if you’re like me, maybe you have trouble staying focused on your essays or remembering what you’re writing about when you trail off mid paragraph,
or hate scrolling up and down the page to see things youve written previously/remember what you were talking about!
ive developed a strategy for countering this sort of thing in my own work, and figured hey maybe i should type it out because it might help some other people who struggle with similar things! so here goes!
also, uh .. I dunno if anyone cares about this but im using the Great Gatsby as an example, so if you care about being spoiled about stuff that happens in that book.. dont read the examples?
1. Rewrite/copy down your prompt.
If you have short term memory problems like I do, this can help you actually remember what it is that you’re supposed to be talking about; and if you have issues skimming and skipping words in a sentence, it forces you to read all of it and not miss a key part of your prompt.
Example prompt: Explore the thematic significance of symbols of wealth in The Great Gatsby, and what the author uses them to say about society in the text.
2. Make a messy bullet point list of what you know.
This doesn’t need to be organized. In fact, it shouldn’t be. At this point you’re just throwing your ideas out onto the word processor. Examples you can use, points you want to make, anything else that comes to mind.
Daisy as a symbol of money & american dream
(quote about her voice being full of money)
capitalism is bad bcuz it favors people with old money etc
3. Cut down & reorder your bullet points to make yourself a neat little list.
Your outline is starting to take shape now! If you can, it’s a good idea to try and think of transitions now; how you’re going to move from subject to subject in your essay. Now is a good time to elaborate on your points, too.
Daisy as a symbol of money & american dream
(quote about her voice being full of money)
(tie that in with the deaths of gatsby and wilson, all the people who “lost” in the book started poor, transition to:
capitalism is bad bcuz it favors people with old money etc, end with fancy ass profound quote if u think of one by then
4. Gather all your points and squish em into one introductory sentence.
Your thesis statement, if you rather. Your thesis statement is something of a “preview” of what’s to come later in the essay, so it’s better to write this after you’ve got your outline down! Make sure that your thesis statement answers/addresses the question posed in the prompt.
topics covered (daisy, valley of ashes, capitalism, people dead)
In his novel the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald seems to be criticizing how the American system is stacked against the poor, making it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to truly achieve the elusive “American Dream”.
5. Stick all that together
Now you’ve got the backbone of your essay! - your thesis statement, and the “topic” of each bit of the rest of your essay. Put this all together, and you’re ready to start padding it out.
(theeeeesiiiiiiiiiisssss) In his novel the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald seems to be criticizing how the American system is stacked against the poor, making it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to truly achieve the elusive “American Dream”.
Daisy as a symbol of money/the american dream (quote about her voice being full of money)
The valley of ashes (poor people in a bad situation in the wasteland of the city)
capitalism sucks bcuz it favors old money, profound quote, bam done we’re gona rock it
6. Start padding out your essay!
See, what I like about writing an essay like this is that you don’t have to scroll around your page in order to know what you’re supposed to be writing about in the section you’re working on. Using your bullet points as a guide, write your paragraph under each one.
Daisy as a symbol of money/the american dream (quote about her voice being full of money)
A powerful symbol Fitzgerald uses to represent the American Dream is the character Daisy Buchanan. She is explicitly said to have a voice “full of money” and is pursued by many. However, when Gatsby finally achieves his dream of having her in his reach, she seems less magical, less perfect than he remembers; much like the American Dream seems from “close up”. Interestingly, the only one in the end who gets to have “the Dream” is Tom, someone born into money. Gatsby’s attempts to keep her are arguably in vain due to the fact that he used to be poor.
The valley of ashes (poor people in a bad situation in the wasteland of the city)
Further commentary on wealth is evident in the area aptly named as the “Valley of Ashes”; the shadow of glamorous, frivolous New York, it is where the poor are left fighting for scraps and cleaning up what the rich left behind. (god, im not gonna finish this, im not getting a grade for this, you get the idea right? write the essay inside your outline. use it like a spine. like a tree trunk, and write the leaves around it.)
7. Write out an intro and conclusion to fit your middle paragraphs.
Your introduction needs to “fade in” and bring the readers to your “point”; your conclusion needs to “fade out” and show the bigger picture and how your essay applies to other areas. (These aren’t rules that are set in stone per se, just good guidelines to follow when you dont have any other ideas.)
Your thesis statement is ideally the end of your introduction, leading into the rest of your essay. Generally, the thesis is “restated” in different words in the conclusion, as if in summary.
8. Delete your outline bullet points and clean it up a little.
This is like erasing your construction lines after you finish a drawing, and then make sure it flows smoothly together. Reading it outloud to yourself is a good idea, it will help you catch any glaring errors.
9. Congrats you wrote that dam essay!!
good job dude!!!!! give yourself a pat on the back and maybe a treat bcuz you deserve it!
snowghoul
pixelskylines
dailybridgerton
