By now, if you have written several different styles of essay assignments, you know that there is a specific essay writing process that you need to follow. The nice thing about this is that once you get it down you can modify it to best suit the way you work and possibly even streamline it even further. The process, generally speaking, is the same every time you use it: find a topic, start doing research, create an outline, write each section over a series of days, edited and proofread it, and finally, hand it in. However, depending on the assignment this process can be quite involved and you may be wondering how you can best change it to suit your needs.
Of course the very first thing you need to know is understand how you work best. Some of us, prefer to start right away, thereby leaving lots of time at the end for proofreading and editing. Others, prefer to work under pressure and will generally wait until the due date gets closer. This is key because if you try to adopt a strategy that does not fit the way you work, you will find that you will actually take longer in the essay writing process.
One way you can streamline things is to do the first couple of sections in one day. For example, you can decide on the topic and spend the rest of the day doing your research and that will be a major portion of the essay writing process finished. Similarly, another option would be to do the research and the essay outline in one day although you may find this to be quite a bit more work that you have envisioned. The idea here is to get as much done in one day as you can without burning yourself out. You could even write the outline and then write the first introductory section to your essay as well. Thereby leaving the main body of the essay for the days following. Of course, one thing you may not want to do is finish writing the essay and then immediately move onto proofreading and editing. Often times, it is best to that your writing settle for one day before you go back to it as you be able to see omissions and errors that much easier.
Ultimately streamlining the essay writing process is something that is a very individual thing. You need to ensure that however you do it you not only stay on track but that fits your style in the way you work.
