When You Notice Yourself Saying "I Hate Writing Essays", Think of This

By the time you're half way through college, you’ve probably been writing essays for at least ten or twelve years. You’ve written narrative, how-to, editorial, research and any other type of essay imaginable.

It’s no mystery why you’re tired of doing it. But if you think you’ll never have to write another essay after college, think again. Writing is a part of adult life too, and now is the time to prepare yourself for it.

Here are just some of the ways essay writing is good for you: 

 

Develop Critical Thinking

Most types of essays involve formulating a thesis. In order to do this, you have to have sufficient understanding of both (or all) sides of an issue so that you can choose which side you support. Writing essays forces you to examine topics more deeply and discard any superficial information that doesn’t come from your own research. This is a valuable skill that can help you develop your own well-founded thoughts and opinions on serious topics. 

 

Improve Communication Skills

Sometimes it’s difficult to communicate with someone about a subject. Especially if it’s a sensitive or polemic topic such as politics, health or relationships. Learning to express yourself logically and support your points with examples and facts is a basic communication skill that directly translates from essay writing. 

 

Prepare You for a Life of Writing

The world is moving more and more towards a world of writing. People chat more than they meet in person and text more than they talk on the phone. Your ability to express yourself in written form will serve you throughout the rest of your life, not only in casual scenarios, but in professional ones too. Whether it’s writing a cover letter (or hundreds of cover letters) and resume to reaching out to a company you want to work for to creating a report about your team’s progress, writing will be with you for the long run. The better your skills, the better prepared you are for your future. 

 

Learn to Research

Writing essays involves doing research. The more adept you become at sifting through information, especially information you find on the internet, the better prepared you’ll be to investigate topics of personal or professional interest to you. Finding quality sources written by authorities on the subject can help you with anything: buying a new computer, investing in a new stock or even choosing who you’re going to vote for. Life is full of questions and the better you are at finding the answers, the more prepared you’ll be to make good decisions.

Improve Your Grammar and Spelling

Everyone has teachers who are sticklers for grammar and spelling and that’s actually a good thing. Sure, your ability to express yourself is important, but as you move through the stages of life, including employment, your ability to read, write and speak correctly will matter more and more. So pay attention to these rules while you still have someone around to correct you on them.

Helps You Remember More

When you research a topic, take notes on it and write about it, your ability to remember that topic is vastly improved than if you were to merely take an exam on it. When you write about something, you are creating a lasting depth of knowledge that simply wouldn’t exist if you were only taking multiple-choice tests and exams about the same topic. Memorization by rote fades quickly, but the process of writing by crafting your thesis, researching supporting evidence and exploring the topic in your own words creates long-term memory links. Essentially, the more you write essays, the smarter you’ll be.

You may not see it now, but someday you’ll be thankful you had to write so many essays. They have a lot of benefits that will serve you throughout life, so keep on writing.