My goals when revising my essays are to: stay on track of my thesis, formulate a strong thesis, and provide significant evidence to support my thesis.
One problem that I constantly face when I write is not staying on track of backing up my theses. I tend to fall of course and end up writing about things that do not necessarily relate to my thesis. I think I tend to do this because I do not formulate a strong enough thesis. Since my thesis is weak I get the idea that I need to fill my essay with extra stuff. But, this extra stuff that I add in does not always relate to anything.
One way I can fix this problem is by taking more time and effort into creating a strong thesis that I know I will be able to stay on track about. If I just take some extra time and brainstorm about the given topics I have I think I would be able to make connections. With a weak thesis I always end up not having quotes or enough evidence to back up my thoughts. If I write down some ideas to talk about and think about which one or ones are the best to write about I think that will help me in the long run. When I use a strong and relevant thesis it will also help with my evidence issues. The better of a thesis I make will help me when I am searching for the evidence from the text. Also, a strong thesis will help with the staying on track. If I know I have something good to talk about I will not have the urge to put extra random stuff in just to fill up space.
I think my biggest challenge that I face when writing is time. I seem to get extremely anxious when I know I have a paper to write. I usually overthink and get thoughts that I can not do it. When I hear that I need a paper that needs to reach requirements of 5 pages or over a thousand words my brain freaks out. When in reality it is not something that is too extreme or impossible for me to handle.
If I face issues like that I know I have many resources that can help me. The school has tutors in which I can schedule and appointment with. I could also talk with my professors and ask for their help and visit in during office hours. And lastly I can always meet with my academic advisor to plan out a way for me to not feel overloaded.
Eric,
I think straying away from your thesis is just fine for your free draft. I feel like you don’t want to force your first draft to be something that you don’t end up wanting to write. That’s the beautiful part of the recursive writing process, because you can revise your thesis or revise some of your writing.
I know that a longer paper can feel huge, but take it one page (or one hour) at a time. One strategy that I’ve used to overcome my own form of paper anxiety is to hand write my first draft. It feels more casual, less “high stakes.” Keep looking for strategies for overcoming this reaction, and keep up the good work! 3/3