<p>I try writing essays, but cant ever make it flow or even write pertaining to the subject. I think my grammar and vocabulary are adequate, but cant write an essay that flows or long enough.</p>
<p>I just wrote an in-class essay ( sort of), and only wrote two paragraphs out of five. My first body paragraph was barely a paragraph... Even though I read the books we were comparing, and had a page of organized notes, plus other notes, I still only managed to write 2 paragraphs, one of which I wrote at home!! </p>
<p>This happens any time I have an in-class essay, even if i don't have notes helping me.
Even at home it takes me an incredibly long amount of time. Most if not all the time do I paraphrase or take someone else's idea online, and put it into my essay.
This has been ongoing since Elementary school. </p>
<p>I am unable to write essays..
I can memorize facts and can remember what I learn over long periods of time. I can honestly remember almost everyones first and last name who was in my classes since 6th grade.
Why cant i write?</p>
<p>Try "speaking"your essay and recording as you speak; then play back and type, pausing as necessary. College essays should be in your “voice”. Pick a topic you can talk about easily because you care about it.</p>
<p>Don’t feel too bad. Writing is an important skill but of course there are somethings we can’t all be good at. For example, I know some people can get away with not studying for math tests and easily get a very high A. For me, I have to do a lot of practice and make sure I really understand how to do the material. If it helps, try writing your essays way before they’re do so you have more than enough time to edit them to the point where you’re satisfied with what you wrote. I’m sure you have friends and teachers who would have some good input to give you on what you wrote.</p>
<p>You want to be good at writing. It’s one of the most important ways to communicate with others. First, see your teacher, and I’m sure they would be more than willing to help you with your writing. Second, realize that an essay is essentially a general idea drawn from facts and supported by facts. Lastly, know that writing will take lots of practice. From my experience, and it may sound stupid, but try keeping a journal and expressing your ideas of daily activities. Also, read articles online (i.e. NY times) – they’re quick to read and show great writing styles. Good luck</p>
<p>Sorry UKgirl23, writing it via mobile device</p>
<p>And I actually tried writing a journal for two months, but all I could write about was maybe two to three sentences of my day, most of which I forgot already. </p>
<p>I think I have really bad short term memory?!?!
When i was writing the essay today, I am constantly bombarded by other thoughts, and for some reason easily distracted while taking a test or writing especially. I think its because when I write I have to think, and then cant think about the essay because I am worrying and thinking about other stuff.
So when I think I have the prefect ending to a sentence, I forget and think about something else, then hate myself for forgetting, trying to figure out another way to end it, then sort of remembering what I had in mind, and continue writing.</p>
<p>Also its usually not other things which distract me, but my own thoughts which distract me. When I was writing the essay today, i kept thinking and making mini conversations in my head about what I am going to say to my teacher and honestly thinking about making this forum thread!!</p>
<p>yea I watch tv a good amount, but a normal amount, but don’t read a lot of books. </p>
<p>and i tried writing a journal, but just kept forgetting about what I did that day, or didn’t want to disclose my thoughts into the journal (because sometimes I don’t want to relive some experiences)
I think although writing journals on my computer could be helpful. thx :)</p>
<p>You wouldn’t have to write down everything you did all day or anything incredibly personal…just write down like five sentences about the most interesting thing that happened that day. Being able to write a few well-constructed sentences is better than being able to write hundreds of words worth of bad ones.</p>
<p>i agree that writing in a journal is really helpful. it helps you learn to express your thoughts better (even if it’s just about something like the above poster said). as far as getting distracted while writing? well, just force yourself to focus on the subject. what else can you do? find some way to geuniely enjoy the subject matter of the essay? if you can’t bring yourself to focus AT ALL, that seems a little weird… just think of how good it will feel to get a good grade. </p>
<p>can you at least write an essay when you’re home? i’m not sure how much time you have for inclass essays, but for home essays, i think writing an outline of the paper makes things ten times easier. you can separate the organization process from the actual writing. the actual writing isn’t THAT hard, once you know what you want to say, and when/how you want to say it.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend that you read articles online. Reading is essential to every writer which helps you see good prose, proper sentence structure, and well-expressed ideas. Another plus is that you most articles are fairly brief --maxing out at about three pages. Articles will keep you up-to-date in current events, thus enhancing your cultural, political, and economical awareness.</p>
<p>Hey, I think I can help you with improving your writing. Not to brag, but I do consider myself to have good writing skills and I don’t despise essay assignments as much as my friends do. English was my second language, so I wasn’t born knowing English grammatical structure. But I know I did a whole lot of reading and writing, and here are some tips I can give you:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>When it comes to reading, find what you’re interested in. I read a lot of books when I was in elementary and middle school, but once I got to high school I stopped reading so much books because I thought they were too time consuming. I started reading more magazines (Seventeen magazine was my favorite), but eventually I stopped buying them and switched to reading articles online instead. These days, I read a lot of articles from Cracked.com; I find their articles pretty entertaining. Basically, what I’m trying to say is, find what interest you. Seriously, there has to be something you’re remotely interested in. Seek out what things catch your attention and read a lot. But don’t force yourself to read like political news or sports analysis if you don’t like those stuff. Don’t turn it into a chore, but definitely try to find something you like to read about. </p></li>
<li><p>Write, write, write. I agree with anybody above who talked about keeping a journal. I have been keeping a journal for several years now and I will say that it has helped me learn to organize my thoughts and it also has kept me writing regularly. Okay, I can see that you can’t write much about your day, which is 100% understandable because I don’t write about my day either. Some of us just aren’t blessed with exciting lives. But anyway, I write mostly about my opinions to various topics (music and soccer, usually). I listen to a lot of music and I also watch a lot of soccer, so I have too many thoughts about different songs and artists and soccer teams. I just write all of them down in my journal. You’re a human being, so I know there are things which you have strong opinions about (food, events, teachers, whatever). Write them down to get them off your chest. And just write to the best of your ability. Definitely try to write a lot though 'cause practice makes perfect.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>And then I know you said you tend to have a problem with being distracted. Everyone is different. If you think it’s serious, you can see a doctor about it and maybe they can give you a diagnosis. But other than that, I can only say good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, i have been trying to practice writing, but what i found was that usually I dont know what to say. I just dont know what to write about no matter what topic it may be. Even if I wrote about what happened today, It would take me a longer time to remember and think about the day, and phrase my thoughts into sentences. </p>
<p>I was writing an in-class essay last class, and only wrote 2 paragraphs that weren’t even that good, which was barely one side of a page. Literally everybody had at-least a double sided page, but most people wrote more than one page. </p>
<p>I feel like my thoughts are slower, or my thoughts are nonexistent at times. Most of the time I just try to remember what I remembered, as if I am listing facts, rather than writing an opinion for an essay.
If I wrote a journal for today, I would only say the facts and little opinion. I feel like I dont think when writing essays…</p>
<p>Please google working memory and read about how this works. Writing is the hardest task for most students. Working memory is essential to writing skills and while your brain may not be developed in this area enough right now for you to feel accomplished as a writer, I think understanding how working memory works, will help you in the long run. Have you been tested by anyone at school? Is this your only deficit? Please just google it and it will explain much of what you are describing. You have written enough about what you are experiencing for me to understand it, so you can become a proficient writer with more practice and more brain development. Writing is a skill best developed over time. Do not give up. If you can speak your thoughts and manipulate them, you will be able to capture them in writing eventually. Good luck. </p>