Hey /his/torians,
Who essay here?
Got a 5,000 worder. Got about 3k words of unrefined shit. The idea for my essay is good, but it just won't fucking go down on paper right.
I try not to reference as I go, which makes things hard later on. And I always write at the last minute. Got 2 days to go.
I tend to get very good marks though. Always afraid the next essay will be the one that brings me down.
>I try not to reference as I go
... Why?
Anyway I have to write essays pretty often (undergrad in history) but I've tried to break my procrastination habit the last year or two, so I tend to pluck away at stuff at 30 minutes a day and then cram all the rest in for as long as it takes on the second-last day. Then proofread and submit on the due-date.
>>1429735
I find it breaks my flow - I usually start with a pretty good idea of what I am going to write, and go back through my notes and books to find out where I got my points from.
Time consuming, but I've always worked this way.
I'm doing a Masters - at a good university. I always feel like a slacker who has fluked his way into this position.
I haven't got any more organised since my undergrad. I wish I could work in the way you describe, but I just don't seem to be able to.
>>1429818
>but I just don't seem to be able to.
>justdoit.jpg
The reason I do it in 30 minute bursts is because I'm also an unmotivated asshole, but 30 minutes is short enough that I can generally force myself to sit down and do it. Once you have a habit it's not that gruelling. To me this feels way less stressful than burning through my entire day trying to hit a deadline near the due-date, and all the other anxieties that accompany procrastination. I don't know about you, but approaching deadlines tend to eat away at the back of my head until they're out of the way, doing a little bit tends to banish that thought for the day. Besides, if you end up on a roll you don't need to stop at 30 minutes either, I find sometimes once I get on a train of thought I can keep at it for a while.
>I always feel like a slacker who has fluked his way into this position.
There's actually a name for that phenomenon, though I forget what it is. Mostly everyone who isn't a narcissist experiences it sometimes. The reality is most people you think are smart are bullshitting their way through life as well.
>>1429930
Thanks anon. I'll do my best. I only have 2 days left though, so the half an hour thing - I've left it a bit late! All the research is done though. Just got to pull this motherfucker together.
>write at the last minute
>Got 2 days to go
Pick one
>tfw started most of my essays on the deadline day
>all but one of my essays were handed in late
>wrote my thesis in two weeks
>still graduated with a First Class Honours
Live within your memes, anons
>>1429999
Surely you didn't start researching them on the deadline day? Throughout my 4 years of undergrad I probably did the research for my essays in about 1/2 weeks and then wrote them all the day before, usually into the early hours of the hand-up date.
Did all the research for my BA thesis over about 6 months but only wrote the fucking thing in the two days before hand up.
Got a first. Now I'm doing my masters. Why, oh WHY did I think that after all that seat-of-my-pants academic action I'd be able to pull the same shit here?
>>1430270
>Surely you didn't start researching them on the deadline day?
Sometimes a bit of idle googling a few days before but for the most part yeah. It made me feel awful, both physically since I usually had to stay up all night to do them, and academically, because I'd get docked 5% for every day late it made me feel like an underachiever even though I was doing better than average.
>Why, oh WHY did I think that after all that seat-of-my-pants academic action I'd be able to pull the same shit here?
What's a Master's like? I'm taking a year out to work and save up enough money to do one
