I suck at writing essays or anything pertaining to communicating my thoughts and feelings with other people. Don't get me wrong, I can manage things like forum, blog, and social media posts well but get me into writing an essay or any other type of professional writing and I struggle.

I'm behind on a paper that I need to turn in tonight for my English class and I can't think of how to write it to save my life. I have been struggling for the past few days to do this and I am trying everything in my power to finish it but I don't think I will do well.

Why must these colleges insist on forcing people to learn things that hold no significant relevance towards their chosen path in life? I'm great with things like technology, science, and to a lesser extent, math. Yet I struggle with almost everything else. I'm simply not wired to be a "people person" I'm not good with communicating my thoughts and feelings to others and even if I worked hard on improving, what is the point? I'm an introvert who will always be stronger at introvert things.

I can do things with computers and technology that most people can't, yet get me to do an essay more than 5 pages long and I struggle. What is wrong with me?

[yagr]

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

What is wrong with me?

Everyone has strengths as well as weaknesses. I don't think that anything is wrong with you because you have challenges in this area.

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

Why must these colleges insist on forcing people to learn things that hold no significant relevance towards their chosen path in life?

Most colleges try to turn out people who have a well rounded education, including things that do not appear to directly relate to their chosen field. You say that you do great with things like technology and science so I'm going to assume that your chosen field is related to one of these fields. Knowing how to communicate your ideas effectively is important to your success, and writing is an effective and critical way to communicate.

For instance, my strengths lie in math and science. I just recently wrote a proposal for my job on 'photochromatic manipulation', an idea way outside the box in my industry but one that was greeted with enthusiasm specifically because I was able to write a strong proposal.

While I work with other very competent people, only one has been given the opportunity to set his own salary during a recent performance review. That would be me. It wasn't that I was better than anyone else, it was just that I was able to present my ideas better - and the way I was able to do that was through writing.

Like you, I am an introvert. That I get along great in a crowd and have no problem communicating with people doesn't mean that I enjoy it - but I have found value in developing my capacity to do it anyway. I think you'll find the effort expending in improving your abilities in this area will help your career.

Originally Posted by yagr

Everyone has strengths as well as weaknesses. I don't think that anything is wrong with you because you have challenges in this area.

Most colleges try to turn out people who have a well rounded education, including things that do not appear to directly relate to their chosen field. You say that you do great with things like technology and science so I'm going to assume that your chosen field is related to one of these fields. Knowing how to communicate your ideas effectively is important to your success, and writing is an effective and critical way to communicate.

I'm a computer science major and I am planning to go more of a freelance entrepreneurial route rather than work for a company my whole life. If I do continue my education past a 2 year degree than there is a strong possibility that I will dual major in computer science and entrepreneurship or some other type of business degree.

I do understand that communication would be an important thing to have with the path I'm taking because being able to propose ideas and write business plans are things I will likely do at some point. It still doesn't make it any more frustrating for me when I've always outright struggled with my communication skills since I was young. This has held me back in more areas than just my education.

I kept telling myself that if I needed help writing a proposal or some kind than I could simply hire somebody off Fiver or elance or something rather than deal with it myself but it seems like I am going to need to find a way to deal with my communication issues somehow.

[TheDragon]

Wait, what kind of paper are you writing for a comp-sci major?

I'm pretty good with academic papers if you wanted to PM for some help. I've edited a good few academic papers up to the Masters level.

Originally Posted by TheDragon

Wait, what kind of paper are you writing for a comp-sci major?

I'm pretty good with academic papers if you wanted to PM for some help. I've edited a good few academic papers up to the Masters level.

I'm taking English Comp and I'm writing a classical argumentative essay.

This is my thesis:

My thesis is about technology’s impact on the future job market. Will automation in the

form of robotics and artificial intelligence make many jobs obsolete? Will it create more jobs

than are lost that have more demand and higher pay? Will there be more people who have

difficulty finding employment due to the changing job market? Will there be more

opportunities created with new fields and positions emerging and the increasing number of

alternative sources of income such as freelancing or online businesses?

I'm writing it in MLA format.

I know that I should have probably chose an easier thesis to write about but I wanted to write about something that I'm passionate about and this is the only thing that I could think of that doesn't relate to video games in any way lol

[TheDragon]

That's definitely an interesting idea if a bit hard to tackle. Is it supposed to be an argumentive essay or informative? I'm going to assume the former and make suggestions accordingly.

So one problem I see with your proposed thesis is that it's quite broad, and you're attempting to cover a lot in just 5 pages. Start by narrowing the thesis down to address a specific issue or point of technology's impact on the job market such as automation and the decline of blue collar jobs, and use the essay to explore each of the questions you've considered.

Alternatively, change one of the questions you've asked to be the thesis. As an example, you could have the thesis focused on the difficulty of finding employment in the changing job market due to automation.

After you've focused your thesis, break down your ideas into an outline. Dedicate one section to the introduction/thesis, one for providing relevant information and evidence, one section for your general argument, one section for counter arguments and last section for conclusions and bridging counter arguments with thoughts to be further considered.

Originally Posted by TheDragon

That's definitely an interesting idea if a bit hard to tackle. Is it supposed to be an argumentive essay or informative? I'm going to assume the former and make suggestions accordingly.

So one problem I see with your proposed thesis is that it's quite broad, and you're attempting to cover a lot in just 5 pages. Start by narrowing the thesis down to address a specific issue or point of technology's impact on the job market such as automation and the decline of blue collar jobs, and use the essay to explore each of the questions you've considered.

Alternatively, change one of the questions you've asked to be the thesis. As an example, you could have the thesis focused on the difficulty of finding employment in the changing job market due to automation.

After you've focused your thesis, break down your ideas into an outline. Dedicate one section to the introduction/thesis, one for providing relevant information and evidence, one section for your general argument, one section for counter arguments and last section for conclusions and bridging counter arguments with thoughts to be further considered.

I guess this is why I've been having such a hard time with this essay. I have a bad habit of over thinking things and I've also have had issues writing things down or discussing things that play in my head a certain way.

Since this is technically my "final" essay, it is worth 200 points which is the most points out of any other assignment with every other major essay being worth 100-150 points. On top of how much trouble I've been having with this essay there is also that anxiety of me failing considering the fact that I need to make a passing grade to keep my financial aid which I'm completely dependent upon to both attend classes, to pay for some of my living expenses, and to have the best chance of obtaining employment via the work study.

I'm just going to stop worrying and do my best. Right now, my overall grade in the class is an 89 so since I have one more 150 point essay to do plus a number of small assignments and a chance to do some makeup work, I have a strong probability of passing even if I do poorly on this essay. Plus my professor is nice so I could probably have a talk with her about my difficulties and maybe she will go easy on me.

In the meantime, I am going to go make another protein shake and get this done. It looks like I won't get some much desired Hots time unfortunately today because I need to get all of my homework and studying done and I need to do well with this essay haha

If I need any help, I will hit you up within the next few hours. Thanks.

[Hedocakes]

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

My thesis is about technology’s impact on the future job market. Will automation in the

form of robotics and artificial intelligence make many jobs obsolete? Will it create more jobs

than are lost that have more demand and higher pay? Will there be more people who have

difficulty finding employment due to the changing job market? Will there be more

opportunities created with new fields and positions emerging and the increasing number of

alternative sources of income such as freelancing or online businesses?

I'm writing it in MLA format.

I would find a way to consolidate this and phrase it as a statement. Rather than a series of questions, you'd wanna go for something along the lines of "technology will impact the future job market" and name a few reasons (pulled from the rest of the questions) why that will happen.

Each paragraph between the thesis and conclusion will support a statement that answers each question you listed there. For example:

p1: Technology will render some jobs obsolete.

• technology allows some jobs to be automated
• technology costs less than human workers

and so on.

I hate hate HATE writing outlines, but they're indispensable when writing essays.

Originally Posted by Hedocakes

I hate hate HATE writing outlines, but they're indispensable when writing essays.

No kidding. Outlines suck, especially when they limit my writing style so much.

I turned it in tonight, however, I don't think I did too well due to time constraints. Despite working on it for the greater part of 6-7 hours (I'm that bad at writing and thinking about how to word things don't judge me), I ended up leaving out a couple of my outlined points and I possibly made some other mistakes. At this point, I will probably be lucky to get a C on it.

At least my overall grade in the class is high enough to withstand a bad grade on this as long as I do well on the last essay (which I will).

I think I made the mistake of picking too complex of a topic to write about. I won't make this mistake in the future.

[Hedocakes]

Yeah, it helps to choose something pretty narrow. Not only is it faster to write, but it cuts down on research time. Finding the sweet spot is tough but you'll get the hang of it, I'm sure.

[Unrigged64072835]

My community college offers a Writing Lab for people who need help with writing papers of all sorts. Don't know if yours does, but it would be worth checking out. The school I go to has one in the library.

Originally Posted by Fharraige

My community college offers a Writing Lab for people who need help with writing papers of all sorts. Don't know if yours does, but it would be worth checking out. The school I go to has one in the library.

It does but getting the most out of it is a challenge for me because I am dependent on the buses which means I have to factor in an extra 3 hours into my day just to get to and from college plus whatever time I need to invest into getting other things done like donating plasma, grocery shopping, or any type of work. I'm honestly not the best at time management and the buses don't make things easier for me.

Don't get me wrong, I do utilize the writing lab whenever possible. I just kind of screwed myself this time by picking a complicated topic that I was ill prepared to write about.

I never make the same mistake twice though.

Apparently I must have some hidden skill that I don't know about because I found out today that I got a 94 on this essay!

I would have got a perfect 100 had it not been for the fact that I didn't turn in a rough draft because I couldn't finish it in time and I made a couple of grammatical errors that were unintended because I was in such a rush to finish it at the last minute.

It was funny too because I had a talk with my professor after class and I went up to her and said that I apologize if the essay wasn't my best work because I picked too confusing of a topic and didn't budget my time correctly and what not and she told me that she thought that my essay was very informative and to check my grade. I opened my online student account and was shocked that I got a 94.

I have been scared of failing over nothing it seems. I really need to start having more confidence in myself lol.

[Unrigged64072835]

Congratulations on your essay! That's really good.

[alicetailor]

You must get enrolled in tutoring programs. There you will be helped by experienced tutors along with personalized guidance.

[rdgrad15]

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

I suck at writing essays or anything pertaining to communicating my thoughts and feelings with other people. Don't get me wrong, I can manage things like forum, blog, and social media posts well but get me into writing an essay or any other type of professional writing and I struggle.

I'm behind on a paper that I need to turn in tonight for my English class and I can't think of how to write it to save my life. I have been struggling for the past few days to do this and I am trying everything in my power to finish it but I don't think I will do well.

Why must these colleges insist on forcing people to learn things that hold no significant relevance towards their chosen path in life? I'm great with things like technology, science, and to a lesser extent, math. Yet I struggle with almost everything else. I'm simply not wired to be a "people person" I'm not good with communicating my thoughts and feelings to others and even if I worked hard on improving, what is the point? I'm an introvert who will always be stronger at introvert things.

I can do things with computers and technology that most people can't, yet get me to do an essay more than 5 pages long and I struggle. What is wrong with me?

I was horrible writing them as well. Eventually you will become better at typing them.

[alicetailor]

Read and practice, it will help you to improve and most importantly be positive.

This thread is no longer relevant. I already passed the English class I was in.

Thanks though.

[alicetailor]

Nothing is wrong with you dear, you just need to practice and be confident. Devote sometime to practice writing essays and you’ll do better soon.

[Teddy Bear]

Sorry I know how you feel. I can't write either

Originally Posted by alicetailor

Nothing is wrong with you dear, you just need to practice and be confident. Devote sometime to practice writing essays and you’ll do better soon.

Well to be fair, I DID get an A in this class so I must be doing something right

One of the things that I still need to work on though is proper comma placement. I sometimes have trouble placing commas properly and structuring my sentences correctly; especially if I am writing informally on a blog or on here. I will have plenty of time to get better in my Federal Government class that I'm in now so I should be OK.

[alicetailor]

You can always add graphs, charts etc in the content. IT will make it look better and help you fill the pages quick too.

[Shazerac]

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

Well to be fair, I DID get an A in this class so I must be doing something right

One of the things that I still need to work on though is proper comma placement. I sometimes have trouble placing commas properly and structuring my sentences correctly; especially if I am writing informally on a blog or on here. I will have plenty of time to get better in my Federal Government class that I'm in now so I should be OK.

One of the things that helps with comma placement, if your not sure, is to break your sentence down into multiple sentences. Short succinct sentences are easier to read. They are also perceived as more "professional" in a business setting.

Congrats on the A!