Dyslexia 101

019

alexatsmith

How to tackle a big paper (at the last minute)

Hey! So I have a 10-15 page paper due in 10 days that I haven't started yet. So because this is a problem I am tackling right now so I thought some of this may help you as well! As I've mentioned on this is blog before I have ADHD and Dylexia which makes "just sit down and do it" not very helpful. So here are some tips I complied to help you (and me!!) with this problem!

1. Read for only 5-10 minutes at a time

Having dyslexia makes reading really laborious so I purposefully keep my reading time very short especially when I'm reading heavy academic literature. This makes sure I'm actually comprehending whats being written and and not just glazing over. Read for 5 minutes take a 1 minute break and then start fresh.

2. Talk it out

Call your mom, grab a friend and tell them all about the paper the paper before you start writing. Since I'm much more of a talker and a listener than a writer or a reader, I find that having conversations about my papers and projects helps a lot more that just brainstorming on paper. Also it always helps to get other people's opinion of what you're doing and here their ideas and suggestions.

3. Make ridiculously detailed outlines

Outline everything. Everything your going to talk about. Write in al of your topic sentences put in all of your supporting quotes. Make it so writing this essay is basically like filling in the blanks. For me writing a outline and then filling it is much less intimidating that starting from a black white word doc.

4. Collect all the quotes you are going to use in advance and type them out.

One thing that will always stall me when writing a is stopping to get and laboriously type of long quotes. I always take time before I start writing to get all my quotes together and in order so when I'm in the flow of writing I can just cut and paste

5. Color code your essay.

Black and white text is basically the worst. It makes everything look the same and it is hard to go back and reread the essay. So while I'm writing I color code the sections. For instance all the quotes go in blue, analysis goes in pink, historical background goes in green and transition go in purple. This makes it easy to spot where things are in the essay and it also makes it easy to see if all the parts of my paper are in balance. I need to have enough analysis and keep the transitions and fluff to a minimum. It really helps in the editing of my essay.