Landmarks and signposts: a good essay is like a map

When my first semester as an MA student came to an end, I realised I had been a survivor. I had survived studying and working as a freelance translator at the same time. To tell you the truth, I had no idea that a person could be THAT BUSY as I was at that time.

So now I would like to share some tips with you on how to survive writing essays, when there's so little time. Hope they help you as they helped me. Ready?

First of all, make sure you write everything as if it were fair copy. Don't tempt yourself to write haphazardly, in many colours and fonts, ignoring the style guide you should be using. It's better to look at what you write and think that it's almost ready. As the hours flow by, it will become more difficult to focus on such changes; that's why it's better to write correctly from square one.

Second, I say, when you use a certain source, you should always put the reference book or article into the works cited list as soon as you use it. And make sure the reference is formed according to the style guide you should be using. This is going to save you much time later, when you will be too tired to take care of such details.

Third, it helps if you imagine that you are not working on a text, but on a map. Maybe it's because my first degree is in surveying engineering, and I enjoy working on maps, but I always tend to visualise my essay as something physical, something which exists in space.

Besides, a very good essay has landmarks and signposts. Landmarks are key issues that we need to write towards them and explain them carefully while signposts are the key words that move us, both writer and reader, from one issue to another. It is important that we use landmarks and signposts in our essays, as if our essays were maps which present ideas in space.

It's so difficult to combine working and studying, especially in the case when you have to write as many essays as I had to write. Writing essays is one of the most creative things ever: first your mind absorbs the information and then it generates new ideas. That's why any tips that are going to make this process easier are always welcome. Do you have any?

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