general to specific Archives - How to Write an Essay

Does this sound familiar? You sit down to write, cursing the world, asking yourself why you have to write this stupid essay. You manage to come up with a couple of sentences; then a paragraph; and then it happens. You’re out of ideas. You’re stuck. You have nowhere to go. Game over. What do you do? Remember to Go from More General to More Specific. “What do you mean, Tutor Phil?” Here are two common problems: Student writers usually keep things too general in their essays They also go back and forth between a more general statement and a more specific one And these two problems cause you to get stuck more than anything else, especially when writing a longer essay. Can You Tell a More General Statement from a More Specific One? Here’s an exercise: Take a look at these statements: The other day it was impossible to finish that project. The math exam was murder. The exams are very difficult. Sections 2 and 3 of the math exam were harder than the rest this year. Mike wanted to hang out on Saturday, but I had to study. There is just no time to relax and enjoy the weather. High school life is difficult. Now, can you arrange these statements in the order of more general to more specific? Give it a try and Post Your Answers as Comments right under the post. And now, I’d like you to get my Free Report on how to use this ability to get rid of the agony of being out of ideas once and for all. All you have to do is go to the link below and download your copy: How to Add 300 Words to Any Essay in 15 Minutes Enjoy. And post your comments with your answers. We’ll go through them together here and in the next post, and you’ll see how and why this is important. Tutor Phil