When under pressure of deadlines, it can turn difficult to come up with ideas for writing an essay, blog post, or an article on a certain topic. These 10 proven strategies will help you learn how to write an essay fast. You can create a winning essay or blog post even under pressure of tight deadlines and busy schedules.

Strategy 1: Avoid These Common Mistakes

Common mistakes that one can make include the failure to organize paragraphs properly with clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Another issue may be the choice of popular and unreliable sources to back up arguments. One may just insert in-text citations that actually do not correspond to information they support in the text.

Finally, copying more than 5 consecutive words from sources directly without proper in-text citations may lead to plagiarism.

Thus, to write a winning essay under pressure, consider the following elements:

STRUCTURE – SOURCES – PLAGIARISM

Strategy 2: Understand the Prompt to Write an Essay Fast

It is highly important to write to the point and focus on answering the questions in instructions. Although it seems evident, but some writers may include too many sentences with general descriptions and discussion. It prevents them from staying focused.

For example, a common mistake is to start describing some theoretical framework in a page or several paragraphs. However, the task is to discuss its application to a specific situation, case, or scenario.

Strategy 3: Create a Full-Sentence Outline for Last-Minute Writing

Outlining can speed up the writing process. If done in the electronic format, it can improve the structure. It makes it easy for the writer to develop each idea. Outlining can be used at all stages for planning. De Smet et al. (2014) state that it decreases cognitive load. In other words,  the writer can easily develop ideas through outlining. The main drawback is that it can take some time to learn how to use this technique. However, it leads to fluency in writing.

An example:

• I. Introduction
• Thesis Statement: Argument + because + Supporting Point 1, Supporting Point 2, Supporting Point 3.
• II. Body paragraph 1: Topic
• A. Supporting Point 1
• a. Evidence and Discussion 1
• b. Evidence and Discussion 2
• c. Evidence and Discussion 3
• B. Supporting Point 2
• a. Evidence and Discussion 1
• b. Evidence and Discussion 2
• c. Evidence and Discussion 3
• C. Supporting Point 3
• a. Evidence and Discussion 1
• b. Evidence and Discussion 2
• c. Evidence and Discussion 3
• III. Conclusion

Strategy 4: Prioritize Research

Surf databases with scholarly sources that can back up your writing. Use filters like appropriate keywords or year of publication. The most useful database is Google Scholar or more specific databases like PubMed for nursing or medicine topics. For books, you can use Google Books with filters like full view or preview. Do not delve into information that presents unnecessary details. Introducing general information is useless for the reader.

Your essay should be of value to the reader.

Strategy 5: Focus on a Strong Thesis Statement

Creating a thesis statement (the last sentence of introduction) is important for the whole paper structure. It can keep your writing on track. First create a statement or an argument you will write about in the essay.

For example, “Modern companies have to adapt their human resource management practices …”

It is the first part of a strong thesis statement. Add support why what you state is true. For example, “…. because of new globalization trends like remote work and virtual teams.”

STATEMENT – BECAUSE – SUPPORTING POINTS

Supporting points are used as headings for body paragraphs to support the thesis statement. For example, in this case, they are “remote work” and “virtual teams.”

Strategy 6: Use Time Management Techniques

Allocate time to research, writing, and editing. Use different time management techniques or a simple to-do list with deadlines. Estimate real deadlines and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals you can set for each part:

EXAMPLE: RESEARCH (3 hours) – OUTLINE (1 hour) – WRITING (1 hour per page) – EDITING (15 minutes per page).

You can use the Kanban board:

The Pomodoro technique can be useful to keep focus and avoid burnout.

It consists of the following elements:

• Set a deadline for each process (like 25 minutes for finding references),
• Take a short break (around 5-10 minutes),
• Start work on the next task (25 minutes for writing 1 page),
• Do 4 tasks and set a longer break up to 20 minutes,
• Then repeat a cycle of 4 tasks (called Pomodoro).

Strategy 7: Avoid Perfectionism

To avoid time pressure, first draft your essay and then proofread it later. There is always room for perfecting your essay or blog post by adding more data, facts, or research. So scan your essay for grammar mistakes and structure and consider making it perfect when you have more time.

Strategy 8: Use Technology to Your Advantage

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means that EEssays may earn a commission with no cost to you.

You can use the following tools to write an essay fast:

• A grammar check technology like Grammarly can help you proofread your essay or blog post when you are under pressure to submit your essay. It can also check your work for plagiarism. Thus, it is a 2-in-1 choice.
• Use a free GPTZero tool for AI detection, but it may show AI-written content even if you have written it yourself; thus, it has its drawbacks.
• You can ask ChatGPT if the content is written by AI to check.
• You can manage citations with tools like Citation Machine. If you know how to cite in APA, MLA, or Chicago, it is faster to cite without using citation management tools. Their citation guidelines may be different from official style publications. Use this easy-to-use EEssays citation guide.

Strategy 9: Edit Efficiently

Dedicate enough time to editing your essay:

• Check facts and the spelling of specific terms;
• Add in-text citations for facts and data where they may be missing;
• Edit the formatting of headings and subheadings;
• Fix confusing sentences, as each statement should be clear and explained with examples and evidence;
• Proofread for grammar mistakes.

Strategy 10: Practice

Frequent essay writing can improve speed. By practicing regularly, you will find suitable sources faster, create a perfect outline, and edit under tight deadlines.

Use eessays.co for online writing guidelines with examples and other tips.

Reference

De Smet, M. J. R., Brand-Gruwel, S., Leijten, M., & Kirschner, P. A. (2014). Electronic outlining as a writing strategy: Effects on students’ writing products, mental effort and writing process. Computers & Education, 78, 352-366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.06.010