. Now, you need to sit down and write the sucker. But not so fast: where you write makes a difference.

Because after procrastination, the greatest obstacle to writing a paper quickly is distraction. If you don’t have an environment where you can focus, you’ll waste hours jumping back and forth between the paper and whatever distractions come your way.

To make sure you have the focus of a zen master, you must create a writing environment that enables zen-like focus . For a full guide to creating a distraction-free study space, check out our article on the topic . In the meantime, here’s a summary of the best practices:

• Go to a studious place. This could be a quiet part of the library, an off-campus coffee shop, or even your dorm room. Wherever you know that people won’t distract or interrupt you, that’s the place you must go.
• Make it comfortable. You won’t be able to focus on writing if your chair feels like a bed of nails or the table wobbles. Take care of your base physical comfort before writing anything else. Caveat: don’t write while in bed . Your bed is only for sleeping and…you know, that other s-word.
• Block digital distractions. Depending on how bad your internet/phone addiction is, this could be as simple as closing unrelated programs and putting your phone in airplane mode or as drastic as installing an app such as Cold Turkey Writer that blocks everything on your computer until you  write a certain number of words. If you need the internet to write (maybe you’re writing in Google Docs, for example), then you can install an app such as Freedom or SelfControl to block distracting sites.
• Assemble your supplies. Sitting down to write and realizing you left one of your sources back in your dorm is a definite productivity killer. Be sure you have your computer charged, sources assembled, and coffee/tea at the ready before your write a word.
• Put on your pump up playlist. If you don’t find it distracting, then I recommend using music that will get you in the zone to write. I have a few albums on rotation that get me into a mode of writing flow. For example, when writing this article I put on Muse’s The 2nd Law . You better believe I felt ready to conquer the world with that in the background. If you’re looking for a killer pre-made collection of study music, have a look at Thomas’s Ultimate Study Music Playlist .

5. Follow a Standard Structure

Each paper you write should not feel like reinventing the wheel. Your goal when writing a paper for a college class is to fulfill the assignment requirements in a way that goes just above and beyond enough to impress the professor. You’re not trying to break new ground in your discipline or redefine the way we use the English language (if you are, then you don’t need to read this article).

The way to make sure that you don’t get caught up in the structure is just to pick a standard structure for your discipline and follow it. Save the originality for your arguments. So how do you find these elusive standards? Ask your professor.  They can point you to some relevant guides or examples.

Also, pay attention to the readings your professor assigns for the class. This should give you some idea of the academic conventions you should follow in your papers. It’s easy to go through an article and focus so much on the information that you ignore the structure (which is a good thing–the structure shouldn’t distract you). But if you spend a couple reading sessions paying attention to structure, you’ll get a feel for how it should go.

If that seems too advanced or too much work, then another option is to Google “SUBJECT NAME paper template”. Just be careful about the source–a template from a university is fine; one on some random student’s Blogger page, not so much.

6. Focus On Quality Over Quantity

If the paper is supposed to have a final page count of 5-7, you may be tempted to write a paper that’s 7 or even 8 pages. After all, more is better, right?

Wrong.  Every professor I had in college told me that they would  always  prefer a good 5-page paper over an okay 7-page paper. Frankly, some topics don’t need 7 pages–5 is plenty. If you try to stretch it out, you may end up diluting your argument.

If you’re not convinced, consider this: I rarely wrote more than the minimum page count, and I consistently received A’s on papers in English, History, Religious Studies, and Education classes.

Knowing this, why would you ever write more than you need to? It’s not just a waste of time or effort; it may even be counterproductive .

Of course, your paper has to be good for this to work. For advice on improving the quality of your papers, check out my post on 6 Writing Tips to Make Your Papers 300% Better .

7. Draft and Edit Separately

Editing and drafting at the same time is, like all forms of multitasking , inefficient and ultimately impossible. Don’t do it. Write with your full attention and effort, and then  edit.

Similarly, never stop to look stuff up when you are writing. If you don’t know something, just make a note of it and come back to it later. At best, looking something up takes you away from writing, but even more likely it will pull you into an internet rabbit hole that will really derail the entire writing process.

The goal of writing this way is to keep you in the flow state  as long as possible. Because if you can just get to a place of flow, your momentum will be unstoppable.

8. Write the Conclusion and Introduction Last

One of the greatest barriers to starting a paper is coming up with an introduction. If you think about it, this difficulty makes sense: how are you supposed to introduce something you haven’t even created?

This is why you shouldn’t write the introduction until you’ve finished the main body of the paper. I know it seems like a counterintuitive approach, but I challenge you to try it. This method avoids what has happened to me more times than I can count: writing the paper and then realizing that my intro doesn’t even fit with the final paper.

The same goes for the conclusion. Write it last. After all, how can you conclude when you haven’t even finished writing? If you want more advice on the specifics of writing solid conclusions, check out my post on how to write a paper .

9. Don’t Edit Alone

When you’re writing the draft, you need privacy and focus. But when you’re editing, having someone else to look over your work can speed things up. Why? Because you’re inherently blind to the mistakes in your writing . You’ve been looking at the draft so long that mistakes won’t jump out at you the way they will to a fresh set of eyes.

When it comes to finding someone to help you edit, you have a few options:

• Get a trusted friend to read the paper. Just make sure they don’t end up distracting you.
• Take the paper to your college’s writing center.  Don’t expect them to be your copy editor, however. More than likely, the writing center staff will have you read the paper aloud to them. This lets you catch the errors yourself while still having the accountability of another person in the room.
• Ask your professor for feedback. This won’t always be possible, but sometimes your professor will be willing to give you feedback before you turn the paper in, especially if it’s a term paper or capstone project. Professors often build this feedback into the assignment by setting separate due dates for a proposal, a draft, and a final version. But even if they don’t, it never hurts to ask for feedback . The worst they can say is no.

10. Use a Citation Generator

Adding citations is the worst, especially when you just spent hours writing a paper and are so over it. If you don’t want to spend further hours paging through some arcane style manual, do yourself a favor and use a citation management/generation tool.

My favorite is Zotero , which allows you to keep track of research sources and even has a browser extension that will pull the citation info from a library catalog web page. But I also have friends who prefer EasyBib . It doesn’t matter which one you use–just pick one and watch your citation worries evaporate.

That being said, it doesn’t hurt to glance at your citations before submitting, as these tools aren’t perfect (especially when it comes to digital sources).

Bonus Tip: Take a Writing Intensive Class

This tip isn’t strictly part of the paper writing process, but it can make a big difference in your writing speed and quality. At my college, the definition of “writing intensive” varied from professor to professor, but it always meant a class with lots of writing, often one (short) essay per week in addition to a 20+ page final paper.

Each of these classes was intense, but at the end I always found myself a better writer. This went beyond just getting faster, although that was a major benefit. I also found that the quality of my arguments and analyses increased, along with massive improvements in my research skills.

If your college offers classes specifically geared to improve your writing, do yourself a favor and take a least one. Strong writing skills are always a benefit, both in college and beyond.

At the end of the day, writing a paper is still a lot of work. But if you follow the process in this article, you’ll be able to do it more quickly without a loss of quality.

What tactics do you use to speed up the paper writing process? Share them in the comments below, or discuss them in the College Info Geek Community .

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How to Write an Essay

Last Updated: April 2, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD and by wikiHow staff writer, Megaera Lorenz, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 18 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 7,937,390 times.

An essay is a common type of academic writing that you'll likely be asked to do in multiple classes. Before you start writing your essay, make sure you understand the details of the assignment so that you know how to approach the essay and what your focus should be. Once you've chosen a topic, do some research and narrow down the main argument(s) you'd like to make. From there, you'll need to write an outline and flesh out your essay, which should consist of an introduction, body, and conclusion. After your essay is drafted, spend some time revising it to ensure your writing is as strong as possible.

Understanding Your Assignment

• The compare/contrast essay , which focuses on analyzing the similarities and differences between 2 things, such as ideas, people, events, places, or works of art.
• The narrative essay , which tells a story.
• The argumentative essay , in which the writer uses evidence and examples to convince the reader of their point of view.
• The critical or analytical essay, which examines something (such as a text or work of art) in detail. This type of essay may attempt to answer specific questions about the subject or focus more generally on its meaning.
• The informative essay , that educates the reader about a topic.

• How long your essay should be
• Which citation style to use
• Formatting requirements, such as margin size , line spacing, and font size and type

Christopher Taylor, PhD

Christopher Taylor, Professor of English, tells us: "Most essays will contain an introduction, a body or discussion portion, and a conclusion. When assigned a college essay, make sure to check the specific structural conventions related to your essay genre , your field of study, and your professor's expectations."

• If you're doing a research-based essay , you might find some inspiration from reading through some of the major sources on the subject.
• For a critical essay, you might choose to focus on a particular theme in the work you're discussing, or analyze the meaning of a specific passage.

• If you're having trouble narrowing down your topic, your instructor might be able to provide guidance or inspiration.

Planning and Organizing Your Essay

• Academic books and journals tend to be good sources of information. In addition to print sources, you may be able to find reliable information in scholarly databases such as JSTOR and Google Scholar.
• You can also look for primary source documents, such as letters, eyewitness accounts, and photographs.
• Always evaluate your sources critically. Even research papers by reputable academics can contain hidden biases, outdated information, and simple errors or faulty logic.

Tip: In general, Wikipedia articles are not considered appropriate sources for academic writing. However, you may be able to find useful sources in the “References” section at the end of the article.

• You might find it helpful to write your notes down on individual note cards or enter them into a text document on your computer so you can easily copy, paste , and rearrange them however you like.
• Try organizing your notes into different categories so you can identify specific ideas you'd like to focus on. For example, if you're analyzing a short story , you might put all your notes on a particular theme or character together.

• For example, if your essay is about the factors that led to the end of the Bronze Age in the ancient Middle East, you might focus on the question, “What role did natural disasters play in the collapse of Late Bronze Age society?”

• One easy way to come up with a thesis statement is to briefly answer the main question you would like to address.
• For example, if the question is “What role did natural disasters play in the collapse of Late Bronze Age society?” then your thesis might be, “Natural disasters during the Late Bronze Age destabilized local economies across the region. This set in motion a series of mass migrations of different peoples, creating widespread conflict that contributed to the collapse of several major Bronze Age political centers.”

• When you write the outline, think about how you would like to organize your essay. For example, you might start with your strongest arguments and then move to the weakest ones. Or, you could begin with a general overview of the source you're analyzing and then move on to addressing the major themes, tone, and style of the work.
• Introduction
• Point 1, with supporting examples
• Point 2, with supporting examples
• Point 3, with supporting examples
• Major counter-argument(s) to your thesis
• Your rebuttals to the counter-argument(s)

Drafting the Essay

• For example, if you're writing a critical essay about a work of art, your introduction might start with some basic information about the work, such as who created it, when and where it was created, and a brief description of the work itself. From there, introduce the question(s) about the work you'd like to address and present your thesis.
• A strong introduction should also contain a brief transitional sentence that creates a link to the first point or argument you would like to make. For example, if you're discussing the use of color in a work of art, lead-in by saying you'd like to start with an overview of symbolic color use in contemporary works by other artists.

Tip: Some writers find it helpful to write the introduction after they've written the rest of the essay. Once you've written out your main points, it's easier to summarize the gist of your essay in a few introductory sentences.

• For example, your topic sentence might be something like, “Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories are among the many literary influences apparent in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels.” You could then back this up by quoting a passage that contains a reference to Sherlock Holmes.
• Try to show how the arguments in each paragraph link back to the main thesis of your essay.

• When creating transitions, transitional phrases can be helpful. For example, use words and phrases such as “In addition,” “Therefore,” “Similarly,” “Subsequently,” or “As a result.”
• For example, if you've just discussed the use of color to create contrast in a work of art, you might start the next paragraph with, “In addition to color, the artist also uses different line weights to distinguish between the more static and dynamic figures in the scene.”

• For example, if you're arguing that a particular kind of shrimp decorates its shell with red algae to attract a mate, you'll need to address the counterargument that the shell decoration is a warning to predators. You might do this by presenting evidence that the red shrimp are, in fact, more likely to get eaten than shrimp with undecorated shells.

• The way you cite your sources will vary depending on the citation style you're using. Typically, you'll need to include the name of the author, the title and publication date of the source, and location information such as the page number on which the information appears.
• In general, you don't need to cite common knowledge. For example, if you say, “A zebra is a type of mammal,” you probably won't need to cite a source.
• If you've cited any sources in the essay, you'll need to include a list of works cited (or a bibliography ) at the end.

• Keep your conclusion brief. While the appropriate length will vary based on the length of the essay, it should typically be no longer than 1-2 paragraphs.
• For example, if you're writing a 1,000-word essay, your conclusion should be about 4-5 sentences long. [16] X Research source

Revising the Essay

• If you don't have time to spend a couple of days away from your essay, at least take a few hours to relax or work on something else.

• Excessive wordiness
• Points that aren't explained enough
• Tangents or unnecessary information
• Unclear transitions or illogical organization
• Spelling , grammar , style, and formatting problems
• Inappropriate language or tone (e.g., slang or informal language in an academic essay)

• You might have to cut material from your essay in some places and add new material to others.
• You might also end up reordering some of the content of the essay if you think that helps it flow better.

• Read over each line slowly and carefully. It may be helpful to read each sentence out loud to yourself.

Tip: If possible, have someone else check your work. When you've been looking at your writing for too long, your brain begins to fill in what it expects to see rather than what's there, making it harder for you to spot mistakes.

Expert Q&A

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• ↑ https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/essay-types
• ↑ https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/resources/essay-writing/six-top-tips-for-writing-a-great-essay
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/research_papers/choosing_a_topic.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/tips-reading-assignment-prompt
• ↑ https://library.unr.edu/help/quick-how-tos/writing/integrating-sources-into-your-paper
• ↑ https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/notes-from-research/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/developing-thesis
• ↑ https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/outlining
• ↑ https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-write-an-intro--conclusion----body-paragraph.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/argumentative_essays.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/transitions/
• ↑ https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-incorporate-a-counter-argument.html
• ↑ https://www.plagiarism.org/article/how-do-i-cite-sources
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/conclusions/
• ↑ https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.twc/files/resource-files/Intros-Conclusions.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html
• ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/writingforsuccess/chapter/8-4-revising-and-editing/
• ↑ https://writing.ku.edu/writing-process

About This Article

If you need to write an essay, start by gathering information from reputable sources, like books from the library or scholarly journals online. Take detailed notes and keep track of which facts come from which sources. As you're taking notes, look for a central theme that you're interested in writing about to create your thesis statement. Then, organize your notes into an outline that supports and explains your thesis statement. Working from your outline, write an introduction and subsequent paragraphs to address each major point. Start every paragraph with a topic sentence that briefly explains the main point of that paragraph. Finally, finish your paper with a strong conclusion that sums up the most important points. For tips from our English Professor co-author on helpful revision techniques, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Do you need to write an essay fast and get an excellent score? Are you in a rush and need to complete the writing task in a day or just 1 hour? Or maybe you have an upcoming test with strict time constraints for the writing section, such as a 30-minute limit for the SAT essay or 45 minutes given for an ACT writing prompt? Whatever your case is, it's important to stay focused, organized, and efficient. And you are in the right place to master speedy writing. 

In this guide, we have compiled 12 valuable tips to help you create top-notch papers and write faster within tough time constraints. Whether you are faced with a challenging topic that requires in-depth analysis, or need to produce a high-quality essay quickly for a test or assignment, these suggestions will come in handy. 

Let’s jump into the topic and find out how to write an essay quickly and efficiently. Alternatively, you can pay for essay to get results twice as fast.

How Long Does It Take to Write a Paper Fast

Every student wants to know how to write an essay fast and with less effort. It is a complicated task, as it requires a lot of previous preparation and understanding of basic writing and research principles. The amount of time required to complete a paper depends on several factors:

• Length of an essay
• Topic complexity
• Depth of preliminary research
• Writing skills.

Generally, if you have a good topic understanding and have a solid outline, you will be able to write a 5-paragraph essay in a few hours or even less. On the other hand, if you are writing a research paper , it may take several days to complete, even if you are working fast. 

In this blog, we will discuss how to write a paper fast to help you quickly cope with assignments and enjoy your student life.

Tips on How Write an Essay Fast

Let’s start with a clear goal – you need to write an essay quickly and get the highest possible score. Start with appropriate preparation. Ensure you dedicate enough time to planning, understanding the task, creating an outline, and writing your essay. Consider an essential structure for your text that can be easily applied during the test or assignment.

The secret of fast and effective writing is appropriate planning and a clear understanding of assignments. Practice and learn from the best essay examples to write papers faster. In the following sections, we will focus on quick essay writing tips to improve your essays and make the whole writing process much more manageable.

1. Ged Rid of Distractions

To write essays faster, you need to be entirely concentrated on your work. Focusing intensely on something for an hour or more can be complicated, but this is the only way to complete your task quickly. Remember that you don’t have much time. Most likely you will spend 30% of your time on the planning and research part. Turn off all your gadgets, and ensure that messages and calls don’t distract you. Organize your workplace and dedicate time to writing. 

You can write your essay fast but should focus only on this task. It is essential to clarify what can be a distraction and fix it. For example, you may want to check your social media all the time. Then put your gadgets in another room to focus on your assignment.

2. Plan Every Minute of Your Time

Every minute of your writing process should be planned. If you need to learn how to write an essay in an hour, start planning the exact amount of time for creating each section of your paper. You may use our Assignment Calculator to divide your task into smaller pieces and stay on track. 

Let’s look at this 60 minutes example and what your time-planning can look like. You will need 5 minutes to create an outline and 10 minutes for each part of your text. An introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion will take 50 minutes in sum. Allot additional 5 minutes for revision. 

Ensure you are not spending 30 minutes on the hook intro to your essay. Be precise with the timing.

3. Set a Timer to Achieve Your Writing Goal

For fast essay writing, you need to have a lot of experience. As we have mentioned before, being proficient in time management is essential. But how to feel time and see the difference between 10 and 20 minutes? Practice is the answer. Set up a timer for 60 minutes and try to finalize your essay. Ultimately, you will see how much more time you need to improve your text. 

You may be a talented college essay writer and find that you can create a masterpiece in 60 minutes without any specific preparations. Who knows! But try working with a timer first! Write your essay fast and check how many essential points you are missing.

4. Carefully Read the Task

Start with careful assignment reading to learn how to write a good essay fast. No doubt that this is 50% of your success. 

When it comes to writing assignments, you may be given a prompt that includes questions or 3 different positions to choose from. Alternatively, you may be presented with a quote and tasked with elaborating on its meaning and explaining your understanding. It is essential to understand what each specific task is about. In this case, you won’t spend 20 minutes writing the answer to a wrong question. 

If you find that you don't fully understand the writing task at first glance, don't worry. Get acquainted with instructions again, and if necessary, read them one more time. And only after that move to the next step to avoid unnecessary confusion.

5. Do Quick Research

If you need to write an essay in 30 minutes, it may sound problematic to conduct research before commencing. However, if you have an hour or 2 for your text, it is possible to run a quick research that will improve your text significantly. 

To finish an essay fast, you must learn to conduct research quickly. If you have the Internet access, look at the statistics on your topic, as numbers often strengthen your statements. Search for the latest data, new discoveries, or approaches in analysis in your area. Maybe, you’ll find interesting facts or evidence supporting your point of view. Do not forget to save all relevant links.

6. Identify the Main Idea and Stick to It

Before jumpstarting the writing process, you must define the statements you will argue in your essay. Be clear with your main idea to do an essay fast. Otherwise, you will spend all your time discussing what viewpoint is the best to stand on. 

Here’s what you should consider in choosing the right statement for your essay:

• You don’t need the right answer – opt for the one you can find argumentation on. Choose the main idea that can be easily elaborated and developed.
• Find a unique angle. If you have 3 prompt perspectives and need to select only one, be original and try to stand on an issue not presented in a prompt.
• To finish essays quickly, do not choose the most complicated but the most perspective point of view. It’s better to have a lot of various arguments for your statements.
• If possible, choose a position that can be supported by personal experience. Giving personal examples or sharing your feelings on the topic is vital and will make your text outspoken.
• Do not change your statements while developing the topic. If you want to get an essay done fast, be consistent with your chosen position.

7. Create an Outline

When you need to write a long essay fast, don’t spend much time on devising a detailed essay outline . However, you need to build a basic structure for your text, as it will definitely save time in the long run. 

What can be included in your outline?

• Intro: Write a few catchy sentences to introduce your topic.
• Thesis statement: Outline your position on this topic.
• 1st Body paragraph: Present the first argument followed by analysis and examples.
• 2nd Body paragraph: Mention the second argument.
• 3rd Body paragraph: Elaborate on the third argument.
• Conclusion: Summarize your argumentation and provide a call to action.

Even if you don’t go deep with each point in your outline, clarify the critical thoughts for each part of your paper.

8. Follow a Basic Structure

The fastest way to write an essay is to be strict with the basic structure you decide to use. Usually, it will be an introduction, 2 or 3 body paragraphs and a conclusion section. If you already have an outline, you know the crucial points for each section. In this stage, the best way to save time is to stick to this essay structure without trying to add a few new paragraphs. 

For a solid paper, you should be logical and consistent in argumentation. If you are working on 5 paragraph essay, do not try to change its organization in the middle of the writing process.

9. Choose Quality Over Quantity

Writing an essay really fast does not mean you need to write a lot and put into the paper everything you have in your head. Submitting longer text than required doesn’t mean you will have a better score. Paradoxically, students tend to make more mistakes in lengthy pieces.

For example, if the task is to write a 1000-word essay, and students are trying to expand it to 1500 words, there is a risk that such paper will contain many errors. In this case, you will have less time for planning, research, and outlining and probably no time for proofreading. Don’t compromise on the quality of your text, since it’s more critical for advanced scoring! 

>> Read more: How to Write a 1000 Word Essay

10. Write an Introduction and Conclusion Last

If you want your paper done fast, start with the main body and argumentation paragraphs first. It can sound strange, as we got used to beginning with the essay introduction . But how will you hook your reader if you are unsure about your arguments yet? The solution is simple. Create 3 paragraphs with argumentation, then move to an introduction section. It will be way easier to identify what can entice your reader and become a benefit for the intro paragraph. 

Also, you will write your conclusion section only after you finish everything. By doing so, you will be able to paraphrase your thesis statement and wrap up only essential aspects.

>> Learn more: How to Conclude an Essay

11. Separate Drafting and Revision

Drafting your essay and carrying out a final essay revision are two separate processes, and you need to plan time for each one accordingly. For writing papers faster, draft your text right after creating an outline. It does not mean you should go into details. But add one introductory sentence to each text part and then move to more profound idea development. 

Revision of your ideas and argumentation is also a separate process. Plan at least 5 minutes to go through drafted ideas and critically analyze them. 

Quite often, students do drafting and revision at once. But we recommend separating this process to make your writing more efficient.

12. Proofread Your Essay

Writing a paper in less than an hour does not mean you can submit it with grammar or spelling mistakes. You should have at least 5-7 minutes for proofreading. Even if you are working on a 20-minute essay, allocate enough time for further improvements. Deep and valuable thoughts and arguments won’t help if your paper has many mistakes. Check the most common spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors that may occur in your text. Pay attention to the general structure and ensure you are not missing any logical connections. 

Proofreading is as important as building a solid statement for your essay. This is the ground for excellent grading.

Mistakes to Avoid While Writing an Essay Quickly

You may feel pressure to write your essay in under 30 minutes, but it does not mean you can’t create great work. How to succeed with this task? Be focused on your paper and try to avoid the most common mistakes. 

Here is the list of typical flaws:

• Repeating introduction sentences in the conclusion. You need to summarize your thoughts at the end, not paraphrase your intro.
• Not planning enough time for research and revision. You may think you won’t forget to proofread your essay before submission, but you will often run out of time.
• Including too much information into a 200-word essay. Use only facts and information that will benefit your text, not everything you know on a topic.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Fast Essay Writing

Submitting a last-minute essay can be quite a challenge for anyone. However, after some practice, you may feel it is more effective than spending days on a paper. It is evident that fast writing has pros and cons, and here we will cover them.

The advantages of a fast-written essay are:

• Ability to submit your work on time
• Honing effective time management skills and increasing productivity
• Nurturing concentration on important facts and only necessary information
• Gaining confidence and approaching future tasks with ease.

At the same time, there are a lot of disadvantages of working with time-limited writing assignments. Here are some of them:

• Deadline pressure can make writers less creative.
• You may not plan enough time for proofreading, and it will affect even a well-written essay.
• You may have no time for research, and it will make your essay less valuable and robust.
• Focusing on each essay part separately may cause logic gaps in a text.

Bottom Line on How to Write Essays Quickly

In your study life, you will definitely face situations when you need to write an essay fast – in 20 or 60 minutes. It may look tricky, as last minute paper submission is always stressful. But in this blog, we provided you with the most effective tips on writing your essay fast and easy. 

It can be a piece of cake for you – just plan your time, pay attention to details, and do not forget about the proofreading part. We did our best to share actionable suggestions on how to write faster. Follow our advice on content writing and be confident in your academic writing success!

Buy essay papers from our academic writing service. Powered by great experience, our writers will find a quick solution to your request.

FAQ on How to Write an Essay Fast

1. can you write an essay in 30 minutes.

As a student, you will often be given tasks with 30 minutes allotted to complete it. Creating a solid essay in 30 minutes can be daunting, but it is definitely achievable. You need to hone time planning and research skills to handle your paper quickly.

2. How to finish an essay fast?

Usually, you will come to a conclusion section at the last minute. To finish a good essay fast, you can use suggestions at the end, underline your point of view or ask your reader to think on this topic. For example, you may ask the readers’ choice in this situation. Or you may come up with a rhetorical question at the end.

3. How many minutes is a 300 word essay?

On average, people will need 7.5 minutes to type 300 words on a computer and almost 15 minutes for handwriting. However, it does not mean that 7 minutes will be enough to finish your assignments. Identify statements and argumentation, spend time on an outline and draft, and finally have some time for editing and proofreading.

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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How to Write an Essay Fast ­– A High-Quality Paper

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Essay writing, particularly crafting a college essay under a tight deadline, can be a daunting and stressful experience.  The challenge intensifies when you are expected to complete an essay in just a few hours or days. Time becomes a valuable commodity, and maximizing it efficiently becomes critical for success. To navigate this high-pressure situation, you’ll need all the guidance and assistance you can get. Read on to discover how to write an essay fast without compromising on quality.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 How to write an essay fast – In a nutshell
• 2 Definition: How to write an essay fast
• 3 Basic essay format: How to write an essay fast
• 4 The 5 steps of How to write an essay fast
• 5 How to write an essay fast: Example
• 6 Essay checklist

How to write an essay fast – In a nutshell

• Always plan your time before writing an essay
• Brainstorm and outline the structure your essay will take
• Aim to revise your essay a few times before submitting it

Definition: How to write an essay fast

Essay writing is a fundamental skill for college students, regardless of their major. You’ll be obliged to compose an essay at some point during your degree. This can be a compulsory assignment where you must write on a predetermined topic or an essay on your chosen topic. Either way, essay writing is something you can’t avoid as a student.

Basic essay format: How to write an essay fast

Essay writing isn’t merely a linear listing of concepts. It also necessitates a well-structured framework and format to compile all research in one place. Each essay must include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion to contain all the pertinent material.

The 5 steps of How to write an essay fast

Follow these procedures on how to write an essay fast to meet the deadline, whether you have a week, a few days, or just a few hours remaining.

How to write an essay fast: Step 1: Organize

Having a basic schedule of how much time you invest in each section of your essay helps you avoid lingering longer than necessary in an area. Set deadlines with built-in breaks regardless of the time you have.

When planning on how to write an essay fast, time allocation should be as follows: 

• Brainstorming: 10 %
• Outlining: 10 %
• Writing: 40 %
• Revising: 30 %
• Taking breaks in between: 10 %

If you have a few hours:

• Brainstorming: 15–30 minutes
• Outlining: 15–30 minutes
• Writing: 2–3 hours
• Revising: 1–2 hours

If you have a few days:

• Brainstorming: Day 1
• Outlining: Day 1
• Writing: Days 1, 2, and 3
• Revising: Days 2 and 3

How to write an essay fast: Step 2: Brainstorm

The second step in devising a plan on how to write an essay fast should be brainstorming. Complete these tasks to quickly brainstorm your topic:

Top 5 things I want colleges to know about me

• I’m an honors student
• I play football
• I am the eldest in a family of four
• I beat cancer
• I love cooking, comics, and science

Adjectives related to my personality and character

• Responsible

2 things that make me different from other applicants

• Extensive knowledge of history that has won me many trivia competitions
• Self-taught fluent Korean and Spanish speaker

How to write an essay fast: Step 3: Outline

Outlining is the third step on how to write an essay fast. Use a narrative framework if you have a single story on overcoming a challenge or personal growth. This essay genre narrates a story chronologically. This structure is simpler if you are short on time.

If several of your stories share a common theme, use a montage framework to link them. Use this outline if you have more than a few hours to work on your paper.

How to write an essay fast: Step 4: Write

Unique storytelling sets you apart from others and helps your essay stand out. Keep these in mind on how to write an essay fast:

• Emphasise key instances rather than summarizing a lengthy time frame.
• Be open and honest with your feelings and thoughts.
• Be authentic and strike the right tone.
• Keep the spotlight on you and not on someone else.
• Describe sensory details to evoke vivid images.

How to write an essay fast: Step 5: Revise

Finishing up on the conclusion doesn’t mean you’re done with the essay. Always review your paper for completeness and allow sufficient time for revising your essay. You should strive for three rounds of revision to review the content, clarity, and grammar.

Prioritize clarity and precise grammar if you’re pressed for time.

How to write an essay fast: Example

Overcoming a challenge, a sports injury narrative.

This essay describes how a student overcame a hardship, specifically a sports injury, using a narrative structure. As this topic is often overused, the essay must contain a vivid description, a compelling opening and conclusion, and an insightful analysis.

Essay checklist

Topic and framework

• I’ve chosen a topic with personal significance.
• This essay reveals something distinct from the rest of my application materials.
• My narrative is lucid and well-structured.
• I’ve concluded with a creative or insightful ending.

Writing style and tone

• I’ve created an attention-grabbing introduction with vivid visuals.
• My essay is demonstrative rather than descriptive.
• I’ve used the proper tone and style.
• I’ve used detailed, vivid, and difficult-to-replicate personal stories.
• My article demonstrates my positive characteristics and values.
• This essay is about me, not another individual or entity.
• My writing contains self-reflection and insight.
• I’ve kept to the word limit, staying within 10% of the maximum word count.

How to write an essay fast?

When planning on how to write an essay fast:

• Set yourself deadlines

How to write an essay fast and meet the word count?

If your college essay exceeds the word count, trim sentences that contain digressions or irrelevant information.

How to write an essay fast and revise thoroughly?

While editing your college essay, first consider the essay’s message and overall structure. Then, evaluate the text’s flow, tone, style, and clarity. Lastly, concentrate on correcting grammar and punctuation errors.

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7 Useful Tools & Websites to Speed up Your Essay Writing Process

Posted by Sponsored | Oct 19, 2020 | Classifieds | 2

Without unnecessary ado, we all know that an essay is the most commonly assigned academic paper. Students first face this task early in elementary school. And once you get it for the first time, it seems to be with you for the rest of your academic life and, often, even further.

When preparing for an exam, applying for a scholarship, entering a college, submitting a contest application, or even applying for a job – in each of these cases, as well as many other situations, you will probably have to write an essay. And you have to come up with a great one to succeed.

Top 7 Handy Tools and Websites for Students to Write Essays Faster

A typical essay can be anywhere between 500 and 5000 or more words long. An average student can handle writing, let’s say a 1,000-word, paper in about 3 hours and 20 minutes. But, that’s in the ideal conditions. In fact, most often such assignments take much longer to complete. Not to mention that the bigger the word count, the more time it takes.

It is hard to imagine how much time a person spends on such assignments throughout one’s life. So, are there any ways to speed up this process? Luckily, today, there are tons of helpful sites and tools to make the process faster and much easier!

In the list below, we have gathered some of the best options students can opt for.

EssayWritingService

EssayWritingService is one of the students’ all-time favorite sites. The reason why we have it listed first is that it doesn’t just speed up the process, it actually rids you of all the work!

The service has a large pool of expert writers with MA and Ph.D. degrees in various fields. Here you can pay for argumentative essay or any other paper and receive flawless work right on time. The service guarantees excellent quality and timely delivery. 

They also promise zero plagiarism for all orders. This service has been around for quite a while and earned a trusted reputation. Thus, if you want to get a high grade with https://ca.essaywritingservice.com , be sure that the pros from this platform will help you!

HubSpot Blog Ideas Generator

One of the hardest parts of the process is the choice of the right topic. A good topic is one of the most vital elements of success. If it is too broad, too narrow, or too common – the chances of getting the highest grade decrease. But this next tool can solve this problem!

The HubSpot Blog Ideas Generator is the best web resource to help you find lots of fresh and engaging titles. In just a few seconds it helps generate great topic ideas. And the best part is that it is absolutely free of charge! We believe it is one of the essential apps for finding inspiration.

Google Scholar

Like all of you should probably know, research is the core stage in writing an academic paper. During this stage, students search for valid and accurate data to complement their papers. Of course, the internet is the most widely-used resource for research these days. 

However, how to know for sure which web resources contain accurate and valid information? That’s what Google Scholar was designed for.

Google Scholar is probably the best database for academic research. It is very intuitive, free of charge, and rather extensive. Using this database, students can find the freshest and most accurate scientific articles on a variety of topics.

MindMeister

Another hard but extremely important stage of the process is brainstorming. During it, a student defines his key points and arguments and decides how to organize them in the most efficient way. That’s another stage when some extra help won’t hurt.

MindMeister is a cool app that makes brainstorming fast and simple. Using it, you can create great mind maps and capture all ideas. This tool helps organize thoughts and move on to the writing stage faster.

Once the topic is defined and all ideas are generated, here comes the time to put all thoughts in the right order. This process is called outlining. And, though students often skip it, it is essential for success.

Creating an outline can take quite a while if you don’t know where to start. That’s when WorkFlowy comes in handy. This app is available on the Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Chrome. It is fully free. WorkFlowy makes building great outlines fast and easy, so you should definitely give it a try!

When it finally comes to the writing stage, many students have no idea what tools to use. Of course, there is a good old MS Word or, not so old, Google Docs. While both are nice, there is something better we have for you to consider!

BlindWrite is a web app that is perfect for freewriting. The name speaks for itself – it literally makes you write blindly, meaning that it is absolutely free of distractions. All you have is a plain black background and your text.

The app asks you what you’d like to write about and how many minutes you want to spend on it. Once you get started, the text you enter will immediately blur out. This is done to help you focus on what you are going to write about next, but not what you’ve already written. This allows you to lay out your thoughts as they are, without thinking about stuff like word choice. When the specified time runs out, your text will get back to normal, giving you the possibility to edit it. This app is worth giving it a try!

On the Last Note: Grammarly

Finally, the last handy tool to make essay writing faster is Grammarly . We bet you’ve already heard about it. It is one of the best editing software options available today. It is free and convenient. And it helps students spy grammar, punctuation, word choice, spelling, and other errors faster than ever!

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Thanks for sharing this much knowledge. I know a lot of people don’t like written homework in school, but I seriously advise all students to practice more essay writing and research papers because in any college you will need to do good writing assignments.

I’ve always admired people with a talent for writing. I definitely don’t have it. Once I faced a problem in essay writing and editing. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to do each task yourself and ideally. I had to look for extra resources to cope with my task in a short time. Otherwise, the load would have led to even more stress and my life would have turned into hell.

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Master the Art of Writing Essays Quickly with Our Step-by-Step Guide

Mar 22, 2024 | 0 comments

Mar 22, 2024 | Blog | 0 comments

In today’s fast-paced academic world, the ability to write an essay quickly and efficiently is a valuable skill. Whether you’re facing a deadline or simply want to boost your productivity, knowing how to write an essay fast can make all the difference. By mastering strategies such as proper planning, effective time management, and efficient writing techniques, you can tackle any essay with confidence and ease. In this article, we will explore some top tips and tricks for writing an essay in record time. From creating a solid outline to utilizing research shortcuts, we will cover everything you need to know to streamline your writing process and produce high-quality essays in no time. So, if you’re ready to unlock the secrets of how to write an essay fast, read on for expert advice and practical guidance.

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Pros and Cons of Writing an Essay Fast

Writing an essay fast can be both a blessing and a curse for students. On one hand, it’s a precious skill that can save you in situations with tight deadlines. But on the other, rushing too much can compromise the quality of your work. Let’s look at some key pros and cons:

• Pro: Meets Tight Deadlines The biggest advantage of being able to write essays quickly is ensuring you can submit your work on time even with a looming deadline. This prevents late penalties and gives you a completed essay to turn in.
• Con: Potential for Lower Quality When you’re rushing to get an essay done fast, it’s easy to make careless mistakes, overlook key requirements, or produce generally sloppy work that doesn’t reflect your full capabilities. You’ll need to proofread extra carefully.
• Pro: Practices Time Management Having to plan, write, and edit an essay in a compressed timeframe pushes you to practice essential time management skills like setting a schedule and sticking to it. This gets easier with practice.
• Con: Less Time for Depth/Development An obvious downside of fast essay writing is less opportunity to fully explore a topic in-depth, carefully examine counterarguments, or develop a truly insightful analysis. You’ll need to prioritize what’s most essential.

Creating a Timed Plan

When you need to write an essay fast, creating a timed plan is crucial for staying focused and ensuring you complete the whole essay within your limited timeframe. Here are some key tips for mapping out an effective writing schedule:

• Set a Total Time Limit First, determine your overall time budget for writing the essay from start to finish. This could be an hour, 90 minutes, or whatever time constraint you’re working under. Be realistic but firm with this limit.
• Break it into Segments Next, divide that total time into smaller segments allocated for specific tasks – brainstorming, outlining, writing the body paragraphs, the introduction and conclusion, and revising. Maybe spend 10 minutes brainstorming, 5 minutes outlining, 20 minutes per body paragraph, etc.
• Start with the Body. You’ll want to spend the bulk of your time on the three body paragraphs since these form the core of your essay and thesis statement. Don’t worry about the introduction yet – get the supporting evidence written first.
• Use a Timer Once you have your schedule mapped out, use a timer or stopwatch to strictly stick to the time limits for each segment. When the timer goes off for one task, move immediately to the next.
• Leave the Last 5 Minutes Always leave 5-10 minutes at the very end for a final once-over. Read through to ensure the essay flows well, fix any glaring typos, and do a general structure check.

Outline Quickly

When you’re short on time, spending too long formally outlining can slow down your essay-writing process. That’s why doing a quick, barebones outline is better for fast essays. Here’s how to do it efficiently:

• Start with the Prompt: Read the essay prompt or question carefully first to make sure you understand exactly what you’re being asked. Underline or highlight any key terms you’ll need to address.
• Brainstorm Briefly: Do a quick 2-3 minute brainstorming session to jot down your initial thoughts and ideas related to the prompt. Don’t worry about order or completeness yet.
• Craft the Thesis: From your brainstorming notes, craft one clear, concise sentence that expresses the main argument or position you plan to take in the essay. This becomes your working thesis statement.
• Note Key Points: Next, spend just 2-3 more minutes and quickly list out the 2-4 main points or chunks of supporting evidence you’ll use in the body paragraphs to back up your thesis.
• That’s It! Now you have all the essential ingredients – a focused thesis responding to the prompt, and your main points to cover in the body. No need for a more detailed outline at this stage.

Read the question carefully

Reading the essay question or prompt carefully is one of the most important steps when you’re trying to write an essay fast. Misunderstanding or missing key details in the prompt can derail your entire essay and waste valuable time. Here’s why this step is so crucial:

• Identify the Instructions: The prompt will contain specific instructions on what you’re expected to write about and accomplish in the essay. For example, it may ask you to argue a particular stance, analyze a concept or idea, compare and contrast two things, etc. Be crystal clear on the task.
• Note Any Restrictions: Some prompts may restrict certain things like the examples you can use, the minimum or maximum number of body paragraphs required, or the rhetorical style. Missing these restrictions can make your essay insufficient.
• Watch for Key Terms: Within the prompt, there are often key terms, concepts, names, or phrases that are central to addressing the essay topic effectively. Underlining or circling these cues ensures you incorporate and properly define them.
• Determine the Parameters: Essay length requirements, formatting guidelines, or other parameters are sometimes included in the prompt itself. Don’t overlook these specifications or you may lose points.
• Brainstorm Quickly: Once you’ve carefully read and understood the prompt, spend just 1-2 minutes rapidly brainstorming your initial thoughts and how you may want to respond. This activates your thinking before outlining.

Write the Body First

When you need to write a paper fast, one of the best tips is to start writing the body paragraphs first. This allows you to focus on writing the easiest and most crucial part of the essay before anything else.

• Use Your Outline: You’ve already spent valuable time brainstorming and creating an outline for your key points. This makes a great jump-off point – you’re going to expand each of those bullet points into a full body paragraph.
• Don’t Worry About Orde r: You don’t need to write the body paragraphs in order from first to last. Instead, start with whichever concept you’re most comfortable writing about to build momentum. You can rearrange their order later if needed.
• Stay On Point: For each paragraph, you’ll require one to three specific examples, quotes, or statistical information that support the main idea you’re conveying. Avoid introducing new tangents that stray from the point.
• Write Quickly: The goal when writing your body paragraphs is to get your evidence and analysis down as quickly as possible. You can always revise and tighten up sentences later during editing if you have time.
• Use Transitions: Don’t forget to help your essay flow logically between body paragraphs by employing transition words and phrases like “additionally,” “in contrast,” etc.

Proofread as you go along

When you’re trying to write essays faster, one helpful strategy is to proofread as you go along instead of waiting until the end. This may seem counterintuitive when you’re short on time, but it can save time and help you write a stronger essay more efficiently.

• Catch Mistakes Early: If you proofread each paragraph shortly after you’ve finished writing it, you’re more likely to catch embarrassing typos, grammar mistakes, or confusing sentences right away. Fixing them in the moment prevents having to re-read the whole essay later hunting for errors.
• Stay On Track: By giving your paragraph’s key sentences a quick once-over as you go, you’ll ensure the writing still flows logically and doesn’t drift away from the main point you’re trying to make. It’s easier to course-correct at the moment.
• Maintain Your Tone: Whether you’re writing a casual or formal essay, maintaining a consistent voice and tone throughout is important. Proofreading as you write each section makes it easier to keep your voice cohesive instead of accidentally switching styles partway through.
• Manage Your Timing: While you shouldn’t spend too much time obsessively re-reading the same paragraph, giving it a quick proofread enables you to write essays faster overall. You’ll feel confident moving forward instead of lingering too long.
• Make Notes for Later: If you notice a section needs more work but you’ve left little time, just make a note to return to it. That way you can finish writing the rest of the essay first while flagging areas for deeper revision.

It’s OK to use Google for quick research

When you’re in a crunch to write a good essay fast, doing thorough research can feel impossible. But the good news is, it’s OK to use Google for quick research. A few targeted searches can provide just enough supplemental information to improve your essay while still allowing you to meet a tight deadline.

• Find Relevant Data: Need some hard numbers, statistics, or authoritative data points to back up key arguments in your essay? A quick Google search can yield that specific information from credible sources to incorporate.
• Get Context: Having trouble putting the essay topic into a broader context? A few Google queries about background information, historical context, or overarching significance can help you write your essays with more insight.
• Locate Quotes: Using pithy quotes or expert commentary is an effective way to underscore important points and strengthen an essay’s persuasive impact. A strategic Google search may surface the perfect relevant anecdote or quote.
• Fact Check Quickly: If something you’re stating seems questionable, you can rapidly fact-check claims or research a topic’s key details right from Google’s results to ensure accuracy.
• Find Real Examples: Need a real-world case study or illustrative example for one of the key points in your body paragraphs? Google can unearth helpful examples, samples, and evidence to shore up your arguments.

Write the Conclusion and Introduction Last

One of the best writing tips for crafting a solid essay quickly is to write the conclusion and introduction paragraphs after you’ve completed the body of the paper. It may seem counterintuitive, but this strategy can improve your writing speed and make the overall process of writing flow much easier.

• Get the Hard Part Done First: The body paragraphs are often the hardest part of an essay to write well. Focusing first on developing your key arguments and evidence allows you to get the heavy lifting done before having to neatly summarize everything.
• Intro Comes Into Focus: Once you’ve done laying out the meat of your essay, writing an introduction that accurately previews what’s to come becomes easier to write. You’ll better understand what context and hooks you need to spend time setting up.
• Write a Tight Conclusion:  Similarly, you’ll be able to craft a conclusion that concisely restates and reinforces your main points after you’ve fully fleshed them out in the body. No guesswork about what to restate.
• Perfect Your Flow: Looking at the text as a whole, you can fine-tune transitions and the overall logical flow of ideas now that the core content is complete. This attention to connective writing produces a more cohesive essay.
• Beat the Clock: For timed essays or those with strict deadlines, leaving the introduction and conclusion for last can be a major timesaver. You maximize the minutes you need to spend on the most complex writing first.

Editing for Time

When you’re down to the final minutes of your time limit for writing a paper, editing becomes a crunch. You’ve got to be strategic about how you use those last precious moments. Here are some tips for effective editing for time:

• Scan for Major Issues First: Don’t get bogged down line-editing sentences yet. First, just skim through the entire text looking for any glaringly obvious errors or areas that are unclear, lacking logical flow, missing evidence, etc. Make notes on these bigger-picture problems to address.
• Check Your Structure: After identifying major content issues, do a quick once-over of the general structure and organization of your paper. Make sure each paragraph serves a clear purpose, your quotes and evidence are properly integrated, and there is a logical progression from the intro to the conclusion.
• Review Key Components: Next, hone in on ensuring your introductory and concluding paragraphs are brief and concise while doing their jobs. The intro should have a clear, arguable thesis. The conclusion should provide a summarizing sentence or two reiterating your main points.
• Clean-Up Mechanics: With any remaining time, quickly proofread for basic grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors that make your writing look sloppy. Simple mistakes like these are easy to fix if you spot them.
• Let Some Things Go: Be realistic that with a tight time crunch, your paper likely won’t be completely polished and perfect. Prioritize fixing major flaws, then let minor awkward phrasing or run-ons go if you’re out of time. Content takes priority.

Get Help With Writing Your Essay Fast

Place your order today by clicking the ORDER NOW button above to get our expert writing help. Essay Freelance Writers is the best in the industry, offering essay writing tips and top-notch essay writing services. If you want to learn how to write effectively or get tips on how to write quickly, we are here to help. Whether you need to improve your writing skills, complete a quick essay writing assignment in less than an hour, or want professional writing services for longer writing papers, our team has you covered.

How to Write an Essay Fast FAQs

What is the best way to write an essay quickly.

The best way to write an essay quickly is to first understand the topic clearly. Then, create an outline to organize your thoughts and main points. Next, focus on writing the body paragraphs before the introduction and conclusion. Finally, proofread and edit your essay for any errors or typos.

Can I write a 1000-word essay in 1 hour?

Writing a 1000-word essay in 1 hour is possible if you manage your time effectively. Start by quickly brainstorming ideas, then create an outline to guide your writing. Focus on writing without stopping for revisions, and make sure to proofread your essay at the end.

How do you write a 5 paragraph essay in 30 minutes?

To write a 5-paragraph essay in 30 minutes , it’s essential to have a clear thesis statement and outline prepared beforehand. Allocate specific time for each paragraph and remember to keep your writing concise and focused on the main ideas. Practice speed writing to improve your efficiency.

How to write a 1,000-word essay fast?

To write a 1000-word essay quickly , start by conducting brief research on the topic. Then, create a detailed outline to guide your writing and ensure your essay follows a logical structure. Focus on writing the body paragraphs first and leave time for editing and proofreading at the end.

With a passion for education and student empowerment, I create blog content that speaks directly to the needs and interests of students. From study hacks and productivity tips to career exploration and personal development

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How to Grade Essays Faster | My Top 10 Grading Tips and Tricks

Are you looking for ways to grade essays faster? I get it. Grading essays can be a daunting task for ELA teachers. Following these essay grading tips and tricks can save you time and energy on grading without giving up quality feedback to your students.

Are you Googling “How to Grade Essays Faster” because that never-ending pile of essays is starting to haunt you? (Yup. I’ve been there.) Teachers of all disciplines understand the work-life struggle of the profession. Throw in 60, 80, 100, or more essays, and you’re likely giving up evenings and weekends until that pile is gone.

Truthfully, while there are many aspects of being an ELA teacher I love , grading essays doesn’t quite make the list. However, it’s a necessary aspect of the ELA classroom to hold students accountable and help them improve. But what if I told you there were some tips and tricks you could use to make grading much easier and faster? Because there are. That means saying goodbye to spending your weekends lost in a sea of student essays. It means no more living at school the weeks following students turning in an essay. Instead, prepare to celebrate getting your time (and sanity) back.

Start By Reframing Your Definition of Grading an Essay

Before you can implement my time-saving grading tips and tricks, you need to be willing to shift your mindset regarding grading. Afterall, where does it say we have to give up hours upon hours of our time to get it done? It’s time to start redefining and reframing what it even means to grade an essay.

The key to reframing your definition (and, therefore, expectations) about grading student essays is thinking about helping your students, not correcting them. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with pointing out grammatical and structural errors. However, it’s essential to focus on leaving constructive feedback that can help students improve their craft. Now, how can that be done without spending hours filling the margins with comments?

I’m glad you asked.

Grade Essays Faster with These Tips and Tricks

Since we can’t avoid grading altogether, I hope these tips and tricks can help you grade essays faster and increase student performance. And while I love rubrics, and they can certainly save time grading, they aren’t your only option. So here are eight other tips and tricks to try.

Tip 1: Get Focused.

This has been one of my biggest grading time-savers. And I’m not just talking about limiting your distractions while you grade (more on that in a minute), but I mean narrow your focus on what it is you’re grading. Often, we spend so much time correcting every single grammatical mistake that we miss opportunities to give feedback on the skills we’re currently teaching. Try to focus your feedback on the specific skills your students just learned, like writing a strong thesis, embedding quotations, providing supporting evidence, or transitioning from paragraph to paragraph.

Taking this approach to grading will lead to less overwhelm for both you and your students. In fact, your students will have a clearer understanding of what they need to continue working on. Just be sure to make the specific skill (or skills) that you’re looking for (and grading) clear at the start of the assignment.

Tip 2: Give Student Choice.

Let’s say you’ve been working on a particular skill for a few weeks and have had your students practice using various writing prompts. Instead of feeling forced to provide feedback on every written response, let your students choose their best work for you to grade. I find that this grading technique works best on shorter assignments.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t apply this to longer essays. If you’ve been working on a certain aspect of essay writing, you can let your students pick the paragraph from their essay they want you to grade. Either way, encourage your students to select the writing they believe best represents their skills and knowledge for the task at hand. Not only will this cut down on your grading time, but it will also encourage a sense of ownership over students’ grades.

Tip 3: Check Mark Revisions.

The checkmark revision approach is a great way to put more ownership and accountability on your students. Instead of grading a student essay by telling them exactly what to fix, turn it into a learning opportunity! As you review the student essay, simply use check marks to note areas that need to be corrected or could be improved. Then, give students time in class to work through their essays, identifying what the check mark indicates and making proper adjustments.

However, make sure your students have a clear list (or rubric) outlining the expectations for the essay. They can use this list to refer to when trying to figure out what revisions they need to make to improve their work. Alternatively, if you’re not ready to jump straight to checkmarks, you can create a comment code that provides a bit more guidance for students without taking up a lot of your time.

Tip 4: Use Conferences.

Have you ever thought about holding student-teacher conferences in lieu of providing written feedback? If not, you totally should! Students are so used to teachers doing the heavy lifting for them. Alternatively, turn the revision process into an active experience for them. Instead of going through the essay on your own, marking errors, and making suggestions, talk it through with each student.

When it comes to student-teacher conferences, make sure to set a reasonable time limit for each conference to ensure you’re not spending days conducting these meetings. Just make sure your time limit is enough to review their written work and provide verbal feedback. I require each student to mark their essay as we review it so they know exactly what to work on. While I’m more than willing to answer questions, I encourage students to make an appointment with me after school if they need extensive help.

Tip 5: Skim and Review

I can’t be the only one who wants to shed a tear of frustration when I watch a student toss a comment-covered essay right into recycling. So, instead of spending hours leaving comments on each and every student’s essay, skim through their rough drafts while noting common errors. That way, instead of waiting until students turn in their final draft to address their mistakes, you can review common errors in class before they submit a final draft.  Trust me. This will make grading those final drafts much easier– especially if you have a clear rubric or grading checklist to follow.

This is a great way to review common grammar mistakes that we don’t always take time to teach at the secondary level. It’s also a great way for you to address aspects of your target skills that students are still struggling with. Lastly, I find this shift in focus from the final product to the revision process helps students better understand (and, perhaps, appreciate) the writing process as more than a grade but a learning experience.

Tip 6: Leave a Comment at the End.

This is a huge time-saver, and it’s pretty simple. Although be warned, it might challenge you to go against all of your grading instincts! We’re so used to marking every single error or making all the suggestions with student essays. But, students are often overwhelmed by the mere look of ink-filled margins. What if, instead, you save your comments for the end and limit yourself to one or two celebrations and one or two areas for improvement? This is a simple yet clear way to provide feedback to your students on a final draft, especially if you’ve already gone through a more in-depth revision process from draft to draft.

Okay fine. If you must, you can fix the grammatical errors using a red pen, but save your energy by avoiding writing the same thing over and over again. If you’ve marked the same error three times, let that be it. If they don’t get it after three examples, they should probably make time to see you after school.

Tip 7: Grade Paragraph-by-Paragraph.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by grading a tall stack of essays, consider breaking your grading– and writing– process down by paragraph. Assessing a single paragraph is far more time-friendly than an entire essay. So, have your students work on their essay paragraph by paragraph, turning each component in as they are completed. That way, you can provide quick and effective feedback they can apply when revising that paragraph and writing any future paragraphs for the final piece. Take it a step further by breaking it down into specific skills and components of an essay. For example, maybe you grade students’ thesis statements and supporting evidence as two separate steps. Grading each of these components takes far less time and, by the time students put it all together for their final essay, their writing should be much more polished and easier to grade. Plus, since you gave immediate feedback throughout the process, you don’t have to worry about spending hours writing comments throughout their entire paper. Instead, give the students a “final” grade using a simple rubric. And since you gave them opportunities to apply your feedback throughout the writing process, you can even have an “improvement” section of the rubric. This is an easy way to acknowledge student effort and progress with their writing.

Tip 8: Mark-up a Model Paragraph.

Take some of the work off your plate by grading a paragraph and letting the students do the rest. (You read that right.) Here’s how it works: instead of grading an entire paper, rewriting the same comments paragraph after paragraph, just mark up a model paragraph. Alternatively, you can grade the intro and conclusion paragraphs, while marking up one body paragraph as a model for the remaining body paragraphs. Give them a score on a smaller scale, such as 1 to 10, as a phase one grade.

Then, set aside time in class to have your students review your model paragraph and use it to mark up the rest of their paper before fixing their errors. I like giving them time in class to do this so they can ask me any clarifying questions in real-time. Once they turn in their revised essay, you can give them a phase two grade without having to worry about diving too deep into feedback. A comment per paragraph or page would suffice.

More Teacher Tricks to Help You Grade Essays Faster

T ip 9: set realistic goals..

Just like we set our students up for success, set yourself up for success too. If you know you can’t get through a class worth of essays during your prep period, don’t set it as your goal. You’ll only feel overwhelmed, disappointed, and discouraged when you only make it through half of your stack. Instead, only tackle your grading when you have the time to do so, and set realistic goals when you do. Grading more essays than you planned on? You feel on top of the world. Grading fewer? You feel like it’s neverending.

Tip 10: Avoid Distractions.

Instagram? Facebook? I know how easy it is to wander over to your phone and take a scroll break. But, we both know a few minutes can turn into an hour real fast. So, do yourself a favor, and when you know it’s time to grade a stack of essays, free your space of any distractions and set a timer. You’d be surprised by how much you can get done in an hour of uninterrupted essay grading.

The bottom line is that grading is an unavoidable aspect of being an ELA teacher. However, I hope one or more of these ideas can help you grade essays faster. The truth is, with these essay grading tips and tricks, you won’t only grade essays more efficiently, but you’ll provide better feedback for students as well. In fact, the longer we take to grade (or procrastinate grading) those essays, the less effective the feedback is for students, period.

So, here’s to more effective grading– faster!

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6 Common Leadership Styles — and How to Decide Which to Use When

• Rebecca Knight

Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances call for different approaches.

Research suggests that the most effective leaders adapt their style to different circumstances — be it a change in setting, a shift in organizational dynamics, or a turn in the business cycle. But what if you feel like you’re not equipped to take on a new and different leadership style — let alone more than one? In this article, the author outlines the six leadership styles Daniel Goleman first introduced in his 2000 HBR article, “Leadership That Gets Results,” and explains when to use each one. The good news is that personality is not destiny. Even if you’re naturally introverted or you tend to be driven by data and analysis rather than emotion, you can still learn how to adapt different leadership styles to organize, motivate, and direct your team.

Much has been written about common leadership styles and how to identify the right style for you, whether it’s transactional or transformational, bureaucratic or laissez-faire. But according to Daniel Goleman, a psychologist best known for his work on emotional intelligence, “Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances may call for different approaches.”

• RK Rebecca Knight is a journalist who writes about all things related to the changing nature of careers and the workplace. Her essays and reported stories have been featured in The Boston Globe, Business Insider, The New York Times, BBC, and The Christian Science Monitor. She was shortlisted as a Reuters Institute Fellow at Oxford University in 2023. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade as an editor and reporter at the Financial Times in New York, London, and Boston.

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NCAA allows transfers to be immediately eligible, no matter how many times they’ve switched schools

FILE - Wachovia Center operations manager Jim McDonald, left, and carpenter foreman Tim Allen remove the protective film covering the NCAA logo at mid-court on the center’s basketball court, Wednesday, March 15, 2006, in Philadelphia. NCAA athletes will be immediately eligible to play no matter how many times they transfer — as long as they meet academic requirements — after the association fast-tracked legislation Wednesday, April 17, 2024, to fall in line with a recent court order. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, FIie)

FILE - South Carolina players work out during a practice at the Women’s Final Four NCAA college college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 2, 2022, in Minneapolis. NCAA athletes will be immediately eligible to play no matter how many times they transfer — as long as they meet academic requirements — after the association fast-tracked legislation Wednesday, April 17, 2024, to fall in line with a recent court order. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

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NCAA athletes will be immediately eligible to play no matter how many times they transfer — as long as they meet academic requirements — after the association fast-tracked legislation Wednesday to fall in line with a recent court order.

The NCAA announced the Division I Council’s decision becomes official Thursday when its meeting adjourns. The change still needs to be ratified by the DI Board next week, but that is expected.

The new rules will go into effect immediately, though in reality they have already been enacted through a lawsuit filed late last year.

Transfer windows, which are sport-specific, remain in place and require undergraduate athletes to enter their names into the portal at certain times to be immediately eligible at a new school. Graduate students can already transfer multiple times and enter the portal outside the windows while maintaining immediate eligibility.

A coalition of state attorneys general late last year sued the NCAA, challenging rules that forced athletes that wanted to transfer multiple-times as undergraduates to sit out a season with their new school.

A judge in West Virginia granted the plaintiffs a temporary injunction, lifting requirements for multiple-time transfers to request a waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible to compete.

The NCAA quickly requested the injunction be kept in place throughout the remaining school year to clear up any ambiguity for athletes and schools. The association has had to issue guidance to its members to clarify what that means for next season. Now the rules match the court ruling.

By eliminating the so-called year-in-residence for transfers, an athlete must be academically eligible at the previous school and not subject to any disciplinary suspension or dismissal to compete immediately at a new school. Transferring athletes must also meet progress-toward-degree requirements before competing.

“We hope that this practical approach to transfer eligibility requirements will encourage student-athletes to make well-informed decisions about transferring and the impacts such a move could have on their ability to graduate on time in their degree of choice, particularly as it relates to transferable credits,” Florida deputy athletic director and council chairwoman Lynda Tealer said in a statement.

The board will ask the committee on academics to explore creating a new metric — similar to the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rating — that would hold schools accountable for graduating the transfers they accept.

The portal windows are currently open for both football and basketball, and the lifting of restrictions on multiple-time transfers has led to an uptick in athletes looking to switch schools.

In a notable move that would not have been permissible without a waiver under previous rules, Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor entered the portal in January after Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban retired, committed to Iowa, but then changed his mind during the spring and has reentered the portal with the intention to reenroll at Alabama.

The DI Council also moved forward on legislation that would allow schools to be more actively involved in securing sponsorship deals for their athletes. Schools could still not directly pay athletes, but they could facilitate NIL opportunities between third parties and athletes.

AP Sports Writer John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.

Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Screen Rant

How to make the most money in bitlife (& fast).

There are a ton of careers for you to choose from in BitLife, but if you want to make the most money in the game, you should focus on becoming famous.

Quick Links

How to get rich quick, how to become a famous actor.

Making money fast allows you to live extravagantly in Bitlife , but you have to follow the right path to earn the most revenue. Not every career in the game offers an amazing salary, while fewer reach the heights of the wealth you may be trying to attain. Working hard toward a profession suited for a high income is the best step you can take to make your dreams come true.

You don't need to buy any Job Packs to get rich or use any real-world money to inflate your wallet. Wealth in this game isn't obtained through various jobs you might expect, such as the Astronaut or Lawyer in Bitlife . Similar to real life, the easiest way to make piles of cash isn't through working harder than everyone else, but rather relying on a bit of luck and persistence.

BitLife: How To Become an Astronaut

The fastest way to make the most money in BitLife is by becoming famous through acting, sports, or music . Popularity will rake in the dough, but becoming a Famous Actor will generate the most revenue for you in record time. Fame allows you to monetize your success using social media platforms, such as Instagram or YouTube, where you can show yourself off while remaining in the public eye.

Those who become famous can quickly earn cash by doing activities tied to their fame like doing photo shoots or writing a book documenting their rise to success.

Other profitable ways to make money fast are to gamble , inherit money by marrying an elderly person, or invest in real estate . While these methods will earn you around the same amount of money as being a famous actor, each takes far more time and carries more risk. You can always lose more money than you gain when gambling, while real estate and inheritance cash don't accumulate right away.

The best strategy to become a famous actor is to build a character with high Looks and Smarts stats . Similar to getting a STEM degree in Bitlife , you need to keep your grades decent to maintain your Smarts, but not to the same high standards as other professions. The most important aspect of your character is their Looks, which determine how well you'll look behind a screen as an actor.

You cannot let your Looks drop below 90% or you'll lose the chance to follow the career of a famous actor. Maintaining Looks can be tricky since they are tied to several jobs that could also make your character famous. Stay healthy to keep your Looks stat up by going to the gym, visiting the Salon & Spa, learning Martial Arts, or many other activities that will only serve to improve your body's appearance.

Don't forget to start building a strong social media presence early to have a large following for when you become famous. You can earn money fast by promoting products on your social media pages when you are a famous actor.

When your character reaches the age of 8, start signing up for acting lessons by visiting the "Body" page from the "Mind" prompt located within the "Activities" section of your menu. Unlike answering Pilot License questions in Bitlife , you simply need to keep attending acting classes until you've maxed out the skill. When you're ready, hire a Talent Agent when you look for part-time work after completing the classes.

You can find a Talent Agent from the "Actors" tab in the "Special Careers" menu, who will set you up with auditions that could land you a role. Shortly after landing roles, you will slowly but surely become famous, giving you a way to get cash through Fame Activities at a certain level of notoriety. The more famous you are in Bitlife , the more money you will make through the tasks you complete.

Construction begins on high-speed rail between Vegas and California

Brightline west will make the trip between las vegas and rancho cucamonga in a little over two hours.

Privately owned train company Brightline held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for a $12 billion high-speed rail project connecting Las Vegas and Southern California.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg joined company leaders and other officials for the start of construction in Las Vegas.

Brightline West benefits from $3 billion in federal funds from President Biden ’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Trains could be running as soon as early 2028, in time for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Travelers have a lot to look forward to. Electric trains will depart every 45 minutes from a Las Vegas station south of the city’s storied Strip and a Southern California station in Rancho Cucamonga, a Los Angeles suburb about 40 miles east of downtown.

Traveling at up to 186 mph — faster than any other train in the United States — Brightline West trains will make the 218-mile trip in about 2 hours and 10 minutes.

“At long last, we’re building the first high-speed rail project in our nation’s history,” President Biden said of Brightline West in December. “We’ve been talking about this project for decades. Now we’re really getting it done.”

Other high-speed railroads that would carry passengers at 200 mph and faster are in the works in California, Texas and the Pacific Northwest.

“The bottom line here is we changed the trajectory,” Buttigieg said in an interview Monday. More than $30 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been awarded to date and more is on the way, he added.

The success of the Brightline West project could influence how future rail projects receive funding.

“It won’t be easy but I think they have all of the right things in place to get this done,” Buttigieg said.

Speed is Brightline West’s main selling point. Driving between Rancho Cucamonga and Las Vegas takes at least three hours without traffic, according to Google Maps.

“You’ll be sitting there flying by on Brightline looking at all these brake lights on the highway and thinking, ‘It sucks to be you,’” said Jim Mathews, CEO of the Rail Passengers Association , said on Friday. “That’s what it’s going to be like for all those people trying to get from greater Los Angeles to Las Vegas.”

Brightline West trains will run along Interstate 15 for nearly their entire journey. They will make two intermediate stops in California: one in Hesperia and one in Apple Valley.

Travelers coming from Los Angeles will have the option of riding Metrolink , Southern California’s regional rail system, to the Rancho Cucamonga station located near the junction of Interstates 10 and 15. The trip between downtown Los Angeles and Rancho Cucamonga takes at least 50 minutes by car without traffic, or 1 hour and 15 minutes on the train.

“Getting it to a juncture where pretty much everybody who passes into the I-15 corridor goes through is a massive benefit from a climate perspective, a congestion perspective, and an economic perspective,” Buttigieg said.

Future plans include a direct connection for Brightline West to Los Angeles Union Station as part of the separate California High-Speed Rail project.

Speed won’t be the only reason to ride Brightline West.

Brightline’s Florida operation connecting Miami to Orlando opened in September , giving future customers out West an idea of what to expect. Before Brightline’s debut, Amtrak held a monopoly on intercity passenger rail travel for decades.

Stations are spacious with comfortable areas to sit, bars selling craft cocktails and a lounge for premium passengers. Onboard, travelers enjoy assigned seats and fast WiFi. Attendants come down the aisle serving snacks and drinks throughout the trip.

Brightline told investors that it carried a record 258,307 passengers in March, and that one in three of its trains were nearly full.

Brightline’s strong ridership, though slower than initially promised to investors, makes a strong case for building fast and frequent trains between major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Brightline West estimates that 6 million people will ride its trains during the first full year of operation, according to a federal environmental assessment . That number is projected to grow to as many as 9.2 million people within a decade.

The company estimates that, without the train, three-quarters of its riders would drive between Southern California and Las Vegas. Another 15 percent would fly, and the balance would not make the trip at all.

More travel news

How we travel now: More people are taking booze-free trips — and airlines and hotels are taking note. Some couples are ditching the traditional honeymoon for a “buddymoon” with their pals. Interested? Here are the best tools for making a group trip work.

Bad behavior: Entitled tourists are running amok, defacing the Colosseum , getting rowdy in Bali and messing with wild animals in national parks. Some destinations are fighting back with public awareness campaigns — or just by telling out-of-control visitors to stay away .

Safety concerns: A door blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet, leaving passengers traumatized — but without serious injuries. The ordeal led to widespread flight cancellations after the jet was grounded, and some travelers have taken steps to avoid the plane in the future. The incident has also sparked a fresh discussion about whether it’s safe to fly with a baby on your lap .

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Guest Essay

Do Not Make Survival Even More Difficult for People on the Streets

By Laura Riley

Ms. Riley is the director of the clinical program at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Homeless Advocacy.”

In 2013, Grants Pass, Ore., came up with a strategy to deal with a growing homeless population in the city of roughly 40,000, one that might best be described as kicking the can down the road.

Through a series of ordinances, the city essentially made it illegal to sleep outside in public. In particular, anyone sleeping anywhere in public with bedding, a blanket or a sleeping bag would be breaking the law.

“The point,” the City Council president explained at the time, “is to make it uncomfortable enough for them in our city so they will want to move on down the road.”

Unhoused individuals wouldn’t have much choice. There are no homeless shelters in Grants Pass. At least 600 people in the city were unhoused in 2018 and 2019, according to counts by a local nonprofit that serves the unhoused.

Now the United States Supreme Court is being asked whether the enforcement of the city’s camping regulations, which apply to all of the city’s residents but affect them in vastly different ways, violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Oral arguments are scheduled for Monday.

Of course, weighing the legality of camping obscures the real issue, which is how, in a nation with roughly 650,000 unhoused people, the federal, state and local governments can make sure there are enough beds for people to sleep in. Forcing unhoused people to the next town does not create housing that is affordable or available.

The case is an appeal to a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that prohibited Grants Pass from using citations to enforce its public camping ordinance. The Ninth Circuit had earlier prohibited cities from enforcing criminal restrictions on public camping unless there was access to adequate temporary shelter.

In the decision being challenged by Grants Pass, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the city “cannot, consistent with the Eighth Amendment, enforce its anti-camping ordinances against homeless persons for the mere act of sleeping outside with rudimentary protection from the elements, or for sleeping in their car at night, when there is no other place in the city for them to go.”

Which there rarely is, in Grants Pass or elsewhere, and which is why people often have no choice but to sleep outside.

In a friend of the court brief, the National Homelessness Law Center argued that Grants Pass had “rejected” its obligation to care for unhoused residents and that vulnerable groups would continue to be marginalized unless the court decides once and for all that those ordinances are cruel. In its brief to the court, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund noted that the laws disproportionately affect people with disabilities and don’t serve any rehabilitative or deterrent interest.

If nothing else, one thing this case has done is unite many officials on the left and the right of the political spectrum, from San Francisco to Arizona. They have complained in briefs to the court that the Ninth Circuit has hamstrung their communities in dealing with homeless encampments.

But homelessness arises from policy decisions, not from a ruling by an appellate court. The Supreme Court should uphold the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. Otherwise it will open the door for communities to pass local laws that effectively punish unhoused people for existing within their borders, making what is clearly cruel permissible.

It would not be unexpected for the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to give the green light for the kind of camping bans at issue. Unhoused people would be pushed further to the margins, increasingly out of sight and mind. They will still be out there, parked in cars in rural areas or subsisting on urban streets, perhaps after being fined or jailed for the crime of trying to survive without a roof over their heads.

This case shines a light on the abdication of responsibility by governments at all levels to their unhoused residents. Instead of arguing about the legality of bans on sleeping in public, we should be asking: Why move people down the road to another community, one that is likely also short on shelter beds?

There is no doubt that the path to creating permanent housing (and more temporary shelter) is politically challenging and expensive. But there are many solutions along this path that go beyond what lawyers and the courts, even our highest one, can accomplish, and that the public should be demanding.

Governments at all levels should invest in homelessness prevention programs and strategies. Those include providing housing subsidies to people who otherwise could lose their housing and supportive transitional services for those leaving mental health treatment and correctional centers.

People on the brink of homelessness should have a right to counsel in eviction proceedings and should be offered the possibility of mediation in housing courts to give them a chance to remain in their houses or apartments.

Businesses should be increasing employment opportunities by not requiring a permanent address in job applications. Lawmakers should create more pathways for people to clear their criminal records, some that arise from targeted enforcement of low-level, nonviolent offenses, because those records can make it much more difficult to get a job.

For populations with unique needs, such as young people and veterans, social service agencies should pursue particularized interventions that address the underlying reasons that pushed individuals into homelessness.

And, of course, we should be building more housing, plain and simple, and we should be providing affordable housing incentives in areas with grocery stores and medical care nearby.

The Supreme Court should not further criminalize homelessness. But whether it does or not, this case should put governments at all levels on notice that humane policies can help to reduce homelessness. We don’t have to let this crisis continue.

Laura Riley is the director of the clinical program at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Homeless Advocacy.”

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