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Difficulty With Essays

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Difficulty With Essays

Trying to write an essay is difficult. Reading a book with the very nicely written essays is great and allows me to see examples of good essays. Suggestions such as the journalist’s questions, mapping, brainstorming, and idea books give support and guidance that are supposed to be helpful. After reading all the material of what goes into an essay and the helpful suggestions to get me started in the right direction, such as ways to overcome writer’s block, it is time to begin. Still nothing; I just sit there in front of the computer. I ask myself, how can I use all of the useful information that has been given to me? I try mapping and brainstorming, but a topic or idea is needed. Frustration, irritation, …show more content…

The words that make sense are gone, hidden away somewhere and requiring an enormous amount of time to pull them out and put something on paper. The waste of time drives me nuts. In “Reading for Success,” by Richard Rodriguez, one reason he found reading to be difficult was because it made him feel secluded; the words were colorless and lifeless. He began reading just to read, not always understanding what he was reading. To me, my writing is colorless and lifeless compared to what is in my head. I am writing but not always understanding if what I am putting down on paper is correct or making sense. Then there is the boredom that comes from trying to think and make sense of it all. In “How I Discovered Words: A Homemade Education,” Malcolm X claimed he felt a certain failure in not having the ability to tell, written or orally, what was in his head. He did not know many words, so he used the dictionary to learn more. The thesaurus and dictionary have become my best friends when typing papers. With a limited vocabulary, it can take me quite a while to look up words, to find others that mean the same. The time required to find the right words takes away from the concentration of getting them down. Finding enough words to fill the page can be and is a

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