How to manage with writing deadlines

The word “deadline” has somewhat grim origins. During the American Civil War, prisoners of war in the Andersonville prison camp could not go beyond an inner railing, which was about 20 feet from the perimeter fence. Anyone who did was shot, hence the term “dead” line.

While writers today (probably) will not get shot if they miss a deadline, they might as well be. Not only will they probably not get paid, they will get a reputation for being unreliable. Here is how to manage with essay writing deadlines.

Know your limits

Essay writing is a chore for many people, so it is tempting to put writing assignments off as long as possible. This is especially true when you know how to write an essay and you can touch type, so you think you can do everything in one go. If you find the part-time job, it rather hard to. However, there is a limit to how much you can actually do in a certain period, and you risk burning out if you string your assignments one after the other. In addition, you risk missing your deadline for one or more of them, and that is a big no-no. Make sure that when you have writing projects, you space them out in manageable chunks.

Organize the work

If you have several assignments lined up, set your priorities. Consider the level of preparation and difficulty in writing the essay as well as the urgency. If they have all the same deadlines, do the most difficult ones first relative to the others. The hard essays are usually the ones that require a lot of research, and even if you are a fast writer, getting your materials together can eat away at your schedule. If you do the hard ones first, you can more quickly get through the easy assignments even if you have very little time left. Of course, if your assignments have different deadlines, queue them so that you do them in turn according to deadline.

Give yourself time

You never know when something might keep you from doing the work as scheduled. There might be a power outage, or a fire drill. You might have an emergency or you might get sick.  A good way to manage with all tasks is to develop self-discipline and practice activities for self-development.  Avoid waiting until the day of the deadline to start working on your essay, even if you know that you can do it quickly. Estimate how long you need to accomplish an assignment, double that, and then allow another day as a cushion.

Read instructions carefully

Many people make the mistake of not reading the requirements of a writing assignment. If you get something wrong, at best you will have to revise the assignment. That is a lot of time wasted. At worst, your paper is rejected, in which case you will have a do-over. It’s a pain in the behind and not good for your feedback, either. Make sure that you read the requirements carefully, and if you have any questions, ask for clarification before you even get started.

Eliminate distractions

Psych yourself to do your work in one smooth flow. Avoid distractions such as the television, radio, noisy roommates, social networks, and your mobile phone. Turn everything off and find a quiet place to work. The library is a good place to go if your room is impossible to distraction-proof. Once you get going, just keep writing until you are done, and avoid the temptation to edit your work as you go or you will never finish. You can always go back to the mistakes you made afterwards. If you find that impossible to do, consider an app called Ilys, which will keep you writing whether you like it or not.

Do your research

Make sure that you do adequate research before you sit down to do the actual writing. If you feel strongly about a topic, or you know a lot about it, you may be tempted to simply spout off. However, most writing assignments get points for objectivity. It saves time when you have all the information you need to discuss the topic thoroughly. Even when it is an assignment expressing an opinion, it is good policy to present opposing points of view. This makes any conclusion favoring one opinion over another much more credible.

Ask for help

Contrary to what most people believe, essay writing is not easy. It requires a certain skill set that not everybody has. If you think that your writing skills are not up to par, there is no shame in asking for help from professional writers. A professional essay writing service can help you develop a topic, and to organize properly. They can also help with helping you create your bibliography and do proper in-text citations.

Writing an essay is just one part of the equation. Even if you do a kickass paper, you still need someone else to look over your work to edit and proofread it. You can actually do it yourself, but if you are pressed for time, you can farm this out to someone else. Besides, it is easy to miss mistakes when you check your own work. If you have no one you can trust to do the work properly, consider hiring a professional essay writing and editing service to do it for you.

Writing assignments require quite a bit of discipline and skills, but if you make the right preparations, you should be able to manage it quite well. These tips in how to manage with essay writing deadlines is just what you need to turn in the perfect essay.