Breaking Through Writer's Block: How to Write Your College Essays When You're Stuck

When you have an essay to write, it’s not always easy to get started. Sometimes, you just sit in front of the computer for hours watching the cursor blink while your mind is drawing blank after blank. This can be even worse when you’re asked to write about yourself, like for a college admissions essay, or for other important, personal papers. If you’re feeling lost, try these methods.

Talk it Over

You don’t always have to do everything alone. If you’re looking for help with an essay, talk the prompt over with a friend, family member, teacher or tutor to see if they can help spark some ideas. It can be pretty hard to write a whole paper on yourself, and there could be details about your life you’ve forgotten that might be great material for your paper. If it’s a personal essay for a college application, someone close to you might be able to help come up with topics that would stand out to the admissions board, like a unique story from your childhood or impressive work you’ve done for your community. If you need assistance with something more academic, a tutor or teacher will often be happy to go over the assignment with you to help you get started. Asking for help can be the difference between a great paper and a lackluster one. 

Take a Step Back 

Let yourself have a break. If you’re really struggling, staring at your screen isn’t going to do much but make you frustrated and tired. Give yourself some time away from the essay. Go for a walk, make a cup of tea, play a board game, call up a friend or anything else you can do to take your mind off the writing. This alleviates the stress of writer’s block for a while. When you make your way back to it, you’ll feel calm, refreshed and ready to try again. You’ll find that it’s much easier to come up with something to write after letting yourself take some time away from it. 

Make an Outline

Writing an outline can be a huge help when writing any essay. If you make a good, detailed outline for your paper, the writing of the actual essay portion will be much easier for you. Start by deciding what you want to write about and jot down a few topics you want to cover or points you want to make. Be sure that these all flow well together, so that your essay has a beginning, middle and end, or an introduction, body, and conclusion. Even if you’ve already started writing and just aren’t doing well, taking the time to write an outline can show you where you went wrong on your first attempt so you can correct your course and get back on track. 

Approach from a Different Angle 

Maybe you decided on a topic, but are trying to force the paper together and it’s just not getting to the place you wanted it to be in. Consider what your essay needs to focus on, and go back to just the basics of the assignment. What else could you write about? Is there another angle you could approach the essay from that would make the process easier? If your paper is struggling to flow or be cohesive, try to rethink where you want to come from. Another main idea might just work out better. 

Relax

As much as possible, try not to stress. This is easier said than done, but if you try not to overthink your work, you might have better results. A lot of students aren’t confident in their writing abilities and this often shows in their work. Try writing with a calm mindset on your first draft. Don’t worry yet about getting a good grade on the paper or impressing the person reading your college admissions essay. Use confident vocabulary (stay away from phrases like “I think” or “could be” and similar passive terms, unless it’s completely necessary), and just try your best. If you worry too much from the get-go, you’ll not only struggle getting started, but there’s a higher chance your essay won’t be as clean and well-rounded as it could be. You can always take your time perfecting every sentence when you start draft number two!

Having trouble starting your college admissions essay? Contact us today at Revolution Tutors for more information on how we can help you craft an excellent essay to include in your application.