How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays. Paul Dickerson
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train journey with my children at 10 am.
Always allow yourself back. It’s not too late. Don’t try to kid yourself that you’ve blown the day and there is no point in starting now. You haven’t and there is.
Come back to it better prepared
Often it is easy to put off starting – or continuing – with your essay by telling yourself that it is for the best. A particularly effective argument is that you will be better prepared later on. This can be effective in convincing yourself to wait, not least because you might be feeling sub-optimal right now; perhaps you are tired, hazy or distracted – not like that image of ‘the essay writer’ that you have conjured up in your head. You might even be able to persuade yourself that you cannot possibly start that essay without a bit more reading, more time to understand the ideas or a really clear sense of what to write. If you have experienced this – and many of us have – has it ever really worked out? It may be that sometimes it really has, perhaps in quite special circumstances, but most of the time this is just one of the ways we persuade ourselves to escape for now from the task before us. As we do this, we are in danger of building our essay into something extraordinarily demanding, something which requires us to be in increasingly super-human form to tackle.
Most of the time it is better to even complete a few brief moments of work on your essay than to wait for this time when we are alert, primed for action, free of distraction and full of energy. Probably few of us feel like this most of the time, so don’t wait around for this supercharged feeling to descend on you. You don’t need it – you can almost certainly write now. The strange thing is that when we start writing – even though we feel tired and uninformed – we can often feel our way into the issues and ideas and make contact with at least some sort of writing energy. It is even more effective for getting in the zone than watching YouTube clips about 24 pets that can talk like humans.
How can I get started?
Don’t wait to feel perfectly informed, perfectly inspired or perfectly energised – that might never happen. Start now – you can do good work right where you are.
Don’t build an oppressive image of how you or your circumstances have to be in order to effectively tackle your essay – really effective essays are often written in sub-optimal circumstances.
Charm your way into starting work – make it fun, simple, engaging and non-threatening.
Making a start now is usually a much better idea than starting after you have… [fill in your excuse here]. Start now, just as you are. You can read the books, research the area, think around the issues, find your notes, create a detailed plan and do all of this more effectively if you start to engage with your essay now.
Don’t kid yourself that you will come back to ‘it’ if you haven’t done any ‘it’ in the first place. It is far better to do even a few minutes writing before any break than to start with a break and a good intention to start ‘soon’.
Think Why not come back to it later? Listen to yourself
Coming back to it later can work, but usually only if you have been with ‘it’ in the first place. If you do even a few minutes straight away, it is so much easier to come back to. But don’t take my words for it – listen to yourself.
You are wiser than you think. Try having a conversation between the part of you that wants to procrastinate and the wise, caring and encouraging part of yourself. Please note, it is not so helpful to invoke the strict sergeant major/angry parent/red-faced teacher – you have probably already done enough of that. Instead contact the part of you that is perceptive and caring.
Here’s how my inner dialogue is going this morning. Have a look – if that helps – and then write out your own:
Procrastinating Paul: ‘I am a little tired this morning – I might feel more refreshed later.’
Perceptive Paul: ‘If you start in the morning, the first chance you can, it will be so much easier to come back to.’
Procrastinating Paul: ‘I don’t know, maybe just a really quick break and I’ll feel more energised.’
Perceptive Paul: ‘You’ll feel better once you start putting some words down.’
Procrastinating Paul: ‘Yes, but do I need to push myself? Besides, perhaps I should just check my emails?’
Perceptive Paul: ‘The emails will be there after you do some writing.’
Procrastinating Paul: ‘I’m not sure I am in the mood.’
Perceptive Paul: ‘Your mood will probably change within a few minutes of sitting down to write.’
To an extent the Perceptive Paul won the debate and I did start writing, although the tension did rumble on a bit. Perhaps unwisely, I checked my emails just after I had started writing. If these had been more urgent, I may have been derailed early on.
Exercise
Fill in your own inner dialogue
Procrastinating part of me:
Perceptive part of me:
Procrastinating part of me:
Perceptive part of me:
Procrastinating part of me:
Perceptive part of me:
Where do I start?
It’s all very well feeling that we should start our essay, but where – and how? Do we start at the beginning and push through to the conclusion, or perhaps start reading first, or writing a plan – or should we stop until everything seems a little bit clearer? The best idea is to start doing whatever it is we can do without any delay – for example, without having to find notes and references, or read and understand an idea and …, we will do that once we have started. If we delay at the start, we might never start.
It may be useful to think this through with some examples. Below, two essay titles are given, followed by an initial outline of ideas using both speech bubbles and notes, and including an identification of gaps in knowledge. Each of these examples imagines a different sort of gap in knowledge on the part of the student having a first thought about their essay. Note how, despite these gaps, something can be usefully started and the gaps can be better specified as a result.
Example one
Essay title:
‘Critically evaluated Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development.’
How you feel about the essay
Roughly aware of Piaget’s ideas, but cannot recall the studies in any detail. Aware of certain criticisms regarding Piaget’s ideas and some sense of the contrasting approaches, but cannot recall the names and specifics of the ideas.
How you can get started
You have quite a lot of understanding that can inform the shape that your essay might take. You need to clarify a fair amount of detail. Although you could turn to your notes, textbooks and other sources to fill out these details, it is probably best to write first without delay and then you will be less likely to be distracted and more likely to undertake really focused, purposive reading.
What