best thesis skins

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I Decided To Make Thesis Awesome ;-)

I develop Skins for Thesis Theme, so you can build websites that matters!

Why Thesis?

When I first had a chance to test out Thesis 2.0, I quickly realized its power and I understood why it took 2 years between planning and development to be available for the public. I was really impressed! By far; Thesis is the most intelligent WordPress Theme on planet earth!

All Skins require Thesis Theme, you must own a license from DIYThemes.com

The best Skins collection for the Thesis Theme

Beautiful WordPress designs with a drag and drop (thanks to Thesis). Simply pick one of the masterpieces, install it via the Thesis Skin Uploader and you are ready to go. All Skins are shipped with many functions, features and tools to make your life easier. Now you can build awesome websites in absolutely no time!

Built‑in Boxes for New Awesome Functionality!

Thesis Boxes adds new functionality to your site, the good news is most of my Skins are packed with built-in Boxes. For example: The Author Info Box, which allows you to display author details in Single post. Also, the Shortcode Box, which allow you to display shortcode content anywhere you like on your site with ease. You are going to love this!

One Website, Many Devices

Responsive web design is recommended by Google, it allows one website to provide a great user-experience across many devices and screen sizes, and it also makes managing your SEO strategy easier. For these reasons; most of the Skins I develop will be responsive, your site will always look good on every screen and device on the planet, plus it will be much easier to manage.

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Rocking Thesis Framework , design by ThesisAwesome

25+ Free Awesome Thesis Skins That Don’t Suck

The Thesis WordPress Theme is the ultimate tool for building websites.

Earlier HellBound Bloggers was also powered by Thesis theme but, currently using a custom theme.

You can also design and customize Thesis theme by apply different skins. If you can spend some money, you can also try some premium Thesis skins. In this article I provided the best available free Thesis skins for the terrific Thesis WordPress Theme and Framework.

• How To Install Thesis Skins [Tutorial]

1. Thesis Skin Words :

2. Minimal Skin :

3. Simplicity – Minimal Skin :

4. Cappuccino :

5. Thesis Bold :

6. Historic Theme :

7. Network News :

8. Mini Thesis :

9. Exhibit :

10. Affiliate Thesis Skin :

11. Bright Idea :

12. Simple Orange :

13. Ready Pro :

14. Neo classical :

15. Thesis Bare :

16. Fresh Company :

17. Straight Shooter :

18. Simple Life :

19. Thesis Sharp :

20. Bishop Photo Blog :

21. Min – Thesis :

22. Looks Good Naked Thesis :

23. Reputation :

24. Tweetish :

25. Dissertation :

26. By The Sea :

If you don’t own a Thesis Theme, don’t wait! Grab a copy of Thesis theme now!

Do you know any other free Thesis Skin? Please share it here!

39 thoughts on “25+ Free Awesome Thesis Skins That Don’t Suck”

• Pingback: Skins for Thesis designrammeverk for WordPress sparer tid og penger

I wonder who would but this tweetish theme rest are fine with me.

Is thesis themes are better than theme junkie ??? My Blog :- http://www.inets.in ! Theme Junkie has great themes for word press

Both are great. If you are really interested in customizing your theme according to your desire, you can move on to Thesis, else try Theme Junkie. 🙂

Thanks for share. also thanks for the tutorial. keep it up we need this because somany dont share these.

Well have a look at this free thesis skin. A clean and minimal theme. Have a look http://letusbuzz.com/2011/03/free-giveaway-nonzero-blue-skin-for-thesis-theme/

I am looking for a theme that is exact like Blogussion thesis skin…do you know one

Thanks for the useful list

Thanks for sharing the list of thesis skins

All free thesis themes SUCK! I don’t really see why people like thesis so much.

I absolutely agree with you. free thesis themes really suck. the best way to use a thesis is the tweak it ourselves and unleash the hidden power.But u cant disagree that the blogger has put efforts to collect these and compile it from various resources only for the readers! and it is commendable work indeed!

These are really nice free skins and I did not know about these free Thesis skins. I am using Swift theme for my blog.

Thanks for your collection

Hi, i’m using one of skins above, and looks great for my blog, thank you 4 share.

Great thesis skins, simple yet they make a statement. They also look business-y and clean. If you’re into the arts then go and don’t be afraid to use more colors and designs 😉

Wow Again You have come up with a Nice List 🙂

awesome post dude!! like tweetish very much

I’m using simple life for my thesis theme, thank for your useful info

Thanks for thinking Words doesn’t suck. 🙂

Really nice list but why you are back to your custom theme ? I guess you can have same kind of theme in thesis as well. Try your luck.

Had some problem with the license stuff mate. You can know more about that here 😉 :

http://hellboundbloggers.com/2010/06/11/hbb-gets-a-new-makeover/

We were about to change the theme of our site and we got some nice, cool themes from your share mate,thanks 🙂 🙂

I really like Ready Pro Just might use it.

Liked the the skins but they don’t have many elements to work around. However all of them look really neat and remarkable.

I have customized my own thesis them check at http://wiredcubes.com

Gimme your opinion about my theme 🙂

Thanks for the collection. I think the Bishop Photo Blog theme is pretty sweet!

Cool collection of some great looking Thesis skins. I particularly like the Minima theme.

Hey Pradeep,

Nice List bro. I think for paid one blogussion inspired theme is best. Thanks for sharing this great List.

great collection. Thanx

All are Awesome theme, but I am not still using thesis theme.

Thanks for these skins. It provides me much information and new concepts for developing my new web. I haven’t used all of them yet, but the ones which I used are damn helpful.

Are you using any plugin to watermark your images? Do add subscribe to comment plugin so I can check back my comments.

Yeah, I use Watermark Reloaded WP plugin.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/watermark-reloaded/

While customizing this new theme, I messed the custom.php file, so having problem with Commentluv and Subscribe to Comments plugin. Sorry mate, working on it. 🙂

Thanks for the link bro. This is good in other way. It means the commentator will come back to check reply again, which means one more visit ;).lol

Yeah.. 😀 Hope I’ll fix it very soon..! 8)

That’s a good resource for free thesis skins. What happened to your thesis theme? Did you remove it Pradeep?

Yeah, Ricky I moved to a custom theme. Had some problem with Thesis License..:)

Nice collections of of Thesis skin for wordpress blog, Neo classical is my favorite, I wise I have content that can fit it. Thanks for sharing it free.

Yup! Thesis is the best theme for excellent SEO for blogs. Its proved. Thnx a lot for the list mate. Im planning to buy one 🙂

Wow i think i missed these 🙂 thesis always rocks

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Thesis 2.1 Skins: Responsive Thesis Skins for Thesis Theme

Published on Dec 10th, 2013 By iShoutnet

Within just few years thesis theme framework has became very famous, probably for its power & flexibility, which allows developers to easily and quickly create wonderful websites. There are several reasons for that its search engine optimized, easy customization without coding, world-class usability, and real live people ready to help when you have questions.

The very latest version of thesis theme allows developers to easily create cool custom skins. But you don’t have to be a developer to create custom skins by using thesis theme skin editor you can create your own desire skin. But it’s not that easy. In that case you have to use ready made skins. There are several ready made latest thesis 2.1 theme skins out there to rock your site! Simply choose one of them from following skins collection and use it in your site to take it to the next level.

Here I’ve compiled only thesis skins which are compatible with thesis 2.1.4. All skins here are responsive you don’t have to worry about that. If you have any doubt about any particular skin, then you may check that particular skin by resizing your browser.

…:::| Thesis Skins by WpThesisSkins |:::…

Blo-Cer: Blog or Internet Marketer

Blo-Car is a minimalis, simple and super clean blog skin for thesis them with focus on readability & very easy to setup. It has a clean design and it comes loaded with lots of features to help you take your website to the next level. This theme is perfect choice for your personal blog, corporate blog, or creative blog and for internet marketers.

Demo & Details

Blog Ad: Blog

Blog Ad is an easy to use blog skin with flexible layout that looks great on any device big or small. Blog Ad skin is suitable for any kind of blog. This elegant skin is easy to use for very beginners, but also for advance users.

Minimalist: Blog, Internet Marketer or Multi-Purpose

Minimalist a very clean, minimal thesis theme skin with modern design. Whether you want to give your dusty old blog a new coat of paint or are drowning in a sea of posts and categories, Minimalist is here to your rescue. Simplify and present your content in a way that is accessible, logical and beautiful.

Magazine Blog Skin: News or Magazine or Blog

A cutting-edge, feature-rich premium wordpress thesis skin. By using its drag & drop builder you can have fun creating a unique homepage & easily make modifications to it; any time you wish. This minimal skin is perfect for blogs, magazine & news sites.

NewsMagazine: Minimalist, News or Magazine

NewsMagazine a brand new responsive thesis skin with minimalist design best suited for news magazine sites. It’s both fun and really easy to work with this skin. It’s fresh and gorgeous look with friendly features will make your site a standout.

Magazine Skin 1: Magazine, Blog or News

MS1 a well designed clean and stylish magazine skin for thesis theme for technology related blogs. . This skin has a attractive look with weird shapes making it a unique look for your blog. Soft color schemes that you can choose from.

Magazine Skin 2: Magazine or News

MG2 is a stylish & responsive premium thesis skin for 2.1 version for News and Magazine websites. It was built with performance-oriented code architecture and clean design to ensure viewer’s focus on the content.

Magazine Skin 3: Blog, Magazine or Internet Marketing

MS3 a clean and fully responsive skin for news & magazines. This theme is powerful with custom widgets, theme options, unlimited colors, custom sidebar, custom background and much more!

Business Skin 1: Business, Corporate or Portfolio

BS1 is a unique, modern, interactive, ultra flexible and fully responsive thesis 2 skin designed for the corporate world. BS1 is ready to assists you in blogging about company activities and portfolios. It can be used to show news, events and services to your visitors.

Business Skin 2: Business or Portfolio

BS2 is a simple, modern and impressive premium skin suitable for various business websites, portfolio presentations websites. Create your world class website with BS2 with its advanced admin panel where you can change color, font, font size, page layout, blog style, portfolio presentation, contact info, third party integration, you can control SEO settings, responsiveness and more…

Business Skin 3: Portfolio or Business

If you’re looking for useful business skin for thesis that can be easily adapted on every type of page you should definitely look into BS3. It’s a powerful and ultra-responsive skin which can perfectly serve any type of business, freelance or interactive creative sphere.

Business Skin 4: Business or Portfolio

BS4 very sleek & minimal style responsive skin for thesis theme specially designed for corporate or business purpose. It included everything that small business website will ever need. It’s an adaptive theme that looks good on Desktop, Tablets & also Mobile phones.

…:::| Thesis Skins by ThemeDy |:::…

Quik: Magazine, Blog or Internet Marketing

IF you need a beautiful, responsive and customizable thesis skin to show off your content? In that case you can use Quik skin. It’s a modern, clean, and fully responsive magazine theme skin for Thesis 2.1 with plenty of options.

Grind: Business or Portfolio

Grind is a modern, fully responsive skin for thesis wordpress theme that’s perfect for businesses and personal sites. It’s fully customizable and great design sure to impress visitors. You can easily modify stylings, colors, fonts, layouts and other aspects of the theme.

Splash: Blog or Internet Marketer

Splash gives you everything you need to set up an attractive blog in minutes. You can easily setup all of your major social links and subscriber forms from one page with ease and control. Tweak your action color & change the look of your site in one click. Splash boasts beautiful formatting in an easy to read style which is sure to go over well with your subscribers. It also rocks on mobile / tablet devices, including the iphone & ipad!

Readyfolio 2: Portfolio or Business

Readyfolio a clean, modern, flexible & super-responsive premium thesis theme skin to showcase your latest portfolio pieces or anything else you can think of. Included plenty of great options and features, the all new Readyfolio adds what you need to really get the most out of your Thesis 2.1 site. ThemeDy totally broke down and built up their popular portfolio / business theme and made it better then ever.

Blink: Designer, Photographer, Blogger or Hobbyist

Blink is a unique thesis skin that pushes the boundaries of both Genesis and Thesis theme frameworks. With its dynamic layout and creative look, Blink is perfect for any photographer, designer, blogger, or hobbyist.

Derby: Business or Portfolio

A modern responsive classic business skin for thesis. This responsive multipurpose skin can be successfully used for corporate site, blog site, portfolio and many more. Derby has everything you need to make an impact on the web.

Reactiv: Portfolio

Reactiv a great asset to any creative freelancer or agency, everything is flexible and easy to customize. With this stunning skin you can create a single-page layout, but you can always use it as a regular website with separated pages. A image slider is included so that you can create awesome sliders and slideshows.

Clip Cart: eCommerce

A beautifully designed, super flexible eCommerce theme that is suitable for any type of products. It’s designed with a fresh flat style and with a great responsive and retina-ready design. Clip Cart is the only thesis eCommerce skin that fully compatible with WooCommerce and cart66.

Line It Up: Business, Product, Service, or Portfolio

A flexible business theme best suited to showcase a product, service or portfolio. Show off your work with this easy-to-customize and fully featured thesis 2.1 theme skin . It’s smart and hand crafted environment allows you to Build outstanding websites easy and fast.

Stage 2: Photographer

Whether you’re a photographer who needs to organize and showcase photos or a freelancer who needs to put a portfolio online, Stage offers a both elegant and personal solution for everyone. Its powerful customizations options focused on showcasing your work in unique and endless ways.

…:::| Thesis Skins by WpNxThemes |:::…

NXFoscor: Business, Portfolio or Entrepreneur

NXFoscor a clean, highly flexible, feature rich and fully responsive skin for thesis theme. The clean layout and sleek features make cleaner a great option for business, online portfolio, entrepreneur or other professional website. Coded with care in HTML5 & CSS3, NXFoscor is easy to customize and well documented. Best business skin for thesis 2.1.

NXLanding: Portfolio or Business

NXLanding is a beautiful thesis theme skin suitable for portfolio or business sites. NXLanding’s versatility in combination with its minimal design makes it the perfect solution for every portfolio site.

NXTimBlog: Blog

NXTimBlog another fantastic thesis skin perfect for blogging. This skin is specially designed to make your blogging experience as simple and seamless as possible. It has responsive layout and elegant styling so that you can easily reach all your readers wherever they are!

NXEnews: Magazine, News or Blog

NXEnews a unique damn killer responsive thesis skin built with HTML5 and CSS3. This stylish & responsive skin is designed for news or magazine sites. NXEnews can be configured to focus on your work. Have tons of options to manage & modify any aspect of the theme it’s well suited for both beginners with no coding knowledge & developers as well.

NXRibbon: Portfolio or Business

NXRibbon allows you to showcase your work the way you want. Best suited for business, portfolio and blog at a time. It’s fully responsive, retina ready & highly customizable. Included lots of features easy to setup features and universal design make creating your site fun and exciting.

NXAccentbox: Blog, News or Magazine

NXAccentbox, a responsive thesis skin for blog, news, magazine and editorial. This skin comes with many cool features and flexible layout and possibility to manage color schemes.

NXNevia: Blogging

NXNevia is a very simple, clean and ultra-readable thesis skin suitable for blogging. If you need a simple lovely thesis skin which really makes visitors focus on the content, NXNevia is the very right choice for you!

NXHaLong: News, Magazine or Blog

I doubt that how many thesis theme skins out there have as much feature that NXHalong has! It’s a powerful responsive & multipurpose premium thesis skin, perfect for news or magazine, blog website & many more! Its super flexible, clean design & code packed with all the features you need to present yourself with style, passion & professionalism.

NXFearless: Corporate, Business or Portfolio

NXFearless a clean, modern & super-customizable thesis theme skin with a minimalist responsive design. It’s specially created to accommodate the needs of a corporate, business or portfolio site. It’s a design that will make your site stand out of competition.

NXBlog: Blogging or Magazine

NXBlog a stylish blogging skin for thesis theme designed for creative bloggers. It focuses on content and readability. NXBlog gives bloggers of all types an environment which would better display & highlight their content.

…:::| Thesis Skins by ThesisLove |:::…

Vocation: Corporate, Business or Portfolio

Vocation is a clean, modern and powerful professional premium thesis theme skin . It can be awesome to use for corporate website, portfolio, blog and anything you need. It’s attractive clean-wide design, the perfect solution to show off your product or information. Each & ever element in the skin is given high priority. Although you might avoid some factors of your site, they might be playing a very high role in the eyes of search engines and your readers as well.

Expressive: Blogging or Personal

Expressive is a simple, personal blog perfect for your stories to shine. A completely responsive and dazzling skin for Thesis 2.1. It is ready to impress you and grab the attention of all your visitors.

Cinch: Business, Portfolio or Corporate

Cinch is more than a design. It’s a saga. Cinch takes the journey & reveals its ultimate treasure. Definitely it is something that you would be proud to have on your site.

Bloggers Pride: Blog

Have you been waiting for a skin that is specially made for hard-working bloggers? If so, then wait no more because Bloggers Pride is here! A super-duper customizable, very unique, responsive, retina-ready wordpress premium thesis skin that everybody wants.

…:::| Thesis Skins by iCustomizeThesis |:::…

Inspire: Business, Blog or Portfolio

Inspire a pretty mobile responsive thesis 2.1 skin. Included custom home page widgets, custom page templates, featured slider, and plenty of other features which make it suitable for use on all type of sites! Such as business, blog, portfolio and everything else that you can think of.

Myra: Portfolio, Business or Personal

Myra is an advanced, unique and powerful premium multi-purpose responsive thesis skin. Suited for personal sites, business sites & portfolio sites & users who want a very nice portfolio website where they can showcase their work. It comes with Thesis Color Scale, which allows unlimited colors so that you can pick the perfect color scheme for your site.

Studio: Blog or Portfolio

Studio is a clean, simple and minimal thesis skin for building your online presence. It’s fully compatible with latest thesis theme 2.1.4 version. Looks great on all devices. It has a portfolio custom post which is used for slider and showing work. Perfect for any type of blog and portfolio site.

Aroma: Portfolio or Blog

Aroma is pretty similar to previous studio skin! This skin is very easy to use and customize, whether you are a wordpress pro or a beginner suited for blog and portfolio site.

Eleven40: Blog

Eleven40 is a very straightforward responsive blogging skin, especially for people who need a blog. It’s based on the 1140 Grid System. Eleven40 is the only skin featured on WPMU.org, which (WPMU.org) known as one of the popular wordpress community blog.

BizLife Pro: Business or Portfolio

BizLife Pro is treated iCustomizeThesis’s most popular skin! It comes with a lot of features which are perfect for building your portfolio or business site.

…:::| Thesis Skin by Kolakube |:::…

MD3: Blog, Minimalist, Multi-Purpose, Business or Portfolio

MD3 the best thesis theme skins ever! (I personally use & recommend) I don’t know whether any other skins out there that have as much features that MD3 has. This minimal, clean, professional responsive skin is suitable for any type of blog, portfolio or even business. Added 2 screen shots. You gonna love Marketers Delight 3!

The Art of WordPress Theme Design

S ince 2006, I’ve been on a mission to improve and perfect the WordPress theming process. This journey continues today with my two flagship projects— Thesis , which is a WordPress Theme engine, and Focus , which is a Thesis Skin.

What’s a Thesis Skin, you ask? Well…

With traditional WordPress Themes, the designer must consider far too many technical things like standardized HTML markup, SEO concerns, and WordPress and Plugin compatibilities.

Thesis Skins eliminate the need for website owners, designers, and developers to consider hardcore technical stuff.

Even better, they open the door to amazing new possibilities thanks to a deep WordPress integration and a powerful API that makes it easy to do anything with your website.

Below you’ll find the original introductory articles to my WordPress Themes. For current information on Thesis and Focus , please check out my business website, DIYthemes .

• 📖 Cutline and PressRow Removed from WordPress.com
• 📖 Thesis Theme for WordPress
• 📖 The Neoclassical 3-Column Theme for WordPress
• 📖 Copyblogger Theme for WordPress
• 📖 Cutline Theme for WordPress
• 📖 PressRow Theme for WordPress

© Chris Pearson 2005-2024. All rights reserved.

Thesis Laboratory

• Criss Cross Skin Docs
• Promotions Box Docs
• Welcome Bar Box Docs
• Skins & Boxes →

Top Notch Resources for Thesis 2.1+

Welcome to thesis laboratory check out my newest skin » eddiy ».

Thesis Laboratory is a place created to provide skins, boxes, helpful tutorials and support for the WordPress, Thesis community. My new skin, “EDDIY” integrates with Easy Digital Downloads!

Get the EDDIY Skin 15% off for a Limited Time Here » View Skin Demo | EDDIY Features

What is Thesis Laboratory All About?

While still somewhat in the making with only one skin, the focus here is:, thesis skins.

Thesis Laboratory offers premium skins with beautiful design & functionality. Skins include built-in boxes, widgets, templates, icons & more! View All Our Thesis Skins →

Thesis Boxes

If you aren’t looking for a skin, we also offer Thesis boxes. Boxes are built with the latest coding standards and they will work with any Thesis skin. View All Our Thesis Boxes →

Design Tuts

In addition to our downloads, we try to provide a valuable blog with tutorials for Thesis designers & developers. All articles are free to distribute. Check Out the Blog Here →

 Here Are A Few Reasons Why Thesis Laboratory Is A Great Option

Our products are developed for both functionality & aesthetics

Checkout The Pricing Options For Thesis Laboratory

Purchase a single skin, all Thesis Lab skins or just grab the free stuff.

Free Downloads

This section includes any skins or boxes Thesis Laboratory offers free.

• Download All Free Stuff
• Access to Support Forums
• Free Updates For Life

Individual Skins

Purchase any skin individually for $27 – We currently offer the Criss Cross skin.

• Use On Unlimited Websites
• Use On Any Client Projects

Coming Soon

ALL SKINS & BOXES will be available to purchase at a one-time discounted fee!

• Download All Skins & Boxes
• Unlimited Use On Sites/Projects

13 Jan 11+ Best Thesis WordPress Theme Skin of 2021

Thesis WordPress Theme Skin is the best method to retaliate your blog as it’s based on Thesis theme and they also are ready to show any of your changes on your website immediately and absolutely hassle-free. I personally like this theme because of the customization it offers to me that other regular WordPress theme cannot. I guess that you’re already aware of the feature like SEO in-built tools , templates and boxes available with it that can match any personal or professional blog niche and let you choose the design as well. Now, coming to the skins, there definitely are many options available in the market which claims to be the best choice for you. But, the case is a little different as the selected skin should meet your requirement criteria. So, here below are some of the skins elaborated for you to help you choose the right one for your blog/website.

Table of Contents

Choosing the Best Thesis WordPress Theme Skin

Thesis child skins were completely refurnished using a professional framework that was examined for SEO customization and quick loading time. You will be always a step forward if you choose to work with thesis child skins. However, before purchasing any skin, you must get yourself a thesis license that you will be using to search these best skins. Each skin below is completely compatible with the thesis two-plus. Just include any type of plugin for customization.

The Pin Thesis WordPress Theme Skin is a good option to choose if you’re working on a blog. It includes many templates and boxes to show your content in a unique manner. Here below are the options available:

• Home and Category Page Template
• Single and Archive Page Template
• 404 Error Page Template
• Pin Logo and Popular Box
• Social Media and ReadMore Box

Full Details and Download | Demo

This Thesis WordPress Theme Skin has been developed for the portfolio type blogs or website. It could be a good option to flaunt your creative side like art or photography. Here are the features:

• Front and Blog Page Template
• Skin Footer Attribution Box and Author Info
• Landing Page with and without Header Template
• Skin Gallery and Logo Box
• Skin Page Navigation

Shoppez Skin

The Shoppez Thesis WordPress Theme Skin is an option available for the online sellers as it is compatible with WordPress Woo-Commerce plugin and hence they can sell their stuff easily. Here are the features:

• Front, Blog and Single Page Template
• Logo and Contact Box
• 3 Columns and Feature Product Box
• Footer Attribution and Option Box
• Social and Welcome Bar
• Slider and ReadMore Option

Fitness Skin

This Fitness Thesis WordPress Theme Skin is an option suited for the gym related business blog. The skin has many features to lure the customers and here below are some of them:

• 2, 3 and 4 Columns Page Template
• Popular Posts and Latest News Box
• Contact Phone and Clients Box
• Testimonial and Classes Page
• Gallery and Page Navigation
• Search and Social Box

Coming to the blog section once again, this Sparkez Thesis WordPress Theme Skin is a multipurpose option available for the bloggers out there. The skin is completely responsive to fit any device, and below are some more features:

• Author Info and Custom ReadMore Box
• Single and Landing Page Template
• Front Page and Post Inner Top Ad Box
• Logo and About Us Box
• Search, Tab and Media Share Box

Mash Thesis WordPress Theme Skin is one of the best options available for the magazine related blogs . The skin is responsive as well, so that your readers can browse your online magazine anywhere and on any device. The features are:

• Archives and 404 Error Page Template
• Advertisement and Featured Image Box
• Popular and Attribution Box
• 8 Front Page Category Box

Woo-Commerce  

As the name suggests, this Woo-Commerce Thesis WordPress Theme Skin is best suited for online retailing and selling purpose. It has all the latest Woo-Commerce options available in it, which are as follows:

• Latest and Features Product Box
• Latest and 3 Column Product Box
• ReadMore and Search Box
• Welcome Bar and Feature Box
• Slider and Shortcode Box

For hospitals, private doctors, clinics and other such business , this Medicare Thesis WordPress Skin could be the best choice available in the market. Here below are the features which make it a unique option:

• Latest Portfolio and Doctors Box
• 2, 3 and 4 Column Page Template and Doctors Page box
• Testimonial and Pricing Page Box
• Appointment and jQuery Slider Box
• Appointment and Blog Page Template

If your passion is to stay updated about the latest happening in the world and making people aware of that through your blog, then this Newszine Thesis WordPress Skin is the end of our search. Here’s why:

• Trending Stories and Popular Posts Box
• Category and Single Page Template
• Filter Categories and Related Posts Box
• ReadMore and Author Box
• Ads and Opt-in Box

The Trible has been yet another Blog related Thesis WordPress Theme Skin that has the capability to change your website/blog’s fortune. It has plenty of features and from that, here below are some:

• Landing and Sidebar Opt-in Box
• Post Above and Below Box
• Related Post Box
• Social Media Share and Follow box
• Home, Category and Single Page Template
• About and Author Box

Media Magazine 3

Running an online media related magazine has always been a charmer for many bloggers.  And, to fulfil that dream, we present you Media Magazine 3 Thesis WordPress Theme Skin. Have a look at the features:

• Tabbed Widget Box
• Sidebar, Centre and Bottom Ad Box
• 7 Category Section
• Header Navigation Menu
• Top and Sidebar Opt-in Box

Simple News Responsive Thesis Skin

The theme was created using the width of a box applying a complex shadow effect that covered it. Simple news responsive thesis skin has a fast loading time. This skin can be used for news purposes. It attains 91% speed on the google page.

Beauty News Magazine Responsive Thesis Skin

Craft Responsive Business Parallax Thesis Skin

Thesis skin is for business purposes which has a complex parallax scrolling which is situated at the top of the first section. Still, in the first section, a pop video has been provided for you. The most unique thing about this theme is that there is a menu that has been provided for you that can be used for many purposes. Everything in this thesis functions differently. Its speed is 90% on the search engine page, even without using plugins.

Tuner Responsive Blog Thesis Skin

Is amazing skin that can be used for blog purposes. Tuner responsive blog thesis skin comes with a beautiful section that contains guidelines at the top on the front page. It is fully compatible with CSS3 and HTML5. Its speed on the google page is 93%.

Small Business Responsive Thesis Skin

This is a complex thesis skin for small businesses. This thesis skin was designed for all small businesses because they have a few things. Its speed in the google page is 93%.

Although, in the all the above-mentioned skins some extra features are common, which are as follows:

• 1 year of unlimited support, update and downloads
• Total HTML5 and CSS code validation
• Cross-Browser Compatibility

Final Words

The Thesis is surely one of the most performance oriented platform to blog or run a website. And, the above-mentioned Thesis WordPress Theme Skins make the work easier for the bloggers without any doubt. Also, if you have any other thoughts or suggestion with you, please do let us know in the comment section below.

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Editorial Staff at 85ideas is a team of WordPress experts led by Brian Harris. Here to share amazing tuts, guides and collections.

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For use with the Thesis Framework from DIYThemes.com

Line it Up 2

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We've been building skins for the Thesis framework for over a decade! We hope you enjoy this collection of free Thesis 2 skins for your website.

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Thesis Skins Documentation

Working with skins.

• Install and Activate a Skin
• Update Skins
• Common Customizations
• Advanced Customizations
• Tips for working with Thesis Templates
• Create your own Skins with the Thesis Skin API

Official Thesis Skins from DIYthemes

• Classic Responsive
• Pearsonified
• Social Triggers

🧐 Looking for Focus documentation ?

About Thesis Skins

Thesis Skins are WordPress Themes that run on Thesis , a modular template and design system.

All Skins inherit functionality you won’t find anywhere else in the WordPress ecosystem —visual template control with the Skin Editor , backup/restore design functionality , adaptive typography with Design Options , granular Schema control, and so much more!

Official Thesis Skins from DIYthemes are designed with extreme customization in mind, and they are all excellent foundations for any design you wish to create.

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WordPress Themes

10 beautiful thesis skins you should see.

The Thesis theme for WordPress does not need any introduction. It is one of our favorite frameworks around and is being used by some of the most famous bloggers and web publishers on the internet. The Thesis Theme framework makes putting together sophisticated WordPress sites easier. You can always come up with a unique design for it from scratch. These 10 beautiful Thesis skins save you some time getting your site online:

Clip Cart : a stylish e-commerce child theme for Thesis or Genesis. It provides support for Cart66 WordPress plugin.

Easy Thesis : this offers 8 color schemes and 3 widget areas. It is social media friendly and has additional sets of options for you to play around with.

Avenger : a pretty decent option for web publishers. It is opt-in forms ready and can handle multi-author websites.

Line It Up : a Thesis skin for corporations and small businesses. It is useful for those who want to promote their products online using this framework.

Foxy News : transforms your Thesis-based website into a news portal in no time. It has 9 custom widgets too.

Marketers Delight : designed for marketers, this package lets you create landing and squeeze pages using Thesis.

Feedpop : a powerful theme for personal blogs. It is social media friendly and has a clean look.

ThesisFolio : a versatile theme you can use for portfolio and business sites. It has 12 color schemes and is easily customizable.

Nexis : a pretty decent Thesis skin for blogs. It is SEO friendly and easy on the eyes.

Rough Print : this is a tumblog-style skin for Thesis sites. It has custom styles for different post formats.

Thesis continues to remain one of the most popular WordPress frameworks. The above themes help you get started with it faster.

More WP Tips:

• 5 Must See Thesis Theme Skin Shops
• Clip Cart: E-commerce Theme for Thesis & Genesis
• 20+ Thesis 2.1 Skins For Bloggers, E-commerce, and News Sites
• 7 Attractive WordPress Business Themes for Thesis

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35+ Best Free & Premium Thesis Skins For WordPress

Thesis WordPress theme is the eventual tool for building websites. If you are looking for best and reliable skins then there’s no doubt, Thesis is perfect choice.

Thesis is powerful theme framework which is SEO optimized, and highly optimized for loading time. If you power your website with the Thesis Theme Framework , there is powerful but often under used, feature called the Thesis Feature box which is really awesome.

Consider Reading these :

• Most Popular WordPress Theme Frameworks 2015
• How to Install a Perfect WordPress Theme in Just Seconds

More WordPress bloggers use thesis theme which was developed by Chris Pearson by their extra ordinary qualities and features. For end users, customizing thesis theme might not be that easy, so you can always grab available skin from the market.

Without taking your much time, lets take a tour of best Thesis skins for your WordPress Blog or Website.

35+ Top & Best THESIS THEMES/SKINS For WordPress

1. quik thesis skin  (magazine).

Quik is clean, magazine style skins foe thesis loaded with several features which is compatible with every new user. It is perfect for every blog and website. This skin comes with a featured slider, Magazine style layout and it’s full- responsive skin.

The evident features of Quik Magazine Style Thesis skin.

• Responsive Design
• Multiple Article Sliders
• JQuery Background Slideshow
• Customizable Front Page
• Cross Browser Compatible
• Landing Page template

Live Preview of Quik – Click here

2. Forb Skin  (Magazine)

Forb skin is very awesome skin in various field as you can see in above picture. The features you get in this skin are Business, Latest News, Travel, Sports, Technology, Featured and many more. It is really assured and reliable for the users. Take a full look of this theme by clicking on click here button which is shown below.

Features of Forb Skin

• Passed in Google Page speed
• Browser Compatibility
• 100% HTML 5 Supported
• 1 Year Unlimited updates and support

For Live Preview of Forb Skin- Click here

3. Mash skin  (Magazine)

Mash skin is gorgeous, flexible and responsive thesis skin that will make your blog or website look great. It is perfect choice who are looking for Magazine skins. It comes with admin panel options, home page slider, landing page template and many more.

Features of Mash Skin

• Archives Page Template
• Single Page Template
• 100 % HTML 5 Validation
• Mash Social media Box
• Read more Box

For Live Demo- Click here

4. Thesis Magazine 2 Skin  (Magazine)

Magazine 2 is stylish and responsive premium thesis skin for 2.1 version for news and magazine websites. It was built with performance oriented code architecture and clean design to ensure viewer’s focus on the content.

Features of Thesis Magazine 2 Skin

• Responsive and Stylish
• Page Template
• Oriented Code
• Compatible with every Browser

For Live Demo of Thesis skin Magazine 2 – Click here

5. Newszine Skin  ( Magazine )

Newszine Skin loaded with multi features and cool design. It has built in review system with many color option available, You can take a look by clicking on Click here button.

Features of Newszine Skin

• Opt in Slider
• Newszine Logo box
• Social Media Box

Take a Live Preview – Click here

6. Thesis M-Blog Skin ( Magazine )

Magazine Blog skin feature rich premium WordPress thesis skin. By using its drag and drop builder you can have fun creating a unique homepage & easily make modification to it. This minimal skin is perfect for blogs, magazine and news sites.

Features of Thesis M-Blog Skins

• Perfect in Google Page Speed
• Navigation Box

For Live Preview –  Click here

7. Thesis Magazine 1 Skin  ( Magazine )

Thesis Magazine 1 Skin is well designed clean and stylish magazine skin for thesis theme for technology related blogs. This skin has a attractive look with weird shapes making it unique look for your blog or website.

Features of Magazine 1 Skin

• Designed Well
• Google Search Box
• Thesis Attribution Box

For Live Preview – Click here

8. News Magazine ( Magazine)

News Magazine  a brand new responsive thesis skin with minimalist design best suited for news magazine sites. You can enjoy the friendly features which make this skin extra ordinary.

Awesome Features of News Magazine

• Unlimited Support
• Unlimited Updates
• 100 % CSS Validation

For Live Demo – Click here

9. Thesis Potfo Skin ( Portfolio )

Thesis Potfo Skin is best for the Photographers who want to show their creativity and innovation. It is really nice thesis potfo skin with limited competition.

Features of Thesis Potfo Skin

• Front Page Template
• Related Box
• Skin Search
• Skin Social

Live Preview – Click here

10.  Shoppez Skin ( Woocommerce & Magazine )

The Shoppez Thesis WordPress Theme skin is an option available for the online sellers as it is compatible with WordPress Woo-commerce plugin and hence they can sell their stuff easily and it is one of the Magazine skins. You can change all the font families, colors and sizes of your own by going to Skin Design section and by configuring it.

The advanced features of Shoppez skin 

• CSS Validation Supported
•  100% HTML 5  Supported
• Fully responsive for every media screen
• Social and Welcome Bar
• Slider and Read more option

11. Thesis Kartkop Skin  (WooCommerce)

Thesis Kartkop Skin is a beautiful, responsive and customizable thesis skin for blog or website. If you are thinking for the e-commerce then don’t forget to overlook through this theme.

Features of Thesis Kartkop Skin

• Blog Page Template
• Page Navigation
• Kartkop Slider

Just take a live preview – Click here

12. Thesis Woocommerce Skin ( Woocommerce )

Thesis Woocommerce Skin is very momentous skin for a ecommerce platform with a full CSS validation and passed from Google Speed test.

Features of Thesis Woocommerce Skin

• Three Column Product Box
• Footer Optin Box

 13. Thesis Parallax Skin ( Business )

Thesis Parallax Skin comes with one year unlimited support, updates and downloads. This responsive multipurpose skin can be successfully used for the website like car portals, business portals and many more. As WordPress skins are similar to it.

Features of Thesis Parallax Skin

• Parallax Team Member Box
• Parallax Client Box
• Testimonial Page Box
• Archive Page Template

14. Thesis Medicare Skin ( Business )

Medicare Skin  is like the small medical observe where you can manage everything as same like hospital do. This thesis skin could be the best for hospitals, Private doctors, clinics and many more.

Remarkable Features of Thesis Medicare Skin

• Latest News Box
• Porfolio Page Box
• Doctors Page Box
• Testimonial and Pricing Page Box

Check out the Demo of Medicare Skin – Click here

15. Fitness Skin ( Business )

Fitness Skin  is an option suited for the gym related business blog or website. You can get many multi feature while using this skin.

Features of Fitness Skin 

• Gallery and Page Navigation
• Contact Phone and Clients Box
• Variable Page Template

For Demo – Click here

16. Business 6 Skin ( Business )

Thesis Business 6 Skin is well designed for Business category, comes with many features like admin panel option, landing page, contact page and many more. So, this skin is also nice option.

Outstanding Features of Business 6 Skin

• Welcome Box
• Jquery slider Box

17. Business 5 Skin ( Business )

Business 5 Skin  is flexible business theme suited to showcase a product, service or portfolio. It’s smart and hand crafted environment allows you to build outstanding websites easy and fast.

Features of Business 5 Skin

• Clients Box
• Portfolio Page Box
• Attribution and Social Media Box

18. Business 4 Skin ( Business )

Business 4 skin  is a multipurpose option available for bloggers, it is compatible with all browser and you get a unlimited front page template and blog page template which is a great option for this skin.

Features of Business 4 Skin

• Portfolio Box
• Feature and Welcome Box

19. Business 3 Skin ( Business)

Business 3 skin  is disgraded version of Business skins which is fully optimized and functionality. CSS and HTML 5 are validate for this skin. You can take a look by clicking on Click here button which is below.

Features of Business 3 Skin

• Call us Box
• Footer Social Media Box

20. Business 2 Skin ( Business)

Business 2 skin  is a quality business skin where you can customize it in your way. It has a responsive design and landing page template. Having its own custom widget and very easy to customize.

Features of Business 2 Skin

• Latest Portfolio Box

21. Business 1 Skin ( Business )

Business 1 skin  is another awesome Business Skin where you can manage everything, due to its old upgradation people are shifting to new Business skin 5, 4. This skin is specially designed to make your blogging experience as simple and seamless as possible.

Features of Business 1 Skin

• Copyright Box
• Slider Bottom Box

22. Trible Skin ( Blog )

Trible Skin  has been yet another blog related Thesis WordPress Theme Skin that has the capability to change your website or blog contingent. It also comes with landing page and and category page template.

Features of Trible Skin

• About and Author Box
• Landing and Sidebar Opt in Box
• Social Media Share and Follow Box
• Related Post Box

23. Blo-cer ( Blog )

Blo-cer  is a minimals, simple and super clean blog skin for thesis them with the focus on readability and very easy to setup. It has clean design and it comes loaded with lots of features to help you take your website to the next level. So, this skin is also nice option when you are seeking for the Blog.

Features of Blo-cer

• Blog Search Box
• Blog Related Box
• Blog Tab Box
• Blog Logo Box

24. Sparkez Skin ( Blog )

The Sparkez Skin  thesis skin is a multipurpose option available for bloggers out there. The skin is completely responsive to fit any device, lets have a look of Sparkez skin features.  

Features of Sparkez Skin

• Readmore Box
• Post optin Box

25. PinBlog ( Blog)

PinBlog  WordPress thesis skin is a great choice to choose if you are working on a blog. It includes many templates and boxes to show your content in a unique manner. This skin is really so nice.

Features of PinBlog

• Pin Logo Box
• Pin Popular Box
• Pin Social Media Box
• Pin Readmore Box
• Pin Related Post Box

26. Charm Skin ( Blog)

Charm skin is built for the comfortableness of Thesis framework users, It has many features which can easily be handled and can be gently implemented by users. This skin will help you develop your blog smartly and would definitely make your blog wonderful. This skin is also especially designed to do better with  SEO, Leads & Sales  page. It is newly launched and loaded with multi features.

Features of Charm Skin

• Charm Logo Box
• Charm Optin Box
• Charm Author Box
• Charm Related Box

27. Genuine Skin ( Blog )

Genuine Skin is good thesis skin in the field of blogging, simplify and present your content in a way that is accessible, logical and beautiful. It has loaded with multi features as some are mentioned below.

Features of Genuine Skin

• Page Navigation Box
• Footer Logo Box
• Back to Top Box

28. Clever Skin ( Blog )

The Thesis skin is uncompleted with this Clever skin, its compatibility and reliability makes you to attract toward this skin if you are thinking for blogging. Its minimal skins are really nice and beautiful, well designed and clean.

Features of Clever Skin

• Clever Landing Opt in box
• Clever About box
• Clever Author Box
• Clever Readmore Box
• Clever Related Post Box

29. Splendid Skin ( Blog )

Splendid Ski part of WordPress thesis skin and it is really easy to work with this skin. It’s fresh and gorgeous look with friendly features will make your site a standout. So, this one is also a nice option, if you are looking for blog skin.

Features of Splendid Skin

• Popular Box

For Live Preview- Click here

30. Color skin ( Blog )

Color Skin is a minimal well designed and stylish Blog skin for thesis theme in which you can post anything. This Skin has a attractive look with multi features. You can ready to assist in blogging with this skin.

Features of Color Skin

• Landing opt Box
• Social Media Follow Box

31. Simbl Skin ( Blog )

Simbl skin allows you to showcase your work the way you want. Best suited for Blogs and content delivering software. Their minimal skins, well designed and clean may attract you towards this theme. SO, if you are thinking for Blogging then don’t forget to have a preview of this theme.

Features of Simbl Skin

• Social Media Share Box
• Squeeze Video Option Box

32. Minimalist Skin ( Blog )

Minimalist a very clean, minimal thesis theme skin with modern design. Whether you want to give your dusty old blog a new coat of paint or are drowning in a sea posts and categories, Minimalist is here to your rescue. Simplify and present your content in a way that is accessible, logical and beautiful.

Salient Features of Minimalist Skin

• Post Opt in Box
• Related Posts Box
• Footer Attribution Box

33. Trendy Skin ( Blog )

Trendy Skin is also known as blog software, because of their extra multi ordinary features and presentation and this WordPress Skins make remarkable skin in the field of blogging. If you look through their features of this skin which are really really awesome.

Features of Trendy Skin

• About us Box
• Landing and Squeeze Page Option Box

For Live Preview- Click Here

34. Media Skin ( Magazine )

Media Skin also known as Magazine 3  a clean and fully responsive skin for news and magazines. This theme is powerful with custom widgets, theme options, unlimited colors, custom sidebar, custom background and much more. Just Look at the preview of this skin, by clicking on Click here button.

Features of Media Skin

• Jquery Category Posts Slider
• Center Ad Box
• Facebook like Box
• Slidebar Option in Box

For Live Preview – Click Here

35. Magazine 4 ( Magazine )

Magazine 4 is an easy to use blog skin with flexible layout that looks great on any device rather it is big or small. Magazine 4 is suitable for any kind of blog and website, every beginner and new bie can easily understand their outstanding features.

Features of Magazine 4

• Category Box
• Breadcrumb Box

So, at last wrapping up the post. This best 30+ Thesis skins not only make your mood happy but improve your website’s look too. Don’t forget to tell your favourite skin in comment below box.

Happy to Hear From You… :-)

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writer's block on college essays

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Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

←How to Write a Last Minute Essay

11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your Essay→

We’ve all had that feeling. You know you have to write an essay, a research paper, or even a story, but you can’t seem to string two thoughts together. It’s frustrating, it’s disheartening, and you don’t know how long it’ll be before inspiration strikes again. 

This familiar feeling is commonly known as “writer’s block”. According to The New Yorker , it was once believed that writer’s block was caused by exhausting one’s supply of inspiration or a lack of external motivation. Now, thanks to the research of Jermone Singer and Michael Barrios, we know that there are four broad causes of writer’s block: 

• Excessively harsh self-criticism 
• Fear of being compared to other writers and their work
• A lake of external motivation such as praise or attention 
• A lack of internal motivation such as a desire to share a story with the world 

No matter which bucket your writer’s block falls under, you are certainly not alone, and you can definitely get your creative juices flowing again. Want to get over your writer’s block? Here are some proven techniques that will help re-inspire your writing. 

Tips For Overcoming Writer’s Block On Your College Essay 

1. freewrite .

A lot of people get stuck on the idea that what they write has to be perfect, and that pressure keeps them from writing down anything at all. If you find yourself feeling that weight on your shoulders, just take a step back for a minute. Give yourself some leeway to write whatever you want on the topic that you’re writing about, even if it’s grammatically incorrect or irrelevant. Just writing something down can often give the mind something to work with, and it can often lead to further inspiration.

Keep in mind that this freewriting can take whatever form you want it to. It can be full sentences, bullet points, even phrases randomly placed on a sheet of paper. Whatever gets your brain thinking in some capacity is a good step in overcoming writer’s block. 

2. Respond to Brainstorm Questions 

What if your writer’s block is so bad that you can’t even come up with a topic or subject for your essay? If you need a place to start, try thinking about something that is not directly related to your college essays. The easiest things to brainstorm are things that you know, like yourself. Here are some easy brainstorm questions to get you thinking: 

• Who are my favorite characters on TV, Literature, and movies? Why are these my favorite characters? 
• What is something that I would join a multi-day protest march for? Is there actually anything that I am passionate about?
• Say I had to start a business selling something, and I would achieve the average level of success (financially, socially, etc) within that business, what would I choose to do?
• What nonprofit or cause would I volunteer for assuming I could not choose an activity that I’ve already done or an activity available in my school?

While these questions may not be immediately relevant to the college essay you’re trying to write, they are introspective questions. So the more you think about answers to these questions, the more you are reflecting on yourself and your goals. If you can start writing down your answers, then you’re already well on your way to writing a personal statement or explaining your interests and passions to colleges.

3. Talk It Out With A Friend 

College essays always ask you to reflect on yourself, and who knows you better than some of your closest friends? While they shouldn’t write your essay for you, they can be a good sounding board for ideas while giving you some ideas of their own. Try contacting someone you trust and asking them how they would answer the essay prompt if they were answering it for you. See what comes to their mind. They may bring up an interesting approach to an essay that you hadn’t even thought about, or remind you about an aspect of yourself that you hadn’t already considered. Their ideas could help spark your ideas. 

Keep in mind, this doesn’t have to be a friend. It could be a close relative, a neighbor, or even a teacher. You just need to talk to somebody who knows you well and can give you insight on how you should approach the essay, not how they would. 

4. Read a Memoir or Listen To a Podcast 

Inspiration tends to fuel inspiration, and what better way to get inspired to write a creative essay about yourself than to read/listen to others’ creative essays about themselves. Perhaps listening to people tell their stories will give you some ideas on how you can tell your story for your college essays. 

People share their stories in a variety of ways, both offline and online. You could read the personal memoir of someone who inspires you, or of someone whose story you relate to. If you want something that takes a little bit less time, you could listen to a podcast or watch a TED Talk of people telling their stories. Some other places to find inspiration are The New York Times’ Modern Love column or stories from The Moth . Most of the above are short and quick and could possibly spark inspiration for your own essay. 

5. Change Your Environment 

Maybe it’s not that you lack ideas or inspiration. Maybe you just can’t, for whatever reason, seem to get your ideas down on paper. That’s totally normal, and there’s a chance that your environment has something to do with it. If you’ve been brainstorming in your room for hours or if you’re not comfortable wherever you are, it’s going to be very difficult for you to be able to write creatively and vulnerably. 

Try going somewhere else to write, preferably somewhere with fresh air and sunshine. A simple change of scenery can be surprisingly helpful in getting your brain to work again and letting the creativity come through. As long as you’re peaceful and comfortable wherever you go, it’s a good place to be writing. 

6. Get Some Exercise 

It is commonly accepted that exercise releases endorphins and other helpful chemicals that stimulate your brain and keep you happy. In this way, exercise can be very beneficial in the writing process. If you’re feeling frustrated because of your writer’s block, exercise can lift your mood and give you a much-needed break. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, the chemicals in your brain can help spark some creative inspiration for your essay. 

Of course, it might be a little bit difficult to go for a run or get exercise if you’re staying at home. Just remember that no form of exercise is better than another, and exercise doesn’t have to take up a lot of space. Do some jumping jacks in place, find an apartment-friendly workout video online, or just put on some music and dance in your room. The key is to get your body moving.

7. Use a Pen and Paper 

Most students type their essays on computers instead of writing them down, and this makes sense. Almost all college applications are submitted online now, and it’s easier to share your essays with others for editing. 

That being said, typing your essays may not be the best idea if you’re experiencing writer’s block. The blank screen in front of you may be a psychological deterrent to your creativity, and the internet may serve as a huge distraction. 

If you find yourself unable to come up with something to write on a computer, try going old school and writing your ideas with a pen and paper. If you don’t have any of that around, try jotting down some ideas on a dry erase board or chalkboard. Writing your ideas instead of typing them encourages you to jot down shorter ideas and think in an entirely different way. This can be a beneficial switch for your brain as you attempt to overcome your writer’s block.

8. Work On A Different Section 

Who says that you have to write your essay from start to finish? If you are having trouble coming up with the beginning, write the end or start somewhere in the middle! If you have an idea of what you want to say and how you want the essay to flow, you can write it down in whatever order you want. Write down the parts that come easiest to you and circle back to the parts you haven’t quite figured out yet. This way, you’ll at least have something written down, and you can use that something to inspire you to write the other parts of your essay later. 

Again, your essay does not have to be perfect on the first draft. If the different parts of your essay don’t seem to fit together because you wrote them at different times, that’s okay. At least you’ll have all of the parts written down, and you can edit from there. 

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block

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Most writers experience writer’s block at some point in their life, at various stages of the writing process. Often a solution can be found by speaking with your instructor (if you are a student) or a writing tutor. But there are ways to combat writer’s block on your own, too! When you’re having trouble figuring out what to write next, consider these common types of writer’s block and try the strategies that sound most promising.

If you're having trouble finding a starting place for the assignment...

• Brainstorm topics that are interesting to you. Use the invention strategies suggested by a tutor or teacher to generate questions or thoughts that serve as useful starting places.
• Write down all the primary ideas you'd like to express and then fill in each with the smaller ideas that make up each primary idea. This can easily be converted into an outline .
• If your paper involves conducting research, you can look for places where you disagree with another thinker’s claim or feel more work needs to be done. Identifying gaps or conflicts in the existing conversation around a topic is often a great starting place.

Example: You’ve been asked to analyze a television commercial. You remember three commercials that you found interesting and re-watch them, taking notes on details that stand out to you. You freewrite for five minutes on each of the three commercials, and discover that you have much more to say about one than the others. You focus on that one, expanding your freewrite into the an outline for the entire essay.

If you have a topic and an outline, but can’t think of an interesting beginning…

• After the paper is completely drafted, you can get all the sections in the correct order and read it start-to-finish to ensure that transitions are smooth.

Example: You have to complete a lab report and hate writing the “Introduction” section. In order to complete the project on time, you overcome your anxiety about writing that section by first writing the “Materials,” “Method,” and “Results” sections. You write the “Introduction” last, reorder, and revise holistically.

If you’ve chosen or been assigned a topic that bores you…

• If you’ve chosen a common topic just because you thought it would be easy to write on, reconsider: it’s easiest to write about something in which you have a personal interest.
• If you can’t change the major scope or goal of the assignment, try to understand why you’re being asked to write it. What knowledge will you gain from completing the assignment? What skills will you be able to practice? Who would benefit from reading my finished product, and how would that positively change that community?

Example: You work for your campus newspaper and have been assigned to write an article on an upcoming career fair. Although at first your editor asks you to simply inform students of what companies will be represented at the event, you find that you’re much more interested in profiling a certain company that’s new to the fair. You talk to your editor and get permission to write the article that engages you more.

Example: The same scenario as above, but your editor tells you that you have to write the original, more general article. Although it’s boring to you, you reflect that you’ll gain practice presenting a mass of information in concise language, certainly a useful skill for a journalist. Additionally, there are thousands of students on campus who would benefit from the information your article will cover. This motivates you to write the article.

If you don’t understand the assignment…

• The better you can articulate the source of confusion, the more help others can give you.

Example: Your composition instructor has asked you to write a Digital Literacy Narrative. The assignment sheet provides a definition of “digital literacy,” and you have some class notes that further clarify the concept. But after reviewing these materials, you’re still not certain if your instructor would allow you to write about how you learned to use different coffee-making technologies, as they aren’t traditionally considered digital devices. You go to your instructor’s office hours to ask if this topic would be acceptable, taking your annotated assignment sheet and class notes with you.

If you’re worried that you’ll write the wrong thing…

• Remember that the first draft is not the final draft. If you’re not sure that an argument will pan out, just start writing it and see where it takes you. You can always delete paragraphs that don’t work out later, but the best insights often come from pushing yourself into uncertain territory—if you never feel unsure about your claims, you’re probably just reproducing existing findings!
• If you’re worried that a small detail is incorrect, that’s okay in the draft phase. Rather than spending a lot of time checking every small detail as you go, just leave a note to yourself to check your sources later. Or, leave the troublesome paragraph for later and work on a section that you’re more confident writing about.

Example: You’re writing a paper on King Henry VIII and can’t remember off the top of your head whether he beheaded two or three of his wives. The answer to this question wouldn’t change your major argument either way, so you decide it’s not important to look up right now. You write “two,” highlight it, and leave a note to yourself to check this minor supporting fact against your research notes later.

If you’re worried that your sentences aren’t polished enough…

• Remember, again, that the first draft is not the final draft. The sooner you get some words on the page, the more time you’ll have to edit your prose for clarity and style later. Complete an entire draft before you start editing on the sentence level.
• If you find yourself consistently obsessing over individual sentences as you go, try dimming or covering your laptop or computer monitor’s screen so that you can’t see what you’re typing. You can also try writing in a notebook and typing up your work later.
• Consciously stop any non-productive comments running through your head by replacing them with productive ones. Rather than labeling yourself a “bad writer,” think about what parts of the writing process you excel at (idea generation, conclusions, sentence style, etc.) and plan to allot more time for the steps that take you longer.

Example: You’re writing a paper on the effects of all-nighters on college student’s health. You can’t think of the word “deleterious.” After a few seconds of futilely scanning your brain for it, you write “super harmful,” knowing that you can find the more professional word later.

If you’re so stressed out that you can’t seem to put a word on the page…

• Take a short break! If you’re close to a deadline and worried about losing track of time, then set a timer for ten or fifteen minutes and use that short window to relax before getting back to work. Stretch, move away from your desk, and don’t neglect your sleeping and eating schedule. It’s much harder to write if you’re sleep-deprived or dehydrated.
• If you have several days left before your deadline, break the assignment into manageable parts. Set measurable writing goals for yourself, like writing without interruption for thirty minutes every day, or writing a certain number of words by a given deadline.
• Finally, ask for help! Writing is most stressful when you’re doing it by yourself for a long period of time. Asking a tutor or a friend to talk through your ideas can help you get some perspective on the assignment, and remind you that it’s nothing to be anxious about.

Example: You have a week before an important job application is due and you’re anxious that the search committee will dislike your cover letter before you’ve even written it. Since you still have plenty of time before the deadline, you plan to work on it for just thirty minutes every day. You talk to a friend who helps you make a list of reasons why you’re qualified for this job, and you stick to your writing schedule.

If you’re easily distracted when you open your computer to write…

• Try temporarily disabling your internet access. Take your laptop to a space that doesn’t have internet access. Draft by hand in a notebook and type up your work later. Or, simply turn your computer’s wifi detector off, or put your document into full-screen or “Focus” mode: these obstacles are easy to overcome, but the time it takes to make the few extra clicks to open an internet browser is sometimes enough to stop yourself.
• You can also try setting a timer forcing yourself to do nothing but write for a short period of time. Even a ten-minute focused writing session can help you break through initial writer’s block and build momentum on your project.

Example: You start to work on your paper, and after writing one sentence feel the impulse to watch just one YouTube video. However, as you have wisely decided to take your computer to the house of a friend who doesn’t have internet, your browser gives you a frowny face and an error message. You return to your paper and keep writing.

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Writing a Paper: Writer's Block

Writing is a process, not a singular event. It is rarely an automatic occurrence and requires diligence, creativity, and practice. If you feel lost in the process of research, take a look at our strategies for critical reading and note taking. If you are stuck, here are tips for helping you put words onto the page.

Before you begin writing, take 20 min to construct a thesis statement with some of our prewriting strategies. Taking the time to prepare will give you direction and focus. A blank page does not mean that you are searching for the right word or words to begin your essay; it often means that you have no plan. As a scholarly writer, you should show up to your paper or computer full of information you have found in your research. Your goal is to compile a wide and deep knowledge base from which your own ideas will flow.

Find a Suitable Environment

Turn off your internal editor, write nonstop for a set period.

Find a timer or stopwatch, and set it for 1 min. Then, like a sprinter, type or hand-write nonstop until the time is up. Even if you type the letter A over and over again, you are still typing something! You are still defeating the blank page. Next, set the timer for 2 min, then 5 min, and repeat the process, with 1-min breaks in between. Soon enough, you will be surprised by what you see on the page!

Set Realistic Goals

Sometimes the blank pages in front of you can be incredibly intimidating—especially if you know that you are required to fill 25 of them. Rather than tackling the entire paper in one sitting, set goals for yourself. Setting goals will help you to work at a reasonable pace and form the paper in increments and pieces. Set time goals, such as these:

• I will freewrite for 5 min.
• I will work on the body paragraphs for 2 hr today.
• I will complete my outline by Friday.
• I will finalize my thesis statement by 3 p.m. today.

Hold yourself accountable to your goals.

Giving yourself a break (whether for 10 min, an hour, a day or two) will help clear your mind and make your words appear fresh on the page. Some ideas need time to develop without conscious thought—not all time spent away from the computer is unproductive time!

Change Perspective

Bounce ideas off classmates, friends, or family members.  Ask general questions to people who are familiar with your topic. What seems important to them? What background, terms, or other ideas will they need to know in order to understand your message? Do they disagree with your argument or the points you make? If so, why?

Summarize your own work.  In the margins of your paper (or using comment bubbles), write a one-sentence summary of the purpose of each paragraph. Review your summaries to get a clearer idea of your direction, the overall flow of the paper, and how far you still need to go.

Take another look. Ask yourself a few questions:

• Is this information necessary?
• Does it add to my argument?
• What message am I trying to convey?
• Are these ideas contributing to that message?
• What ideas could I be missing?

When in doubt, read more on your topic—it is never a bad idea to go back to your sources and expand your knowledge when you are trying to work your way out of writer’s block.

Freewriting Video

Note that this video was created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

• Prewriting Demonstrations: Freewriting (video transcript)

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Conquering Writer's Block

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Conquering Writer's Block

Why do we get writer's block .

Our papers seem so big and overwhelming that we are afraid to start. We procrastinate, thinking the assignment is too huge to ever complete. Remember, the largest journey begins with a single step.

We become so overcome by anxiety that we can't even sit down to start the paper.

Lack of Self Confidence

We are afraid our intellectual and creative abilities aren't up to the task at hand, and are therefore afraid to see the results of what we can come up with. Remember, writing is a process. There's always another draft, and another chance to improve our writing. 

 Strategies for beating Writer's Block: 

Sit down and write whatever comes to mind. Set a time limit for yourself, fifteen minutes, an hour, two hours, etc. Don't leave your computer until you've finished this time period. You can do the same thing with page limits. Let yourself freewrite for two pages, five pages, or ten. Don't worry about grammar, organization, or "sounding smart." Just write. 

Write or Post-It note flag in your text as you read. Mark rhetorical devices, important passages, and ideas that interest you. Remember, no one has to see this but you.

Write down all of your ideas on a piece of paper. It can help to circle them in order to separate them out. Then, draw lines between the ideas that connect. Think of it as connecting the dots. Try to find connections between ideas that aren't so obviously connected. Sometimes, exploring the relationship between ideas that don't seem to relate at first can be paper-writing gold. 

• Index Cards

Write down all of your ideas and important textual evidence on index cards. Lay them out on the floor, a desk, or a table. Try rearranging them in different ways to see which ideas go together.

• Keep it simple.   Just start writing

Just begin to write your paper. Don't worry if your ideas seem simple at first. They will become more complex as you begin to write. Remember that ideas will come to you as you write. You don't have to plan them out in your head before you start.

• Bribe/Reward Yourself

Bribe yourself with rewards for writing. What nice thing can you do for yourself after writing two pages? Five pages? Your whole paper? Let yourself have that hot shower, long walk, bar of chocolate, date for coffee, or anything else that you want and feel will motivate you. Be proud of even the smallest accomplishment. 

• Talk over your paper with a friend, professor, or writing tutor

Sometimes, we get our best ideas simply by talking things over with another person.

• Holistic Approach

Eating well, drinking water, sleeping enough, and exercising are very important to have our minds functioning at the top of their abilities. You'll be amazed at the surge in your creativity after a good night's sleep or a jog. Focus on mental health as well. Try meditation or keeping a journal. Develop a strong support network of friends and family. Consider seeing a counselor if you are emotionally distressed. Keep in mind that a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference in the world.

Some Inspirational Quotes on Writing: 

"The most enviable writers are those who, quite often un-analytically and unconsciously, have realized that there are different facets to their nature and are able to live and work with now one, now the other ..."  — Dorothea Brande

"What we call procrastination might well be incubation, and the importance of prewriting--sorting things through, assimilating, making connections ..." — Henriette Ann Klauser

"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." — Will Rogers

"A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."  — George S. Patton

"The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work."  — Robert Frost

"When I sit at my table to write, I never know what it's going to be until I'm under way. I trust in inspiration, which sometimes comes and sometimes doesn't. But I don't sit back waiting for it. I work every day."  — Alberto Moravia

"Writing energy is like anything else: The more you put in, the more you get out."  — Richard Reeves

"Success comes before work only in the dictionary."  — Anonymous

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."  — Aristotle

"The harder you work, the luckier you get."  — Gary Player  

"It's always too early to quit."  — Norman Vincent Peale

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  — Franklin D. Roosevelt  

"Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs." — Malcolm Forbes

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."  — William Feather

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."  — Calvin Coolidge  

Kate Willett

Student Learning Center, University of California, Berkeley

©2005 UC Regents  

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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Ebun Omilaju

August 4th, 2020, how to overcome academic writer’s block.

0 comments | 2 shares

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

I genuinely think academic writer’s block is a real thing (some say it’s an alternative term for procrastination). You have the ideas all in your head, but when it comes to the practical task of getting the writing done it just doesn’t seem to quite happen. I can openly say that I have experienced this at several points during my master’s programme, and I found this increased during lockdown. Minutes turn to hours and hours to days. But no matter how hard you try, every time you sit down to do your work, you don’t seem to make the progress that you desire and you end up occupying your time with other things. If you have experienced any of the above I would like to give you some tips to help you get out of this space and get you closer to meeting that upcoming deadline. Please note that these tips are in no particular order and you can select the points that are most suitable for you:

• Identify your main distractions and get rid of them! In this period I have found myself swiping from app to app, twitter to Instagram, the occasional peek at Snapchat and the cycle starts again. I, therefore, had to delete the apps that were taking up most of my time, and sometimes I turn my phone off altogether. Distractions can be anything, from social media to a messy workspace, do what you can to avoid such distractions during times that you want to work. Also if your distractions are people that you are living with, be it family or friends, please don’t get rid of them, but try and study at times where they cannot distract you, late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
• If you feel like your thoughts are overwhelming find the best outlet to release them. Writing is often my go to as I am an avid journaler, so I usually write out how I am feeling. Other outlets to release overwhelming thoughts can be singing, drawing, speaking out loud (be mindful of this one in public spaces lol) and speaking to close family or friends. There are ways beyond this but these are a few suggestions.

• Just do it, just write. Even if your writing is all over the place and unrefined, this is not the final piece. So if you’re someone that is a perfectionist (like myself), let that all go at the initial stage and get in the flow of writing. When proofreading and revising your work, perfectionism will then come in handy.
• Look for a documentary on the subject you are writing on. Sometimes when I don’t feel like writing or reading, I watch. I’m currently doing my dissertation on Human Trafficking and I must say that YouTube is a great resource, I also found a few films on Netflix, which broadened my knowledge in the subject area. As with any other information, if you would like to use the information you come across from a documentary, be sure to check the validity of the source. But please, there is a time and place for this tip. If you only have a few days till a big deadline please kindly skip to tip number 6!

• Use voice dictation typing. This feature is available on both Google Docs and Microsoft Word. When you are struggling to write, sometimes it can be easier to dictate your thoughts. Voice dictation typing may not always be accurate but you can always edit what has been written. If you want to use this feature I would recommend watching a YouTube guide which will show you how to use it properly.
• Speak to friends on your course or friends who are also studying.  Share your challenges with them and they may be able to give you good advice based on their experiences (I got tip number 7 through having a conversation with a friend).
• Get an accountability partner, someone that you trust – It can be a course mate, a friend outside of your studies or a family member. But essentially set goals, share it with them and then report back to them on your progress. This can be done on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, depending on the deadline and your personal preferences. It helps if they’re also working towards something so they can be accountable to you. 

I hope this list has been helpful and even if you haven’t experienced a writer’s block, perhaps you can share this with a friend who has. Please note that this is not an extensive list, there are several more ways to overcome academic writer’s block. Perhaps you can share some tips in the comments below – I would love to hear what has helped you.

About the author

Hello there! My name is Ebun and I’m currently pursuing a Master's in Development Studies. My top areas of interest are Globalisation, Human Trafficking and Youth Empowerment. In my free time, you would find me baking, listening to music or on a flight comparison site, searching for my next holiday destination.

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7 ways for students to overcome writer’s block, by freddie tubbs.

While writer’s block can affect all of us at various times, it is no longer some insurmountable menace that we can’t overcome. Whether you’re worried about what you’re writing, trying too hard to be perfect, or just lose inspiration, rest assured that you’re normal. There are also plenty of ways in which you can overcome your block quickly without getting too stressed. There’s no longer any reason to panic or miss you deadline, as you can just try out the following 7 ways to get over your writer’s block and get back to your craft.

1.     Move Around

Sometimes you get writers block because you just can’t see further. Changing your environment by heading to a coffee shop, a library, or even just another room in your house can provide a fresh perspective.

2.     Find another Outlet

Sometimes you just need to put down the pen and take a break from writing. However, you’ll recover from your block quicker by indulging in another creative outlet.

3.     Make the Most of Online Tools and Resources for Writing and Editing

Online tools for writing and editing can make a huge difference in overcoming your writer’s block. They can spark your inspiration, or at the very least help you sift through what you already have and find something great to work with. The following tools are some of the most useful:

• Now Novel – this is a great tool for anyone looking to write fiction. This tool keeps your work private but it’s an amazing way for your work to stay organised, and help you develop a writing process.
• Write my essays – the forums at paper fellows are full of professional and amateurs alike who are able to provide awesome support and advice when you need it.
• Zen Pen – this tool is awesome if you’re easily distracted. You are provided with a completely plain interface, that’s just a blank page, so you can’t see any external links or procrastinate.
• Trello – this tool is great for anyone who is more of a visual learner, and would benefit from being able to see their progress so far in order to figure out how to proceed.
• Dissertation Writing Services – this writing tool is a cool way to find some inspiration and generate some ideas. You’ll be over your writer’s block in no time.
• Resume Writing Service – when you’re short of ideas, you can head to this site for inspiration and generate some great new threads of writing for ideas.
• Essay Roo – sometimes you just have to power through your writer’s block, and monitoring your daily word count, by setting and hitting targets is one way of doing that.
• UK Writings – when you’re writing for academia or for school, you’ll have to spend a lot of time referencing, and this can interrupt your writing flow or process. Using this tool can stop you from suffering from writer’s block if your work is disturbed.

4.     Move Your Body

If you want your brain to be full of energy, you need to work on your body too, and getting some fresh air, moving around, whether it’s yoga, dance, boxing, or hiking, can really clear your head, and help you gain a fresh perspective and point of view.

5.     Start Early

You may need to edit this writing heavily, but starting super early can leave you in a dream-like state where thoughts just spill over from your brain.

6.     Turn Off You Phone

You’ll need to get rid of all distractions, but the easiest one to eliminate is your cell phone.

7.     Always Have a Notepad

Inspiration could hit you anywhere, so make sure you can write them down and get to work when you get home.

Writer’s block can prove to be a massive struggle for anyone trying to hammer out a career, or get through a degree, but following the above tips can help you break through it quickly and effectively.

Freddie Tubbs is an eLearning project manager from Fort Myers, Florida. He works as a language researcher at Best assignment writing services and is a contributing author at The Atlantic.

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College Essay Tips: Overcoming Writer’s Block; Listener Questions

Written by Shannon Vasconcelos on October 25th, 2023

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Break Through Writer’s Block! Tips for Your College Admissions Essay

Not sure how to go about writing your college adissions essay?  Fear not!  We've all been there.

The college admissions essay is daunting. The possibility of writing about anything, and with the essay being such a central part of your application, can reduce even the most confident writer to a procrastinator of distinction. Regardless of the prompt you choose, the Common Application essay is a way for admissions committees to get a sense of who you are and what makes you tick. It therefore involves a fairly high level of introspection on one’s life and goals, and thus why it can be so hard to write. But breaking the writer’s block doesn’t need to be as hard as you think. The key to coming up with good ideas for a college essay which speaks to who you are as a candidate and as a person (which, ultimately, is what you want to do) is to structure the brainstorm around a few core questions .  

Here are three questions I often have my students think about which, in the past, have led to some great college essays. When considering them, do a brainstorm in whatever way you find most effective. Create a Google Doc and write down your ideas in bullet points, take a walk with a notepad and jot things down as you think of them, or discuss these prompts with one of your parents or friends.

Think about what drives you as a student.

You want to study astronomy, economics, or international relations in college. Great. OK, so why? Write down your motivations. Maybe your uncle loves astronomy, you’ve grown up looking at the stars, and you’re motivated to look farther out into the universe than has previously been accomplished. Maybe you travelled to Central America in high school and it sparked an interest in the destructive role of some western trade policies, something which you want to challenge as an economist. Maybe conversations with an Arab neighbor spurred a curiosity in international relations and you’re driven to challenge stereotypes in US foreign policymaking. All of these could be great bases for a college essay.

Ask yourself what makes you unique.

College admissions committees get thousands of applications each year from students who are, at least on paper, very similar. Their grade point averages are in the same range, their SAT scores are comparable, and their letters of recommendation are all complimentary.

In brainstorming your essay, think about what makes you different from other people. This doesn’t mean you need to have written a book or started a foundation. It could be quite simple. It could be that you’ve lived in five different states. It could be that you’ve had an interesting mentor who was unusual in the role they played in your life. Or maybe you learned how to fix things when you were a kid because your dad is a mechanic. All of these are potential ideas that, when tied into a broader narrative about how they’ve shaped you as a person, can serve as the foundation for a memorable college essay.

Consider any experiences that—pardon the dramatics—changed your life.

Think about what events in your life have been significant in some deep way, have really affected who you are as a person. Identifying something that happened to you and has shaped you can be a good way to explain the kind of person you are and what motivates you as a student to a college admissions committee. Consider things like trips, internships, work, and so on. You don’t need to have suffered a life-threatening sickness and survived only to have become interested in medicine. You could write about something as simple as a part-time job that has shaped you in some significant way.

Remember, what college admissions committees are looking for in your essay is to learn about who you are and what drives you as a person or student. These prompts should help you to find a topic that does that job well.

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Overcoming Writing Anxiety and Writer’s Block

You may be thinking, “All this advice is good, but sometimes I just get stuck! What I normally do just isn’t working!” That’s a familiar feeling for all writers. Sometimes the writing just seems to flow as if by magic, but then the flow stops cold. Your brain seems to have run out of things to say. If you just wait for the magic to come back, you might wait a long time. What professional writers know is that writing takes consistent effort. Writing comes out of a regular practice—a habit. Professional writers also know that not everything they write ends up in the final draft. Sometimes we have to write what Anne Lamott calls a “shitty rough draft.” One of my favorite writing professors, Duncan Carter, used to say that he was a terrible writer but a great reviser, and that’s what helped him write when inspiration wasn’t available. So how do writers get going when they feel stuck or uninspired? They develop a set of habits and have more than one way to write to get the words flowing again.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You might associate the idea of writing anxiety or writer’s block with procrastination, and procrastination certainly can be either a cause or an effect of writing anxiety. You can learn more about  procrastination later in this section of the text.  But writing anxiety or writer’s block is more of a condition. We might even venture to call it an ailment. Uh oh. Do you have it? To aid you in self-diagnosis here, let’s take some time to figure out what it is. Then, if you find that you’re afflicted, we’ll help you to determine the best course of treatment.

What is Writing Anxiety and How Do You Know if You Have It?

Do you worry excessively about writing assignments? Do they make you feel uneasy or agitated? Do you have negative feelings about certain types of writing? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might suffer from writing anxiety. Writing anxiety simply means that a writer is experiencing negative feelings about a given writing task. The last of the questions above points out something important about this condition that has been afflicting writers everywhere for centuries: writing anxiety is often more about the audience and/or purpose for a given writing task than it is about the mere act of writing itself.

Let’s consider this situational nature of writing anxiety for a moment. Say you just bought a new pair of headphones. You brought them home, removed all the packaging, plugged them into your MP3 player, and they’re amazing!  So you decide to visit the company website, and you write a stellar review of the product, giving it a five-star rating and including descriptive details about the headphones’ comfortable fit, excellent sound quality, ability to cancel outside noise, and reasonable price.

Now, let’s say that the next day in biology class your instructor covers the topic of biomes, and you learn about animal habitats and biodiversity and the interrelation and interdependence of species within biomes. You find it fascinating and can’t wait to learn more. But then something terrible happens. Your instructor assigns a term project on the subject. As your instructor begins to describe the length and other specifications for the report, complete with formatting guidelines, citation requirements, and a bibliography at the end, your palms start to sweat, your stomach feels uneasy, and you begin to have trouble focusing on anything else your instructor has to say. You’re experiencing writing anxiety.

Writing anxiety is the condition of feeling uneasy about writing. Writer’s block is what you experience when you can’t manage to put words on the page. But your condition isn’t about the act of writing. Just yesterday you wrote a great review for those cool new headphones. So why do you suddenly feel paralyzed by the thought of writing the biology essay? Let’s consider some possible causes.

What Causes Writing Anxiety?

The causes of writing anxiety are many. Here are just a few:

• Inexperience with the type of writing task
• Previous negative experiences with writing (e.g. someone, maybe a teacher, has given you negative feedback or said negative things about your writing)
• Negative feelings bout writing (e.g. “I’m not a good writer”; “I hate writing.”)
• Immediate deadline
• Distant deadline
• Lack of interest in the topic
• Personal problems or life events

Level of experience may explain why you felt comfortable writing the headphone review while you break out in a sweat at the thought of the biology paper. If you’ve never written anything similar to a specific assignment, maybe you’re unsure about whether or not you can meet the assignment requirements or the teacher’s expectations. Or maybe the last time you turned in a written report for school you received negative feedback or a bad grade from the teacher. Maybe you procrastinated most of the term and now the paper is due next week and you feel overwhelmed. Or maybe it’s the second week of the term and the finals week deadline seems so far away that you’re not motivated to write.

Knowing the cause of your writing anxiety can help you move beyond it and get writing, even if you can’t completely eliminate the problem. If the topic doesn’t interest you or if you’re having problems at home, those probably aren’t issues that will just disappear, but if you try some of the following strategies, I think you’ll find that you can at least move forward with even the most anxiety-inducing of writing assignments.

Strategies for Overcoming or Managing Writing Anxiety

There are a number of strategies upon which you can draw to help you move past the feeling of being lost or stuck. Consider if some of the following tactics can help you to get writing again.

Just Start Writing

It might sound like it’s oversimplifying the matter, but it’s true. Half the battle is to just start writing. Try some strategies like freewriting or dialectic notetaking. (For more on freewriting, see “ Strategies for Getting Started ” in the “Prewriting” section of this text, and for more on dialectic notetaking , refer to the section on “Writing about Texts”). You should also believe in the importance of writing badly. Bruce Ballenger, a well-known writer and professor of English at Boise State explains why writing badly is an important part of the writing process:

Giving myself permission to write badly makes it much more likely that I will write what I don’t expect to write, and from those surprises will come some of my best writing. Writing badly is also a convenient alternative to staring off into space and waiting for inspiration.

Sometimes the biggest problem writers have with getting started is that they feel like the writing needs to be good, or well organized, or they feel like they need to start at the beginning. None of that is true. All you need to do is start.

Have you ever seen a potter make a clay pot? Before a potter can start shaping or throwing a pot, they have to bring the big wet blob of clay and slap it down on the table. It’s heavy and wet and messy, but it’s the essential raw material. No clay? No pot. “Bad writing” is a lot like that. You have to dump all the words and ideas onto the table. Just get them out. Only then do you have the raw material you need to start shaping the words into something beautiful and lasting. You can wait until the revision stages to worry about shaping your writing to be its best. For now, just get the ideas on the table.

Create Smaller Tasks and Short-Term Goals

One of the biggest barriers to writing can be that the task just seems too large, and perhaps the due date is weeks away. Each of these conditions can contribute to feelings of being overwhelmed or to the tendency to procrastinate. But the remedy is simple and will help you keep writing something each week toward your deadline and toward the finished product: divide larger writing tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks and set intermediate deadlines.

The process that the authors used for writing this text provides a good example. As authors, we had to divide the text into sections, but we also had to plan the process for a first draft, peer reviews, and revisions, along with adding images, links, and other resources, not to mention the final publication of the text online. Had we not divided up the larger tasks into smaller ones and set short-term goals and deadlines, the process of writing the text would have been overwhelming. We didn’t meet every single intermediate deadline right on time, but they helped move us along and helped us to meet the most important deadline—the final one—with a complete text that was ready to publish on schedule.

Imagine that you have a term paper that’s assigned during Week 1 of a eleven-week term, and it’s due during finals week. Make a list of all the tasks you can think of that need to be completed, from beginning to end, to accomplish all that the assignment requires. List the tasks, and assign yourself due dates for each task. Consider taking it a step further and create a task table that allows you to include a column for additional notes. Here’s an example:

Collaborate

Get support from a friend, family member, or classmate. Talk to your friends or family, or to a tutor in your college writing center, about your ideas for your essay. Sometimes talking about your ideas is the best way to flesh them out and get more ideas flowing. Write down notes during or just after your conversation. Classmates are a great resource because they’re studying the same subjects as you, and they’re working on the same assignments. Talk to them often, and form study groups. Ask people to look at your ideas or writing and to give you feedback. Set goals and hold each other accountable for meeting deadlines (a little friendly competition can be motivating!).

Talk to other potential readers. Ask them what they would expect from this type of writing. Meet with a tutor in your campus writing center. Be sure to come to the appointment prepared with a printed copy of the assignment and a short list of what you want to work on, along with a printed copy of your essay.

For more about getting help from a tutor see “Why Meet with a Writing Tutor?” and “Preparing to Meet with a Tutor” in the “ Giving and Receiving Feedback ” section of this text.

Embrace Reality

Don’t imagine the situation of your writing assignment to be any better or worse than it really is. There are some important truths for you to recognize:

• Focus on what you do best rather than fretting about your perceived weaknesses.
• Acknowledge that writing can be difficult and that all you need to do is do your best.
• Recognize what might be new or unfamiliar about the type of writing that you’re doing.
• Understand that confusion and frustration is a natural part of experiencing new things, and it’s okay; it’s part of the learning process.
• Remember that you’re a student and that you’re supposed to be experiencing things that are new and unfamiliar (new formats, new audiences, new subject matter, new processes, new approaches, etc.).
• Repeat the mantra, “It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be DONE.”

Seek Out Experts

If you can, find more experienced writers (especially related to the type of writing that you’re doing) and ask them questions. Sometimes, this might just mean a friend or family member who’s already taken a couple years of college courses. Maybe it’s a fellow student who has already taken the class you’re taking now. Also, the tutors in your college writing center can be a big help at any stage in the writing process. Give them a call and make an appointment. And don’t forget the expert you see all the time throughout any class that you take: your instructor. Ask your instructor for suggestions. That’s what she’s there for.

Another way to learn from the experience of others is to look at examples of other pieces of writing of the type that you’re working on. How is this piece organized? Does it make use of source material? What sort of tone does it use? If you don’t know where to find examples, ask your instructor. If he doesn’t have them at the ready, he’ll likely be able to give you some suggestions about where to find some.

The Word on College Reading and Writing Copyright © by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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From Staring to Starting: Overcoming Writer's Block for Your College Essays

September 10, 2014

The personal statement and various supplemental college essays are some of the most difficult pieces of writing you will likely ever be confronted with in your life. With the stakes so high, the need for profundity under such word count and time limit constraints can be suffocating. However, you will find that once you get over the initial hump and get a first draft on paper, things will flow much more easily from there. Of course, that’s a lot easier said than done. Our college admissions experts are here to help you every step of the way. But before resorting to outside help, try giving it a shot on your own.

The first step to overcoming writer's block on your college essays is to realize is that you’re not alone. Not only is every other college applicant in the world struggling in the same way you are, but also almost every single professional writer in history has experienced this kind of writer’s block or is experiencing it at this very moment. For me, the process of staring at a blank document for hours until the ideas somehow magically flowed onto the page was such a common occurrence throughout high school, college, and law school that I began to think it was unavoidable. And, to some extent, I was right.

Since then, having worked with students on thousands of college essays and helping them overcome this common stumbling block, I have realized that this “staring until your eyes can’t take it any more” process is more about procrastination than about creative process. Of course, brainstorming and outlining are important, but they are both very active processes. The trouble with college essays is that you can write about literally anything in your life that you find significant. Thus, you need a way to ignite your creative pilot light. But how?

Start overcoming writer's block on your college essays by asking yourself questions. Dozens of them. And then write down lengthy answers to each of them. This will help you engage in an active self-reflection about your experiences in life. At the top of the page, you should have two objectives highlighted: Organization and Impressiveness. These objectives are both equally important because you want to write something that showcases your positive attributes that will make you an asset to a college’s incoming class while doing so in a cogent and concise way. Keep these goals in mind when you’re answering the questions you’ve written for yourself to keep you on track and help you beat writer's block on your college essays .

So, what kind of questions should you ask yourself? First, you should start with the Common Application prompts and see if you can sketch out an outline to any of them:

• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.  How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.  What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content.  What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

If any good ideas come to mind, make sure to get them down on the page in some loose fashion right away. You can flesh out details later. Next, you should start to write your list of questions. They should look something like this:

• What is the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life?
• What has been my proudest accomplishment?
• When have I felt weakest in my life?
• What three experiences would I say made me who I am today?
• What experiences have I had that most closely parallel what I think college will be like and how did I react to them?
• What is the most thrilling discovery I have ever made?
• When have I prevailed against naysayers or against all odds?
• What is the most meaningful relationship in my life?
• What is my most meaningful possession?
• What makes me different from my peers?
• How do people around me perceive me? How do I perceive myself?
• If I had to write the title of my autobiography, what would it say?

These questions might seem ridiculous to be answering about yourself, but they are exactly what you might need to help get over writer's block on your college essays . Fill out this list with questions about yourself until you reach 25 questions. Then, begin answering them.

The next step will be outlining your essay so that you can achieve that critical goal of organization. Stay tuned on the  InGenius Blog for our next post about organizing your thoughts after a huge brain dump like this one...

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Overcoming Writer’s Block: Strategies To Keep Your Essay Flowing

11 May 2024 By Markus Reily Leave a Comment

Writer’s block is a common issue where the flow of words gets disrupted. It makes the pressure to write even more overwhelming.

It is often called the “desert seasons” of writing. During this period, ideas and words dry up. Moreover, this block grows as we focus more on it, even when we know we must write.

The longer we sit frustrated, the more likely we will not write. Strong writers need strategies to cope with writer’s block and be productive. It is essential to balance the pressure to write and the desire to be fruitful.

This post will help you understand writer’s block more deeply and find solutions to fight these situations.

Understand The Root Of Your Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is a common issue among scientific writers, often stemming from various factors.

It can be attributed to difficulties in starting the writing process due to factors like the following:

• Lack of focus due to digital distractions.
• Fear of failure or criticism.
• Lack of interest or confidence in one’s research.

Therefore, students are often advised to pause and pace before starting.

Moreover, fear of rejection and criticism can contribute to writer’s block, while perfectionism can lead to procrastination or a cycle of editing and revising.

Also, uncertainty is another common issue among scientists, who may need more training in scientific writing and help finding convincing arguments.

However, to overcome writer’s block, it is important to pinpoint and address your specific problem head-on.

Break Through Mental Blocks

Given below are some of the most effective solutions that can help you break a writer’s block and write an essay with an easy flow—

Take Breaks

It’s important to take breaks from writing to avoid writer’s block. Giving yourself distance can provide a fresh perspective and boost your mental health and creativity.

Establishing boundaries and practicing self-care can help prevent burnout, procrastination, and writer’s block.

However, if you experience a lack of creativity, it’s normal to feel insecure about your writing. Therefore, remember that writer’s block and burnout are different and can be overcome.

Try Brainstorming

This chapter provides four brainstorming methods for identifying the focus of a personal statement and crafting supporting points.

It stresses the significance of comprehending the prompt, which may be open-ended but requires detailed information about one’s interests and experiences in the field.

Additionally, it emphasizes the need to present oneself as an exceptional candidate for the program being applied to.

Brainstorming entails analyzing the prompt and gathering memories or experiences to create a persuasive personal statement.

For instance, a candidate for a master’s degree in education could begin with an anecdote about overcoming a school fight and discussing challenges that helped develop their teaching skills and passion.

Freewriting techniques, such as jotting down every idea, encourage imaginative thinking and help identify the most effective topics for a personal statement.

When experiencing writer’s block, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by exaggerated expectations. However, creating attainable goals may provide a sense of accomplishment and inspiration throughout the writing process.

Realistic objectives give direction, attention, and motivation, boost success chances, foster a good self-image, and break down dreams into attainable stages. They encourage resilience, adaptation, and learning from failures.

Setting goals helps to express the links between present writing projects and professional skills, overcome concerns, and gain confidence in one’s writing ability.

Moreover, it decreases organizational stress by clearly defining success and ensuring people understand their position and expectations.

Finally, goal planning is critical in both personal and professional life. It allows progress toward desired results and increases performance.

Eliminate Distractions

Distractions can impair concentration, productivity, and project beginning. To reduce distractions, disconnect electronics, tidy your desk, and set aside time for undisturbed writing.

Request respect from coworkers and family members, and set aside at least three uninterrupted hours to write.

Background noise, such as what you hear at a coffee shop, might improve concentration and creativity.

Moreover, experiments were conducted with popular TV shows, music with no words, and white noise devices.

Also, you may discover that different sorts of background noise are better suited to other jobs, such as listening to conversational podcasts while writing essays and switching to music while writing fiction. Remember to respect your time and avoid distractions when writing.

Surround Yourself With Inspiration

Creative ideas and writing activities can help you activate your imagination and overcome creative blocks.

Explore writing prompt books online groups, or create prompts to experiment with different genres, styles, and views.

Character interviews, story twists, and writing from different perspectives all help to spark your creativity and inspire you to step beyond your comfort zone.

Writer’s block can be addressed by embracing many sources of inspiration, such as books, art exhibitions, films, music, and nature.

Connecting with other authors through writing groups, workshops, conferences, and project partnerships may enhance motivation and accountability. This group reduces isolation and offers possibilities for learning and growth, resulting in a rich and real writing experience.

Use Writing Prompts

Writer’s block is a mental paralysis where one struggles to find words to write about a topic. Therefore, to break this, one can talk to a friend and write down everything they say.

In that light, writing prompts encourage interest and creative writing. They should introduce and limit the topic while providing clear instructions. You can find subject-specific writing prompts on professional essay writing platforms like IvoryResearch .

The more you write from prompts, the more ideas will come to mind, and easier words will flow.

However, don’t stress over the process, as any prompt may or may not spark an idea once you’ve gained experience.

Seek Feedback And Collaboration

Collaborating with others can be a valuable tool for students’ writing journey. It can help them analyze their writing more effectively, as it is often easier to spot flaws in a classmate’s work than to explore one’s own.

Seeking feedback from others can also improve one’s understanding of assignments and personal growth.

Collaborating with others is beneficial at every stage of the writing process, from brainstorming ideas to improving organization, style, and design of drafts. Additionally, it is a constructive step towards personal and professional development.

Criticizing student writing is often easier than analyzing published writing, and collaboration can help students improve their writing skills in a supportive and encouraging environment

Markus Reily

Markus lives in San Francisco, California and is the video game and audio expert on Good e-Reader! He has a huge interest in new e-readers and tablets, and gaming.

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Beating Writer’s Block

Julia de Raadt

Head of research and lead admissions expert, table of contents.

• Writer’s Block

Stay up-to-date on the latest research and college admissions trends with our blog team.

Writer’s Block

One of the most important parts of writing a great college admissions essay is picking a compelling topic. But what do you do when you get stuck? In this article, we offer a number of starting prompts to get you past writer’s block and into writing your college essays.

We recommend you free-write for 10-15 minutes. We provide 2-3 different essay starters to get you off the starting block. Review these options if you like, then choose your favorite among them to continue. Writer’s block, en garde!

Sometimes our failures tell us as much, if not more than our successes. Have you ever tried at something and failed, despite your best efforts? How did you recover and/or what did you learn?

Note : this is a great way to start essays about failure, overcoming challenges, or to answer questions about personal growth.

Historical BFF

If offered the chance to meet any historical figure, who would it be and why, and what would you want to discuss with them?

This is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge of history and your creativity. Great for humanities majors.

Choose Your Own Adventure

If you were given the choice of becoming President of the United States or CEO of Apple, which would you prefer? Why?

Essentially: Business or Politics? This is a great topic for future lawyers, government officials, and entrepreneurs.

Galaxy Brain Action

Free will: fact or fiction?

Get philosophical with this prompt.

For the Bookworms

Which popular writers in our times will future generations continue to read? Which contemporary books, if any, will come to be regarded as future masterpieces? Why?

A good topic for students interested in literature and is also open to a humorous approach.

Your Fortune Says…

If all goes to plan, in 20 years I’ll be…

Can be used to address prompts about your future plans.

Change the World?

Can a Universal Basic Income solve the economic problems posed by increased automation, or would it simply disincentivize work?

Is work part of a meaningful and fulfilled life, or does increased automation allow us to pursue a world without work? What would people do with their time? Will it disincentivize work or open up new areas of creativity and exploration?

Adventure is Out There

Part of college is expanding your geographical, intellectual, and cultural horizons. What (or where) are you most excited to explore?

This is less about individual fields of study and more about the personal development aspect of college.

Influencers

Do you have a role model? If so, who and why? If no, then what takes its place, if anything?

This is an opportunity to write a great essay about a person who had a strong influence on your life and honor a friend, teacher, or other (ideally) non-family member.

If I Had A Jet Plane

Im agi ne you won a travel fellowship with free flights and hotels to travel for three months, where would you go and what would you do?

If you’re interested in international relations, or just interested in world travel, this gives you an opportunity to explore your wanderlust. This post blends creativity with worldliness.

iRobot Anyone?

Is artificial intelligence a boon which could potentially solve all of humanity’s pressing problems or is it a looming nightmare that poses an existential risk to human-kind?

Worried about the robot uprising? Explain your fears, or explain why they’re overblown and that AI will help us address our deepest concerns.

Small Idea, Big Impact

According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , the most important weapon in our arsenal against the scourge of Malaria is not a pharmaceutical miracle, nor a technological wonder; but instead, the humble mosquito net. Name a simple (or simple-seeming) tool, device, or invention with a disproportionate effect on human-kind (positive or negative). Explain the impact.

The Code You Live By

Write your own code of ethics for robots or AI units, and explain why such a code is important. How should AIs balance the value of human life? What rules will govern the behavior of legions of robots and AI scripts?

As our world becomes more automated and the internet of things expands further, robots and AIs will be forced to make moral decisions. Which ethical principles should they follow?

Prove Me Wrong

Throughout human history, many popularly held ideas have later been shown to be false. From geocentrism (in Astrophysics) to phrenology (in Biology/Medicine) to the phlogiston theory of combustion (in Chemistry), progress often comes at the expense of previously accepted theories. Which currently accepted ideas will we come to regard as false? Which ideas currently on the fringes of intellectual life will come to be commonly accepted?

People used to think the stars orbited around the earth. What else are we wrong about?

See how you feel about your writer’s block after this exercise! And of course, repeat as needed. Want more ideas? Work with one of our top tier counselors!  They have conquered writer’s block many times, and can help you write your best essay ever.

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College apps can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. empowerly college counseling is in it with you., related articles.

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Writer’s Block: Exploring the Cause and the Cure

Sean Glatch  |  April 11, 2024  |  6 Comments

Writer’s block—wanting to write and not writing—is a persistent problem that every writer (yes, every writer, even Stephen King ) deals with. At its simplest, it manifests as a lack of ideas. What do I write about? At its most pernicious, writer’s block can convince you that you lack what it takes to be a writer. We’re here to tell you: that’s simply not true.

Writer’s block is certainly a tough problem to solve. If we all knew how to get rid of writer’s block, the world would be overflowing with books, completed effortlessly and ahead of schedule.

Nonetheless, writer’s block doesn’t have to be chronic, or debilitating. In this article, we’ll look deeply into what causes writer’s block, and describe how to overcome writer’s block—in whatever way it might be manifesting in your writing. But first, what is writer’s block?

What is Writer’s Block?

What is writer’s block? It manifests in different ways in different writers. It might feel like you’re turning on a faucet, but the water has run out; it might feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall, jostling language, waiting for the words to arrive.

No matter how it manifests, all strains and variants of writer’s block share the same issue: a desire to write, and an inability to do so.

More specifically, it’s an inability to get into the flow of writing . The moment you set your pen tip to paper (or fingers to keyboard), your brain is plagued with questions, concerns, distractions. What do I write about? I don’t know how to write that. Where do I start? That wouldn’t make sense. Is this something I would write? I should really do the laundry first.

What causes writer’s block, and how do you staunch the flow of intrusive thoughts? Let’s dive deeper.

What Causes Writer’s Block

Every writer experiences different roadblocks on their writing journey. Some of those roadblocks are external: rejections from literary journals, disagreements with book publishers, a lack of time and resources, and the like.

However, far more of those roadblocks are internal: self-doubt, perfectionism, low motivation, etc. The internal roadblocks we face around our writing practice are what cause writer’s block.

Our internal roadblocks in our writing practice—self-doubt, perfectionism, low motivation—are what cause writer’s block.

In writer’s block, something internal dams the flow of creativity. Our internal worlds shape how we access our creativity , so getting rid of writer’s block means working through whatever psychological barriers are inhibiting us.

The secret to a successful writing habit is writing every day, without inhibition or prescriptive judgments. So, to overcome writer’s block, we need to work towards a productive writing mentality.

6 Manifestations of Writer’s Block

Below are six common types of writer’s block, broken down one by one. For each type, I give advice I’ve collected and experimented with over the years on how to cure writer’s block.

Here’s what to do when…

1. Writer’s block: You feel motivated but uncreative

Often, feeling boxed in mentally is the result of feeling boxed in physically. When we’re confined to the same familiar spaces, our brains fall into repetition, and we create habits of stasis rather than habits of imagination. You need something to kickstart that creative flow.

Sometimes, the solution is to simply daydream.

Sometimes, the solution is to simply daydream. What happens if you spend an hour staring at the ceiling or out the window—what worlds can you come up with when undisturbed from technology or other people?

Try putting yourself in new, unfamiliar spaces.

Other times, you might need to kick your brain in action by putting yourself in new, unfamiliar spaces. Maybe find a new space to write: a hidden park bench, the back of a library, your best friend’s balcony, anywhere.

2. Writer’s block: You feel creative but have no motivation

Sometimes the opposite is true: you can dream up new stories, worlds, and metaphors, but you can’t seem to put them on the page. Why won’t the words come out?

Create an environment and schedule conducive to writing.

This is where creating a writing habit becomes useful. We need to train our brains to write by creating an environment and schedule conducive to writing. If you can make yourself sit in the same space at the same time every day, you will encourage your creative motivation through sheer force of repetition.

Where do you feel most creative? It may be at your desk or in the kitchen; it may also be in the bathtub, on your roof, or squirreled away in the closet. Find where you’re most creative, and write there frequently.

3. Writer’s block: Self-doubt is getting in the way

For some people, overcoming writer’s block means overcoming the voice of self-doubt. Self-doubt is only natural: when we write, we’re creating new worlds and human beings. That’s a tall order, and it can be easy to doubt that you’re writing “the right way.”

Self-doubt is a natural response to writing, but it doesn’t have to inhibit your creative flow.

Self-doubt is a natural response to the writing process, but it doesn’t have to inhibit your creative flow. Otherwise, you end up justifying your own self-doubt, which prevents you from writing the next Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

This is one of the hardest writer’s blocks to work through, but you’re not alone in feeling it. Many successful authors have their fair share of self-doubt. John Steinbeck, for example, wrote that he was “assailed by [his] own ignorance and inability” while writing The Grapes of Wrath —that great American novel which did win a Pulitzer.

Often, self-doubters will assume their work will be meaningless before it even reaches the page. If you’re experiencing a bout of writer’s block and doubt your ability to create, try to hold back that judgment. Allow yourself to write, even if that writing doesn’t meet your standards: you can always edit later, and the act of creation is the most important thing a writer can commit to. Think of it this way: every word you write brings you a word closer to the Nobel prize.

4. Writer’s block: You’re out of ideas

You want to write, you’re feeling creative, and you have time to sit at your desk and produce something. There’s only one problem: what do you write about?

First, ask yourself this: are you struggling to come up with ideas at all, or are you dismissing every idea you come up with? If it’s the first one, then prompt generators are your best friend. Hit refresh as many times as you want, add or subtract certain requirements, and have fun in the sandbox of language. You won’t be out of ideas for long!

You might also find writing exercises, like the ones in this article on literary devices , useful for juicing your creativity.

If it’s the second problem, then you might need to take a step back and actually slow your thoughts down . You might be rushing through ideas too quickly, and rather than finding your groove and setting words on the page, your thoughts are spinning like tires in a ditch.

This is your reminder, then: slow down, chew through your thoughts slowly, and imagine yourself inside of your ideas. You might find something unique or surprising, and realize that everything you need as a writer is already inside of you.

5. Writer’s block: You’re too exhausted to write

Let’s face it: this world was not built for writers. Very few of us have the luxury of dedicating our entire lives to literature: we have jobs to work, bills to pay, kids to raise, and thousands of decisions to make. When we find time to sit at the writing desk, we don’t always have the energy to write.

Try to block out some time, even just 5 minutes, to journal or dream on the page before going to sleep.

Our personal and professional lives are often what causes writer’s block. If this is the case, but you really want to write, then take a step back and focus on your needs first. Try to block out some time, even just 5 minutes, to journal or dream on the page before going to sleep. Over time, this habit will start to produce the writing you want to create.

Overcoming writer’s block usually begins with habits, and habits can overcome even the fatigue of day-to-day life. Be gentle with yourself, but be diligent!

6. Writer’s block: You aren’t sure what causes writer’s block for you

If all writers knew the reason they couldn’t write, then they’d know how to cure writer’s block. Sadly, this isn’t the case. It might take a couple of weeks to diagnose yourself with writer’s block, and it might take a couple more weeks after that to figure out the block. This is something that, sooner or later, most writers grapple with.

If you’ve made it this far into the article and you’re not sure what’s causing your block, try the following. Grab an empty sheet of paper and write the words “I can’t write because…” and then finish the sentence. Jot down as many reasons as you want, including false reasons, made up scenarios, and creative fantasies. If you can’t write because you’ve been abducted by aliens, write it down—and, consider what that could be a metaphor for.

Then, write another sentence: “I want to write because…” and do the same thing. Write because you want to win an Edgar Award, or because you want to heal from something emotional, or because you want your book read in high school English classes.

Finally, write this: “I will write because…” and go from there. I will write because I can. I will write because I’m good at writing. I will write because I’m bad at writing. I will write because I want to, and that’s all the reasoning I need.

This is an exercise in self-dialogue, which helps us navigate our emotions through the sheer act of creation. Instead of overcoming a block in the flow of language, try diverting the river, see where it leads you.

How to Get Rid of Writer’s Block: Make Writing a Habit

Ultimately, working through writer’s block is about developing practices that make writing a habit—on good days, bad days, and everything in between. What this looks like is completely up to you and what will really work in your case. Start experimenting!

Overcoming Writer’s Block Starts with Experimentation

Experiment with where, when, and how you write.

Especially for newer writers, the best thing you can do is understand what writing habits are best for you. Experiment with where, when, and how you write to find a place and style of writing that consistently lets you get words onto the page.

Your next story or poem might be best written on a typewriter. It might also be best written while staring at your phone, tucked in bed at 1 in the morning. That’s not to promote unhealthy sleeping habits, only to suggest that “real writing” can happen in any space.

Maybe you’re too tired to write when you finish work at night. Try writing in the morning! Maybe your laptop keeps dragging you onto Twitter. Buy a notebook! Maybe writing feels boring and isolating. Try it in a coffee shop!

Another great way to get the words flowing is to join a writers group. Depending on where you live, you might find writing groups on sites like Meetup or Eventbrite. If all else fails, check your local library.

Clear away any preconceived notions of what “writing” looks like, and find what will make your writing process work for you. If you try to force yourself to write in one specific way, you might be stifling your creativity and preventing ideas from coming naturally.

Consistent Creative Motivation Comes from Creative Habits

Overcoming writer’s block means setting the words down, no matter how great, terrible, logical, or nonsensical they are. The most successful writers have learned how to get rid of writer’s block by experimenting with when, where, and how they write, found the processes that best suit their writing needs, and developed a rock-solid writing habit .

The most successful writers have found the writing processes that work best for them, and developed a rock-solid writing habit .

Stephen King writes 10 pages each day, even on weekends and holidays. Haruki Murakami runs a 5K to clear his mind. Allegedly, Agatha Christie liked to sit in the bathtub, eating apples and looking at crime scene photographs, especially when she was out of ideas. The lengths writers go to to write!

How to Stop Writer’s Block Before it Starts

Two practices are critical for both preventing and overcoming writer’s block: productive self-talk, and forming a writing habit.

Can writer’s block be prevented? Not entirely, but there are many things you can do to stave off a wave of blank pages. Each of the writer’s block exercises we’ll be recommending below involve at least one of the following two things:

• Productive self-talk, and
• Forming a writing habit.

These practices are critical. Even if you don’t have writer’s block, you should incorporate them both into your writing life.

Positive self-talk allows us to transcribe our emotional worlds onto the paper: if we believe in ourselves and trust in our feelings, then we can shut out the world and trust our fingers to create something beautiful.

And if we put ourselves in a certain place—both physically and mentally—we can “ Pavlov ” ourselves into being creative during certain parts of the day.

We have to coax our creativity out, in the same way you might coax a cat out from under the bed. Be patient, kind, and habitual; eventually, creativity will curl up in our laps.

Overcoming Writer’s Block: Join a Writing Community

Although writers are often solitary creatures, writing thrives best with community support . Involve some trusted writers into your creative habits: join our Facebook group or sign up for a creative writing class with our award-winning instructors. (We even have a course that’s all about juicing your creativity with daily writing prompts.) Let’s beat writer’s block together!

Sean Glatch

[…] and we must have all faced what is commonly known as Writer’s Block, namely times when we feel totally uninspired and utterly bereft of ideas. This is indeed a terrible feeling, the desperate state of intellectual thirst and hunger in which […]

[…] Here’s a pretty good article to check out. […]

“Imagine yourself inside of your ideas” I love this advice. Thanks for the links in #4– “prompt generator” and “literary devices.” I appreciate your motivation and techniques to CREATE A WRITING HABIT! —that’s my personal bugaboo. Great article to bookmark!

Keeping up with a writing habit is definitely my biggest challenge as well. Thanks, Julia!

The tortured writer depicted at the start of this article could be a doppelgänger for someone I know…

I feel so seen to know there’s a writer’s block from being too exhausted to write. That’s the story of my life. Thanks so much for the tips!

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

How to Combat Writer’s Block and Finish Your College Essay

Flip your topic on its head

Maybe the way you’ve been thinking about writing your essay has limited your options! Think about the different ways you could tell your story. Could you start with the middle or end? Have you included any meaningful dialogue ? Is there a small part of the story that you could highlight? Try writing your story from someone else’s point of view or reworking your outline.

Get Everything Down

You can only fight for so long. If you know what you want to say but can’t seem to say it well, write it down anyway. It will be easier for future you with creative thoughts of gold to clean up the mess if there’s something already there. Do you know how hard it is to build a home without a foundation? Be okay with writing something that doesn’t live up to your expectations. You can fix it later.

We know that the last thing you want to do is leave your laptop without having anything to show for the time you spent in front of it — but a change of scenery and short break can do wonders for letting your brain reload with awesome ideas! Take fifteen minutes to get a glass of water, eat a slice of pizza, or solve a Rubik’s cube. Purposefully distract yourself, so when it’s time to revisit your Word Doc – you’re out of the rut. 

Remind yourself of the essay’s purpose

When you’re deep in the college application process, it can be easy to think of the personal and supplemental essays as horcruxes you need to destroy, but instead remember why Admissions is making you do this. There are so many similarly qualified applicants that they are comparing you against and without a window into your soul, they’re left to play eenie meenie miney mo. Writing a great essay is making their job easier.  Maybe visit your dream school’s website for some motivation or to remind yourself why you’re sitting here trying to crank this out – you’re trying to invite Admissions into your life and mind in 650 words to distinguish yourself from the competition. What is awesome about you?

With your new perspective, you might just be able to wiggle your way out of the writer’s war zone and into college essay success.

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Category: Admissions , College Admissions , Common Application , Essay Tips , Essay Writing , Productivity , Quick Tips , Tips , Uncategorized

Tags: 2017-18 college applications , 2017-18 common application , Admissions , admissions essay , admissions help , advice , brainstorming , College , college admissions , college admissions essay , college application , college application help , college applications , college essay , college essay advice , college essay advisors , college essay help , college essay tips , college essay topic , college essay writing , common app , common application , essay help , essay prompts , essay tips , essay writing , Essays , personal statement , procrastinators , supplemental essays , supplements , tips , writing

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Writer’s Block – 4 easy ways to overcome writer’s block

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 Definition: Writer’s Block
• 3 Causes of Writer’s Block
• 4 How to Overcome Writer’s Block
• 5 Writer’s Block and Your Thesis  
• 6 In a Nutshell

Definition: Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is a condition in which the writer loses the ability to come up with new content. This condition is the result of numerous factors and can last anywhere from a couple of hours to a few months, or even years. When a writer experiences writer’s block, he or she is be unable to produce any new or original content during that period of time. Writer’s block is not only an issue for authors, it is a problem faced by many college and university students when they are working on their thesis.

For quite some time now, writer’s block has been a hot subject among college and university students. While some students argue that it doesn’t exist, some agree that it is there and they have no idea how to deal with it. Fortunately, this article will give an in-depth analysis of writer’s block. It will answer some of the frequently asked questions and, most importantly, give you some proven methods on how to overcome it.

Helpful tip: Don’t stress out, here’s how you can easily come up with research questions easy.

Is there such a thing as writer's block?

Yes, writer’s block is a major problem that quite a few students face every day. Most people who experience writer’s block have no idea what it is. Often, they just feel stuck creatively and find themselves lacking inspiration for their academic writing .

How long does writer's block last?

Writer’s block doesn’t have a time frame. If you are lucky, it will last only for an hour or two. However, for some people, it can go on for much longer ranging from days to weeks. Unfortunately, having writer’s block is not a reasonable reason for handing in your thesis late. A tip on how to overcome writer’s block is to start by coming up with your research questions . This way, you should be able to get some inspiration flowing.

Is there a particular cause of writer's block?

No, writer’s block has a number of causes. Some are due to the nature of the writer’s work, while others are due to external factors such as stress and fatigue, among others. You can try to fight off writer’s block by reading academic writing blogs (like you’re doing now) or reading thesis, essay or term paper examples .

Does writer's block affect everyone?

No, some people never experience it, while others are prone to it. You just need to understand your writing style, what inspires you and the requirements of your academic essay . It’s important that you’re interested in the topic you’re writing about. If you find your topic boring, then this may be a cause for your writer’s block.

Are there ways I can overcome writer's block?

Yes, there are numerous ways to overcome writer’s block. You may need to simply have a break and go for a walk, or you may need to switch up your writing schedule. Whatever it is, we’ll help you get to the root cause of your writer’s block. We share some tips on how to overcome this condition in detail below, in order to help you expedite your academic writing process.

I can’t write anything when distracted; is that also considered writer's block?

Yes, in fact, distraction is one of the main causes of writer’s block, especially when you have to work on important papers like a thesis . Other causes like stress, health issues and external pressures can also be a reason that you’re facing writer’s block. However, these causes will be discussed in detail later in this article.

Can I work through writer's block?

No, you are actually not advised to write through a writer’s block. That is one of the worst ways to overcome the condition when writing an article or research paper . By continuing to write when uninspired, you risk producing inadequate content and having to rewrite it later, hence wasting time that you may not have.

Causes of Writer’s Block

• Exhaustion As a student, you should be aware that you cannot operate at optimum performance for long hours without rest. If you do this, your brain will become fatigued, and it will lose its capability to think and supply you with fresh ideas. This is one of the main reasons why most people tend to face writer’s block during their studies.
• Health conditions There are a number of health conditions that tend to meddle with your brain and diminish your ability to come up with new content. Some of the most prevalent health conditions that usually bring about writer’s block include diabetes and underactive thyroid. Once you start feeling like your cognitive functions are lessening, make an appointment with your health professional to see if there is some underlying condition.
• Distractions Apart from exhaustion, distraction is another common cause of writer’s block among students. Most students can’t just come up with new content when they are surrounded by distractions. This is because they have trained their brains to handle one task at a time. This means that whenever a distraction comes up, their brains will close down.
• Pressure Many students tend to wait until the deadline is looming before they start working on a given assignment. The pressure of finishing and submitting their work on time tends to build up and overwhelms the brain. This is when writer’s block creeps in. Some may have such a hard time that they cannot create anything, no matter how hard they try.
• Fear of the task at hand Sometimes, you will find yourself experiencing writer’s block due to the overwhelming nature of the task at hand. For example, the mere thought of writing a Bachelor’s thesis or Master’s thesis can cause the brain to freeze up.

TIP: Sometimes you have a writer’s block because you don’t know how to start your thesis. This article will help you: How to write an introduction

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

If one of the above-mentioned causes applies to you and you are dealing with writer’s block, try not to let yourself feel exasperated. The list below covers some methods you can use to overcome writer’s block.

What NOT to Do to Overcome Writer’s Block

There are numerous methods that a student experiencing writer’s block might try to overcome it. If you have been using any of the methods below to overcome writer’s block, then you have been using the wrong approach.

Avoid distractions

If you are the type of student who can never write when distracted, give in. Go ahead and find a quiet place that has no distractions. This way, you will be able to regain your concentration and start coming up with quality and original content.

Avoid working under pressure

If you are given your assignment early, don’t wait for the deadline to come around before you to start fumbling with it. This will just make you forget all the information you were supposed to write about. Instead, get started before the pressure builds up. This will enable you to overcome your writer’s block or rather, avoid attracting the condition in the first place.

Go for a walk

Sometimes the best way to relax your body, mind and soul is by going for a walk. Just take some time alone and enjoy the fresh air as you wander through the campus. You will be amazed at how something as simple as a walk will work miracles. At the end of the day, you will be able to work through your writing assignment with no problems whatsoever.

Switch your writing hours

If you tend to do your writing assignments late at night, try switching the time. Wake up early in the morning and start writing. This will enable you to create great content without experiencing writer’s block. It is by far the best way to get your essays or thesis written to perfection.

Writing through it

Trying to write through writer’s block is one of the worst approaches. This method is merely a waste of time. Once your brain stops reasoning, you can’t force it to produce something original. Even if you do produce something, the quality of your content will be very poor.

Overexertion

The last thing you should do is overexert yourself with the aim of getting different results. Instead of exerting yourself, take a break, otherwise you might end up with a headache, and this will leave you completely exhausted.

Writer’s Block and Your Thesis  

Students quite often experience writer’s block while they are working on their master’s thesis or bachelor’s thesis. This is because during this period, most of the above causes present themselves. You might find yourself unable to write a single paragraph, never mind an entire page. The only way to overcome it is by trying to avoid the elements that brought it on in the first place.

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In a Nutshell

Writer’s block is a condition that makes the brain to lose its ability to come up with new content. Some of the factors that cause the condition include exhaustion, a health condition, distractions, pressure and fear of the task at hand.

The condition usually affects those people who need to develop original content, such as students. If you are afflicted by this condition, you can overcome it by avoiding distractions, going for a walk, switching working hours and avoiding working under pressure. There are some people who tend to write through the condition or overexert themselves in order to overcome it. Those two methods are hugely discouraged.

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Doyle Online Writing Lab

Helping students with writer's block.

So your student has writer's block. You've done everything short of getting down on your knees and begging him/her to just turn in something . What to do? Writer's block can be caused by a variety of reasons. All of the writing center tutors are training to helped students who are plagued by writer's block. In addition, Academic Support Services offers counseling and advising for students experiencing academic difficulty due to writer's block and other problems. Please encourage your student to get help before their problem overwhelms them.

In the simplest scenario, writer's block occurs because a student does not understand the assignment or has not done enough pre-writing on a subject. Writing center tutors can help take the student through pre-writing exercises that will allow him or her to develop a thesis and structure for the essay. In more extreme cases, however, writer's block is caused anxiety . Often at Reed, perfectionism gets in the way of being able to complete an assignment. If a student suffers from this problem it is important to for him to get help and that to remember a draft is just that--a draft.

Here are some quick tips that may help students:

• Be firm. Set clear guidelines at the beginning of the semester for all of the students for when papers are due. Clearly state on the syllabus what the consequences are for turning in work late. This will help eliminate the lower-level procrastinators.
• If a student has already turned in some work late or not at all, meet in-person a couple of weeks before the next assignment is due. Help the student break down the next paper or assignmet into manageable steps and develop a timeline for when each step will be due. You may want to have the student email you the various steps. Reward the student verbally or through email when the turn in something on time.
• If a student may fail the course because so much work is missing, you may need to help her prioritize the semester's work so she can focus on completing enough work to pass. Often students can't see the forest for the trees, and the sheer load of work remaining to be done will keep them from doing any of it.
• If a thesis student is so blocked he shows up week after week without anything in hand, have him try free-writing on their topic. Your student can do this in front of you or on his own. Have him sit down with an egg timer and write for 15 minutes non-stop even if he only writes "this is dumb, this is dumb." Usually out of sheer boredom he will start writing something on topic. Tell the student not to correct as he writes; instead, he should make notes to himself, like ADD DETAILS HERE or FIX THIS LATER. When he is finished, he should reward himself with coffee, chocolate, or a quick break. You can also take notes as the students taks during your thesis meeting. Give these to the student at the end of the meeting and have him use it as the starting point for his writing.
• give themselves time off each week
• make reasonable deadlines
• break down each section into small, manageable parts
• set up a daily schedule
• reward themselves regularly
• If a student has already done free writing and are now stuck again, help the student cluster his ideas in order to come up with a working thesis and/or outline. Writing tutors can help also help students with clustering.
• If are a student is stuck on a section, he should skip it and come back to it later.
• Have the student make an appointment with a writing center tutor three days before the paper is due. This will give the student a deadline to work towards and will still allow him to revise after he meet with the tutor.
• Encourage the student to work in a space where he won't be distracted or interrupted.
• Encourage student to turn in their paper/chapter ON TIME even if they aren't perfect. Many students at Reed have writer's block because of perfectionism.

Also check out our resources on helping students with procrastination .

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Resources/Bibliography

Dissolving Writer's Block (transaction.net) Overcoming Writer's Block (Purdue O.W.L.) Overcoming Writer's Block (LEO: Literacy Education Online)

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Writer’s block: nine tips to overcome it when you write your thesis

You know what you want to write, but you’re incapable to write? The page remains blank? Nothing to worry about. This is a writer’s block. Writer’s block is normal. It belongs to the writing process. Specially when you write such challenging text such as a paper or your thesis. This paper explains how to deal with it.

Actually, you know exactly what you want to write, but you just cannot start.

Perhaps you try a first sentence, but you delete it immediately…

And you try another one.

Again you delete it… and so on.

The screen remains blank.

The page, bare.

The situation seems insurmountable.

Nearly everybody has struggled with writer’s block at one time or another.

Nearly every writer has experienced how dreadful it is.

Even the most experienced authors.

“All writing problems are psychological problems. Blocks usually stem from the fear of being judged. If you imagine the world listening, you’ll never write a line. That’s why privacy is so important. You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone”. Erica Jong

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES FOR WRITER’S BLOCK?

The most common causes for writer’s block among PhD candidates are:

• Fear: e.g. fear of critique, of one’s own ideas, of the reader, of failing, of success.
• Perfectionism: the text is never good enough; it needs to be rewritten and improved again – and never gets finished.
• Delusions of grandeur:  My PHD will save the world!
• The environment:  e.g. financial problems, conflicts, uncomfortable working space.
• The targeted reader: e.g. a professor who intimidates you, the anonymous mass of readers.
• The topic:  e.g. it is  boring, makes you angry, or you feel so passionate about it that you cannot think calmly.
• The inner critic: an inner voice which denigrates what you do.
• Isolation: being alone in front of your blank screen, facing your fears and constantly hearing your inner critic only worsens the problem. It does not help.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN CASE OF  WRITER’S BLOCK ?

• Start with the easiest part of your text. You will progress quickly and get motivated to continue.
• Brainstorm your topic before writing your first draft: It is easier to structure your thoughts when you can see them in black and white.
• Change the tool: If you cannot write with the computer, try with a pencil or talk on a Dictaphone.
• Change the location: If you cannot work in the office, try in the kitchen, in a pub, or in a park.
• Address your text to a friend: by targeting this reader you will be able to forget the readers who are blocking you.
• Tell a friend what you want to write about: Sometimes talking is easier than writing.
• Be aware that a good text is the result of many revisions: Do not try to write it perfectly the first time.
• Seek help: Don’t spend too much time staring at your empty Talking with other people often helps  you recover self-confidence and overcome a block.
• Join a writing group: This is a group of PhD candidates sharing the same aim (to finish their thesis), same problems and solutions. In such a group you can ask for help, ask for feedback while helping others and giving feedback as well, which will surely empower you!

In any case, remember that writer’s block is normal. It  belongs to the writing process. It is nothing to worry about, and no reason to question your intelligence.

Enregistrer

Formulate achievable goals for your PhD

The phd defence – the right mindset, finish your thesis with an accountability partner, the phd diary: one tool to improve your writing skills, 4 steps to design your outline, 6 tricks to tame your inner critic while writing your thesis, leave a reply.

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I want to to thank you for your time and for your amizing course!

Thakn you for your Tips. They’re simple, yet effective. Outstanding Blog !

Thank you very much for your blog. This post particulartly helps me understand why my block…

I’m glaid it helped, Ali! Have a great continuation with your thesis 🙂 !

Thank you for your feedback, Ali! 🙂

I love your blog, thanks a lot, Martha!

You’re very welcome, Julieta 🙂

This is very useful information. Thanks!

Thank you, Elisabeth! 🙂

I thank you for your blog. This article helps me a lot. I am a PhD student in Physics.

Thank you for your message, Uru.

Thanks for your inspiring posting! I definitely enjoyed reading it, Prof. Martha 🙂 have a nice evening!

Thanks a lot for all those tipps 🙂

Thank you! Very inspiring article…

I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often.

Very nice article. I absolutely appreciate this website.

I have saved this article and have a look every time and again. It is very helpful! Thanks a lot! Cristina

Very good blog you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any community forums that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get suggestions from other experienced individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Cheers!

“Do not try to write it perfectly the first time.” Great tips, thank you very much!

Very helpful! All writers experience writer’s block moments when one simply struggles to put ideas into words.

Please read my blog on How to Beat Writer’s Block

Thank you…

Tbanks a lot!

I’m really enjoying the topics of this blog. A lot of times it’s very hard to get that “perfect balance” between usability and appearance. I must say that you’ve done a great job with this. AOutstanding Blog!

Thank you for your article, it is very helpful.

Nice post! Thank you.

Thank you very much for this information!

Thank you so much for this interesting information! This will be really helpful for every student.

I was very pleased to find this page. I wanted to thank you for your time just for this fantastic read!!

Great tips! Thanks a lot!

I have read a few just right stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting.

I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thx again

Merci beaucoup pour cet article, Martha! C’est toujours un grand plaisir de vous lire!

Thanks for making me to achieve new strategies about personal writing. I also hold the belief that certain of the best ways to maintain your writing in primary condition is to write as regulartly. Routine helps to make writing less scaring. Once more, thanks for your recommendations. 🙂

Regularity helps, for sure! It is a matter of training. The more you train writing, the more self-confident you become, the easier writing becomes. Thank you for your comment, Bernadette :)!

Good – I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs as well as related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it at all. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, website theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Excellent task..

Thanks a lot for your nice words, Janessa:) !

Thanks a lot for your tips. It is so liberating to write faster than usually and white in white! 🙂

I agree 🙂 ! Thank you for your post, Charles!

I’m at the other end, suffering from writer’s diarrhea . . . or something like that. Words just keep coming. The peril is that I slide off topic and just keep plunging ahead. Happens every time I want to make an editorial submission. Always turns out to be more about me and less about the topic. Arrrgh.

Hi Jenny, The process you describe is quite usual. You have 2 options: – Write everything you can think of and then restructure your draft or – Write all this in your PhD Notebook. This will help you to get idesas clarified and structured. When you want to write a paper, proceed step by step: 1. Design a concept answering following questions: What is the goal of your paper? Who is the intended audience? What is the message your paper should convey? 2. Design an outline. I guess this article will help you : http://www.scriptoria.org/en/4-steps-to-design-your-outline/ . It helps you to stay focused on your goal. 3. Write a first draft, keeeping 1 & 2 before eyes, in order not forget what you want to focus on. 4. Revise your paper (first of all: delete all superfluous). I hope, it helps. Feel welcome to contact me if you have any comment! 🙂

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What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.

Your Best College Essay

Maybe you love to write, or maybe you don’t. Either way, there’s a chance that the thought of writing your college essay is making you sweat. No need for nerves! We’re here to give you the important details on how to make the process as anxiety-free as possible.

What's the College Essay?

When we say “The College Essay” (capitalization for emphasis – say it out loud with the capitals and you’ll know what we mean) we’re talking about the 550-650 word essay required by most colleges and universities. Prompts for this essay can be found on the college’s website, the Common Application, or the Coalition Application. We’re not talking about the many smaller supplemental essays you might need to write in order to apply to college. Not all institutions require the essay, but most colleges and universities that are at least semi-selective do.

How do I get started?

Look for the prompts on whatever application you’re using to apply to schools (almost all of the time – with a few notable exceptions – this is the Common Application). If one of them calls out to you, awesome! You can jump right in and start to brainstorm. If none of them are giving you the right vibes, don’t worry. They’re so broad that almost anything you write can fit into one of the prompts after you’re done. Working backwards like this is totally fine and can be really useful!

What if I have writer's block?

You aren’t alone. Staring at a blank Google Doc and thinking about how this is the one chance to tell an admissions officer your story can make you freeze. Thinking about some of these questions might help you find the right topic:

• What is something about you that people have pointed out as distinctive?
• If you had to pick three words to describe yourself, what would they be? What are things you’ve done that demonstrate these qualities?
• What’s something about you that has changed over your years in high school? How or why did it change?
• What’s something you like most about yourself?
• What’s something you love so much that you lose track of the rest of the world while you do it?

If you’re still stuck on a topic, ask your family members, friends, or other trusted adults: what’s something they always think about when they think about you? What’s something they think you should be proud of? They might help you find something about yourself that you wouldn’t have surfaced on your own.  

How do I grab my reader's attention?

It’s no secret that admissions officers are reading dozens – and sometimes hundreds – of essays every day. That can feel like a lot of pressure to stand out. But if you try to write the most unique essay in the world, it might end up seeming forced if it’s not genuinely you. So, what’s there to do? Our advice: start your essay with a story. Tell the reader about something you’ve done, complete with sensory details, and maybe even dialogue. Then, in the second paragraph, back up and tell us why this story is important and what it tells them about you and the theme of the essay.

THE WORD LIMIT IS SO LIMITING. HOW DO I TELL A COLLEGE MY WHOLE LIFE STORY IN 650 WORDS?

Don’t! Don’t try to tell an admissions officer about everything you’ve loved and done since you were a child. Instead, pick one or two things about yourself that you’re hoping to get across and stick to those. They’ll see the rest on the activities section of your application.

I'M STUCK ON THE CONCLUSION. HELP?

If you can’t think of another way to end the essay, talk about how the qualities you’ve discussed in your essays have prepared you for college. Try to wrap up with a sentence that refers back to the story you told in your first paragraph, if you took that route.

SHOULD I PROOFREAD MY ESSAY?

YES, proofread the essay, and have a trusted adult proofread it as well. Know that any suggestions they give you are coming from a good place, but make sure they aren’t writing your essay for you or putting it into their own voice. Admissions officers want to hear the voice of you, the applicant. Before you submit your essay anywhere, our number one advice is to read it out loud to yourself. When you read out loud you’ll catch small errors you may not have noticed before, and hear sentences that aren’t quite right.

ANY OTHER ADVICE?

Be yourself. If you’re not a naturally serious person, don’t force formality. If you’re the comedian in your friend group, go ahead and be funny. But ultimately, write as your authentic (and grammatically correct) self and trust the process.

And remember, thousands of other students your age are faced with this same essay writing task, right now. You can do it!

• South Carolina Honors College
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• South Carolina Writing Contest

Writing South Carolina Volume 11

The Honors College is proud to showcase selections from the 11th annual South Carolina High School Writing Contest. Featuring submissions from high school juniors and seniors from across the state, the works are edited by Honors students from our SCHC 384 course.

Bright and strong, the tall goldenrod is South Carolina’s state wildflower. We think Solidago altissima also represents our state’s best young writers. Here are 18 of them, each of whom composed an original response to our annual question, “How can we make South Carolina better?” Read on and take heart. These writers are bright and strong indeed.

First Place – My Name, My Roots, My Home by Dayanara Reyes

Second Place – I Promise, You're Not Forgotten by Zayd Kidwai

Third Place – "Hands Up!" by Brookelynn Little

Honorable Mention – A Queer Child's Lullaby by Lily Heiner

Argumentative Essays

Savoring Heritage, Saving Health by Kensley Green

Education and the Role It Plays in the Development of Democracy by Brantley Metcalf

Navigating Towards Equity: We Need to Inspire Change by Raghav Pallapothu

The Red Flood of Ignorance by Davies Roberts

Education Inequality: The Need for Reform by Justin Schlag

Dollars for Scholars by Sophia Strobel

Thirty-One Seconds by Shaina Dashiell

Tangled Love by Catherine Milburn

The Dealer's Daughter by Kendall Pifer

Personal Essays

State-Owned by Abigail Bailey

Chronology of My Neighborhood by Avelyn Bailey

Roadkills by Kimora Brown

The State of My Identity by Eunwoo Choi

Subarus, Trucks, Giraffes, and Unity by Kristin Rotchford

Acknowledgements

The annual South Carolina High School Writing Contest wouldn’t be possible without other individuals and organizations. We thank South Carolina Honors College alumnus  Thad Westbrook , the  Pat Conroy Literary Center  (Jonathan Haupt, executive director); the  South Carolina State Library  (Leesa Aiken, director);  South Carolina Academy of Authors (Wilmot Irvin, chair); and the  South Carolina Writers Association  (Ash Smith, president). We also thank Felicia Mitchell , grand judge for this year’s contest, and the many high school guidance counselors and teachers who encouraged students to submit. The students in the fall 2023 semester of SCHC 384, Finding Your Voice: Writing and Editing for Life, were the first editors of volume 11. They are Alex Alleyne, Allison DeHart, Catherine DeMino, Lauren Douglas, Abigail Elliott, Seth Gould, Isabel Jordan, Hannah Augsbach Lamma, Sanskruti Patel, Paul Ward Pratz, Ronnie Rahenkamp, Rylyn Reynolds, Alexis Simpson, Caroline Smith and Kennedy Westendorff. 

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

Biden enlisted the help of black alumni when writing Morehouse commencement speech

President Joe Biden turned to Morehouse College alumni ahead of his commencement speech to the historically black college .

Biden had meetings with Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr. of the Morehouse Board of Trustees, along with Morehouse alumni Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed before his speech Sunday per sources cited by CNN. The Washington Examiner reached the Biden campaign for comment.

Already, White House Office of Public Engagement Director Steve Benjamin met with Morehouse College students last week to discuss concerns regarding the president’s speech. Benjamin promised students at the time Biden's speech would not be campaign-related.

This comes after the president announced he would participate in two debates against his rival, former President Donald Trump, instead of those moderated by the Commission on Presidential Debates , including one at VSU on Oct. 1. It was meant to be the second of three presidential debates in a series that the commission chose, including two other debates in Texas and Utah. VSU would have been the first historically black university to host such an event.

“No administration has respected, elevated and invested in HBCU's like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," campaign Black Media Director Jasmine Harris said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "Just this week the Biden-Harris administration announced $16 billion dollars in funding for HBCUs, further demonstrating their commitment to these distinguished institutions.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

A  Wall Street Journal poll  from last month found 30% of black voters were planning to probably or definitely vote for Trump over incumbent President Joe Biden. This is a massive swing from the  2020 election , where Biden swept 92% of the black vote.

In 2020, black voters made up 13.5% of all eligible voters.  According  to the Pew Research Center, they are expected to make up 14% in 2024.

• Student Work

Two COM reporters awarded Nachman Writing prize

Journalism Department Chair Brian McGrory poses with Matthew Eadie and Brooke Williams, associate professor of the practice of computational journalism, poses with Jesús Marrero Suárez at the COM Awards ceremony, May 16, 2024.

Seniors Matthew Eadie and Jesús Marrero Suárez were awarded Thursday with the Jerome A. Nachman Writing Award, presented for the quality of their writing as COM journalism students by the College of Communication.

Each award comes with a $5000 prize to help recipients “follow their passion and strive to become better writers,” as described at its founding in 2005. It was named in honor of Jerome Nachman, a former editor in chief of the New York Post and recipient of the George Foster Peabody and Edward R. Murrow awards.

Mitch Zuckoff , Sumner M. Redstone Professor in Narrative Studies at COM, nominated Eadie, moved by his student’s narrative, “ Against The Waves ,” about the life and work of veteran a lobsterman that “captures the gallows humor, the stoic resolve, and the economic anxiety of Steve Holler and of a struggling industry.”

“With patience and empathy, Matthew is there for the predawn launches and the all-day outings, during which Steve battles his rickety knees, his patched-together boat, and the vicissitudes of nature and government regulations,” Zuckoff said. “By the story’s end, we’ve learned not only the ups and downs of the per pound price of lobster, but the ups and downs of a life at sea.”

Brooke Williams , associate professor of the practice of computational journalism, nominated Suárez, who devoted nearly a year investigating how redlining had created conditions that lowered tree cover, raised temperatures and made homes harder to cool down in minority communities in Boston, especially Dorchester.

The findings, published by The Emancipator in partnership with the Justice Media Computational Journalism co-Lab , “were important, nuanced and complex — in other words, potentially dry,” Williams said. “But with an extraordinary talent in writing, an enviable sense of humor, and a healthy dose of patience, Jesús made them sing. The story’s characters and narrative wrapped the numbers and data in life, and they showed how racism and climate change impact the day-to-day lives of people in Boston.”

• Jerome A. Nachman Writing Award

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COM Recognizes Four With DEI Leadership Award

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Tips For Overcoming Writer's Block On Your College Essay. 1. Freewrite. A lot of people get stuck on the idea that what they write has to be perfect, and that pressure keeps them from writing down anything at all. If you find yourself feeling that weight on your shoulders, just take a step back for a minute.

Example: You have to complete a lab report and hate writing the "Introduction" section. In order to complete the project on time, you overcome your anxiety about writing that section by first writing the "Materials," "Method," and "Results" sections. You write the "Introduction" last, reorder, and revise holistically.

Summarize your own work. In the margins of your paper (or using comment bubbles), write a one-sentence summary of the purpose of each paragraph. Review your summaries to get a clearer idea of your direction, the overall flow of the paper, and how far you still need to go. Take another look. Ask yourself a few questions:

Strategies for beating Writer's Block: Sit down and write whatever comes to mind. Set a time limit for yourself, fifteen minutes, an hour, two hours, etc. Don't leave your computer until you've finished this time period. You can do the same thing with page limits. Let yourself freewrite for two pages, five pages, or ten.

I genuinely think academic writer's block is a real thing (some say it's an alternative term for procrastination). You have the ideas all in your head, but when it comes to the practical task of getting the writing done it just doesn't seem to quite happen. I can openly say that I have experienced this at several points during my master ...

5. Start Early. You may need to edit this writing heavily, but starting super early can leave you in a dream-like state where thoughts just spill over from your brain. 6. Turn Off You Phone. You'll need to get rid of all distractions, but the easiest one to eliminate is your cell phone. 7.

The project appears futile and you see no way you'll complete it in time. This is also known as writer's block: a problem that plagues college essay writers, especially during the finals week. Fortunately, almost all students get past this difficult point and complete the paper on time, even if it calls for an all-nighter.

This scenario describes many of my writing experiences in college, and while I braved it, I can assure you there are more humane ways of responding to writer's block. Give it (a set amount of) time. Your brain isn't ChatGPT. If you open a document and the prose doesn't start flowing immediately, cut yourself some slack.

This is writer's block, and all writers struggle with it, from journalists to novelists. Overcoming writer's block is a delicate process that is often highly subjective and depends on each individual. But, at the end of the day, it is about conquering self-doubt and knowing that hard work will pay off. Below you'll find some writing tips ...

College Coach admissions counselor Steve Fernandez-Brennan shares advice on how to overcome writer's block to master the college essay. So, tune in, and know that you aren't alone. In addition, host Shannon Vasconcelos and admissions counselor Jennifer Simons answer listener questions.

The possibility of writing about anything, and with the essay being such a central part of your application, can reduce even the most confident writer to a procrastinator of distinction. Regardless of the prompt you choose, the Common Application essay is a way for admissions committees to get a sense of who you are and what makes you tick.

You're experiencing writing anxiety. Writing anxiety is the condition of feeling uneasy about writing. Writer's block is what you experience when you can't manage to put words on the page. But your condition isn't about the act of writing. Just yesterday you wrote a great review for those cool new headphones.

Start overcoming writer's block on your college essays by asking yourself questions. Dozens of them. And then write down lengthy answers to each of them. This will help you engage in an active self-reflection about your experiences in life. At the top of the page, you should have two objectives highlighted: Organization and Impressiveness.

Writer's block is a common issue where the flow of words gets disrupted. It makes the pressure to write even more overwhelming. It is often called the 'desert seasons' of writing. During this ...

In this article, we offer a number of starting prompts to get you past writer's block and into writing your college essays. We recommend you free-write for 10-15 minutes. We provide 2-3 different essay starters to get you off the starting block. Review these options if you like, then choose your favorite among them to continue.

1. Writer's block: You feel motivated but uncreative. Often, feeling boxed in mentally is the result of feeling boxed in physically. When we're confined to the same familiar spaces, our brains fall into repetition, and we create habits of stasis rather than habits of imagination.

Remind yourself of the essay's purpose. When you're deep in the college application process, it can be easy to think of the personal and supplemental essays as horcruxes you need to destroy, but instead remember why Admissions is making you do this. There are so many similarly qualified applicants that they are comparing you against and ...

This way, you will be able to regain your concentration and start coming up with quality and original content. Avoid working under pressure. Go for a walk. Switch your writing hours. Writing through it. Trying to write through writer's block is one of the worst approaches. This method is merely a waste of time.

All of the writing center tutors are training to helped students who are plagued by writer's block. In addition, Academic Support Services offers counseling and advising for students experiencing academic difficulty due to writer's block and other problems. Please encourage your student to get help before their problem overwhelms them.

Change the tool: If you cannot write with the computer, try with a pencil or talk on a Dictaphone. Change the location: If you cannot work in the office, try in the kitchen, in a pub, or in a park. Address your text to a friend: by targeting this reader you will be able to forget the readers who are blocking you.

By Nell Freudenberger. May 14, 2024. Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn't supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or ...

When we say "The College Essay" (capitalization for emphasis - say it out loud with the capitals and you'll know what we mean) we're talking about the 550-650 word essay required by most colleges and universities. Prompts for this essay can be found on the college's website, the Common Application, or the Coalition Application.

First, you need to figure out why the stress and fear of doing not well enough arise when writing an essay. The fear of making a mistake is common for many. There is no universal reason for this fear, but for you, the failure triggers procrastination, and you put off any attempt to write an essay.

Start writing at the essay without the idea that what you're writing will make it into the final draft. A lot of writers block is a hesitancy to produce something wrong or bad. If your options are don't write at all, or write something that's no good - anything is better than nothing. Probably - probably - what you produce will be better than ...

I tend to be more of a speaker so I recorded myself speaking out my thoughts, ideas, lines (etc) and used that as the basis for all my eventual writing. I also found a lot of inspiration by reading memoirs or even just other people's essays to see how they put things into words. 2. Reply. I know the general gist of what i want to write about ...

Beyond boosting students' familiarity with the technology, students' work improved once they saw ChatGPT's output. Students went beyond the required writing length and also had more in-depth answers. "The result between the first paper they wrote and the second they wrote was quite striking," Case said. "It's a much higher level of ...

According to the Pew Research Center, they are expected to make up 14% in 2024. President Joe Biden turned to Morehouse College alumni ahead of his commencement speech to the historically black ...

May 16, 2024. COM Staff. Seniors Matthew Eadie and Jesús Marrero Suárez were awarded Thursday with the Jerome A. Nachman Writing Award, presented for the quality of their writing as COM journalism students by the College of Communication. Each award comes with a $5000 prize to help recipients "follow their passion and strive to become ...

A new tool called Writable, which uses ChatGPT to help grade student writing assignments, is being offered widely to teachers in grades 3-12. Why it matters: Teachers have quietly used ChatGPT to grade papers since it first came out — but now schools are sanctioning and encouraging its use. Driving the news: Writable, which is billed as a ...

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