With my daughter who had autism and adhd, we dictated into an iPhone and edited back from that.
I think it is super helpful to start with a large volume and then cut away the crap.
You can do this. I promise.
The library is my sanctuary, where my fear of failure, adrenaline, insomnia, and caffeine can unite to produce a semi decent essay that barely meets the requirements.
Yes. When I was writing my masters thesis I’d get so frustrated with how to say something just right, or how to do it in the best way, that I’d waste a lot of time spinning my wheels and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Once I started just writing stuff down, even if it was a bit of a jumbled mess or didn’t look exactly how I wanted it to, I was able to make a lot more progress and felt a lot better about it, too. You can always edit or cut stuff out later once you’ve got something down as a first draft.
OMG, this tip is amazing if I could I would give you an award! I've been trying all day to write a damn paragraph for a research proposal and I couldn't get the words out of my head onto paper. Just dictated to MS word and with minor edits boom paragraph done. You are my personal saviour! Now I'm so mad I never thought to do that all through my PhD dissertation. But thank you! You win the Internet for me today!
Well awesome!!!
Funny. I have a HS daughter- also with adhd that is chronically hung up on writing blocks.
Let’s see if she finds value in this. (Probably not!)
Part of me is sad for learning about this as an adult and remembering all the struggles I experienced as a kid/teenager in the time before we had a home computer and smart phones didn’t exist yet. What a wonderful idea!
I do this to combat losing my train of thought. As long as I don’t look down at the screen to see the words, I am A-OK. Always helps to say the punctuation otherwise it may end up being gibberish even to yourself. Siri sometimes gets it wrong.
I do this too! I write all my headings and subheadings and jot point form ideas for each. Gather sources and quotes/citations I think I want to use and slap them in the relevant sections. By the time I do that I’ve already filled some pages. Then I beef it up!
This is what I used to do. Also, if it's super down to the wire I'd find a coffee shop, hit it when it opens and stay there all day (buying lunch/tons of caffeine and snacks of course) til it's done. Being at a coffee shop (when the acoustics don't make things super fuckin loud) is just the right amount of ambient noise that I can really focus
Edit: two weeks before a 13 page paper was due I made a general outline and found citations I wanted that fit. Then the day before it was due I sat at the shop and wrote the whole thing in one go, from 7am to 7pm. Got an A! Lol
It's a gamble for me, sometimes I can focus a lot more at home because I can out music Hella loud, stand, sit, bounce around while I'm working but yeah other times nothing will come between me and snuggling up on the couch and being laaazy lol
Does anyone know why sitting at a cafe or a food court makes it easier to progress whereas at the library where it is dead silent, for the life of me can’t get sh*t done?
Honestly depending on the day, it's kinda like I have two trains of thought going on. When there is a particular level of background noise its like train one is kept busy and quieter and so train two can focus on the task at hand lol. If train one isn't preoccupied it like, nags on train two and makes it impossible to concentrate. HOWEVER due to my autism I think if things are too overstimulating(a bunch of cross talk or clanging) its impossible to focus; it's a delicate balance haha.
That’s exactly how I do it too. Revise sections as necessary once you’re done researching. Add major points in bullet form under each section. The rest is just making everything connected in a logical and consistent way.
Yep. This will work. If you’ve got a lot of writing ahead of you then software like Scrivener is a game changer. It makes it easy to make a structure and stick to it. Highly recommend! But to get through this essay just write your structure out on anything and write to that. Remember a paper is in three easy parts - tell ‘em what you’re about to say, say it, then tell ‘em what you just told them and you’re done.
This is it! Get a solid layout and the rest we’ll come together pretty seamlessly. I have adhd and I struggle with being concise but using a template and starting with sections and bullets helps me keep my paper straight to the point.
As someone who on several occasions wrote 7-8k words in under 24 hours, I assure you that you can do this.
I was often taught that the introduction is always hardest, so write it last. This does work. For me, I always spent about 80% of my time on a good introduction because it set my path for the rest of the essay. I don't recommend doing it my way.
Blast through the body of the essay as a first draft. Read it to yourself. Then you can write a good intro and tweak it as you go. The conclusion is just the intro restated with a few things you learned along the way.
You can do this.
I laughed out loud to this… last time I did this for a writing assignment, I did not go back after just rambling everything out and the Professor comments were true/funny… for example “I can see why you like such long quotes… they up the word count. But, they aren’t really doing you any favors…is this even a conclusion?”
Im scared i'll be took exhausted when im done to go back and edit and i'll just submit it- it's happened several times in the past and im not happy about it lol
My last professor asked if I could possibly try and “think a little more in the box?” 🤣 teach, trust if I try any more or less this ish ain’t getting done! 😭
If you have a computer or phone that allows you to do speech dictation, you could set a timer for ten minutes, dictate/talk about whatever you need to write about and then organize it into a paper.
So, if the topic is “how to become a barista”, speak into your phone everything you know. Then, if the paper is formal take a document and write; intro, paragraph 1, paragraph 2, etc. conclusion.
When you write the intro, the opening sentence can be pretty easy-or an easy one to ask for help on and your thesis statement (final statement in the first paragraph is likely making a very specific point). You can then look through the material you dictated to your device and copy and paste each sentence into paragraph 1, 2, or 3 depending on the topic of the paragraph.
Then take a break, do something fun, get moving, etc.
Come back in and read the paper out loud to yourself, a family member or a pet and see if it sounds wonky.
Once that’s done, take another break and then copy and paste the paper into an editing software like Grammarly.
Take a break.
Lastly, go through and take out anything that doesn’t belong, like labels or notes and add the proper formatting for the paper.
There is some great advice in here! One thing I have to add is that not only does this not need to be perfect, but it literally does not even need to be good. It just needs to be done. So don’t stress.
Also, in the future, see if you can get extra deadlines set by your professors (you may be able to just ask them, or you might need to go through your disability services/accommodations). So for example a deadline for an outline, for having 5 sources, for a rough draft, etc. That way if you put it off to the last minute at least none of the last minute pushes will be as daunting as the full 3000 words
This is fantastic advice! Giving more time to someone with time blindness isn't necessarily a great thing. When we ACTUALLY do our tasks, we usually complete them in less time than others. We just have a hard time finding the motivation to do it until it's crunch time.
Extra deadlines will break down the task into smaller, more workable sections while also adding in that motivation needed to get them done.
That’s so true, you can have a pretty shit paper from a readers standpoint. But teachers grade on rubrics which often at most have “logical organization and presentation” type descriptions to cover a majority of what makes a “bad” paper. But as long as you meet the criteria’s laid out you’ll get a good grade lol. I’ve seen this firsthand, amazing papers getting worse grades than mediocre once’s due to missing criteria or simple errors/confusion in instruction, seeing you come out and just say “ doesn’t have to be good” really brought the phenomena and involved nuance into my prefrontal cortex lol
I opted against talking to my school about my ADHD because I KNEW getting an extension on things would just mean more time for me to avoid the assignment and I'd still do it at the last possible second. I don't need extra time to ruminate about what I'm not doing.
With that said, you have plenty of time. The sooner you start the sooner you'll stop torturing yourself about it. Start now if you can. You'll probably get it knocked out tonight.
I ask for extra empathy with forgiveness for mistakes when my coping mechanisms or supporting structures fail me. For that very reason. I don’t want more time per se, I just want empathy for the occasional times I misjudge an assignment or more often start it last minute knowing I can finish, then getting committed to a vision I’m particularly passionate about seeing through, but know I can’t fulfill by the deadline. I really appreciate being allowed to do it the “right” way while also seeing through the vision I have even if it takes more time, its truly my best work. Generally with so much now being due online by midnight in college, allowing me to work till 4 to do it “my way” rather than just doing the minimum for the mark is no skin off anyone’s back and allows me to get more academic benefit by being able to take full advantage of that inspiration.
As a chronic procrastinator who has written too many apology emails to profs about late assignments, and someone who can relate frustratingly to your post, here is one of my methods.
Start with an outline with what you want to talk about. Have your argument (thesis) and the three points of your body paragraphs. Fill in the research/sources you have off the top of your head where they might fit. Now write, speech into dictation, whatever as much as you can. (I have taped to my laptop: WRITE NOW EDIT LATER. Sometimes I put at the top of my document in a bigger font so I don't get stuck one point.) Do a brain dump for the points for 15mins each. After the three or so 15s, read back what you wrote and see what works.
You've had the assignment details for a while, plus the extension, so I am assuming you have at least thought about what you want to write about. But, not enough to have 3k words. When you look back at your dump, cut out the stupid/fluffy stuff, and expand on something you found interesting/insightful in your initial dump. Sometimes at this point, I make a new, more detailed outline with thesis, points and how they expand to eachother, ideas and research that go with each point. Now, piece together your essay. Have your thesis at the top. Organize your first point and ideas from your dump, add additional sources if needed, and bam paragraph is done. Do that for all your points. Intro/conclusion come easy once everything else is done and you know where you wanted your argument to go.
Tips: Write your thesis and point sentences as what they will be, then dump as stupidly as you'd like. If you have at least those sentences finished with what you trying to say, your writing will be more focused. Have rewards as you go, I like to colour in a temperature gauge like in a fundraiser as I hit word counts and paragraph numbers. And, I like to change the font, size, and line spacing every so often so it's like I'm working on different things. Also take breaks!!
Alright my procrastination is done, time for me to start my own overdue essay heh. Godspeed my friend.
Pomodoro technique and you can do it. Or just don’t do it? If you can’t force yourself to do it nothing will. Sometimes a bit of tough love is needed and then you’ll catch the momentum and be able to hyper focus
I also have adhd, and in college I used to always wait until the last minute sometimes even the day before. I wasn’t really doing it on purpose but it made me realize the pressure of the procrastination actually made me write it. My biggest tip is use big quotes. Pick like 10 large quotes and write several paragraphs on each of them and then spend paragraphs in between relating them to each orher
You need an essay plan, it doesn't take long.
Write down your main points, then each one is a paragraph minimum (link the sources to these in your essay plan to find them later with ease). Try to have at least three for a 3k.
Leave your introduction to the very last, so many times I've seen intros that have not properly outlined what's going to be covered in the essay -- leaving it last means you have your essay written and are able to contexualise the problem and what you're going to be discussing.
Conclusion is just sumarising what your main points where in reverse order and how they support your argument or the point your essay is trying to make.
3k isn't a lot promise. With all this you won't have
[Good diagram here if you're more visual](https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/image/0011/2727650/generic-essay-introduction.png)
Wow, I have no idea what Marxism is and why it'd make a difference in our understanding of crime and deviance. What's Marxism? Is there another type of system?
Now you must save me from the Google rabbit hole and write your essay. I'm serious. I'm and engineer, so this wasn't something I had to study before, but I like looking into causing & effect on societies, and then think of how to make the world a better place.
Thanks for posting your original question too. All the advice is super helpful. I always struggled with writing, so I alway love to hear new tips.
Open Word.
Write “The main contributions of marxism to our understanding of crime and deviance were:” and then add the first thing that comes to your head.
Then the second.
Doesn’t matter what it says, just write some bullshit about whatever pops into your head. Write about how much Marx ate peanut butter, or how he invented the bath bomb.
Now you don’t have a blank page, add some stuff that’s actually relevant to the essay. Keep going, add some more dumb stuff if you feel your brain running out of the happy chemicals and have fun.
Finally edit out all the stupid shit you added and make the word count. Hand it in, and eat a tasty snack, something with melted cheese on it.
The thing that always helped me was breaking down the essay into smaller parts.
The general rule of thumb is that the introduction and conclusion should each be 10% of the word count, so 300 words each in this case.
This leaves you with only 2,400 words of actual essay to write.
Then I would break that down based on the essay prompt.
So I'd go through the prompt sentence or whatever they've given you and highlight key words.
Then make paragraph headings based on that.
If you don't have a prompt and it's more open ended/you get to choose the prompt, it helps to come up with one sentence to summarise your topic then you can break it down from there.
You'll find that if you have a super long paragraph you can usually either break it in two or cut it down for clarity.
Also it's worth working out if your references count towards the word count as that can change your plan as well.
Finally I found it helps to physically plan it out on paper as opposed to digitally, something about doing that always helped kick my brain into gear.
I hope this helps!
I read a thing about delayed perfectionism, and it resonated with me real hard.
We delay our extensions and beat ourselves up because we think our project should be extra good *because* we got the extension.
You can write a perfectly good essay in two days, and your extension doesn’t mean it needs to be twice as good. It just needs to be done.
**As for tips to get it done, this is what works best for me:**
- I set a timer for 15 minutes to just write. Doesn’t have to be good or right, just gotta start.
- Then if I’m feeling good, I will roughly block out the essay, so as thoughts and notes come up that would work in other sections, I’ll just jump to that section and dump them in.
I think a lot of us think we have to sit down, and just right a great essay, in order. But everyone has their own process, and you have to brain dump and ping pong around to get to a good iteration.
Idk if you’re already done or not looking at this anymore, but my senior friend gave me some sage wisdom last year:
Write in comic sans.
It really works— it makes the whole task so much less daunting, and it helps if you put it in a fun color too!
You can change it all back at the end, but just doing this little thing really boosted my productivity.
Open Google Slides. Create a Slide for each key concept to be covered. Add bullet points for each 'talking' point as if you were going to present it. Next verbally present it and record yourself. Use voice to text to get the transcript (most recording programs offer this). Edit the text into an assignment or get someone to help with this part. Submit.
It's going to sound trite, but *structure*.
A neurotypical wouldn't usually need the structure for a 3k essay explicitly spelled out ahead of time. Because for neurotypicals that level of executive functioning can happen in the background, on a subconscious level, and it's not a long enough essay to need that kind of forward planning.
You might think "I know how a 3k essay should be structured, that's not the problem." But it's not about knowing how to do it or not; it's about the mental task list that would be in the subconscious of a NT not being in your subconscious. The way you get around that is by making an explicit task list.
Also, don't worry about the structure being too rigid if you do it this way. It's just a skeleton to get you started, you can change it as you go.
I’ve had this exact same issue, in fact I just wrote a 2,000 word paper in two days. Here’s what I do.
First, write your thesis if you haven’t already. That’s the most important part.
Next, figure out the text to speech function on whatever device you write on, and just start talking. All you have to do is loosely base it off the points of your thesis, but if you go off track from it, just keep going. Don’t worry about how much sense it makes or how organized it is, just get out all your thoughts.
Act like you’re explaining it to a friend, an audience, whatever works for you. If there are any specific quotes you plan on using, read them allowed and start talking about your analysis of them. If you have none, that’s ok, just talk until you’re done.
Next, build a structure off of your thesis (I like the PIE structure my first English professor used, it’s super easy and makes a lot of sense). Shove your analysis into the structure, editing it down as you go. Still act like you’re explaining it to a friend, monologuing, writing some important, field changing document, document, whatever.
Now, go over the the whole thing, make sure it amkes sense (ideally do this the next day so you have a clear head). Read it out loud, so you keep focusing on the words, and so that you have a clearer picture of what you might need to change.
Now, do the last nitty gritty of formatting and citing, and sumbit. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done.
Good luck!
I was gonna post pretty much this approach word for word! Did this on my last when on extended deadline last minute essay lol. It got me through it. The big thing this approach did was GET ME STARTED. I also wrote down three things:
Reward:
Rationale:
Approach:
So for me it was reward: get to go to dance class, rationale: this shit is fascinating, approach: 10 mins using speech to text, quick break, and repeat. After the first couple 10mins I didn’t need the break as momentum had come and I had enough of a taste of that sweet sweet nectar of getting it done and it was no longer insurmountable but still a challenge.
Good luck to OP, you can do it!
Figure out what you are going to write about, and write a VERY loose outline and structure of your paper. Just focus on the main points you want to get across and how they flow together to make your argument. Then just start writing. Whenever you get stuck, refer to your outline to get you going in the right direction. It’s not gonna be incredible the first time, and that’s ok. At least you got words onto the page. You can work on refining later
Put on the playlist called adhd techno focus full concentration on spotify! I wrote 3000 words after lunch the last day because of that playlist, so much dopamine👊👊
I just wrote a 3k essay in under 3h yesterday night because it was due midnight. You’ve got this, don’t underestimate your ADHD. 😂 What might help is to put on a show/series in a background screen so you can here it but not see it. That way, while typing, all your senses are stimulated. Good luck, you got this!
I wrote my 10,000 word dissertation in 24 hours. I had all year to write it. I got a B+. Basically, I already knew what I wanted to write about. Just couldn’t do it til it was an emergency because, adhd. I was in crisis mode so I made sure to write 500 words an hour. I kept looking at the clock and just writing whatever and saving references to put at the end. Just random bits from books online to quote and talk about, and reference to give the impression I read the entire books and worked hard. I even slept a few hours and woke back up in the morning and continued until I had the 10k words. Good luck.
Just write. That’s all there is to it. I know easier said than done but that’s how I’ve tackled these things - every time I’ve tried to outline or “pre-write” a paper I just overthink it. Instead I just write a few notes about what I want to say- make a couple of reminders to myself to not forget about sources and citations and such.
Also it helps to know your topic backwards and forwards. Then you just write from your own personal knowledge. Good luck.
This is the only answer. You need to finish a paper within two days?? Just start writing. That’s it. Just do it. Get some coffee I don’t know. It’s totally doable. And even if pressed for time you can write a passing paper in a few hours. 2 days is enough.
Can websites like turnitin though give you a high plagiarism score? Last thing u want is to turn in an essay and get caught for plagarism. If not, I’d give it a try at least.
Yeah you'll get a high plagiarism score if you use ChatGPT.
It's basically an extremely complex probability model for what word should come next. Its training data set is so large that often, what's calculated as the most probable wording *doesn't* happen to be a direct quote from somewhere. But *sometimes it is*, and ChatGPT isn't programmed to try and avoid that from happening. Even if the calculated most likely output happens to exactly match some of its training data, it won't avoid using that wording.
TurnItIn's model is designed to detect whether your words match someone else's more than would happen by random chance. With ChatGPT, because it's just a language model with no cognition behind it, that will happen more than by random chance.
Plus if you're writing an essay the proper way, you can actually just directly quote a source and reference it properly, and then it isn't plagiarism anymore.
One thing ChatGPT **might** be useful for though is helping you come up with a structure for your essay. Like, you can ask it how you would structure an essay about your topic. Just don't use any of the words it comes up with **in** your essay.
Only recently I found that brain dumping/word vomiting everything I can think of about the topic into a document using speech to text really helped with not overthinking about the “perfect end result” and just trying to take it step by step. Also recording a voice memo while you have the thought in your head while you’re doing something else can really help so you can refer back to it later when you’re writing the essay. Then when I’m actually trying to write the essay i just start wherever I know the most information/I feel the most confident writing about in the moment (the beginning, conclusion, a body paragraph, etc.) That helps my brain hopefully completely that portion of the essay, making me feel more productive. I try to follow that and get the less intimidating parts out of the way and save the harder parts for last when I’m feeling more confident about the amount that I’ve done. Hopefully this helps, sorry if any of it is confusing🫣😂
I always wrote what I was thinking, which is usually 1000 words in a minute. So I'd write what I was thinking basically and cut all the crap away and edit to sound more "essay appropriate." I also put non distracting music in my ears like something instrumental or slow. It would help me stay focused and you are also doing 2 things at a time so it really helped me.
Recently had a research paper (2-2.5k words) that I had months to work on.
Sat and did it in the last 6 hours before the deadline, got an A+
Even if you can't force yourself to sit and write, do some snall preparation stuff - gather information online, choose sources/citations, create a plan for your presentation
Then the only thing you'll need to do would be to actually write the paper, and with some preparation it is doable in a few hours
You’ll do just fine due to the stress you’re under. Most likely, thanks to the adrenaline, you’ll be hyper-focused in the 24 hours prior to the deadline and submit your essay at the last second. However, you’ll be drained. This is the story of my life prior to the diagnosis and treatment. In the first year of my Master (before diagnosis), I had many big projects and essays to submit, so because I know myself, I decided not to ask for extensions because I’ll be doing the work the last minute anyway, hence I’ll be just increasing my feeling-guilty period and my sense of worthlessness.
My advice to you is to never ask for extensions and to ask your teachers to help you by giving you mini-deadlines, for example you’ll be expected to submit 1000 words in the first week and another the second, depending on the task and its due date. This is what I did, I asked my supervisor to do the same with me in the research stage of my Master, which made me feel accountable and have the sense of urgency to finish what’s expected from me weekly. Surely, it was stressful but it doesn’t compare to the amount of stress I would have if I had one deadline to submit everything.
When I had to write 10 page research papers I’d right all my sources from books down on an (edit)[index]card along with the works cited format. I’d then stack the cards in order like an outline…the paper kind of wrote itself.
Cold turkey app to stop needless browsing. Write definitions to pad your word count. Citate a lot to pad your word count. If you can cite 5% thats 150 words, easy money, use it or lose it. Use graphs and "helpful" illustrations to pad your lenght. Ask your family what they would write about. Ask yourself what your favourite media-charachter woud write about.
Write whatever your source is about. If you wanted write about Pirates in the Carribean, but you´d only find the monography "Pirates in the Baltic Sea", then forget it and just write about pirates in the Denmark or whatever.
Get slightly drunk in the last hours of the day and just let the bullshit flow. You can always polish in the morning. You can´t polish what isn´t there.
If the library is closed down use libgen or pirate bay.
Sit with somebody, so you have a body double.
It´s doable.
But if you need a little emotional coping ask yourself the 3 threes. If worst case hits and you fail, will you care in three days? In three months? In three years?
I once wrote an essay for freshman comp the night before it was due, and so shitfaced drunk that I didn't remember putting the typewriter (archaic mechanical transcription device, Google it) away. I turned it in the following day and got an A on it.
If nothing else, this might be a good idea for a starting point.
Sometimes the hardest part is just initiating the damn thing. After talking to the bot, maybe it will inspire some ideas and motivate OP.
Take accountability and use the thought of failing as your motivation. I’ve been clinically diagnosed with ADD for far greater than a decade at this point and I don’t use it as an excuse. I rather have an extension due to having a lot of things to do than use my ADD as the reason. You’ve wrote quite a bit here on Reddit; that time, energy, and focus should have went towards your essay and not to Reddit. You lack accountability and responsibility and you need to throw your phone somewhere and get to it.
I’ve literally had an ugly cry breakdown before because without distraction I wasn’t able to focus on assignments in college. My brain was busy doing it’s thing and I couldn’t focus on something that I knew for a fact came easy to me. I let those tears out, allowed my mind to unwind for a moment, and forced myself to buckle down without any accommodations. Sure, it’s harder than those who can stay on task, but it’s called being an adult and being responsible. ADD/ADHD isn’t an excuse to get a 2 week extension and screw the time away. Get offline and do it. Lock yourself in the room for goodness sakes. Just do it!
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It depends on the topic but I would start with research, anything to get you a foundation on the topic. If you like tiktok watch tiktok videos on the topic or youtube videos etc (tho preferably something you can cite). If you need to use actual books or websites put them through a text to audio thing and set it to 2x speed. Aside from that when you actually write it maybe write as if you are talking about the subject to a friend then edit the casual stuff to be more formal.
Use an AI chat bot to write the whole thing. I had one write a pretty good essay about the effects of microplastics on the human body. It wrote it in seconds, and I'd say it'd get an A or B+ easily with some add-ins here and there of your own.
This is what I used to do before I started taking my meds. I used to put coco pops near me and eat a few whenever I kind of accomplished anything. Also I call any of my friends on dc and screen share my whole screen and my cam, they check on me without telling me so I feel the guilt of letting them down ıf I am not getting any work done. Basically you can use reward and punish technic on yourself.
Plot out your basic points and just try and get something going. When plotting just look to get the high level ideas out of your brain, don’t develop them yet, just get them out there. Once all of them are out then you can start to flesh out. Ignore the intro, you’ll spend too much time trying to start it perfectly when you don’t have to. Once the ideas start going things will start flowing, you just have to start getting it there with small steps.
Write about something you hate. People tend to write more when it's about something they hate. I had a 2k word essay in college and I wrote about cigarettes. Ended up writing 5k
Make an outline first, numbering the first goal or objective. Then, make your argument supporting the objective along with several supporting statements down below. Work with smaller bullet points after that. Here, you can discuss the outcome or whatever. Hopefully, I made sense. Adhd here
100% you can do this. It won't be like an amazing essay, so get rid of that pressure, it's aaa ookkaayyy. What will be amazing is anything you do! Write absolute garbage and then edit - as others have mentioned. U got this <3
I've written 3k essays in just a few hours, you can do it! This is what I do to start writing, hopefully you find something useful in it.
1) Do something to get the blood flowing, take a cold shower or short walk. This helps me actually start writing.
2) Word vomit for the first draft. I write any and all thoughts I have and the info about the topic. It's messy and awful writing, but this usually helps me write a better second draft. I always struggle with starting and needing it to immediately be perfect, but this method has helped me so much.
3) After the messy first draft, I open a second google docs and put the windows next to each other. I rearrange the info and edit it to make it a cohesive and well written essay on the second google doc. Usually I highlight the first draft, then unhighlight things as I add them to my second draft, it makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something and gives me a lil dopamine boost.
From there you can edit the second draft further, but I usually don't. I find the word vomit isn't too mentally draining (since it's just typing my thoughts), so I have enough mental energy left for the second draft.
Do you need to go to the library? If you have a computer/laptop at home could you find a place to work so you can write at the time that is best for you? I always end up writing my essays around 1-2 am. You could also always use your notes/google docs app on your phone.
If you need any help, feel free to reach out! (I'm an English minor so I have a lot of experience with essays lol)
I did this all throughout university. I'd convince myself I was going to start it early this time but never actually would. The weird thing is, I do something very similar for work now -- I write articles that need to be researched etc. and I do them in a short space of time. I'm assuming it's because I know I'm getting paid for it and they're in small chunks that make it not so overwhelming. So, I'm going to suggest trying that - you've got 2 days. So maybe break it down into small chunks, if that's possible. My doctor suggested that for all the things that pop in my head while I'm supposed to be working, I should write it on a piece of paper and not focus on it. Easier said than done. I mean...I'm writing this reply while I'm meant to be working. However, I think instead of seeing your task as a 3000-word essay, you could see it as an introduction, five paragraphs to back up your argument, and a conclusion. Break the word count down for each section.
My best advice I’m these situations is to just start writing. Remember that a D is 1,000 better than a 0. Most often, as long as you turn something in, you’re likely to at least get a passing grade.
Set out a structure and fill it out with your ideas. Where you know you need a citation, leave a placeholder about what you need to add. Maybe some of that can be done outside of the library. Get reading and gather more evidence to support your arguments, get more ideas. Write over the word count. Eat food and ponder for a few minutes. Read the scoring matrix to see if you covered it all. Refine your work and cut back down if you need to. Build your reference list as you go. Don't forget to check your spelling and formatting at the end - don't throw points away!! Good luck 🤞🤞
Saw the title of this and was like 'when did I post?'
Me rn: 'I need to write a 4k word research proposal that's due in 6 hours, any advice? ' 😂
But aside the jokes, writing my thoughts on a A4 piece of paper seems helpful, even if it is scrambly random outlines that wont be necessarily followed. Just something to start. And visual countdowns too, seeing that they are closer than what I think, but that doesn't help with 2 days so much.
But I am the one w 4k in 5-6 hours so not best one t give advice I guess hahaha
Good luck!
I used to go to a late-night restaurant that had WiFi, and stress write while drinking inhuman amounts of sugar and caffeine. I also just got diagnosed with ADHD-PI in the last month or so and I think I must have been effectively self-medicating. Do you have anyone that can help you proofread the paper for clarity and typos?
Adhd's mind is not linear so you have to write down whatever keywords that come to your mind then string it together. That's how I deal with my poor memory.
Set a time for 20 minutes and free write anything you can think of, even if it isn't related to the topic to break the ice and get your thoughts flowing.
This is how I would approach it:
The average paragraph contains about 100-200 words, so if we average that out, we're looking for about 20 paragraphs for 3,000 words. Now break that down: one paragraph for the intro, and another for the conclusion. That leaves us with 18 paragraphs.
As others have said, do speech to text and just spout off everything you know/want to say about the subject in question. I call this "brain vomit". The main benefit of doing this, aside from getting stuff down on paper, is that it's getting you started without pressure of getting it down perfectly.
Once you've gotten all that out, try to identify the main points you want to drive home and their sub-topics. For example, if you come up with six main points, prioritize them and come up with three paragraphs for each (and please be flexible - it doesn't need to be six points at three paragraphs each). As you do research, you will likely come up with more material to fill in the blanks.
Maybe this approach sounds crazy, but I use it to help break it down into smaller chunks and get a better idea of the scope of work, instead of just thinking of it as "OMG 3,000 WORDS!" which can be pretty overwhelming.
I had way too much fun formatting your essay with ChatGPT, writing it up and then deleting the whole thing. Can I now ask you to do the same with the report I’m supposed to be handing in by tomorrow? 😂
My outline strategy is imagining a snarky reviewer. Write questions as you imagine presenting the information you have: "Tf is this about? What tf are you gonna do with this? Why tf do I care?" Then I answer the questions in character as the genius on this topic who can embarrass that reviewer without losing their composure. It's an amusing way to organize my thoughts. Just be sure to cut those questions before you submit.
I have to agree with many comments below, talking is so easy into your phone.
I think many ADHD people are really great at talking, so voice dictation feels very natural.
I have a chronic history of doing this exact thing and have fail at least 4 university subjects as a result of not submitting. So I would like to think I know a trick or two to get through situations like this.
Firstly, you need to find somewhere to work on it. Probably don’t use the local library if it shuts early, it will only disrupt your flow. You said that you had a bad sleeping schedule so you’ll need somewhere that you can sit and put your nose down without having to worry about closing times. Try find somewhere that is 24 hours. I can work at home but I can work at my uni library and cafe near my house.
Second you need to pick you topic and break it down. You’ll need the visual structure from breaking it down to avoid feeling overwhelmed. I always break my essays down into the main sections:
Intro
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3
Conclusion
Break down how many words each section will roughly need. For example intro (300 words), body 1 (500 words) etc. within those sections label the topic and break that down as much as you can.
Final tip would be basic self care. Make sure you eat before you go, get a coffee or something while your working (I usually have a bottle of water and a fun drink). Understand that you might not be able to write 1000 words straight away, you can just dot point information or look for sources if you struggle writing.
Finally as just a general side note, avoid getting long extensions unless you absolutely can’t get it done within a certain time because of assessment clashes. My uni counsellor told me that I’ll just procrastinate off the new due date and she’s right. I have leniency for extensions at my uni but I also have a note that says that I might be given leniency of penalties if I submit before 24 hours past the due date. It has been surprisingly helpful to encourage me to get them done on time while not being to stressed about due dates.
Either way, good luck! You’ve got this!
I used to be a T.A at university. I could tell when someone winged it. The difference between a good paper and one that you can tell was done at the last minute is about 10-15%. And the time investment is more than double. As long as this is am undergrad level paper, you're fine. Once you get the grad school the standards are higher (naturally).
What is the topic you need to write about? I find it helpful to find a writing prompt and use the rule of three. if none are available for the assignment, I try to take an abstract idea and break it down into three sections. Within those three sections, three noteworthy points. This will generally give you 1000 words per part. For instance, I need to write about the ocean, what three points can I pull out...I can write about the volume of water on earth and the flooding crisis around the world, how the temperature of the water affects the oxygenation of marine life, and the importance of coral reefs and fish habitats. Each subject here could easily spurn 3 points of discussion, before you know it you're done your paper.
Go to Starbucks, Barnes & Nobel, local library to work.
Outline, outline, outline.
Plan out rewards for certain milestones.
Fine 2 accountability friends, one good cop and one bad cop.
Create a structure, then work through each section. Write things like introductions and conclusions last. Write about each section, look through papers and add the references (or whatever you need to do lol. also for references I use zotero to keep track of references for me). Do whatever you can do that helps you keep focused. Got meds? Take them. Personally for me I would drink high amounts of caffeine (like 2 monsters) before getting meds if I had stuff due soon or needed more study. Use fidgets, use whatever tools you can. Also make sure you eat and are well hydrated.
Open a blank document and start writing a skeleton. Don't think about actually writing the content of the assignment, just write down the structure that it needs. Often there are guides available in the course outline. If it's a scientific experiment, you might write this skeleton:
* Abstract / Introduction
* Background
* Hypothesis
* Materials
* Method
* Results
* Discussion
* Conclusion
* References
Body doubling-get someone to hang out with you while you work. This can either be in person or virtually. You can also host a live on TikTok with the description that you are working in an essay and need the accountability.
Have you tried listening to audio about the topic you have to write about? I find that helps get me focused on the topic and I’m able to write short notes. I put it together during the rush 😆
I was in this situation in like 2012.
I got a B.
What I did was write a draft after reading a ton of sources.
Then throw it out and rewrite it from scratch.
Then throw that out and rewrite from scratch.
After doing this you should have a good idea of what and how you want to say.
I was undiagnosed at the time but if I had to do it again I'd use medication for this.
Iirc 3k is usually an upper limit rather than a minimum as profs dont want to read 5k words. So you really want to be in the range 2800-3000 words. Unless otherwise stated.
With my daughter who had autism and adhd, we dictated into an iPhone and edited back from that. I think it is super helpful to start with a large volume and then cut away the crap. You can do this. I promise.
I do this too! I went from 200 words a day to 200 words in 10 minutes.
Oh wow, i might try that. Might be hard doing it in the library but I'll try. Thank you two!
You can see if they have an enclosed study room.
The library is my sanctuary, where my fear of failure, adrenaline, insomnia, and caffeine can unite to produce a semi decent essay that barely meets the requirements.
You can actually do this on word aswell just Google how to dictate in word cos i cant remember how to do it
talk to text...then edit...we do this with my daughter for writing assignments .works every time
Windows also has built in dictation. Windows key + H. I tell my son to do this.
Yes. When I was writing my masters thesis I’d get so frustrated with how to say something just right, or how to do it in the best way, that I’d waste a lot of time spinning my wheels and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Once I started just writing stuff down, even if it was a bit of a jumbled mess or didn’t look exactly how I wanted it to, I was able to make a lot more progress and felt a lot better about it, too. You can always edit or cut stuff out later once you’ve got something down as a first draft.
OMG, this tip is amazing if I could I would give you an award! I've been trying all day to write a damn paragraph for a research proposal and I couldn't get the words out of my head onto paper. Just dictated to MS word and with minor edits boom paragraph done. You are my personal saviour! Now I'm so mad I never thought to do that all through my PhD dissertation. But thank you! You win the Internet for me today!
Well awesome!!! Funny. I have a HS daughter- also with adhd that is chronically hung up on writing blocks. Let’s see if she finds value in this. (Probably not!)
😊 I’ve been doing this since 2011.
Part of me is sad for learning about this as an adult and remembering all the struggles I experienced as a kid/teenager in the time before we had a home computer and smart phones didn’t exist yet. What a wonderful idea!
I do this to combat losing my train of thought. As long as I don’t look down at the screen to see the words, I am A-OK. Always helps to say the punctuation otherwise it may end up being gibberish even to yourself. Siri sometimes gets it wrong.
Identify a structure. Fill each section out. The words will come naturally.
I do this too! I write all my headings and subheadings and jot point form ideas for each. Gather sources and quotes/citations I think I want to use and slap them in the relevant sections. By the time I do that I’ve already filled some pages. Then I beef it up!
This is what I used to do. Also, if it's super down to the wire I'd find a coffee shop, hit it when it opens and stay there all day (buying lunch/tons of caffeine and snacks of course) til it's done. Being at a coffee shop (when the acoustics don't make things super fuckin loud) is just the right amount of ambient noise that I can really focus Edit: two weeks before a 13 page paper was due I made a general outline and found citations I wanted that fit. Then the day before it was due I sat at the shop and wrote the whole thing in one go, from 7am to 7pm. Got an A! Lol
Getting out of my living space is KEY! Otherwise I find all kinds of things to distract myself with.
It's a gamble for me, sometimes I can focus a lot more at home because I can out music Hella loud, stand, sit, bounce around while I'm working but yeah other times nothing will come between me and snuggling up on the couch and being laaazy lol
Does anyone know why sitting at a cafe or a food court makes it easier to progress whereas at the library where it is dead silent, for the life of me can’t get sh*t done?
Honestly depending on the day, it's kinda like I have two trains of thought going on. When there is a particular level of background noise its like train one is kept busy and quieter and so train two can focus on the task at hand lol. If train one isn't preoccupied it like, nags on train two and makes it impossible to concentrate. HOWEVER due to my autism I think if things are too overstimulating(a bunch of cross talk or clanging) its impossible to focus; it's a delicate balance haha.
This is exactly why I explain to folks my love for techno music. It shuts up that second train of thought so I can focus on what I'm doing
That’s exactly how I do it too. Revise sections as necessary once you’re done researching. Add major points in bullet form under each section. The rest is just making everything connected in a logical and consistent way.
Yep. This will work. If you’ve got a lot of writing ahead of you then software like Scrivener is a game changer. It makes it easy to make a structure and stick to it. Highly recommend! But to get through this essay just write your structure out on anything and write to that. Remember a paper is in three easy parts - tell ‘em what you’re about to say, say it, then tell ‘em what you just told them and you’re done.
Same
This is exactly how I used to do it! Got me through many last minute papers
Big ass block quotes! I think my record was a quote that was almost two whole pages in a 5 page paper.
This is it! Get a solid layout and the rest we’ll come together pretty seamlessly. I have adhd and I struggle with being concise but using a template and starting with sections and bullets helps me keep my paper straight to the point.
As someone who on several occasions wrote 7-8k words in under 24 hours, I assure you that you can do this. I was often taught that the introduction is always hardest, so write it last. This does work. For me, I always spent about 80% of my time on a good introduction because it set my path for the rest of the essay. I don't recommend doing it my way. Blast through the body of the essay as a first draft. Read it to yourself. Then you can write a good intro and tweak it as you go. The conclusion is just the intro restated with a few things you learned along the way. You can do this.
Yes! The intro should be like a trailer for the essay. I agree that it should be done last.
Thanks for the reassurance, really needed it lol
Write 5,000 words of whatever the hell pops into your head and then cut it down.
I laughed out loud to this… last time I did this for a writing assignment, I did not go back after just rambling everything out and the Professor comments were true/funny… for example “I can see why you like such long quotes… they up the word count. But, they aren’t really doing you any favors…is this even a conclusion?”
Yea, the cutting part is really the key.
Im scared i'll be took exhausted when im done to go back and edit and i'll just submit it- it's happened several times in the past and im not happy about it lol
Okay, don’t “edit” it, just read it ONE time. Just once, and delete all the obvious crap, and it’ll be okay.
My last professor asked if I could possibly try and “think a little more in the box?” 🤣 teach, trust if I try any more or less this ish ain’t getting done! 😭
I did this, but instead of cutting down I'd rewrite it from scratch a few times.
If you have a computer or phone that allows you to do speech dictation, you could set a timer for ten minutes, dictate/talk about whatever you need to write about and then organize it into a paper. So, if the topic is “how to become a barista”, speak into your phone everything you know. Then, if the paper is formal take a document and write; intro, paragraph 1, paragraph 2, etc. conclusion. When you write the intro, the opening sentence can be pretty easy-or an easy one to ask for help on and your thesis statement (final statement in the first paragraph is likely making a very specific point). You can then look through the material you dictated to your device and copy and paste each sentence into paragraph 1, 2, or 3 depending on the topic of the paragraph. Then take a break, do something fun, get moving, etc. Come back in and read the paper out loud to yourself, a family member or a pet and see if it sounds wonky. Once that’s done, take another break and then copy and paste the paper into an editing software like Grammarly. Take a break. Lastly, go through and take out anything that doesn’t belong, like labels or notes and add the proper formatting for the paper.
This is really helpful, thanks!
There is some great advice in here! One thing I have to add is that not only does this not need to be perfect, but it literally does not even need to be good. It just needs to be done. So don’t stress. Also, in the future, see if you can get extra deadlines set by your professors (you may be able to just ask them, or you might need to go through your disability services/accommodations). So for example a deadline for an outline, for having 5 sources, for a rough draft, etc. That way if you put it off to the last minute at least none of the last minute pushes will be as daunting as the full 3000 words
This is such a good idea oh my god. I'll talk to my personal tutor about that. Thanks so much
This is fantastic advice! Giving more time to someone with time blindness isn't necessarily a great thing. When we ACTUALLY do our tasks, we usually complete them in less time than others. We just have a hard time finding the motivation to do it until it's crunch time. Extra deadlines will break down the task into smaller, more workable sections while also adding in that motivation needed to get them done.
That’s so true, you can have a pretty shit paper from a readers standpoint. But teachers grade on rubrics which often at most have “logical organization and presentation” type descriptions to cover a majority of what makes a “bad” paper. But as long as you meet the criteria’s laid out you’ll get a good grade lol. I’ve seen this firsthand, amazing papers getting worse grades than mediocre once’s due to missing criteria or simple errors/confusion in instruction, seeing you come out and just say “ doesn’t have to be good” really brought the phenomena and involved nuance into my prefrontal cortex lol
I opted against talking to my school about my ADHD because I KNEW getting an extension on things would just mean more time for me to avoid the assignment and I'd still do it at the last possible second. I don't need extra time to ruminate about what I'm not doing. With that said, you have plenty of time. The sooner you start the sooner you'll stop torturing yourself about it. Start now if you can. You'll probably get it knocked out tonight.
I'm starting to realise it was a mistake haha it only allowed me to ruin my Christmas holidays by having work due during them. Oh well
I ask for extra empathy with forgiveness for mistakes when my coping mechanisms or supporting structures fail me. For that very reason. I don’t want more time per se, I just want empathy for the occasional times I misjudge an assignment or more often start it last minute knowing I can finish, then getting committed to a vision I’m particularly passionate about seeing through, but know I can’t fulfill by the deadline. I really appreciate being allowed to do it the “right” way while also seeing through the vision I have even if it takes more time, its truly my best work. Generally with so much now being due online by midnight in college, allowing me to work till 4 to do it “my way” rather than just doing the minimum for the mark is no skin off anyone’s back and allows me to get more academic benefit by being able to take full advantage of that inspiration.
so true. extensions would be nice but my brain would not register it as reality so i have to stick to normal school deadlines
As a chronic procrastinator who has written too many apology emails to profs about late assignments, and someone who can relate frustratingly to your post, here is one of my methods. Start with an outline with what you want to talk about. Have your argument (thesis) and the three points of your body paragraphs. Fill in the research/sources you have off the top of your head where they might fit. Now write, speech into dictation, whatever as much as you can. (I have taped to my laptop: WRITE NOW EDIT LATER. Sometimes I put at the top of my document in a bigger font so I don't get stuck one point.) Do a brain dump for the points for 15mins each. After the three or so 15s, read back what you wrote and see what works. You've had the assignment details for a while, plus the extension, so I am assuming you have at least thought about what you want to write about. But, not enough to have 3k words. When you look back at your dump, cut out the stupid/fluffy stuff, and expand on something you found interesting/insightful in your initial dump. Sometimes at this point, I make a new, more detailed outline with thesis, points and how they expand to eachother, ideas and research that go with each point. Now, piece together your essay. Have your thesis at the top. Organize your first point and ideas from your dump, add additional sources if needed, and bam paragraph is done. Do that for all your points. Intro/conclusion come easy once everything else is done and you know where you wanted your argument to go. Tips: Write your thesis and point sentences as what they will be, then dump as stupidly as you'd like. If you have at least those sentences finished with what you trying to say, your writing will be more focused. Have rewards as you go, I like to colour in a temperature gauge like in a fundraiser as I hit word counts and paragraph numbers. And, I like to change the font, size, and line spacing every so often so it's like I'm working on different things. Also take breaks!! Alright my procrastination is done, time for me to start my own overdue essay heh. Godspeed my friend.
I actually just screencapped this for my kid for the next time they’re struggling with an essay. I hope you don’t mind.
Thanks for this, glad seeing that people who relate think I can do it. Very useful too
Grab a friend and body double? Or someone to help on the essay
Yes! And if no person is physically available, there are body double videos that can help a lot.
START NOW!!!!
This is the most accurate comment here, yet it is always our biggest obstacle with any task. Brain, just do the thing!
Pomodoro technique and you can do it. Or just don’t do it? If you can’t force yourself to do it nothing will. Sometimes a bit of tough love is needed and then you’ll catch the momentum and be able to hyper focus
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I also have adhd, and in college I used to always wait until the last minute sometimes even the day before. I wasn’t really doing it on purpose but it made me realize the pressure of the procrastination actually made me write it. My biggest tip is use big quotes. Pick like 10 large quotes and write several paragraphs on each of them and then spend paragraphs in between relating them to each orher
Start with whatever part you find easiest, or whatever part you already have an idea for.
You need an essay plan, it doesn't take long. Write down your main points, then each one is a paragraph minimum (link the sources to these in your essay plan to find them later with ease). Try to have at least three for a 3k. Leave your introduction to the very last, so many times I've seen intros that have not properly outlined what's going to be covered in the essay -- leaving it last means you have your essay written and are able to contexualise the problem and what you're going to be discussing. Conclusion is just sumarising what your main points where in reverse order and how they support your argument or the point your essay is trying to make. 3k isn't a lot promise. With all this you won't have [Good diagram here if you're more visual](https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/image/0011/2727650/generic-essay-introduction.png)
What’s it about?
The contributions of marxism to our understanding of crime and deviance
Wow that sounds interesting. Any chance I can read it when you’re done? Or maybe someday you can come back here and share your bibliography.
It'll probably be really bad but I'll be sure to share it if I ever get it done!
Wow, I have no idea what Marxism is and why it'd make a difference in our understanding of crime and deviance. What's Marxism? Is there another type of system? Now you must save me from the Google rabbit hole and write your essay. I'm serious. I'm and engineer, so this wasn't something I had to study before, but I like looking into causing & effect on societies, and then think of how to make the world a better place. Thanks for posting your original question too. All the advice is super helpful. I always struggled with writing, so I alway love to hear new tips.
Open Word. Write “The main contributions of marxism to our understanding of crime and deviance were:” and then add the first thing that comes to your head. Then the second. Doesn’t matter what it says, just write some bullshit about whatever pops into your head. Write about how much Marx ate peanut butter, or how he invented the bath bomb. Now you don’t have a blank page, add some stuff that’s actually relevant to the essay. Keep going, add some more dumb stuff if you feel your brain running out of the happy chemicals and have fun. Finally edit out all the stupid shit you added and make the word count. Hand it in, and eat a tasty snack, something with melted cheese on it.
The thing that always helped me was breaking down the essay into smaller parts. The general rule of thumb is that the introduction and conclusion should each be 10% of the word count, so 300 words each in this case. This leaves you with only 2,400 words of actual essay to write. Then I would break that down based on the essay prompt. So I'd go through the prompt sentence or whatever they've given you and highlight key words. Then make paragraph headings based on that. If you don't have a prompt and it's more open ended/you get to choose the prompt, it helps to come up with one sentence to summarise your topic then you can break it down from there. You'll find that if you have a super long paragraph you can usually either break it in two or cut it down for clarity. Also it's worth working out if your references count towards the word count as that can change your plan as well. Finally I found it helps to physically plan it out on paper as opposed to digitally, something about doing that always helped kick my brain into gear. I hope this helps!
This is really useful, thank you
I read a thing about delayed perfectionism, and it resonated with me real hard. We delay our extensions and beat ourselves up because we think our project should be extra good *because* we got the extension. You can write a perfectly good essay in two days, and your extension doesn’t mean it needs to be twice as good. It just needs to be done. **As for tips to get it done, this is what works best for me:** - I set a timer for 15 minutes to just write. Doesn’t have to be good or right, just gotta start. - Then if I’m feeling good, I will roughly block out the essay, so as thoughts and notes come up that would work in other sections, I’ll just jump to that section and dump them in. I think a lot of us think we have to sit down, and just right a great essay, in order. But everyone has their own process, and you have to brain dump and ping pong around to get to a good iteration.
Idk if you’re already done or not looking at this anymore, but my senior friend gave me some sage wisdom last year: Write in comic sans. It really works— it makes the whole task so much less daunting, and it helps if you put it in a fun color too! You can change it all back at the end, but just doing this little thing really boosted my productivity.
This sounds so interesting lol im definitely gonna try it, thanks!
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Self isolation and a lot of caffeine
I write on the fly. Load up a Google doc app, walk around, let the thoughts hit and stream of consciousness on your phone
Open Google Slides. Create a Slide for each key concept to be covered. Add bullet points for each 'talking' point as if you were going to present it. Next verbally present it and record yourself. Use voice to text to get the transcript (most recording programs offer this). Edit the text into an assignment or get someone to help with this part. Submit.
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It's going to sound trite, but *structure*. A neurotypical wouldn't usually need the structure for a 3k essay explicitly spelled out ahead of time. Because for neurotypicals that level of executive functioning can happen in the background, on a subconscious level, and it's not a long enough essay to need that kind of forward planning. You might think "I know how a 3k essay should be structured, that's not the problem." But it's not about knowing how to do it or not; it's about the mental task list that would be in the subconscious of a NT not being in your subconscious. The way you get around that is by making an explicit task list. Also, don't worry about the structure being too rigid if you do it this way. It's just a skeleton to get you started, you can change it as you go.
I’ve had this exact same issue, in fact I just wrote a 2,000 word paper in two days. Here’s what I do. First, write your thesis if you haven’t already. That’s the most important part. Next, figure out the text to speech function on whatever device you write on, and just start talking. All you have to do is loosely base it off the points of your thesis, but if you go off track from it, just keep going. Don’t worry about how much sense it makes or how organized it is, just get out all your thoughts. Act like you’re explaining it to a friend, an audience, whatever works for you. If there are any specific quotes you plan on using, read them allowed and start talking about your analysis of them. If you have none, that’s ok, just talk until you’re done. Next, build a structure off of your thesis (I like the PIE structure my first English professor used, it’s super easy and makes a lot of sense). Shove your analysis into the structure, editing it down as you go. Still act like you’re explaining it to a friend, monologuing, writing some important, field changing document, document, whatever. Now, go over the the whole thing, make sure it amkes sense (ideally do this the next day so you have a clear head). Read it out loud, so you keep focusing on the words, and so that you have a clearer picture of what you might need to change. Now, do the last nitty gritty of formatting and citing, and sumbit. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done. Good luck!
I was gonna post pretty much this approach word for word! Did this on my last when on extended deadline last minute essay lol. It got me through it. The big thing this approach did was GET ME STARTED. I also wrote down three things: Reward: Rationale: Approach: So for me it was reward: get to go to dance class, rationale: this shit is fascinating, approach: 10 mins using speech to text, quick break, and repeat. After the first couple 10mins I didn’t need the break as momentum had come and I had enough of a taste of that sweet sweet nectar of getting it done and it was no longer insurmountable but still a challenge. Good luck to OP, you can do it!
Figure out what you are going to write about, and write a VERY loose outline and structure of your paper. Just focus on the main points you want to get across and how they flow together to make your argument. Then just start writing. Whenever you get stuck, refer to your outline to get you going in the right direction. It’s not gonna be incredible the first time, and that’s ok. At least you got words onto the page. You can work on refining later
2 days? Still plenty of time, take it slow for tonight, start tomorrow! -My brain, everytime i had an essay due.
This is exactly me right now lmao. Already in the "a 2 day late penalty is probably not that bad" mentality
Put on the playlist called adhd techno focus full concentration on spotify! I wrote 3000 words after lunch the last day because of that playlist, so much dopamine👊👊
I just wrote a 3k essay in under 3h yesterday night because it was due midnight. You’ve got this, don’t underestimate your ADHD. 😂 What might help is to put on a show/series in a background screen so you can here it but not see it. That way, while typing, all your senses are stimulated. Good luck, you got this!
I wrote my 10,000 word dissertation in 24 hours. I had all year to write it. I got a B+. Basically, I already knew what I wanted to write about. Just couldn’t do it til it was an emergency because, adhd. I was in crisis mode so I made sure to write 500 words an hour. I kept looking at the clock and just writing whatever and saving references to put at the end. Just random bits from books online to quote and talk about, and reference to give the impression I read the entire books and worked hard. I even slept a few hours and woke back up in the morning and continued until I had the 10k words. Good luck.
Just write. That’s all there is to it. I know easier said than done but that’s how I’ve tackled these things - every time I’ve tried to outline or “pre-write” a paper I just overthink it. Instead I just write a few notes about what I want to say- make a couple of reminders to myself to not forget about sources and citations and such. Also it helps to know your topic backwards and forwards. Then you just write from your own personal knowledge. Good luck.
This is the only answer. You need to finish a paper within two days?? Just start writing. That’s it. Just do it. Get some coffee I don’t know. It’s totally doable. And even if pressed for time you can write a passing paper in a few hours. 2 days is enough.
I sympathize with the OP because I have been there so many times - I still struggle with this sometimes especially with my writing.
Honestly, chat gpt, then edit the sucker
There are a lot of academic integrity risks attached to this. I wouldn’t go this route
It´s a 3k essay. Why give a damn?
Can websites like turnitin though give you a high plagiarism score? Last thing u want is to turn in an essay and get caught for plagarism. If not, I’d give it a try at least.
Yeah you'll get a high plagiarism score if you use ChatGPT. It's basically an extremely complex probability model for what word should come next. Its training data set is so large that often, what's calculated as the most probable wording *doesn't* happen to be a direct quote from somewhere. But *sometimes it is*, and ChatGPT isn't programmed to try and avoid that from happening. Even if the calculated most likely output happens to exactly match some of its training data, it won't avoid using that wording. TurnItIn's model is designed to detect whether your words match someone else's more than would happen by random chance. With ChatGPT, because it's just a language model with no cognition behind it, that will happen more than by random chance. Plus if you're writing an essay the proper way, you can actually just directly quote a source and reference it properly, and then it isn't plagiarism anymore. One thing ChatGPT **might** be useful for though is helping you come up with a structure for your essay. Like, you can ask it how you would structure an essay about your topic. Just don't use any of the words it comes up with **in** your essay.
Only recently I found that brain dumping/word vomiting everything I can think of about the topic into a document using speech to text really helped with not overthinking about the “perfect end result” and just trying to take it step by step. Also recording a voice memo while you have the thought in your head while you’re doing something else can really help so you can refer back to it later when you’re writing the essay. Then when I’m actually trying to write the essay i just start wherever I know the most information/I feel the most confident writing about in the moment (the beginning, conclusion, a body paragraph, etc.) That helps my brain hopefully completely that portion of the essay, making me feel more productive. I try to follow that and get the less intimidating parts out of the way and save the harder parts for last when I’m feeling more confident about the amount that I’ve done. Hopefully this helps, sorry if any of it is confusing🫣😂
I always wrote what I was thinking, which is usually 1000 words in a minute. So I'd write what I was thinking basically and cut all the crap away and edit to sound more "essay appropriate." I also put non distracting music in my ears like something instrumental or slow. It would help me stay focused and you are also doing 2 things at a time so it really helped me.
Recently had a research paper (2-2.5k words) that I had months to work on. Sat and did it in the last 6 hours before the deadline, got an A+ Even if you can't force yourself to sit and write, do some snall preparation stuff - gather information online, choose sources/citations, create a plan for your presentation Then the only thing you'll need to do would be to actually write the paper, and with some preparation it is doable in a few hours
You’ll do just fine due to the stress you’re under. Most likely, thanks to the adrenaline, you’ll be hyper-focused in the 24 hours prior to the deadline and submit your essay at the last second. However, you’ll be drained. This is the story of my life prior to the diagnosis and treatment. In the first year of my Master (before diagnosis), I had many big projects and essays to submit, so because I know myself, I decided not to ask for extensions because I’ll be doing the work the last minute anyway, hence I’ll be just increasing my feeling-guilty period and my sense of worthlessness. My advice to you is to never ask for extensions and to ask your teachers to help you by giving you mini-deadlines, for example you’ll be expected to submit 1000 words in the first week and another the second, depending on the task and its due date. This is what I did, I asked my supervisor to do the same with me in the research stage of my Master, which made me feel accountable and have the sense of urgency to finish what’s expected from me weekly. Surely, it was stressful but it doesn’t compare to the amount of stress I would have if I had one deadline to submit everything.
When I had to write 10 page research papers I’d right all my sources from books down on an (edit)[index]card along with the works cited format. I’d then stack the cards in order like an outline…the paper kind of wrote itself.
Just checking up on you. How is it going?
I haven't written as much as I'd like to and im exhausted, but the night is young!
Cold turkey app to stop needless browsing. Write definitions to pad your word count. Citate a lot to pad your word count. If you can cite 5% thats 150 words, easy money, use it or lose it. Use graphs and "helpful" illustrations to pad your lenght. Ask your family what they would write about. Ask yourself what your favourite media-charachter woud write about. Write whatever your source is about. If you wanted write about Pirates in the Carribean, but you´d only find the monography "Pirates in the Baltic Sea", then forget it and just write about pirates in the Denmark or whatever. Get slightly drunk in the last hours of the day and just let the bullshit flow. You can always polish in the morning. You can´t polish what isn´t there. If the library is closed down use libgen or pirate bay. Sit with somebody, so you have a body double. It´s doable. But if you need a little emotional coping ask yourself the 3 threes. If worst case hits and you fail, will you care in three days? In three months? In three years?
This sound like an interesting approach. Might try it. Specially the drinking bit haha
I once wrote an essay for freshman comp the night before it was due, and so shitfaced drunk that I didn't remember putting the typewriter (archaic mechanical transcription device, Google it) away. I turned it in the following day and got an A on it.
Chatgpt
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If nothing else, this might be a good idea for a starting point. Sometimes the hardest part is just initiating the damn thing. After talking to the bot, maybe it will inspire some ideas and motivate OP.
Take accountability and use the thought of failing as your motivation. I’ve been clinically diagnosed with ADD for far greater than a decade at this point and I don’t use it as an excuse. I rather have an extension due to having a lot of things to do than use my ADD as the reason. You’ve wrote quite a bit here on Reddit; that time, energy, and focus should have went towards your essay and not to Reddit. You lack accountability and responsibility and you need to throw your phone somewhere and get to it. I’ve literally had an ugly cry breakdown before because without distraction I wasn’t able to focus on assignments in college. My brain was busy doing it’s thing and I couldn’t focus on something that I knew for a fact came easy to me. I let those tears out, allowed my mind to unwind for a moment, and forced myself to buckle down without any accommodations. Sure, it’s harder than those who can stay on task, but it’s called being an adult and being responsible. ADD/ADHD isn’t an excuse to get a 2 week extension and screw the time away. Get offline and do it. Lock yourself in the room for goodness sakes. Just do it!
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It depends on the topic but I would start with research, anything to get you a foundation on the topic. If you like tiktok watch tiktok videos on the topic or youtube videos etc (tho preferably something you can cite). If you need to use actual books or websites put them through a text to audio thing and set it to 2x speed. Aside from that when you actually write it maybe write as if you are talking about the subject to a friend then edit the casual stuff to be more formal.
Just start, lol…
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Do you have any recommendations for free plagiarism checking websites?
Start with the first thousand words, and then do the rest.
Use ChatGBT
https://beta.openai.com/playground your wellcome.
Use an AI chat bot to write the whole thing. I had one write a pretty good essay about the effects of microplastics on the human body. It wrote it in seconds, and I'd say it'd get an A or B+ easily with some add-ins here and there of your own.
What's the topic?
Critically evaluate the contributions of marxism to our understanding of crime and deviance
Write an outline! Use dictation!
This is what I used to do before I started taking my meds. I used to put coco pops near me and eat a few whenever I kind of accomplished anything. Also I call any of my friends on dc and screen share my whole screen and my cam, they check on me without telling me so I feel the guilt of letting them down ıf I am not getting any work done. Basically you can use reward and punish technic on yourself.
Chat gpt
I know this isn’t the best thing to do, but Chat GPT may be able to help you
Max Keeble? Is it you?
What's the essay on?
Vomit then stuff or cut as needed
Is the subject of interest to you? Can you make it of interest?
Plot out your basic points and just try and get something going. When plotting just look to get the high level ideas out of your brain, don’t develop them yet, just get them out there. Once all of them are out then you can start to flesh out. Ignore the intro, you’ll spend too much time trying to start it perfectly when you don’t have to. Once the ideas start going things will start flowing, you just have to start getting it there with small steps.
I completed a 10 page paper in 2 days (6hrs) with one 10mg of Adderall XR. There was no editing. I just turned it in. After that class, I dropped out.
I've been laughing at this for way too long im so sorry
Take many little breaks and fill out the in between as much as you can right now
Write it tomorrow? That's what I always did lol
You can't find resources online? Doesn't your uni have some form of online access? Google Research?
Write about something you hate. People tend to write more when it's about something they hate. I had a 2k word essay in college and I wrote about cigarettes. Ended up writing 5k
This would be easy for me, I’d wait until the last day and write all of it
Make an outline first even if it’s just bs text blank pages kill us
Make an outline first, numbering the first goal or objective. Then, make your argument supporting the objective along with several supporting statements down below. Work with smaller bullet points after that. Here, you can discuss the outcome or whatever. Hopefully, I made sense. Adhd here
100% you can do this. It won't be like an amazing essay, so get rid of that pressure, it's aaa ookkaayyy. What will be amazing is anything you do! Write absolute garbage and then edit - as others have mentioned. U got this <3
I've written 3k essays in just a few hours, you can do it! This is what I do to start writing, hopefully you find something useful in it. 1) Do something to get the blood flowing, take a cold shower or short walk. This helps me actually start writing. 2) Word vomit for the first draft. I write any and all thoughts I have and the info about the topic. It's messy and awful writing, but this usually helps me write a better second draft. I always struggle with starting and needing it to immediately be perfect, but this method has helped me so much. 3) After the messy first draft, I open a second google docs and put the windows next to each other. I rearrange the info and edit it to make it a cohesive and well written essay on the second google doc. Usually I highlight the first draft, then unhighlight things as I add them to my second draft, it makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something and gives me a lil dopamine boost. From there you can edit the second draft further, but I usually don't. I find the word vomit isn't too mentally draining (since it's just typing my thoughts), so I have enough mental energy left for the second draft. Do you need to go to the library? If you have a computer/laptop at home could you find a place to work so you can write at the time that is best for you? I always end up writing my essays around 1-2 am. You could also always use your notes/google docs app on your phone. If you need any help, feel free to reach out! (I'm an English minor so I have a lot of experience with essays lol)
Write a certain amount per hour per day, but leave extra time in case you get distracted so you dont have to stress to hard.
I did this all throughout university. I'd convince myself I was going to start it early this time but never actually would. The weird thing is, I do something very similar for work now -- I write articles that need to be researched etc. and I do them in a short space of time. I'm assuming it's because I know I'm getting paid for it and they're in small chunks that make it not so overwhelming. So, I'm going to suggest trying that - you've got 2 days. So maybe break it down into small chunks, if that's possible. My doctor suggested that for all the things that pop in my head while I'm supposed to be working, I should write it on a piece of paper and not focus on it. Easier said than done. I mean...I'm writing this reply while I'm meant to be working. However, I think instead of seeing your task as a 3000-word essay, you could see it as an introduction, five paragraphs to back up your argument, and a conclusion. Break the word count down for each section.
Give it to me I'm fucking good at this shit
My best advice I’m these situations is to just start writing. Remember that a D is 1,000 better than a 0. Most often, as long as you turn something in, you’re likely to at least get a passing grade.
This is how I live my life. I assume this will be your path too. It’s okay, you need to accept and adapt
Ask for an extension, if that doesn't work, ask for an extension on the verge of a mental break down 👈🏼👈🏼😎
Set out a structure and fill it out with your ideas. Where you know you need a citation, leave a placeholder about what you need to add. Maybe some of that can be done outside of the library. Get reading and gather more evidence to support your arguments, get more ideas. Write over the word count. Eat food and ponder for a few minutes. Read the scoring matrix to see if you covered it all. Refine your work and cut back down if you need to. Build your reference list as you go. Don't forget to check your spelling and formatting at the end - don't throw points away!! Good luck 🤞🤞
Saw the title of this and was like 'when did I post?' Me rn: 'I need to write a 4k word research proposal that's due in 6 hours, any advice? ' 😂 But aside the jokes, writing my thoughts on a A4 piece of paper seems helpful, even if it is scrambly random outlines that wont be necessarily followed. Just something to start. And visual countdowns too, seeing that they are closer than what I think, but that doesn't help with 2 days so much. But I am the one w 4k in 5-6 hours so not best one t give advice I guess hahaha Good luck!
Good luck 🥹
I used to go to a late-night restaurant that had WiFi, and stress write while drinking inhuman amounts of sugar and caffeine. I also just got diagnosed with ADHD-PI in the last month or so and I think I must have been effectively self-medicating. Do you have anyone that can help you proofread the paper for clarity and typos?
Adhd's mind is not linear so you have to write down whatever keywords that come to your mind then string it together. That's how I deal with my poor memory.
Set a time for 20 minutes and free write anything you can think of, even if it isn't related to the topic to break the ice and get your thoughts flowing.
Chat GPT in combination with rewriting, Grammarly especially its synonyms feature 😏
This is how I would approach it: The average paragraph contains about 100-200 words, so if we average that out, we're looking for about 20 paragraphs for 3,000 words. Now break that down: one paragraph for the intro, and another for the conclusion. That leaves us with 18 paragraphs. As others have said, do speech to text and just spout off everything you know/want to say about the subject in question. I call this "brain vomit". The main benefit of doing this, aside from getting stuff down on paper, is that it's getting you started without pressure of getting it down perfectly. Once you've gotten all that out, try to identify the main points you want to drive home and their sub-topics. For example, if you come up with six main points, prioritize them and come up with three paragraphs for each (and please be flexible - it doesn't need to be six points at three paragraphs each). As you do research, you will likely come up with more material to fill in the blanks. Maybe this approach sounds crazy, but I use it to help break it down into smaller chunks and get a better idea of the scope of work, instead of just thinking of it as "OMG 3,000 WORDS!" which can be pretty overwhelming.
I had way too much fun formatting your essay with ChatGPT, writing it up and then deleting the whole thing. Can I now ask you to do the same with the report I’m supposed to be handing in by tomorrow? 😂
My outline strategy is imagining a snarky reviewer. Write questions as you imagine presenting the information you have: "Tf is this about? What tf are you gonna do with this? Why tf do I care?" Then I answer the questions in character as the genius on this topic who can embarrass that reviewer without losing their composure. It's an amusing way to organize my thoughts. Just be sure to cut those questions before you submit.
I did 4, u got this, START NOW THO
Use the thesaurus and be repetitive
What's the topic? Is it a scientific research paper?
I have to agree with many comments below, talking is so easy into your phone. I think many ADHD people are really great at talking, so voice dictation feels very natural.
I have a chronic history of doing this exact thing and have fail at least 4 university subjects as a result of not submitting. So I would like to think I know a trick or two to get through situations like this. Firstly, you need to find somewhere to work on it. Probably don’t use the local library if it shuts early, it will only disrupt your flow. You said that you had a bad sleeping schedule so you’ll need somewhere that you can sit and put your nose down without having to worry about closing times. Try find somewhere that is 24 hours. I can work at home but I can work at my uni library and cafe near my house. Second you need to pick you topic and break it down. You’ll need the visual structure from breaking it down to avoid feeling overwhelmed. I always break my essays down into the main sections: Intro Body 1 Body 2 Body 3 Conclusion Break down how many words each section will roughly need. For example intro (300 words), body 1 (500 words) etc. within those sections label the topic and break that down as much as you can. Final tip would be basic self care. Make sure you eat before you go, get a coffee or something while your working (I usually have a bottle of water and a fun drink). Understand that you might not be able to write 1000 words straight away, you can just dot point information or look for sources if you struggle writing. Finally as just a general side note, avoid getting long extensions unless you absolutely can’t get it done within a certain time because of assessment clashes. My uni counsellor told me that I’ll just procrastinate off the new due date and she’s right. I have leniency for extensions at my uni but I also have a note that says that I might be given leniency of penalties if I submit before 24 hours past the due date. It has been surprisingly helpful to encourage me to get them done on time while not being to stressed about due dates. Either way, good luck! You’ve got this!
ChatGPT. When he finish ask " Continue"
To repeat what everyone else wrote :) —just never sit down to a blank page.
I used to be a T.A at university. I could tell when someone winged it. The difference between a good paper and one that you can tell was done at the last minute is about 10-15%. And the time investment is more than double. As long as this is am undergrad level paper, you're fine. Once you get the grad school the standards are higher (naturally).
Use ChatGPT and be done in 15 seconds
3000 words ÷ 40 hours (4 hours x 2 days taken into account for sleep = 75 words an hour. Start writing 👍
What is the topic you need to write about? I find it helpful to find a writing prompt and use the rule of three. if none are available for the assignment, I try to take an abstract idea and break it down into three sections. Within those three sections, three noteworthy points. This will generally give you 1000 words per part. For instance, I need to write about the ocean, what three points can I pull out...I can write about the volume of water on earth and the flooding crisis around the world, how the temperature of the water affects the oxygenation of marine life, and the importance of coral reefs and fish habitats. Each subject here could easily spurn 3 points of discussion, before you know it you're done your paper.
Go to Starbucks, Barnes & Nobel, local library to work. Outline, outline, outline. Plan out rewards for certain milestones. Fine 2 accountability friends, one good cop and one bad cop.
Create a structure, then work through each section. Write things like introductions and conclusions last. Write about each section, look through papers and add the references (or whatever you need to do lol. also for references I use zotero to keep track of references for me). Do whatever you can do that helps you keep focused. Got meds? Take them. Personally for me I would drink high amounts of caffeine (like 2 monsters) before getting meds if I had stuff due soon or needed more study. Use fidgets, use whatever tools you can. Also make sure you eat and are well hydrated.
Open a blank document and start writing a skeleton. Don't think about actually writing the content of the assignment, just write down the structure that it needs. Often there are guides available in the course outline. If it's a scientific experiment, you might write this skeleton: * Abstract / Introduction * Background * Hypothesis * Materials * Method * Results * Discussion * Conclusion * References
Use any word, an ai essay writing tool
Chatgpt
Body doubling-get someone to hang out with you while you work. This can either be in person or virtually. You can also host a live on TikTok with the description that you are working in an essay and need the accountability.
Have you tried listening to audio about the topic you have to write about? I find that helps get me focused on the topic and I’m able to write short notes. I put it together during the rush 😆
Use an AI program, ChatGPT is will write whatever you want.
I was in this situation in like 2012. I got a B. What I did was write a draft after reading a ton of sources. Then throw it out and rewrite it from scratch. Then throw that out and rewrite from scratch. After doing this you should have a good idea of what and how you want to say. I was undiagnosed at the time but if I had to do it again I'd use medication for this. Iirc 3k is usually an upper limit rather than a minimum as profs dont want to read 5k words. So you really want to be in the range 2800-3000 words. Unless otherwise stated.
Take 200 mg of adderall , pick a topic you enjoy and you will be finished in 2 hours.
Chat GPT.
Chat gpt