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I have to write an 8-10 page paper on a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I have zero interest in this, and I'm not even past the first page yet. Fortunately this will be my last english class ever, and it will be over in one week. I just have to get past this paper and one more (at least it's shorter).
The topic is vague. I turned in an intro and she basically just said the thesis was too general and doesn't see any point to my paper .
Anyone have any tips for this "writers block"?
Hard to imagine a teacher assigning an 8 -10 page paper. She must be a glutton for punishment. My tip is to fulfill the assignment and make a habit of never, ever using the word basically.
Take Nike's advice and Just Do It. When I was in grad school, I had a friend who'd been in the program for more than 10 years and was nowhere near finishing. She kept saying she had "writer's block" and couldn't write her dissertation. I said, "Write one page a day. ONE PAGE A DAY. You'll have 365 pages this year." I know that when I break down projects like this, it always feels so much more manageable (and I virtually always write more than a page a day -- it's the GETTING STARTED that's often the hardest).
And forget the advice to pay someone. (Wow, what great ethics you have, Bread Girl. ) At my college if you were to get caught you would likely get an F in the class (and you'd deserve it).
College isn't about finding everything "entertaining." I HATE that attitude.
I did a four-year English degree with a minor in Medieval Studies. Over the years I wrote lots of papers I wasn't particularly interested in. When you graduate university and get a job you will find that most of the work you are assigned by your boss(es) will not interest you, work around the house will not be particularly interesting either, but you will do it because you have to. You will try to find a way to make it interesting so that it is easier to complete. I suggest you do the same thing with this essay. Outliers is an interesting book with an interesting thesis, and I'm sure that if you ran with it, you could find an angle to cover that interested you. With a book like Outliers, you could tackle the entire theme in your thesis: ie, whether or not you believe Gladwell's thesis is correct and why or why not, or you could look more closely at a particular chapter that interests you. Also, don't make the mistake of trying to duck research for this paper. A paper on this kind of book should be researched - it's not like you are dissecting a short poem or something. You are going to need your own facts and statistics to help support your thesis.
Finally, what kind of English course is this that has Outliers on the syllabus? Seems more appropriate for political science, anthropology course than English, which is supposed to be a study of literature, both fiction and non-fiction. However interesting I found Outliers, , I would never consider it literature.
TOkidd is giving the OP very good advice. I used to teach freshman and sophomore composition, and it was obvious when someone turned in work that had been copied from somewhere else or churned out by one of those on-line term paper factories. Students who engaged in these tactics got their first paper returned with a warning. If they persisted, they got an "F."
Try reading and grading sixty 10 page papers (that's 600 pages for those who don't have their calculators handy), and then get back to me on the topic of "boring." Papers and even paragraphs that suddenly turn from plodding and error filled to well written and entertaining perk up the reader's interest right away. This fact alone makes it difficult for an average or below average student to cheat.
While I agree with those who question using "Outliers" as a text for an English class, the fact remains that you're stuck with it. First of all READ THE BOOK, even if it bores you so much that you want to die. Don't try to read it in one or two sittings. Break your reading down into half hour segments if you must. Go do something else for 10 minutes and then return to your task. You can probably get away with skimming a few pages here and there as you slog along, but don't just skip entire chapters.
Sometimes it can be helpful to first Google the book title and author to find any synopsis and criticism that may be available on legitimate sites and/or written by recognized experts in the field which encompasses that of the book. Do NOT use comments gleaned from Amazon and other sites like it.
Do this preliminary research so that you know the salient points to look for as you read the actual book for yourself. Underline these parts as you go along, so that you can go back and explain them in YOUR OWN WORDS when you sit down to write the paper.
One final hint: Begin your preparations with this article in Wikipedia - Outliers (book).
I have to write an 8-10 page paper on a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I have zero interest in this, and I'm not even past the first page yet. Fortunately this will be my last english class ever, and it will be over in one week. I just have to get past this paper and one more (at least it's shorter).
The topic is vague. I turned in an intro and she basically just said the thesis was too general and doesn't see any point to my paper .
Anyone have any tips for this "writers block"?
Approach it from your own perspective. From the uninterested reader. Find the elements that you would look for in a good read, identify and elaborate on them for your paper.
English was one of my favorite classes, I loved the discussions in class. But, not everyone likes to read, and enjoying reading is certainly a matter of personal choice in book, author, style etc.
Describe it to me. What is the premise? What did the author do to draw you into the story. Were the characters sympathetic, or not.
I also always found doing an outline, English 101 was most helpful for those topics that I wasn't so into. Use the chapter titles as a guideline to help you develop your outline.
Summarize. in your rough draft...elaborate on your next edit.
Pace yourself. Sometimes doing something unrelated to de-stress and regroup helps when you feel blocked and pressured. Go play golf, go for a drive, take a walk. Then approach it like your job....Good luck to you.
EDIT: I just reviewed the book and author on wikipedia...interesting review. I too am wondering about the English....Are you a business major?
Last edited by JanND; 07-25-2013 at 02:10 PM..
Reason: edit text
Take Nike's advice and Just Do It. When I was in grad school, I had a friend who'd been in the program for more than 10 years and was nowhere near finishing. She kept saying she had "writer's block" and couldn't write her dissertation. I said, "Write one page a day. ONE PAGE A DAY. You'll have 365 pages this year." I know that when I break down projects like this, it always feels so much more manageable (and I virtually always write more than a page a day -- it's the GETTING STARTED that's often the hardest).
And forget the advice to pay someone. (Wow, what great ethics you have, Bread Girl. ) At my college if you were to get caught you would likely get an F in the class (and you'd deserve it).
College isn't about finding everything "entertaining." I HATE that attitude.
Also, do not plagiarize. If you quote someone cite them....Folks have had their degrees pulled for these type of errors.
I have to write an 8-10 page paper on a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I have zero interest in this, and I'm not even past the first page yet. Fortunately this will be my last english class ever, and it will be over in one week. I just have to get past this paper and one more (at least it's shorter).
The topic is vague. I turned in an intro and she basically just said the thesis was too general and doesn't see any point to my paper .
Anyone have any tips for this "writers block"?
Welcome to life.
You havent hit the real world yet. It only gets worse.
Sometimes you need to do things you dont like or want to do. Force yourself to read the book and write it. You might get bored, but with effort you can do this.
Malcolm Gladwell's book is about extraordinary people who are outliers. The basic idea goes to how in stats we are told ignore outliers. Gladwell believes rather than ignoring outliers that you look to them for why they are successful. Pro-wrestler Chris Jericho for example did not start off in the WWE. It took him years of traveling through Canada, Japan, Germany and the United States before he even debuted in the WWE. And while he was a popular wrestler he was not the champion for over two years. Jericho logged in 1,372 matches over about 11 years before he ever became the top champion. Most of the time, when someone spends that much time they become greats. Bret Hart another famous pro-wrestler was never a major champion until nearly 16 years in his career after wrestling around Canada, Japan and the US.
I never actually read Outliers (outside of a chapter for a business course I was taking) but it is a great book from every account that I heard from those who read it. Someday I will gut through reading it. The concept for the book is one that ties into your plight. You may think reading the book and writing about it is busy work but it just helps you by thinking critically and helps you. Statistically you get better the longer you put into something.
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) At my college if you were to get caught you would likely get an F in the class (and you'd deserve it).
