Skip to Content

logo-about-650px

OPENING IN 2021!

Dream safari stays, in the heart of england, choose from our range of exclusive experiences.

Lion-Square-800

INTRODUCING THE AWARD-WINNING SAFARI LODGES

A mixture of luxury lodges and premium cottages, designed to give you an up-close and immersive overnight wildlife experience like no other.

Each lodge has spectacular views overlooking the lion, tiger, elephant, cheetah, giraffe, rhino, wild dog or hippo habitats. The two cottages are nestled into the walk-through Discovery Trail and have been expertly refurbished with Nepalese design influences overlooking red pandas.

west midlands winter safari

A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE

Watch the wildlife as night falls over the Park and enjoy a delicious meal prepared by our talented chefs.

Wake up with views of tigers, lions, elephants, cheetahs, giraffe, rhino, hippos, wild dogs or red pandas as you enjoy your in-lodge meal.

Safari Lodges short breaks include exclusive views of the animals, admission to the Park during the day and Theme Park wristbands*.

*Rides are open in the Park’s Summer Season only. Generally from mid-February to end of October. Please see wmsp.co.uk for exact dates.

BOOK NOW TO RESERVE YOUR STAY

west midlands winter safari

Eight exclusive, luxury lodges, designed to give you an up-close and personal overnight wildlife experience like no other.

They will be integrated into the newly-updated reserves, with spectacular views overlooking the elephant and cheetah habitats.

Nestled into their own secluded area, there will be six lodges offering the only overnight accommodation experience with African elephants in the UK.

Two more lodges will offer incredible views of our majestic cheetahs.

west midlands winter safari

Watch the wildlife as night falls over the reserves, whilst you enjoy a sumptuous evening meal, freshly-prepared by our chefs.

Wake up with views of elephants or cheetahs enjoying their morning feed while you feast on a delicious breakfast.

*Rides are open in the Park’s Summer Season only.

west midlands winter safari

REGISTER FOR THE LATEST UPDATES AND BOOKING EXCLUSIVES

Be the first to know all the latest details & availability!

  • Conservation
  • Accessibility
  • Keep in Touch
  • Privacy Policy

Join the herd...

WINTER VIP TOUR – EXTRA INFO

What’s included:

  • Tour of the Safari in one of our jeeps
  • A chance to feed a number of our animals
  • Admission to the Safari Park
  • Lunch voucher
  • Pictures from your day on a memory stick, taken by your guide

Important Info:

  • Minimum age for participants is 6 years. Children aged 6-15 years must be accompanied by a full paying adult.
  • VIP Experiences can either be booked for a specific date or on an open-dated basis valid for the season. Whilst we will always try to accommodate changes in date, this is subject to availability and cannot always be guaranteed.
  • Once an experience has been purchased, refunds will not be considered.

VIP INDIAN RHINO FEED – EXTRA INFO

  • Meeting and feeding our Indian rhinos
  • Minimum age for participants is 6 years.
  • Children aged 6-15 years must be accompanied by a full paying adult
  • Once an experience has been purchased refunds will not be considered.

VIP LEMUR & MEERKAT FEED – EXTRA INFO

  • Meeting and feeding our lemurs and meerkats
  • Children aged 6-15 years must be accompanied by a full paying adult.
  • Only available during our Summer Season.

VIP FAMILY CREATURE FEATURE – EXTRA INFO

  • Meeting some smaller animals which could include chinchillas, tenrecs, rabbits, cockroaches or giant African snails

VIP MINI KEEPER EXPERIENCE – EXTRA INFO

  • Meeting, feeding and helping to care for animals such as chinchillas, rats, meerkats, ferrets, rabbits and even some fascinating invertebrates
  • A keeper certificate
  • Suitable for children between the ages of 5-9 years.
  • One parent may accompany the Mini Keeper to watch during the Experience, but they will not be able to participate.  They will only have access to the Safari Walk areas, and will not gain access to the Safari Drive.
  • Maximum two children per day.

VIP CARNIVORE KEEPER EXPERIENCE – EXTRA INFO

  • Meeting, feeding and helping to care for carnivores, which could include tigers, lions or cheetahs
  • Ride wristband to use in the Adventure Theme Park
  • Suitable for guests aged 16+.

VIP ULTIMATE TOUR – EXTRA INFO 

  • A half day experience
  • Minimum age for participants is 6 years. Children aged 6-15 years must be accompanied by a full-paying adult.
  • VIP Experiences can be booked for a specific date. Whilst we will always try to accommodate changes in date, this is subject to availability and cannot always be guaranteed.

VIP LION FEED – EXTRA INFO 

  • A 45-minute experience
  • Meeting and feeding our lions

VIP RHINO KEEPER EXPERIENCE – EXTRA INFO

  • A half-day experience
  • Meeting, feeding and looking after our Indian rhino
  • A keeper for the Day Certificate
  • Minimum age for participants is 16 years.

VIP GIRAFFE FEED – EXTRA INFO

  • A 30-minute experience
  • Meeting and feeding our herd of giraffes

VIP JUNIOR KEEPER EXPERIENCE – EXTRA INFO

  • Meeting, feeding and helping to care for animals like rhinos, lemurs, meerkats and more.
  • A certificate
  • Suitable for children between the ages of 10-15 years.

VIP GUIDED TOUR – EXTRA INFO 

  • A 90-minute experience
  • A guided tour of the Safari Drive-through in one of our jeeps
  • Minimum age for participants is 3 years. Children aged 6-15 years must be accompanied by a full-paying adult.

VIP STAR OF THE SEA LION SHOW – EXTRA INFO

  • Meeting and feeding our sea lions during a Sea Lion Show
  • Certificate
  • A picture from your day
  • Minimum age for participants is 5 years.
  • Only one ‘Star’ per Sea Lion Show.

west midlands winter safari

LION LODGE – OPENING SOON

We will be offering luxury overnight stays with lions in early summer 2023! The accommodation will be authentically integrated into the brand-new lion habitat, located past our African Village. Guests will experience an immersive and unforgettable overnight wildlife encounter, like no other.

The Lion Lodges will feature open-plan living and luxury interiors, with breathtaking views from every room into the new lion habitat, through floor-to-ceiling windows.

More details will be announced soon. To be the first to hear about updates, sign up to our e-Newsletter! Click Here .

west midlands winter safari

TIGER LODGE

We will be offering luxury overnight stays with Sumatran tigers in autumn 2022! The accommodation will be authentically integrated into the newly built tiger habitat, giving guests an immersive and unforgettable overnight wildlife encounter, like no other.

The tiger lodges will feature open plan living and luxury interiors, with breathtaking views from every room into the new tiger habitat through floor to ceiling windows.

Sign up to our email list to be the first to hear when bookings go live and receive news of all the latest Safari Lodges developments.

Sign up to our Safari Lodges Mailing List

west midlands winter safari

Our two exquisite, five-star cheetah lodges offer an exclusive and immersive stay, which cannot be experienced anywhere else in the UK.  

The authentically-themed, detached lodges offer a large living space for up to six people, with dining area, bathroom and WC.

Panoramic views of the cheetahs’ new habitat can be witnessed through the large windows that span one side of the lodge.

west midlands winter safari

In the separate bedroom, guests will find a king-size bed with twin single bunkbeds above, perfect for young adults or children.

The bedroom also includes a floor-to-ceiling window, offering a stunning view of the cheetahs – you could be waking up with one at the foot of your bed!

Additionally, there is a veranda, offering comfortable seating for you whilst you eat your breakfast and look out across the spectacular views.

Breakfast and evening meal are included, cooked onsite by our team of experienced chefs.

west midlands winter safari

Our brand-new, incredible elephant lodges offer an overnight stay like nowhere else in Europe. They are the only place where you can wake up to an amazing view of African elephants, making the experience truly unique.

The six luxurious, authentically-themed lodges have thatched roofs and can accommodate up to six people.

Each lodge has a large, open-plan living area with a lounge and dining area. A bathroom with WC and a large balcony, incorporating an outside seating area, complete the downstairs living space of each lodge.

Stairs lead to an upstairs bedroom which overlooks the elephants’ brand-new habitat, providing fantastic views as the sun sets. There is also the opportunity to add an extra bed or cot for small children.

Your evening meal and breakfast are included, cooked onsite by our team of experienced chefs.

To fully capture the immersive experience of your fantastic surroundings, enjoy your meal on the terrace and watch the elephants as they come up to your lodge to drink out of the pool in front of you.

Your saved items

No saved items

Book Your Short Break / Alternative Accommodation / Bewdley

Safari Lodges at West Midland Safari Park

Luxury Accommodation With An Unforgettable Wildlife Experience

About this business

Opening times, reviews & more

The features of this venue

Children Welcome

On site Parking

Accessibility

The accessible features of this venue

Access Guide

Disabled Parking

Accessible Toilets

Full Wheelchair Access

Whilst you are here...

West Midlands Safari Park isn't far away

West Midlands Safari Park is an incredible day out for the whole family! See animals on Safari, walk through incredible life-sized dinosaurs, and even add on ride wristbands to use in the Theme Park!

Plan your visit

Read our useful information

Events Home

giraffe experience west midlands safari park

giraffe experience west midlands safari park

difficulty in writing essays

  • How to Order

User Icon

Essay Writing Guide

Essay Writing Problems

Nova A.

Essay Writing Problems - 5 Most Paralyzing Problems

essay writing problems

People also read

An Easy Guide to Writing an Essay

A Complete 500 Word Essay Writing Guide

A Catalog of 370+ Essay Topics for Students

Common Types of Essays - Sub-types and Examples

Essay Format: A Basic Guide With Examples

How to Write an Essay Outline in 5 Simple Steps

How to Start an Essay? Tips for an Engaging Start

A Complete Essay Introduction Writing Guide With Examples

Learn How to Write an Essay Hook, With Examples

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Thesis Statement

20+ Thesis Statement Examples for Different Types of Essays?

How to Write a Topic Sentence: Purpose, Tips & Examples

Learn How to Write a Conclusion in Simple Steps

Transition Words For Essays - The Ultimate List

4 Types of Sentences - Definition & Examples

Writing Conventions - Definition, Tips & Examples

Tips On How to Make an Essay Longer: 15 Easy Ways

How to Title an Essay Properly- An Easy Guide

1000 Word Essay - A Simple Guide With Examples

A Guide to Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay

How To Write A Strong Body Paragraph

Many writers suffer from the occasional writer’s block. Writer’s block can easily affect students who need to complete academic writing assignments as well. 

However, this is only one of the many issues they may need to deal with in the essay writing process. Many students face other challenges as they strive to complete their writing assignments. 

Knowing the common essay writing issues can help you rectify the situation as you complete your essay. 

Arrow Down

  • 1. Top Essay Writing Problems Students Deal With
  • 2. Other Writing Problems You May Face

Top Essay Writing Problems Students Deal With

Below are the top five common problems that can stop students dead in their tracks, as they begin or complete their essay writing assignments, and tips to overcome them.

#1 Lack of Confidence

The inability to believe in one’s capabilities and skills is one of the most common problems in essay writing that students have to face.

Students who think they are not good at writing will have trouble starting their papers. They doubt their capability to complete it as well. And with this self-doubt, they may never even try to start working on their paper.

As a result, these students end up not submitting an assignment or simply handing in a poorly-written one, fully accepting and expecting that they will get a low or failing grade.

How to Overcome This

There are various ways students can improve their writing skills. There are online courses they can take and they also have the option to take up traditional classes offered by local schools or tutorial centers.

Additionally, students should practice writing daily even if they make mistakes. As long as these mistakes are corrected, they will become better writers in the future.

Lastly, students who don’t know  how to start an essay  can always ask for assistance from their teachers, peers, and other people who are more knowledgeable and experienced in writing.

#2 Insufficient Knowledge

Many students will also have difficulties writing about an essay topic taken up in school. The main reason is that they don’t have enough knowledge about the subject matter.

This difficulty can be caused by the student failing to take notes in class or not attending classes at all. He or she may not even understand the topic completely. This will cause anyone to have poor knowledge of any topic.

This is a problem that students can easily trounce. Students simply need to put in some extra time to study whatever notes they have. They can also do extra research to understand the topic.

Students can also ask their teacher to explain the topic to them again if they are having a hard time understanding it.

#3 Lack of Writing Skills

Although some students are confident about writing and have enough ideas to write their papers, if they lack language proficiency, they won’t submit an impressive essay.

Using the wrong words, misleading language, misplacing words, phrases, and punctuation will result in a poor paper. Some students may even resort to using technical words and jargon with the hope of impressing their teacher. Of course, this technique usually backfires.

Students should learn to use simple words and construct short, concise sentences to get a good mark on their papers. Additionally, determining the type of essay you’re going to write helps you stay focused and organized. Students also need to read more since this is a good exercise for becoming a better writer.

They can also get help from the best assignment experts if they need help with polishing their papers. These writers will ensure students turn in good essays, reflective of their knowledge and abilities.

#4 Plagiarism

When all else fails, plagiarism is something that many students end up doing just so they can submit a paper. This is also their last resort if they are rushing to complete their essay at the last minute.

Teachers today check each paper for plagiarized content. Students who submit essays that contain copied paragraphs from published material will find themselves in a lot of trouble.

Students need to learn how to paraphrase the content they use for their essays. They should know when and how to use references as well.

Finally, they should make it a habit to run their essays through online plagiarism tools to ensure that they submit an original paper.

#5 Getting Stuck

Lastly, students are given a topic that has been discussed numerous times already. This can get the student stuck and unable to write anything about it. They think that there is nothing left to explore and they can’t have their own say on such topics.

Because of this, they are unable to start writing their paper, much less finish it.

To overcome this, conduct more in-depth research to find a unique angle or perspective that interests you. After gathering sufficient information, create a detailed essay outline to organize your thoughts. 

Develop body paragraphs for each main idea you will discuss, ensuring each one is supported by evidence and analysis. This approach will make the writing process smoother and more manageable.

#6 Time Management

Time management is another main problem that students face. Some students think they can get away with working at the last minute. They might be in a big hurry or simply don't know what needs to be done yet. Because of this, they will submit bad-quality work.

How to Overcome This:

If you plan ahead, you can avoid having to spend a lot of time editing your paper.

Planning ahead will help you do better research, so your analysis of the issue is stronger. This will also help you set the paper aside and come back to it later with a fresh perspective, which means you can revise it more effectively.

#7 Awkward Structure

The structure of your sentences should be clear and understandable to allow the reader to follow what you are saying. Each sentence needs a meaningful connection with the topic so they can understand it fully without confusion, ultimately making them enjoy reading more.

To improve structure and flow, you can also add transition words to make your writing flow smoothly. Make sure you’re following the standard writing conventions to avoid writing an essay that doesn’t read well.

Other Writing Problems You May Face

College students are constantly under pressure to produce high-quality work. In addition, there is the issue that low-quality papers appear because they do not have enough time or resources for their studies and so on.

Despite these problems, there are many other writing problems that students face.

  • Lack of time:  If you want to save time, you need to plan properly. One way to do this is by writing down all the information about your sources. This will help you avoid wasting time later on.
  • Lack of inspiration:  If you are having trouble coming up with an idea for your essay, try reading essays about the same topic. This can help you get your thoughts in order and come up with a good idea.
  • Unclear analysis:  If you want to know more, you need to study. There is no way to shortcut this process. You will have to learn everything you can about the topic if you want to be an expert.
  • Poor editing and proofreading skills: People sometimes find it hard to edit and proofread their own writing. A trick to make it easier is to read the text backward, from the last word to the first. Another way is to read the paper aloud. This way, you can find where the transitions between paragraphs are not smooth and ensure your essay format remains consistent.

So these are the common problems encountered by students in writing an essay. Keep in mind that essay writing is not something that comes naturally to many students.

If you are stuck in the writing process, pinpoint the cause and follow the tips shared and the writing practice will definitely help you overcome it.

If you are still confused, whether you are still starting your essay or need help polishing it, our custom essay help is here for you. So, get in touch with our experts and get solutions to all your essay problems! 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do i struggle to write essays.

FAQ Icon

Struggling with essay writing can stem from various issues such as lack of confidence, insufficient knowledge of the topic, poor writing skills, or even time management problems. Additionally, some students face difficulty due to anxiety or perfectionism, which can hinder their ability to start or complete an essay. To overcome these challenges, try setting specific, achievable goals for each writing session and take regular breaks to avoid burnout. 

What are good essay writing topics?

Good essay writing topics are those that interest you and allow for ample research and analysis. They should be specific enough to be manageable yet broad enough to find sufficient information. 

Examples include the impact of technology on education, the importance of mental health awareness, climate change and its effects, and the role of social media in modern communication. Additionally, consider current events, societal issues, or areas you are passionate about. Topics related to scientific advancements, cultural trends, and ethical dilemmas also offer rich material. 

AI Essay Bot

Write Essay Within 60 Seconds!

Nova A.

Nova Allison is a Digital Content Strategist with over eight years of experience. Nova has also worked as a technical and scientific writer. She is majorly involved in developing and reviewing online content plans that engage and resonate with audiences. Nova has a passion for writing that engages and informs her readers.

Get Help

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That’s our Job!

Keep reading

essay writing guide

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Duke University

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

difficulty in writing essays

How to Write the “Overcoming Challenges” Essay + Examples

What’s covered:.

  • What is the Overcoming Challenges Essay?
  • Real Overcoming Challenges Essay Prompts
  • How to Choose a Topic
  • Writing Tips

Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

  • Where to Get Your Essay Edited

While any college essay can be intimidating, the Overcoming Challenges prompt often worries students the most. Those students who’ve been lucky enough not to experience trauma tend to assume they have nothing worth saying. On the other hand, students who’ve overcome larger obstacles may be hesitant to talk about them.

Regardless of your particular circumstances, there are steps you can take to make the essay writing process simpler. Here are our top tips for writing the overcoming challenges essay successfully.

What is the “Overcoming Challenges” Essay?

The overcoming challenges prompt shows up frequently in both main application essays (like the Common App) and supplemental essays. Because supplemental essays allow students to provide schools with additional information, applicants should be sure that the subject matter they choose to write about differs from what’s in their main essay.

Students often assume the overcoming challenges essay requires them to detail past traumas. While you can certainly write about an experience that’s had a profound effect on your life, it’s important to remember that colleges aren’t evaluating students based on the seriousness of the obstacle they overcame.

On the contrary, the goal of this essay is to show admissions officers that you have the intelligence and fortitude to handle any challenges that come your way. After all, college serves as an introduction to adult life, and schools want to know that the students they admit are up to the task. 

Real “Overcoming Challenges” Essay Prompts

To help you understand what the “Overcoming Challenges” essay looks like, here are a couple sample prompts.

Currently, the Common Application asks students to answer the following prompt in 650 words or less:

“The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

For the past several years, MIT has prompted students to write 200 to 250 words on the following:

“Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?”

In both cases, the prompts explicitly ask for your response to the challenge. The event itself isn’t as important as how it pushed you to grow.

How to Choose a Topic for an Essay on Overcoming Challenges

When it comes to finding the best topic for your overcoming challenges essays, there’s no right answer. The word “challenge” is ambiguous and could be used to reference a wide range of situations from prevailing over a bully to getting over your lifelong stage fright to appear in a school musical. Here are some suggestions to keep in mind when selecting an essay subject.

1. Avoid trivial or common topics

While there aren’t many hard-and-fast rules for choosing an essay topic, students should avoid overdone topics.

These include:

  • Working hard in a challenging class
  • Overcoming a sports injury
  • Moving schools or immigrating to the US
  • Tragedy (divorce, death, abuse)

Admissions officers have read numerous essays on the subject, so it’s harder for you to stand out (see our full list of cliché college essay topics to avoid ). If events like these were truly formative to you, you can still choose to write about them, but you’ll need to be as personal as possible. 

It’s also ideal if you have a less traditional storyline for a cliché topic; for example, if your sports injury led you to discover a new passion, that would be a more unique story than detailing how you overcame your injury and got back in the game.

Similarly, students may not want to write about an obstacle that admissions committees could perceive as low stakes, such as getting a B on a test, or getting into a small fight with a friend. The goal of this essay is to illustrate how you respond to adversity, so the topic you pick should’ve been at least impactful on your personal growth.

2. Pick challenges that demonstrate qualities you want to highlight

Students often mistakenly assume they need to have experienced exceptional circumstances like poverty, an abusive parent, or cancer to write a good essay. The truth is that the best topics will allow you to highlight specific personal qualities and share more about who you are. The essay should be less about the challenge itself, and more about how you responded to it.

Ask yourself what personality traits you want to emphasize, and see what’s missing in your application. Maybe you want to highlight your adaptability, for example, but that isn’t clearly expressed in your application. In this case, you might write about a challenge that put your adaptability to the test, or shaped you to become more adaptable.

Here are some examples of good topics we’ve seen over the years:

  • Not having a coach for a sports team and becoming one yourself
  • Helping a parent through a serious health issue
  • Trying to get the school track dedicated to a coach
  • Having to switch your Model UN position last-minute

Tips for Writing an Essay About Overcoming Challenges

Once you’ve selected a topic for your essays, it’s time to sit down and write. For best results, make sure your essay focuses on your efforts to tackle an obstacle rather than the problem itself. Additionally, you could avoid essay writing pitfalls by doing the following:

1. Choose an original essay structure

If you want your overcoming challenges essay to attract attention, aim to break away from more traditional structures. Most of these essays start by describing an unsuccessful attempt at a goal and then explain the steps the writer took to master the challenge. 

You can stand out by choosing a challenge you’re still working on overcoming, or focus on a mental or emotional challenge that spans multiple activities or events. For example, you might discuss your fear of public speaking and how that impacted your ability to coach your brother’s Little League team and run for Student Council. 

You can also choose a challenge that can be narrated in the moment, such as being put on the spot to teach a yoga class. These challenges can make particularly engaging essays, as you get to experience the writer’s thoughts and emotions as they unfold.

Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to have succeeded in your goal for this essay. Maybe you ran for an election and lost, or maybe you proposed a measure to the school board that wasn’t passed. It’s still possible to write a strong essay about topics like these as long as you focus on your personal growth. In fact, these may make for even stronger essays since they are more unconventional topics.

2. Focus on the internal

When writing about past experiences, you may be tempted to spend too much time describing specific people and events. With an Overcoming Challenges essay though, the goal is to focus on your thoughts and feelings.

For example, rather than detail all the steps you took to become a better public speaker, use the majority of your essay to describe your mental state as you embarked on the journey to achieving your goals. Were you excited, scared, anxious, or hopeful? Don’t be afraid to let the reader in on your innermost emotions and thoughts during this process.

3. Share what you learned 

An Overcoming Challenges essay should leave the reader with a clear understanding of what you learned on your journey, be it physical, mental, or emotional. There’s no need to explicitly say “this experience taught me X,” but your essay should at least implicitly share any lessons you learned. This can be done through your actions and in-the-moment reflections. Remember that the goal is to show admissions committees why your experiences make you a great candidate for admission. 

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the g arb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

This essay is an excellent example because the writer turns an everyday challenge—starting a fire—into an exploration of her identity. The writer was once “a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes,” but has since traded her love of the outdoors for a love of music, writing, and reading. 

The story begins in media res , or in the middle of the action, allowing readers to feel as if we’re there with the writer. One of the essay’s biggest strengths is its use of imagery. We can easily visualize the writer’s childhood and the present day. For instance, she states that she “rubbed and rubbed [the twigs] until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers.”

The writing has an extremely literary quality, particularly with its wordplay. The writer reappropriates words and meanings, and even appeals to the senses: “My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame.” She later uses a parallelism to cleverly juxtapose her changed interests: “instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano.”

One of the essay’s main areas of improvement is its overemphasis on the “story” and lack of emphasis on the reflection. The second to last paragraph about changing perspective is crucial to the essay, as it ties the anecdote to larger lessons in the writer’s life. She states that she hasn’t changed, but has only shifted perspective. Yet, we don’t get a good sense of where this realization comes from and how it impacts her life going forward. 

The end of the essay offers a satisfying return to the fire imagery, and highlights the writer’s passion—the one thing that has remained constant in her life.

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

While the writer didn’t succeed in getting the track dedicated to Coach Stark, their essay is certainly successful in showing their willingness to push themselves and take initiative.

The essay opens with a quote from Coach Stark that later comes full circle at the end of the essay. We learn about Stark’s impact and the motivation for trying to get the track dedicated to him.

One of the biggest areas of improvement in the intro, however, is how the essay tells us Stark’s impact rather than showing us: His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The writer could’ve helped us feel a stronger emotional connection to Stark if they had included examples of Stark’s qualities, rather than explicitly stating them. For example, they could’ve written something like: Stark was the kind of person who would give you gas money if you told him your parents couldn’t afford to pick you up from practice. And he actually did that—several times. At track meets, alumni regularly would come talk to him and tell him how he’d changed their lives. Before Stark, I was ambivalent about running and was on the JV team, but his encouragement motivated me to run longer and harder and eventually make varsity. Because of him, I approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The essay goes on to explain how the writer overcame their apprehension of public speaking, and likens the process of submitting an appeal to the school board to running a race. This metaphor makes the writing more engaging and allows us to feel the student’s emotions.

While the student didn’t ultimately succeed in getting the track dedicated, we learn about their resilience and initiative: I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Overall, this essay is well-done. It demonstrates growth despite failing to meet a goal, which is a unique essay structure. The running metaphor and full-circle intro/ending also elevate the writing in this essay.

Where to Get Your Overcoming Challenges Essay Edited

The Overcoming Challenges essay is one of the trickier supplemental prompts, so it’s important to get feedback on your drafts. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

difficulty in writing essays

Essay Writing Tips: 10 Steps to Writing a Great Essay (And Have Fun Doing It!)

by Joe Bunting | 118 comments

Do you dread essay writing? Are you looking for some essay tips that will help you write an amazing essay—and have fun doing it?

essay tips

Lots of students, young and old, dread essay writing. It's a daunting assignment, one that takes research, time, and concentration.

It's also an assignment that you can break up into simple steps that make writing an essay manageable and, yes, even enjoyable.

These ten essay tips completely changed my writing process—and I hope that they can do the same for you.

Essay Writing Can Be Fun

Honestly, throughout most of high school and college, I was a mediocre essay writer.

Every once in a while, I would write a really good essay, but mostly I skated by with B's and A-minuses.

I know personally how boring writing an essay can be, and also, how hard it can be to write a good one.

However, toward the end of my time as a student, I made a breakthrough. I figured out how to not only write a great essay, I learned how to have fun while doing it . 

And since then, I've become a professional writer and have written more than a dozen books. I'm not saying that these essay writing tips are going to magically turn you into a writer, but at least they can help you enjoy the process more.

I'm excited to share these ten essay writing tips with you today! But first, we need to talk about why writing an essay is so hard.

Why Writing an Essay Is So Hard

When it comes to essay writing, a lot of students find a reason to put it off. And when they tackle it, they find it difficult to string sentences together that sound like a decent stance on the assigned subject.

Here are a few reasons why essay writing is hard:

  • You'd rather be scrolling through Facebook
  • You're trying to write something your teacher or professor will like
  • You're trying to get an A instead of writing something that's actually good
  • You want to do the least amount of work possible

The biggest reason writing an essay is so hard is because we mostly focus on those external  rewards like getting a passing grade, winning our teacher's approval, or just avoiding accusations of plagiarism.

The problem is that when you focus on external approval it not only makes writing much less fun, it also makes it significantly harder.

Because when you focus on external approval, you shut down your subconscious, and the subconscious is the source of your creativity.

The subconscious is the source of your creativity.

What this means practically is that when you're trying to write that perfect, A-plus-worthy sentence, you're turning off most of your best resources and writing skills.

So stop. Stop trying to write a good essay (or even a “good-enough” essay). Instead, write an interesting  essay, write an essay you think is fascinating. And when you're finished, go back and edit it until it's “good” according to your teacher's standards.

Yes, you need to follow the guidelines in your assignment. If your teacher tells you to write a five-paragraph essay, then write a five-paragraph essay! If your teacher asks for a specific type of essay, like an analysis, argument, or research essay, then make sure you write that type of essay!

However, within those guidelines, find room to express something that is uniquely you .

I can't guarantee you'll get a higher grade (although, you almost certainly will), but I can absolutely promise you'll have a lot more fun writing.

The Step-by-Step Process to Writing a Great Essay: Your 10 Essay Writing Tips

Ready to get writing? You can read my ten best tips for having fun while writing an essay that earns you the top grade, or check out this presentation designed by our friends at Canva Presentations .

1. Remember your essay is just a story.

Every story is about conflict and change, and the truth is that essays are about conflict and change, too! The difference is that in an essay, the conflict is between different ideas , and the change is in the way we should perceive those ideas.

That means that the best essays are about surprise: “You probably think it's one way, but in reality, you should think of it this other way.” See tip #3 for more on this.

How do you know what story you're telling? The prompt should tell you.

Any list of essay prompts includes various topics and tasks associated with them. Within those topics are characters (historical, fictional, or topical) faced with difficult choices. Your job is to work with those choices, usually by analyzing them, arguing about them, researching them, or describing them in detail.

2. Before you start writing, ask yourself, “How can I have the most fun writing this?”

It's normal to feel unmotivated when writing an academic essay. I'm a writer, and honestly, I feel unmotivated to write all the time. But I have a super-ninja, judo-mind trick I like to use to help motivate myself.

Here's the secret trick: One of the interesting things about your subconscious is that it will answer any question you ask yourself. So whenever you feel unmotivated to write your essay, ask yourself the following question:

“How much fun can I have writing this?”

Your subconscious will immediately start thinking of strategies to make the writing process more fun.

The best time to have your fun is the first draft. Since you're just brainstorming within the topic, and exploring the possible ways of approaching it, the first draft is the perfect place to get creative and even a little scandalous. Here are some wild suggestions to make your next essay a load of fun:

  • Research the most surprising or outrageous fact about the topic and use it as your hook.
  • Use a thesaurus to research the topic's key words. Get crazy with your vocabulary as you write, working in each key word synonym as much as possible.
  • Play devil's advocate and take the opposing or immoral side of the issue. See where the discussion takes you as you write.

3. As you research, ask yourself, “What surprises me about this subject?”

The temptation, when you're writing an essay, is to write what you think your teacher or professor wants to read.

Don't do this .

Instead, ask yourself, “What do I find interesting about this subject? What surprises me?”

If you can't think of anything that surprises you, anything you find interesting, then you're not searching well enough, because history, science, and literature are all brimming   over with surprises. When you look at how great ideas actually happen, the story is always, “We used  to think the world was this way. We found out we were completely wrong, and that the world is actually quite different from what we thought.”

These pieces of surprising information often make for the best topic sentences as well. Use them to outline your essay and build your body paragraphs off of each unique fact or idea. These will function as excellent hooks for your reader as you transition from one topic to the next.

(By the way, what sources should you use for research? Check out tip #10 below.)

4. Overwhelmed? Write five original sentences.

The standard three-point essay is really made up of just five original sentences surrounded by supporting paragraphs that back up those five sentences. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just write five sentences covering your most basic main points.

Here's what they might look like for this article:

  • Introductory Paragraph:  While most students consider writing an essay a boring task, with the right mindset, it can actually be an enjoyable experience.
  • Body #1: Most students think writing an essay is tedious because they focus on external rewards.
  • Body #2: Students should instead focus on internal fulfillment when writing an essay.
  • Body #3: Not only will focusing on internal fulfillment allow students to have more fun, it will also result in better essays.
  • Conclusion: Writing an essay doesn't have to be simply a way to earn a good grade. Instead, it can be a means of finding fulfillment.

After you write your five sentences, it's easy to fill in the paragraphs for each one.

Now, you give it a shot!

5. Be “source heavy.”

In college, I discovered a trick that helped me go from a B-average student to an A-student, but before I explain how it works, let me warn you. This technique is powerful , but it might not work for all teachers or professors. Use with caution.

As I was writing a paper for a literature class, I realized that the articles and books I was reading said what I was trying to say much better than I ever could. So what did I do? I quoted them liberally throughout my paper. When I wasn't quoting, I re-phrased what they said in my own words, giving proper credit, of course. I found that not only did this formula create a well-written essay, it took about half the time to write.

It's good to keep in mind that using anyone else's words, even when morphed into your own phrasing, requires citation. While the definition of plagiarism is shifting with the rise of online collaboration and cooperative learning environments, always  err on the side of excessive citation to be safe.

When I used this technique, my professors sometimes mentioned that my papers were very “source” heavy. However, at the same time, they always gave me A's.

To keep yourself safe, I recommend using a 60/40 approach with your body paragraphs: Make sure 60% of the words are your own analysis and argumentation, while 40% can be quoted (or text you paraphrase) from your sources.

Like the five sentence trick, this technique makes the writing process simpler. Instead of putting the main focus on writing well, it instead forces you to research  well, which some students find easier.

6. Write the body first, the introduction second, and the conclusion last.

Introductions are often the hardest part to write because you're trying to summarize your entire essay before you've even written it yet. Instead, try writing your introduction last, giving yourself the body of the paper to figure out the main point of your essay.

This is especially important with an essay topic you are not personally interested in. I definitely recommend this in classes you either don't excel in or care much for. Take plenty of time to draft and revise your body paragraphs before  attempting to craft a meaningful introductory paragraph.

Otherwise your opening may sound awkward, wooden, and bland.

7. Most essays answer the question, “What?” Good essays answer the “Why?” The best essays answer the “How?”

If you get stuck trying to make your argument, or you're struggling to reach the required word count, try focusing on the question, “How?”

For example:

  • How did J.D. Salinger convey the theme of inauthenticity in  The Catcher In the Rye ?
  • How did Napoleon restore stability in France after the French Revolution?
  • How does the research prove girls really do rule and boys really do drool?

If you focus on how, you'll always have enough to write about.

8. Don't be afraid to jump around.

Essay writing can be a dance. You don't have to stay in one place and write from beginning to end.

For the same reasons listed in point #6, give yourself the freedom to write as if you're circling around your topic rather than making a single, straightforward argument. Then, when you edit and proofread, you can make sure everything lines up correctly.

In fact, now is the perfect time to mention that proofreading your essay isn't just about spelling and commas.

It's about making sure your analysis or argument flows smoothly from one idea to another. (Okay, technically this comprises editing, but most students writing a high school or college essay don't take the time to complete every step of the writing process. Let's be honest.)

So as you clean up your mechanics and sentence structure, make sure your ideas flow smoothly, logically, and naturally from one to the next as you finish proofreading.

9. Here are some words and phrases you don't want to use.

  • You  (You'll notice I use a lot of you's, which is great for a blog post. However, in an academic essay, it's better to omit the second-person.)
  • To Be verbs (is, are, was, were, am)

Don't have time to edit? Here's a lightning-quick editing technique .

A note about “I”: Some teachers say you shouldn't use “I” statements in your writing, but the truth is that professional, academic papers often use phrases like “I believe” and “in my opinion,” especially in their introductions.

10. It's okay to use Wikipedia, if…

Wikipedia is one of the top five websites in the world for a reason: it can be a great tool for research. However, most teachers and professors don't consider Wikipedia a valid source for use in essays.

Don't totally discount it, though! Here are two ways you can use Wikipedia in your essay writing:

  • Background research. If you don't know enough about your topic, Wikipedia can be a great resource to quickly learn everything you need to know to get started.
  • Find sources . Check the reference section of Wikipedia's articles on your topic. While you may not be able to cite Wikipedia itself, you can often find those original sources and cite them . You can locate the links to primary and secondary sources at the bottom of any Wikipedia page under the headings “Further Reading” and “References.”

You Can Enjoy Essay Writing

The thing I regret most about high school and college is that I treated it like something I had  to do rather than something I wanted  to do.

The truth is, education is an opportunity many people in the world don't have access to.

It's a gift, not just something that makes your life more difficult. I don't want you to make the mistake of just “getting by” through school, waiting desperately for summer breaks and, eventually, graduation.

How would your life be better if you actively enjoyed writing an essay? What would school look like if you wanted to suck it dry of all the gifts it has to give you?

All I'm saying is, don't miss out!

Looking for More Essay Writing Tips?

Looking for more essay tips to strengthen your essay writing? Try some of these resources:

  • 7 Tips on Writing an Effective Essay
  • Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

How about you? Do you have any tips for writing an essay?  Let us know in the  comments .

Need more grammar help?  My favorite tool that helps find grammar problems and even generates reports to help improve my writing is ProWritingAid . Works with Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, and web browsers. Also, be sure to use my coupon code to get 20 percent off: WritePractice20

Coupon Code:WritePractice20 »

Ready to try out these ten essay tips to make your essay assignment fun? Spend fifteen minutes using tip #4 and write five original sentences that could be turned into an essay.

When you're finished, share your five sentences in the comments section. And don't forget to give feedback to your fellow writers!

[wp_ad_camp_2]

' src=

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

Write About Yourself with blue hello name tag

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Submit Comment

Join over 450,000 readers who are saying YES to practice. You’ll also get a free copy of our eBook 14 Prompts :

Popular Resources

Best Resources for Writers Book Writing Tips & Guides Creativity & Inspiration Tips Writing Prompts Grammar & Vocab Resources Best Book Writing Software ProWritingAid Review Writing Teacher Resources Publisher Rocket Review Scrivener Review Gifts for Writers

Books By Our Writers

HEARTHKEEPER

You've got it! Just us where to send your guide.

Enter your email to get our free 10-step guide to becoming a writer.

You've got it! Just us where to send your book.

Enter your first name and email to get our free book, 14 Prompts.

Want to Get Published?

Enter your email to get our free interactive checklist to writing and publishing a book.

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

  • Knowledge Base
  • How to structure an essay: Templates and tips

How to Structure an Essay | Tips & Templates

Published on September 18, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction , a body , and a conclusion . But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

Table of contents

The basics of essay structure, chronological structure, compare-and-contrast structure, problems-methods-solutions structure, signposting to clarify your structure, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about essay structure.

There are two main things to keep in mind when working on your essay structure: making sure to include the right information in each part, and deciding how you’ll organize the information within the body.

Parts of an essay

The three parts that make up all essays are described in the table below.

Order of information

You’ll also have to consider how to present information within the body. There are a few general principles that can guide you here.

The first is that your argument should move from the simplest claim to the most complex . The body of a good argumentative essay often begins with simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves towards more complex and contentious ones.

For example, you might begin by describing a generally accepted philosophical concept, and then apply it to a new topic. The grounding in the general concept will allow the reader to understand your unique application of it.

The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay . General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body.

The third principle is that everything in your essay should be relevant to the thesis . Ask yourself whether each piece of information advances your argument or provides necessary background. And make sure that the text clearly expresses each piece of information’s relevance.

The sections below present several organizational templates for essays: the chronological approach, the compare-and-contrast approach, and the problems-methods-solutions approach.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go.

A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a series of events. Don’t rule out other approaches, though—even when the chronological approach is the obvious one, you might be able to bring out more with a different structure.

Explore the tabs below to see a general template and a specific example outline from an essay on the invention of the printing press.

  • Thesis statement
  • Discussion of event/period
  • Consequences
  • Importance of topic
  • Strong closing statement
  • Claim that the printing press marks the end of the Middle Ages
  • Background on the low levels of literacy before the printing press
  • Thesis statement: The invention of the printing press increased circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation
  • High levels of illiteracy in medieval Europe
  • Literacy and thus knowledge and education were mainly the domain of religious and political elites
  • Consequence: this discouraged political and religious change
  • Invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg
  • Implications of the new technology for book production
  • Consequence: Rapid spread of the technology and the printing of the Gutenberg Bible
  • Trend for translating the Bible into vernacular languages during the years following the printing press’s invention
  • Luther’s own translation of the Bible during the Reformation
  • Consequence: The large-scale effects the Reformation would have on religion and politics
  • Summarize the history described
  • Stress the significance of the printing press to the events of this period

Essays with two or more main subjects are often structured around comparing and contrasting . For example, a literary analysis essay might compare two different texts, and an argumentative essay might compare the strengths of different arguments.

There are two main ways of structuring a compare-and-contrast essay: the alternating method, and the block method.

Alternating

In the alternating method, each paragraph compares your subjects in terms of a specific point of comparison. These points of comparison are therefore what defines each paragraph.

The tabs below show a general template for this structure, and a specific example for an essay comparing and contrasting distance learning with traditional classroom learning.

  • Synthesis of arguments
  • Topical relevance of distance learning in lockdown
  • Increasing prevalence of distance learning over the last decade
  • Thesis statement: While distance learning has certain advantages, it introduces multiple new accessibility issues that must be addressed for it to be as effective as classroom learning
  • Classroom learning: Ease of identifying difficulties and privately discussing them
  • Distance learning: Difficulty of noticing and unobtrusively helping
  • Classroom learning: Difficulties accessing the classroom (disability, distance travelled from home)
  • Distance learning: Difficulties with online work (lack of tech literacy, unreliable connection, distractions)
  • Classroom learning: Tends to encourage personal engagement among students and with teacher, more relaxed social environment
  • Distance learning: Greater ability to reach out to teacher privately
  • Sum up, emphasize that distance learning introduces more difficulties than it solves
  • Stress the importance of addressing issues with distance learning as it becomes increasingly common
  • Distance learning may prove to be the future, but it still has a long way to go

In the block method, each subject is covered all in one go, potentially across multiple paragraphs. For example, you might write two paragraphs about your first subject and then two about your second subject, making comparisons back to the first.

The tabs again show a general template, followed by another essay on distance learning, this time with the body structured in blocks.

  • Point 1 (compare)
  • Point 2 (compare)
  • Point 3 (compare)
  • Point 4 (compare)
  • Advantages: Flexibility, accessibility
  • Disadvantages: Discomfort, challenges for those with poor internet or tech literacy
  • Advantages: Potential for teacher to discuss issues with a student in a separate private call
  • Disadvantages: Difficulty of identifying struggling students and aiding them unobtrusively, lack of personal interaction among students
  • Advantages: More accessible to those with low tech literacy, equality of all sharing one learning environment
  • Disadvantages: Students must live close enough to attend, commutes may vary, classrooms not always accessible for disabled students
  • Advantages: Ease of picking up on signs a student is struggling, more personal interaction among students
  • Disadvantages: May be harder for students to approach teacher privately in person to raise issues

An essay that concerns a specific problem (practical or theoretical) may be structured according to the problems-methods-solutions approach.

This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution.

The tabs below show a template for this structure and an example outline for an essay about the problem of fake news.

  • Introduce the problem
  • Provide background
  • Describe your approach to solving it
  • Define the problem precisely
  • Describe why it’s important
  • Indicate previous approaches to the problem
  • Present your new approach, and why it’s better
  • Apply the new method or theory to the problem
  • Indicate the solution you arrive at by doing so
  • Assess (potential or actual) effectiveness of solution
  • Describe the implications
  • Problem: The growth of “fake news” online
  • Prevalence of polarized/conspiracy-focused news sources online
  • Thesis statement: Rather than attempting to stamp out online fake news through social media moderation, an effective approach to combating it must work with educational institutions to improve media literacy
  • Definition: Deliberate disinformation designed to spread virally online
  • Popularization of the term, growth of the phenomenon
  • Previous approaches: Labeling and moderation on social media platforms
  • Critique: This approach feeds conspiracies; the real solution is to improve media literacy so users can better identify fake news
  • Greater emphasis should be placed on media literacy education in schools
  • This allows people to assess news sources independently, rather than just being told which ones to trust
  • This is a long-term solution but could be highly effective
  • It would require significant organization and investment, but would equip people to judge news sources more effectively
  • Rather than trying to contain the spread of fake news, we must teach the next generation not to fall for it

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

  • Academic style
  • Vague sentences
  • Style consistency

See an example

difficulty in writing essays

Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows.  It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas.

The essay overview

In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section.

The overview allows the reader to immediately understand what will be covered in the essay and in what order. Though it describes what  comes later in the text, it is generally written in the present tense . The following example is from a literary analysis essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

Transitions

Transition words and phrases are used throughout all good essays to link together different ideas. They help guide the reader through your text, and an essay that uses them effectively will be much easier to follow.

Various different relationships can be expressed by transition words, as shown in this example.

Because Hitler failed to respond to the British ultimatum, France and the UK declared war on Germany. Although it was an outcome the Allies had hoped to avoid, they were prepared to back up their ultimatum in order to combat the existential threat posed by the Third Reich.

Transition sentences may be included to transition between different paragraphs or sections of an essay. A good transition sentence moves the reader on to the next topic while indicating how it relates to the previous one.

… Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others.

However , considering the issue of personal interaction among students presents a different picture.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

  • Ad hominem fallacy
  • Post hoc fallacy
  • Appeal to authority fallacy
  • False cause fallacy
  • Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

  • Choosing Essay Topic
  • Write a College Essay
  • Write a Diversity Essay
  • College Essay Format & Structure
  • Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

 (AI) Tools

  • Grammar Checker
  • Paraphrasing Tool
  • Text Summarizer
  • AI Detector
  • Plagiarism Checker
  • Citation Generator

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to.

The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

  • The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
  • The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Structure an Essay | Tips & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved September 11, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/essay-structure/

Is this article helpful?

Jack Caulfield

Jack Caulfield

Other students also liked, comparing and contrasting in an essay | tips & examples, how to write the body of an essay | drafting & redrafting, transition sentences | tips & examples for clear writing, what is your plagiarism score.

The Classroom | Empowering Students in Their College Journey

Problems That Students Encounter With Essay Writing

Kori Morgan

How to Write a 3,000 Word Essay

There's nothing more frustrating than staring at a blank piece of paper or computer screen. But that is often the reality when starting an essay. Whether it's a narrative, a persuasive piece or a research paper, writing an essay is often quite challenging. The writing process as a whole is a long road of false starts and lengthy revisions. Not to mention dodging the bullet of writer's block and plagiarism. Correctly citing sources, writing a thesis statement and elaborating on ideas are a few common problems you may face. Knowing these pitfalls can help you remedy the situation as you complete your essay.

Getting Started

Difficulty starting an essay is often one of the first problems you may run into. Typically, this happens if you skip the pre-writing step. You can save time by first identifying the purpose of your essay, then brainstorming points you might make to achieve that goal. Brainstorming works best if you don't censor your thoughts; write down every idea you think of, even if you are certain it won't end up in the essay. Then, you can take this material and find the most important points to address.

Thesis Statements

A thesis statement is a sentence, usually located at the end of the first or second paragraph, that explains the essay's main point. Without a clear thesis statement, it can be more difficult to structure and organize your ideas. One good tactic is to draft your thesis statement before you begin writing the body of the essay, then show it to teachers and fellow students for suggestions on how to make it more specific.

Voice and Audience

Because academic writing requires an objective, third-person voice that fits the formality of an essay, you may struggle with omitting slang, colloquialisms and everyday speech patterns. Conversely, you may feel the need to use big words and complex language in order to sound "smarter." The fact is: good writing is written to express, not impress. You can accomplish good writing by selecting the clearest, most effective language within your vocabulary that will best fit the topic and will be best understood by your target audience.

Fear of Failure

If you struggle with insecurities about your writing abilities, you're not alone. It's okay to be apprehensive about writing, especially if you've had some negative experiences in the past. The first draft will never be perfect. Accepting that it is merely a starting point will help you gain confidence in the writing process. Simply getting through the first draft is often enough to lift your confidence level. Expressing your insecurities to your instructor can also increase your confidence; teachers want to see you succeed and will most likely be eager to offer encouragement.

Citing Sources

Documenting sources through in-text citations and works cited pages is an important convention of academic writing. Unfortunately, confusion about how to properly cite these references can result in plagiarism. Because most universities punish plagiarism regardless of intent, even one mistake citing a source can be considered a violation. You can avoid plagiarism by carefully documenting sources as you do research. This gives you time to review the correct way to directly quote and paraphrase sources.

Related Articles

What Does Sentence Structure Mean?

What Does Sentence Structure Mean?

How to Write an Essay on Overcoming Adversity

How to Write an Essay on Overcoming Adversity

Difference Between College-Level and Casual Writing?

Difference Between College-Level and Casual Writing?

How to Write a One Page Essay

How to Write a One Page Essay

How to Write an Anecdotal Essay

How to Write an Anecdotal Essay

Basic Elements of Effective Writing

Basic Elements of Effective Writing

How to Write a Thesis & Introduction for a Critical Reflection Essay

How to Write a Thesis & Introduction for a Critical Reflection Essay

How to Start an Introduction When Writing an Essay About Poetry

How to Start an Introduction When Writing an Essay About Poetry

  • Bright Hub Education: How to Write a Thesis Statement
  • PBS: Misunderstood Minds: Writing Difficulties
  • Purdue Online Writing Lab: Prewriting
  • Purdue Online Writing Lab: Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block
  • The University of North Carolina Writing Center: Thesis Statements

Kori Morgan holds a Bachelor of Arts in professional writing and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and has been crafting online and print educational materials since 2006. She taught creative writing and composition at West Virginia University and the University of Akron and her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals.

Eberly Center

Teaching excellence & educational innovation, why are students coming into college poorly prepared to write.

Writing is a complex intellectual task involving many component skills, some of which students may lack completely, some of which they may have only partially mastered. These skills involve, among other things:

  • Reading comprehension
  • Analytical skills
  • writing mechanics: grammar, sentence structure, spelling, etc.
  • planning a writing strategy
  • communicating ideas clearly and concisely
  • constructing a reasoned, demonstrable argument
  • effectively marshaling evidence and using sources appropriately
  • organizing ideas effectively

When students lack skills in these areas, their writing may be unsatisfactory in multiple ways – from poor grammar and syntax to unclear organization to weak reasoning and arguments. Complicating matters is the fact that many students’ reading skills are also poor. For example, if they cannot recognize the main point of an argument in their reading, they obviously cannot respond to this point in their writing. In addition, students often lack the meta-cognitive skills to recognize the areas in which their prior knowledge and skills are insufficient – and thus which skills they need to work to improve.

During their high school careers, most of our students were not writing with the frequency we might expect, nor were they doing the types of writing that we will require of them in their college years. In a study at George Washington University (2007), first-year undergraduates reported that the most frequently assigned high school writing tasks required them to offer and support opinions, with a secondary emphasis on summarizing and synthesizing information. Students were rarely required to criticize an argument, define a problem and propose a solution, shape their writing to meet their readers’ needs, or revise based on feedback. Furthermore, according to a survey conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education (2006), 61% of high school teachers said their students have never written a paper that was more than five pages. As a result, students have not had enough practice to develop a set of sophisticated writing skills. When students lack skills in these areas, their writing may be unsatisfactory in multiple ways – from poor grammar and syntax to unclear organization to weak reasoning and arguments.

Moreover, students may have learned bad habits in high school that they need to un-learn. For example, some students were taught in high school to avoid the first person and thus may use awkward grammatical constructions to avoid it rather than learn the contexts when its use is appropriate.

Recognition of students’ prior experience with writing and the complex nature of writing can help us to more effectively design assignments and provide support as students continue to hone their skills.

creative commons image

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

  • We're Hiring!
  • Help Center

paper cover thumbnail

Exploring University Students’ Difficulties in Writing English Academic Essay

Profile image of Naniana N I M R O D Benu

AL-ISHLAH: Jurnal Pendidikan

Academic wiring is one of the essential skills in academic writing, and it is vital to support students' self-development through opinion writing, grant essay writing and others. This study explores students' difficulties in writing English academic essays and the dominant challenges by using a mix-method approach. The qualitative is used to collect data, while the quantitative is used to find the difficulty percentage—the data analysis uses indicators from Brown (1999). The sample of this study was 30 students in the fifth semester of the English Education Study Program at Universitas Kristen Artha Wacana. The results showed that students still experienced serious difficulties in four aspects of academic writing; content, organization, discourse and mechanics. The most dominant difficulties (97%) were found in; 1) thesis statement; 2) related ideas; 3) development of ideas; and 4) use of description/cause and effect, comparison/contrast; 5) effective introduction; 6) topic ...

Related Papers

European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching

Bui Thi Thu Trang

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties faced by English-majored students in writing academic essays. To collect the data for the investigation, the sample involved was twenty-seven English-majored students who have been studying English as their specialization at a public university in Vietnam. The instruments of this study conducted a mix-method as a qualitative and quantitative approach. To achieve the purpose of this study, the questionnaire was administered as the quantitative data collection and the semi-structured interview as the qualitative data collection. Then, five of the total participants were randomly interviewed to gain insight ideas of the difficulties that they face when writing academic essays in their writing course. The results of this study demonstrated that the majority of students had obstacles related to insufficient linguistic knowledge namely, lexicon-grammar, vocabulary, and the structure of sentences. The findings from the interview...

difficulty in writing essays

English Language Teaching Educational Journal

Suhaimah Bulqiyah

This study is primarily designed for investigating the tertiary students’ perspectives on the writing difficulties of essays. This study was conducted in explanatory research in which quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from the web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interview, then analyzed separately. 21 undergraduate students have enrolled in the survey and 6 of them were invited to the interview section. This research reveals tertiary students' problems in essay writing course are categorized into: affective problems which raise from students’ and lecturers’ attitude while teaching and learning Essay Writing Course, cognitive problems that considered as the difficulties in the areas of writing viewpoint, transferring language, and the process of writing, and linguistic problems in the area of lexico-grammar, vocabulary, and the structure of the essay. Due to the findings, those aspects of academic writing should be serious attention for both EFL students and...

Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Languages and Arts (ICLA-2019)

Desvalini Anwar

Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching and Literature

Hikmah Zalifah Putri

International Journal of English and Literature

mulat guadie

Journal of History Culture and Art Research

Hasan Sağlamel

Su-Hie Ting

English Language and Literature Studies

ABDULAMIR ALAMIN

Nur siti Fatimah

There are some demand and facts on English teching and learning that made the research conducted. They are the teaching and learning in the academic writing class, the feedback from lecturers on the students language performance, the students’ weaknesses in writing, the students’ expectation for the materials, and the requirement on publishing scientific articles. The study, then, reveals the students’ needs for academic writing at the English Education Department of Ahmad Dahlan University and their problems in academic writing. The aspects investigated were teaching materials, learning activities, skills and learning resources. The data were obtained by a questionnaire to describe whether the stated items very interesting/very important – not very interesting/not very important. The number of population is 370. Krejcie and Morgan table was referred for the sample. An open question was responded to enable respondents to share more feedback on their academic writing skills and probl...

Listyani Listyani

Writing is one of the most difficult skills in learning English as a Second Language (ESL) or English Foreign Language (EFL). Many language learners encountered difficulties from the writing process. At the tertiary level, students are required to produce academic essays, which are difficult and may frustrate students. The purpose of this study was to analyze factors contributing to students’ difficulties in an Academic Writing course based on the students’ perceptions. This study used a qualitative method. The instruments used were open-ended questionnaires and interview protocol. In this study, all the participants’ answers were coded and analyzed descriptively. The participants were 22 students who were taking Academic Writing class for repeaters in Semester I, 2018/2019 academic year, in an English Language Education Program, in a university in Central Java, Indonesia. Questionnaire data were coded and classified by the researcher. In conducting the interview, data were audio-re...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

asep nurjamin

e-Journal of ELTS (English Language Teaching Society)

mukrim Tamrin

Voices of English Language Education Society

lalu ilham maryadi

Journal of General Education and Humanities

Journal of General Education and Humanities (GEHU)

Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics , Ariyanti Ariyanti

Ariyanti Ariyanti

Juan Ayarza

Marcus Gee-Whai Kho

English Language Teaching

HIND A Alfadda

Md. S H A M I M H O S S A I N Biswas

Nevin Farida

Journal of English Language and Literature

Nima Wangchuk

Halima Al-Badwawi

Gergana Gerova

Academic writing difficulties of ESL learners

Ibtisam AlBadi

Kibiwott P Kurgatt

Ashik Elahi

World Journal of English Language

Dr. Jaypee R . Lopres , Marciano C. Placencia Jr. , Grace M. Tidalgo

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mira M Alameddine

RELATED TOPICS

  •   We're Hiring!
  •   Help Center
  • Find new research papers in:
  • Health Sciences
  • Earth Sciences
  • Cognitive Science
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science
  • Academia ©2024
  • How it works

researchprospect post subheader

Why Students Struggle With Essay Writing

Published by Alaxendra Bets at August 19th, 2021 , Revised On August 23, 2023

Writing comes naturally for some of us. Students with good essay writing skills have words flow into  sentences , sentences,  paragraphs , and paragraphs into an essay  or  dissertation . However, for many students, writing is tedious work they want to avoid.

If you are struggling with  essay  or  dissertation writing , rest assured you are not the only student facing this problem. But it’s important to understand the reasons for your essay, coursework, exams, or dissertation writing failures to put your academic life back on track.

Here, we discuss and attempt to figure out the causes as to why are so many students struggling with essay writing.

In the unfortunate event that you have already failed coursework, dissertation, essay, or exam, we have compiled comprehensive guidelines  on what you could do to improve your situation.

Reasons Why Students Struggle with Essay Writing

Before we shed light on the obscure causes of students finding it hard to deal with essay and  coursework writing , let us look into the more apparent causes. Research studies have confirmed that writing and reading are reciprocal processes. Apart from providing professional writing guidelines to students, we also provide professional writing services , i.e. essay services , coursework writing services and dissertation writing services .

If you read regularly enough, your writing will improve by leaps and bounds. Likewise, your writing improves your reading significantly. Many students apprehend the importance of this relationship as they read complicated transcripts and texts to improve their writing abilities.

But not all students can comprehend this relationship between reading and writing, and eventually, writing becomes a continuous struggle for them. Debbie Lee, in her article published on Educator Community (2017), states that;

“To write, we use many parts of our brain at the same time as well as the kinesthetic process of writing. For many students, especially those with language or fine motor skill delays, the task of writing is challenging.”

Poor Mechanical & Content Skills

In the same article, Debbie argued that students with poor processing and poor content and mechanical skills often struggle with essay writing. The most notable processing skills that many students would often lack include fluent development of ideas, language formulation and ideation, and active working memory.

Content and mechanical skills that are essential for any student to be good at writing are as follows;

  • Expressing ideas
  • Organising ideas
  • Punctuation
  • Capitalisation
  • Basic Spelling & Vocabulary
  • Automatic Letter Formation
  • Clarity of Expression
  • Use of appropriate grammar in essay
  • Different styles of essay writing
  • Flexibility in the writing process
  • Understanding the viewpoint from the text in books
  • Lack of enthusiasm and passion

Want to know what essay structure and style will work best for your assignment?

Problem fixed! We can write any type of essay in any referencing style. We ensure every essay written is beyond your expectations.

essay structure and style

When you consider all of the above underlying skills that students should master to become proficient writers, you can understand how frustrating it can be. Perhaps, it also explains why most students prefer not to write their papers and  get experienced writers to write .

No Right Answers When You Are Inexperienced

Unable to find what the right answer to a particular  problem question is? Many students end up scratching their heads around the basic question they must answer as part of their essay  or  dissertation  assignment.

While every other skill student learns the right way to do it, it can be hard to figure out the correct way to write an essay  because most of us approach writing naturally and emotionally.

But let it be clearly stated here that the right or correct way of writing an essay does exist if your supervisor or tutor is not teaching the  essay writing structures for different types of essays , dissertations, and research papers, you are not getting the help you deserve, and the confidence needed to jump into an assignment writing task.

To produce a high-quality essay paper, you need to learn to be good at brainstorming, writing the essay outline, and developing the rough draft and the final copy because that is how you will improve your writing skills.

ResearchProspect provides the tools, and they help students need to have their essays written to the highest possible academic standard.

Have so many questions in mind before writing even a word of your assignment? What is the  question I need to address ? What is the objective of this assignment? Which academic sources should I use as reference material? What should be the structure of the essay ? What abilities and skills will I be graded on? What writing style must I follow?

These questions and many more could swarm around in your mind. Don’t worry, Don’t Panic. Don’t Be Overwhelmed! It’s normal to have so many questions. It’s completely normal to fear failure, especially if you haven’t had much writing experience in your previous academic years.

If you haven’t been taught about the writing and structuring processes (yes, a range of writing structures and styles exist), it can be pretty hard to get going. The fear of failure will stay with students if they do not provide help on creative writing rules and the  different types of essay writing structures .

For example, this is an article on how you structure a dissertation paper.

Also read: Sociology Essay Writing Service .

Calculate your Plagiarism Score

Compare your paper against millions of publications and billions of web pages.

  • The most advanced plagiarism tool
  • Detect plagiarism and generate similarity report
  • Largest database

Calculate your Plagiarism Score - ResearchProspect

Helping Students Who Struggle with Essay Writing

The world we are living in is changing rapidly. With texts, tweets, posts, snaps, and Insta around us, it’s no wonder students don’t want to get in struggle with writing. This is particularly frustrating for teachers and students alike, as students scrap to express their thoughts and views clearly in the traditional fashion their schools expect them to.

But the world of academia has remained pretty much unchanged over centuries, with universities expecting students to become good researchers and capable writers . We will never replace essays , assignments, research , dissertation , and analysis with tweets, Instagram posts, and Facebook stories in universities.

Your teachers will not be delighted with you if you eagerly indulge in social media postings but struggle with basic essay writing tasks. A study conducted by ResearchProspect concluded that as many as 3 of every 5 students lack proficiency in writing – a number that cannot be ignored.

Our Essay Writers

ResearchProspect writers  know the writing rules and are proficient in all types of writing structures and styles.

Our essay writers understand that essays aren’t going anywhere, and so they have mastered the art of presenting their expression, arguments, and analysis through their writing. They love sentence diagrams and grammar drills because it is their job to do so.

Contact us via telecom, email, or mail to discuss anything regarding your essay. Our staff is always there to help!

Have a last-minute essay to finish? Don’t panic! Please fill out  our online order form  and get your essay paper delivered to your email address promptly. Any subject, any deadline, any complexity – we promise 100% plagiarism free and 100% confidential service.

The essay writing tips in this blog post aim to help readers establish why they struggle to write a first-class essay or dissertation paper that meets academic expectations. The post directly aims to help students experiencing writing difficulties in achieving the grade they desire despite their writing limitations.

View some  essay writing samples  here!

Learn  how to write an essay with a bang!

Helping Students Succeed Since 2011!

ResearchProspect is the UK registered essay writing website helping students across the globe since 2011. Our writers hold master’s to Ph.D. degrees from reputed educational institutes. No matter how urgent or complex your requirements are, our services have helped thousands of students over the years at a time when they needed them the most. So stop struggling with essay writing and get essay writing help from our professional essay writers . View our essay services here  or view our  full range of services here.

How many students struggle with essay writing.

Many students face challenges with essay writing due to various factors such as lack of effective strategies, time management issues, language barriers, and unfamiliarity with academic conventions. Support and guidance can help mitigate these struggles.

You May Also Like

What are topic sentences? In academic writing they briefly describe what a paragprah will explore. Here is all you need to know about topic sentences.

An essay outline – an underrated part of essay writing – brings forth the structure for the writers as they initiate the essay drafting process.

The length of an academic essay depends on your level and the nature of subject. If you are unsure how long is an essay then this article will guide you.

USEFUL LINKS

LEARNING RESOURCES

researchprospect-reviews-trust-site

COMPANY DETAILS

Research-Prospect-Writing-Service

  • How It Works

Are you seeking one-on-one college counseling and/or essay support? Limited spots are now available. Click here to learn more.

How to Write the Overcoming Challenges Essay + Example

April 17, 2023

At some point, most college-bound students are tasked with writing an overcoming challenges essay. The prompt crops up in various forms, as a supplemental short essay about overcoming a challenge, and in as the main essay itself.

Some students may feel inclined to write about a dramatic experience (say, spotting a grizzly bear outside the kitchen window), mistaking the drama of the moment for a significant challenge. Others may get to work, only to realize they don’t have much to say about the time they got a C in P.E. (that dreaded frisbee unit). Students who’ve overcome unspeakable difficulties, like a death in the family, may find that reducing the tragedy to 650 words feels insufficient, or worse—as if they’re attempting to profit from suffering. One or two students may stare down the blank computer screen as their entire existence shrinks to the size of a 12-point font. Should they write about the challenge of writing about the challenge of writing an overcoming challenges essay??

Don’t worry. Focusing first on how to tackle the essay will help any student decide what they should write about. In fact, how the essay is written will also prove more influential than the challenge itself in determining the strength of the essay.

Decoding the Prompt

Let’s take a look at the overcoming challenges essay question included among the seven 2023-24 Common App Essay Prompts :

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Notice how the prompt places an immediate emphasis on the “lessons we take,” rather than on the obstacles themselves, or any potential success. This is because the challenge itself often says less about the student than the way the student chose to tackle it, or the way they now reflect on it. In other words, obstacles often come at us randomly; it’s our personal response to the circumstances which reveals something of who we are.

While studying a prompt for clues, it’s helpful to think from the perspective of the admissions officer (the essay reader). What can they glean from an overcoming challenges essay?  A lot, actually. A thoughtfully written essay may tell them about the student’s personality, as well as things like problem-solving techniques, rigor, persistence, creativity, and courage. These insights can work to prove to the admissions officers that the student has what it takes to overcome challenges in college, too. These future challenges may range from the inevitable academic obstacles that occur with heavy courseloads, to social and moral challenges that arise as college students form their adult identities.

Picking Your Topic: A Brainstorming Activity

With the question of identity in mind, let’s now approach the overcoming challenges essay backwards, by brainstorming the final message the student wants it to contain.

For this three-part exercise, the student will first set a five-minute timer. With the clock ticking, they’ll jot down character traits, values, and any descriptive words or terms that say something about who they are. If stumped, change perspective. The student may imagine what their best friends, parents, coaches and siblings would say. (For example, tenacious , logical , scientific , peacemaker .) Even mild criticism can be helpful, as long as it’s not cruel. While a student’s brother may call him a “perfectionist,” perhaps this word will trigger other relevant words, like persistent and detail-oriented.

Next, the student will set the timer for another five minutes, pull out a second sheet of paper, and jot down any challenges, obstacles, setbacks, failures, and achievements that come to mind. Don’t hold back here or overanalyze. (For example: underdog at state swim meet , getting lost on the family hike , petitioning for a school compost system …)

Lastly, the student will place the two pages side by side, and draw lines between the items on the list wherever connections occur. One student may draw lines between persistent , curious , gamer , passionate about electronics , and saved the day during the power outage. Another set of lines might connect caring, observant, creative thinker , and helped sister leave abusive cult . Whatever ideas are sparked here, the goal is to identify which challenges will demonstrate something essential about the student to an admissions officer.

Topics to Avoid

The internet is rife with advice on what not to write when writing an overcoming challenges essay. Yet this advice can be confusing, or downright hypocritical. For instance, some may advise against writing about death. Yet a student who lost their father at an early age may be capable of writing a poignant essay about their search for an alternative father figure, and how they found one in their soccer coach.

I suggest avoiding guides on what not to write until after the student has done a thorough round of brainstorming. Otherwise, they risk censoring themselves too early, and may reject a promising idea. Once they’ve narrowed down their list to three ideas or less, they may want to check our guide on College Application Essay Topics to Avoid .

The reason why certain types of overcoming challenges essays miss the mark is that they emphasize the wrong aspect of the experience, which turns the topic into a cliché. While it’s generally a good idea to avoid trivial topics (again, that C in P.E.), any topic has the potential to be compelling, if it’s animated through personal opinions, insight, and description. Details bring an experience to life. Structure and reflection make an essay convincing. In other words, how the story is told will determine whether or not the topic is worth writing about.

So, rather than avoid specific topics, consider avoiding these scenarios: if you can’t show the essay to your best friend or grandmother, it’s probably not ready to show a college admissions officer. If you must write a clichéd topic, don’t choose a typical structure.

Techniques to Hone

Techniques that animate an overcoming challenges essay are the same ones used in storytelling. Think setting, visuals, sounds, dialogue, physical sensations, and feelings. “Showing” instead of “telling.” Crafting the essay with these inner and external details will bring the challenge to life, and catch the reader’s attention.

Another technique which works well when trying to avoid the trappings of cliché involve subverting the reader’s expectations. In storytelling terms, this is a plot twist. The student who got a C in P.E. may actually have a stellar essay on their hands, if they can break away from the “bad grade” trope (working harder to improve their grade). Perhaps this student’s story is actually about how, while sitting on the bleachers and not participating in the game, they found themselves watching the frisbee spin through the air, and realized they had a deep interest in the movement of astronomical bodies.

Some of the strongest overcoming challenges essays demonstrate what students have learned about themselves, rather than what they’ve learned about the obstacle they confronted. These essays may show how the student has come to see themselves differently, or how they’ve decided to change, thanks to the challenge they faced. These essays work because the reflection is natural and even profound, based on the student’s self-awareness.

Writing the Overcoming Challenges Essay, or Drafts, Drafts, Drafts

Everyone writes differently, some by outlining (never a bad idea), some by free-styling (good for capturing sensations and memories), some by lighting a candle—but don’t procrastinate too much. The only “must” is to revise. After a first draft, the student should begin to look for several things:

1) Clarity and Detail. Is the challenge recounted with precision? Is it personal?

2) Structure. Consider mapping the structure, to visualize it better. Does the structure suit the story? Can it be changed for clarity, or to keep the reader more engaged?

3) Cliché. Identify words, sentences, and ideas that are dull or repetitive. Mark them up, and in the next draft, find ways to rewrite, subvert, condense, and delete.

4) Lesson Learned. Has the student reflected adequately on the lesson they learned from overcoming a challenge? To add more reflection, students might ask themselves what they have felt and thought about the experience since. Would they do something differently, if faced with the same challenge? Has their understanding of the experience evolved over time?

By the final draft, the experience and the reflection should feel equally weighted. To get there, it may take five or six drafts.

Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample

The Happiness Hotline

First there were reports. Then we were told to stop socializing, go inside, wait. Covid struck. Everyone knows what ensued. It probably looked different from where we were all (separately) standing, even though we faced the same thing. Those first weeks, I stood at my bedroom window. It was dark by early evening in Oregon. The weirdest part—after the fact that we were collectively sharing the loneliest experience of our lives—was the silence.

… it was really quiet.

So quiet, I could hear my mom sigh downstairs. (So quiet, I couldn’t remember if I’d hummed aloud, or if I’d just heard myself in my head.) When I looked out the window, I could hear the stoplight at the end of our street. Green to yellow. Click.

Before going on, you should know three things. First, this is not a Covid essay. This is about melancholy, and the “sadness that has taken on lightness,” to quote Italo Calvino. Second, from my bedroom window, I can see down a row of oak trees, past the hospital, to my friend Carlo’s house. Third, Carlo is a jazz singer. Maybe that sounds pretentious, a freshman kid being a jazz singer, but that’s Carlo, and I wouldn’t be me without Carlo being Carlo. He’s someone who appreciates the unhinged rhythm of a Charlie Parker tune. He’s an extrovert who can bring introverts like me out of my shell. He convinced me to learn trombone, and together we riff in the after-school jazz club.

In the first month of the pandemic, we called each other nightly to talk rap albums, school stuff. At Carlo’s house, he could hear a white-crowned sparrow. He could also hear his parents talking numbers behind the bathroom door. The death toll was mounting. The cost of living was going up too. As the month wore on, I began to hear something else in our calls, in the way Carlo paused, or forgot what he was saying. Carlo was scared. He felt sad, isolated, and without his bright energy, I too, felt utterly alone.

Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample (Continued)

After some dark days, I realized that to help ourselves we needed to help others. It was pretty obvious the more I thought about it. People are social creatures, supposedly, even introverts. Maybe our neighbors needed to remember the noisiness of life.

We built a happiness hotline. That sounds fancy, though essentially, we provided three-way calls on my parents’ landline. The harder part involved making flyers and putting them up around town, in places people were still going. Grocery stores, the post office. We made a TikTok account, and then—the phone rang. Our first caller.

For months, if you called in, you could talk to us about your days in lockdown. People went really deep about the meaning of life, and we had to learn on the spot how to respond. I’d become a journalist and a therapist before becoming a sophomore. After chatting, the caller would request a song, and if we knew how to play it, we would. If not, we improvised.

Now we’re seniors in high school. Carlo visits the hospital with band members. As for myself, I’ve been working on a community music book, compiling our callers’ favorite tunes. I don’t want to forget how important it felt to make these connections. Our callers taught me that loneliness is a bit like a virus, a bit like a song. Even when it stops it can come back to haunt you, as a new variant or an old refrain. Still, sadness can take on lightness when voices call through the dark: sparrows, friends, strangers. I learned I’m good at listening into the silence. Listening isn’t only a passive stance, but an open line of receiving.

Analysis of the Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample

This student uses their musical passion to infuse the essay with vivid detail. There’s a focus on sound throughout, from the bird to the stoplight. Then there are the callers, and the clever way the student conceived of breaking through the silence. The narrator’s voice sharpens the piece further, elevating a clichéd Covid essay to a personal story of self-discovery.

In fact, the essay briefly breaks with structure to tell the reader that this is not a Covid essay. Although techniques like this should be used sparingly, it works here by grabbing the reader’s attention. It also allows the student to organize their thoughts on the page, before moving the plot along.

Outwardly, the student is overcoming the challenge of loneliness in a time of quarantine. Yet there seems to be an inner, unspoken challenge as well, that of coming to terms with the student’s introverted personality. The essay’s reflection occurs in the final paragraph, making the essay experience-heavy. However, clues woven throughout point to the reflection that will come. Details like the Italo Calvino quote hint at the later understanding of how to alleviate loneliness. While some readers might prefer more development, the various themes are threaded throughout, which makes for a satisfying ending.

A Last Word on the Short Essay About Overcoming Challenges

The short essay about overcoming a challenge requires the same steps as a longer one. To write it, follow the same brainstorming activity, then focus more on condensing and summarizing the experience. Students who’ve already written a longer overcoming challenges essay can approach the short essay about overcoming a challenge by streamlining. Instead of deleting all the extra bits, keep two interesting details that will flavor the essay with something memorable and unique.

  • College Essay

Kaylen Baker

With a BA in Literary Studies from Middlebury College, an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and a Master’s in Translation from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Kaylen has been working with students on their writing for over five years. Previously, Kaylen taught a fiction course for high school students as part of Columbia Artists/Teachers, and served as an English Language Assistant for the French National Department of Education. Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others.

  • 2-Year Colleges
  • ADHD/LD/Autism/Executive Functioning
  • Application Strategies
  • Best Colleges by Major
  • Best Colleges by State
  • Big Picture
  • Career & Personality Assessment
  • College Search/Knowledge
  • College Success
  • Costs & Financial Aid
  • Data Visualizations
  • Dental School Admissions
  • Extracurricular Activities
  • General Knowledge
  • Graduate School Admissions
  • High School Success
  • High Schools
  • Homeschool Resources
  • Law School Admissions
  • Medical School Admissions
  • Navigating the Admissions Process
  • Online Learning
  • Outdoor Adventure
  • Private High School Spotlight
  • Research Programs
  • Summer Program Spotlight
  • Summer Programs
  • Teacher Tools
  • Test Prep Provider Spotlight

“Innovative and invaluable…use this book as your college lifeline.”

— Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Nationally Recognized College Expert

College Planning in Your Inbox

Join our information-packed monthly newsletter.

Become a Writer Today

Essays About Challenges: Top 11 Examples and Prompts

We come across many challenges we must endure throughout life. If you want to write essays about challenges, start by reading some of our top essay examples.

Everyone has had to deal with obstacles or challenges at some point. Some people can overcome hurdles with confidence and bravery, while many others have difficulty trying to face them. However, the challenges we have faced are, without a doubt, a central part of who we are today. Overcoming challenges can make you a better person. The lessons you learn from them are essential for future success, and as with all other experiences, these challenges help form you into the person you are today. They can also be exciting to some, as they test your skills and capabilities. 

If you are writing essays about challenges, look at our featured essay examples below. 

1. Personal Challenges by Delores Goodwin

2. life’s struggles make us stronger – and happier – if we let them by helen g. rousseau, 3. how to overcome your challenges with openness and courage by tony fahkry.

  • 4.  ​​Life: full of challenges by Vaibhav Jain

5. Challenges Facing Public Schools by Lewis Rios

1. challenges i have faced, 2. lessons learned from challenges, 3. how to change your attitude towards challenge, 4. helping others overcome challenges and adversity, 5. challenges faced in your home country, 6. challenges the world currently faces.

“A challenge will tell an individual more about themselves than anything else in life. Am I a quitter? How much adversity can I take? How badly do I want this? What is my breaking point? Where does my loyalty end? Challenge can ask us hundreds of questions and forces us to answer honestly. Challenges end the talk and make one walk the walk. Create challenges for yourself, it will cause you to see who you really are.”

Challenges are a necessity of life despite the hardship and stress they come with, and Goodwin discusses this in her essay. A great accomplishment cannot be made without a challenge. Without challenges, one becomes complacent, so we must keep facing challenges to keep us mentally and physically strong. Goodwin encourages readers to challenge themselves more to help them delve deeper into who they are. For more, check out these essays about life challenges .

“Every human being has been in this place at one time or another. Sometimes depression can make it more difficult to get away from the edge but any spark of light or encouragement should be used to seek help physically, emotionally or spiritually. When we face a crisis, it effects the all of who we are and thus must be met with our total beings.”

Rousseau reflects on overcoming adversity, recalling when she met with two former coworkers. They talked about their lives, families, and struggles during lunch. They could bond over their shared positive, confident mindset, allowing them to overcome challenges. Rousseau clarifies that if you put your mind to it, you can overcome anything and closes her essay with two of her poems about resilience. 

“Instead of running away from your emotions, lean into them and experience them fully. This transforms your fears and anxiety into empowering emotions. Let go of what you believe life owes you. It owes you nothing since you are the expression of life. Rise to your challenges armed with courage and an open mind. Remain confident that your experiences are serving your personal growth.”

Fahkry explains how to face challenges without stress and suffering. He reminds us that, first of all, we have free will, so we do not have to feel the way we do if we put our minds to it. We cannot change our reality once it is already there, so feeling sad or angry for prolonged periods is useless. If we change our mindsets for the better, we can overcome all adversity. Our fear and anxiety can be turned into confidence, empowerment, and courage. Check out these essays about competition .

4.  ​​ Life: full of challenges by Vaibhav Jain

“A person who has not encountered difficulties in life can never achieve success. Difficulties test the courage, patience, perseverance, and true character of a human being. Adversity and hardships make a person strong and ready to face the challenges of life with equanimity. There is no doubt that there can be no gain without pain. It is only when one toils and sweats it out that success is nourished and sustained.”

In his short essay, Jain writes about the wonders of life as well as its challenges. He likens life to a bed of roses, complete with painful thorns. In general, life is good, but adversity and challenges are prevalent. These two concepts seem different, but one cannot exist without the other. As with the previous essays, Jain explains that challenges make us stronger and help us feel successful and relieved: “there can be no gain without pain.” Without challenges, we take the better parts of life for granted; if we accept and overcome our struggles, we can live life to the fullest.

“In conclusion, public educational institutions experience many challenges ranging from budgetary constraints, student violence and low parental involvement. Much research needs to be done to establish why these problems exist in the first place and lasting solutions for these institutions.”

Rios’ essay explores challenges in an education system; he proposes research on the constraints of the U.S. public school system. Public schools face several economic and social challenges, such as insufficient funding and lack of parental involvement due to many students’ working-class backgrounds. Rios wishes for more research on these problems and possible solutions. 

Writing Prompts On Essays about Challenges

In this essay, write about a challenge you previously encountered and how you dealt with it. Provide context by describing the events leading up to it, how it happened, and, most importantly, how you overcame it. Then, describe how you felt after- were you relieved, stressed, or tired? You can also discuss how this experience has affected you today. 

Challenges can teach us a lot about life and the world. Reflect on a challenge you faced previously and what you learned from it, whether positive or negative. As with the previous prompt, feel free to include ways in which the lesson you learned affects you today. 

How can you best handle the challenges you may face? Describe the ideal attitude one would need to overcome complex challenges. For example, what qualities would you need to have- courage, prudence, or sensibility? Regardless of what type of attitude you choose to write about, your essay will be substantive if you can adequately support your argument. 

Essays about Challenges: Helping others overcome challenges and adversity

In your essay, you can write about a time you were able to help someone facing a challenge. Who did you help- a friend, family member, or someone else? Then, write about how you helped them, how it made you feel, and how it has impacted your life. 

Research one particular challenge your country is facing today, whether that be an economic, social, or political issue. Discuss how this challenge occurred and what began the difficulties. If applicable, include multiple viewpoints on the issue and include information from credible sources. You can also propose possible solutions to this issue. 

Humanity faces challenges on a massive scale, from a climate change crisis to possible third world war to a global pandemic. Choose one challenge the world faces today and write your essay about it. As with the previous prompt, write about the causes and responses to this challenge, and feel free to propose a solution. 

Check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays .

ProWritingAid is one of our top grammar checkers. Find out why in this ProWritingAid review .

The full article is available below.

You will also receive a follow-up email containing a link so you can come back to it later.

8 Top Law School Final Exam Tips

Last Updated: Aug 28, 2024

article image

What to expect from your law school final exams

A full semester of taking copious notes, reading, briefing, outlining, classroom discussions, and surviving the Socratic Method culminates in one final act. Writing law school final exams.

Most professors give essay exams for law school finals. Some are single-topic, short-answer questions. Others can go on for pages — known as issue-spotter exams. Some are taken in class, while others are take-home, allowing students more than the traditional amount of time to answer the essay questions. There are open-book and closed-book exams. And there are those few professors who create multiple-choice exams or (in rare cases) give oral exams.

Whatever type of exam your professor chooses to administer, you will be tested on your ability to analyze and resolve legal problems and demonstrate your grasp of the materials. Your course grade will be largely, if not exclusively, based on your final exam performance.

Here are some high-level tips to help you prepare for your law school finals.

Law professor stands in an empty class before law school final exams

Understand your professor preferences

The foundation for success on your law school finals is to know who is grading the exam. Your mission is to make that person’s life easier. Ultimately, different professors prefer different types of answers. Some want extreme detail — every possible interpretation of every possible fact. Some like answers straight to the point within a page count. It’s okay to ask your professor.

It’s a given that all professors expect well-organized, legible answers, no matter how brief or expansive.

Read the facts carefully

Read the entire problem through once rather quickly to get a general understanding. Focus on the question you are being asked to respond to at the end of the problem.

Then, read through the scenario again, slowly and carefully. This time, evaluate every word and phrase to identify all potential issues. Applying the law to the facts presented is critical in any law school exam. And changing the facts even slightly could result in a completely different result.

A law student takes a law school final exam

Answer the question that is being asked

Always keep in mind the specific question you are actually being asked to answer. Although you may receive credit for ancillary information provided in your answer, you will only receive maximum credit if you specifically answer the question that is presented. Therefore, you must determine what role the professor is asking you to assume before answering. Are you the defendant’s attorney, or do you represent the plaintiff? Are you a judge trying to resolve the dispute? It makes a real difference in how you answer.

Attempts to include unrelated material in your answer could backfire if your professor believes you are incapable of ruling out irrelevant information.

Organize your thoughts

Organization is critical to writing a strong essay answer on any law school finals. After all, if the professor cannot follow your analysis, how can they grade it fairly and appropriately?

Before you start writing, chart the issues in the manner in which you will resolve them. Again, make sure the issues are related to the actual question you are being asked to answer. Arrange the issues in the sequence in which you would expect a court to address them (i.e., normally jurisdictional issues first, then liability, then remedies). Capture the points you will discuss in sufficient detail to prompt you to think the problem through to a fair and practical solution.

Complete your analysis and organization before you start writing

You may find that you devote a solid one-fourth of the time allocated to reading, analyzing the problem and organizing your answer. That’s okay. A logical organization and clear expression of ideas will strengthen your answer. This purposeful approach may even bolster an answer that’s somewhat weak.

A law student sits in a classroom with other students while taking a law school final exam

Use the IRAC format for each issue raised

As you begin to write out your answer, we recommend you analyze each dispute using the IRAC method.

First, state the issue in precise legal terms (i.e., “Did the defendant’s mistake in computing his bid prevent the formation of an enforceable contract?”). Be careful to avoid generalizations or oversimplification of the issue.

Next, state the applicable law. Be sure to define the pertinent elements of a rule as well as any terms of art.

Application

Then, apply the rules to the facts using arguments. Avoid the common error of stating a rule and then jumping straight to the conclusion. Your professor will not infer a supporting argument for you — you must spell it out. Remember to use the Issue T you created earlier to remind you to discuss which facts in the fact pattern support (or prevent) application of the rule. Discuss and weigh each fact given and the logical inference to be drawn from it. Be sure to include counterarguments where possible.

Finally, come to a straightforward conclusion on each issue. Make sure you have clearly answered the question asked, and you have not left an issue hanging. If a number of outcomes are possible, discuss the merits of each, but always select one position as your conclusion and state why. In close cases, it is generally best to select the most practical and fair conclusion. Just don’t consider yourself bound by the “general rule” or “majority view” in answering on a law school final exam unless the question clearly calls for such.

Argue both sides of legal issues you spot and remember policy concerns

Once a dispute has been framed and a legal theory has been asserted, identify any problems surrounding the theory’s application as well as arguments that each side can make in support of their position.

Also, if time allows, include just a sentence or two regarding the policy implications of your conclusions. Law is meant to provide order in society and, when imposing laws, you should always predict the impact that they will have.

A female law student researches law school final exam tips at the law library

Take a deep breath and try not to panic

If you find yourself panicking, not understanding the issues presented or not remembering the rules related to such issues, don’t panic. Instead, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then, start working systematically through the information with these tips and do your best on your law school finals.

Unlock the Full Article

Tell us a little about yourself and your goals to display the full article and gain access to more resources relevant to your needs.

Interesting in reading more? Fill out the form to read the full article.

difficulty in writing essays

Struggling with essay writing can stem from various issues such as lack of confidence, insufficient knowledge of the topic, poor writing skills, or even time management problems. Additionally, some students face difficulty due to anxiety or perfectionism, which can hinder their ability to start or complete an essay.

Alternatively, they may have great difficulty in starting a piece of writing. ... While some excellent writers can produce great essays without much advance planning, the majority of struggling writers start writing without an effective plan for organization and structure. They tend to resist the planning process unless it is made a mandatory ...

7 Reasons Why Writing Is So Hard. Here are 7 common challenges you may face while writing, plus action steps to overcome each one. 1. You're anxious or insecure about your writing. Writing requires courage in the obvious ways, like being brave enough to share your work with the world, send it to publishers and reviewers, or read it aloud.

gain theoretical and practical knowledge of English essay writing. However, the data from the lecturer claimed that the majority of the students have encountered serious problems in writing a good English essay (Personal information, October 24th, 2019). Contemporary researches on essay writing difficulties have been mushrooming in many different

Harvard College Writing Center 5 Asking Analytical Questions When you write an essay for a course you are taking, you are being asked not only to create a product (the essay) but, more importantly, to go through a process of thinking more deeply about a question or problem related to the course. By writing about a

1. Choose an original essay structure. If you want your overcoming challenges essay to attract attention, aim to break away from more traditional structures. Most of these essays start by describing an unsuccessful attempt at a goal and then explain the steps the writer took to master the challenge.

Body #1: Most students think writing an essay is tedious because they focus on external rewards. Body #2: Students should instead focus on internal fulfillment when writing an essay. Body #3: Not only will focusing on internal fulfillment allow students to have more fun, it will also result in better essays.

The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...

Difficulty starting an essay is often one of the first problems you may run into. Typically, this happens if you skip the pre-writing step. You can save time by first identifying the purpose of your essay, then brainstorming points you might make to achieve that goal. Brainstorming works best if you don't censor your thoughts; write down every ...

This study is primarily designed for investigating the tertiary students' perspectives on the writing difficulties of essays. This study was conducted in explanatory research in which ...

I'd only recommend this if 1) you have lots of time before your essay is due, 2) you consider yourself a moderately-good-to-great writer and, 3) you're able to write about your challenges with distance and objectivity (i.e., you have mostly or completely come through the challenge (s) you're describing).

Writing is a complex intellectual task involving many component skills, some of which students may lack completely, some of which they may have only partially mastered. These skills involve, among other things: Reading comprehension. Analytical skills. Writing skills, including: writing mechanics: grammar, sentence structure, spelling, etc.

Analyzing students' difficulties in writing essays is a valuable tool for educators to enhance their teaching methods, provide personalized support, and ultimately improve students' writing skills.

A willing, positive, and committed attitude, and taking the time each day to read text, practice writing, and produce written text with keyboarding on a mobile or desktop device can help students become increasingly more productive in generating prose. 5. Making Technology Tools Part of the Writing Process.

This study is primarily designed for investigating the tertiary students' perspectives on the writing difficulties of essays. This study was conducted in explanatory research in which quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from the web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interview, then analyzed separately. 21 undergraduate students have enrolled in the survey and 6 of them were ...

Many language learners encountered difficulties from the writing process. At the tertiary level, students are required to produce academic essays, which are difficult and may frustrate students.

Figuring out yourself what ideas you want to express, and making sure those points are clear in your own mind; Working on communicating those ideas to others - how to do so clearly, how to keep the reader engaged, perhaps how to evoke certain emotions in your reader, etc. This might sound obvious. And technically speaking, only 2. is 'writing'.

Techniques that animate an overcoming challenges essay are the same ones used in storytelling. Think setting, visuals, sounds, dialogue, physical sensations, and feelings. "Showing" instead of "telling.". Crafting the essay with these inner and external details will bring the challenge to life, and catch the reader's attention.

A language problem may manifest itself in a child's writing as: poor vocabulary. awkward phrasing and unconventional grammar. inappropriate use of colloquial language. difficulty with sentence ...

EFL Students' Difficulties and Needs in Essay Writing. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Teacher Training and Education 2017 (ICTTE 2017) (pp. 32 - 42).

Goodwin encourages readers to challenge themselves more to help them delve deeper into who they are. For more, check out these essays about life challenges. 2. Life's struggles make us stronger - and happier - if we let them by Helen G. Rousseau. "Every human being has been in this place at one time or another.

STUDENTS' DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING EXPOSITORY ESSAY: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY. Ivanna Maria Long ( [email protected] ) Susana Teopilus ( [email protected] ) 2. ARTICLE INFO. ABSTRACT ...

Writing law school final exams. Most professors give essay exams for law school finals. Some are single-topic, short-answer questions. Others can go on for pages — known as issue-spotter exams. Some are taken in class, while others are take-home, allowing students more than the traditional amount of time to answer the essay questions.

  • business plan
  • course work
  • research paper
  • Product Reviews

COMPETITION MENU

Existing Members

Enter your login details below to enter Win Santa Safari tickets at West Midlands Safari Park for your chance to WIN! .

Create FREE account and start entering DAILY competitions NOW!

Create Free Account

Create your account now to get FREE DAILY ENTRIES on all of our featured competitions

Please Enter Your Date of Birth

If your address is not found when the correct postcode has been entered, please click here .

Use the box below to select your address.

Please ensure your password starts with a letter, is at least 8 characters long and contains at least 1 number.

To ENTER this competition for FREE either

Win Santa Safari tickets at West Midlands Safari Park

Santa Safari Tickets for Four People at West Midlands Safari Park

3 prizes to be won!

Running from 22nd Nov – 24th Dec, Santa Safari is magical festive day out for the whole family, combining a four-mile winter Safari and a visit to Santa in his Grotto.

With an allocated time to see Santa, you will be greeted in the Discovery Trail by one of his helpful Elves who will magically transport you to the North Pole. There you will encounter some delightful characters and be dazzled by the northern lights. You will then enter Santa’s BRAND-NEW Enchanted Elevator, which will take you on a short but incredible ride to his Grotto.

Santa’s Grotto is a wonderfully decorated log cabin with its own Christmas tree, festive fireplace and of course Santa himself! You can tell him what’s on the top of your Christmas wish list and a friendly Elf will take a picture of you together!

Also included is the Safari Walk areas, Explorers' Play Park and all of the animal talks and encounters. Further information can be found on the Park's website. 

After meeting Santa, you will make your way to the Elves’ Workshop where children can pick their own present and collect your photo. With a wide selection of gifts to choose from, children will be spoiled for choice!

You can also head to one of the festive food outlets, to pick up your complimentary refreshments and don’t forget to pop to Mrs Claus’s Craft Club to make reindeer food and write your letter to Santa.

Terms & Conditions

This competition ends on 14/10/2024.

Santa Safari Tickets for Four People at West Midlands Safari Park x3

West Midland Safari Park has been bought by new owner

Looping Group owns theme parks, aquariums, water parks and wildlife parks across Europe

  • 13:53, 10 JAN 2019

west midlands winter safari

Our free email updates are the best way to get headlines direct to your inbox

We have more newsletters

West Midland Safari Park has been bought by a major French leisure group.

Looping Group owns theme parks, aquariums, water parks and wildlife parks across Europe.

It means the Worcestershire theme park will now form part of a portfolio of 15 parks in France, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, Spain, Portugal and Germany.

The new owners plan to develop the Worcestershire attraction with new features.

"We can confirm that The Looping Group has completed the acquisition of West Midland Safari Park," said a spokesman for West Midland Safari Park.

"Further information about this exciting development will be available later this year."

west midlands winter safari

Visitors will continue to be able to visit West Midland Safari Park at weekends until February 10 then it will reopen for half term and the summer as usual.

WMSP, which attracted around 700,000 visitors in 2018, was opened in 1973 by film star Sophia Loren.

As a result of buying WMSP, Looping will count around 4.3 million visitors per year and make a turnover in excess of €100 million.

Looping aims to become the European leader in the regional leisure park market.

A recruitment day is happening on Sunday, January 20.

Laurent Buloy, CEO of Looping, said: "We are very pleased to welcome a great management team and staff who will be key to developing the park into an even more exciting family destination, with our support and new feature investments.

"We want to keep the strong local anchorage of WMSP with its local communities and will continue the important role of WMSP towards animal conservation in and ex situ.”

Download the CoventryLive app

Captureyy.JPG

Click here for iPhone and here for Android

Visit our Facebook pages for Coventry and Nuneaton or visit our Twitter pages for Coventry and Nuneaton

Watch our videos on YouTube and see our photos on Instagram

Find old stories in our online Archives and search for jobs, motors and property, or place an advert or family notice here

  • Most Recent

west midlands winter safari

ADVENTURE THEME PARK

ADVENTURE THEME PARK

Adventure theme park.

The Adventure Theme Park offers a mix of rides for all ages, from gentle family attractions to thrilling experiences.  Open daily during the Park's summer season*, it also features game stands and an arcade , making it a perfect addition to the Park’s animal encounters for a fun-filled day.

Rides are charged extra in all cases.

*February half term until October half term.

Ride Wristband Prices 2024: Ride Wristband – £14.90 Little Penguin Wristband – £7.00  (child between 0.8m-1.0m in height)

Ride Ticket Prices 2024: 1 Ride Ticket – £2.00 4 Ride Tickets – £7.00 6 Ride Tickets – £9.00

Please note: If your child is under 3 but tall enough to go on the rides, they will still need a wristband or ride tickets. These can be purchased on the day of your visit. If a child requires accompaniment, this is on a 1:1 basis. 

west midlands winter safari

Explore our rides below and decide how to plan your day in our Adventure Theme Park!

African Big Apple Coaster

African Big Apple Coaster

Black Fly

Congo Carousel

Desert Convoy

Desert Convoy

Dino Dashers

Dino Dashers

Dr Umboto's Catacombs

Dr Umboto's Catacombs

Flying Lion Kings

Flying Lion Kings

Hurtling Hippos

Hurtling Hippos

Jumbo Parade

Jumbo Parade

Jungle Cat Dodgems

Jungle Cat Dodgems

Jungle Jeeps

Jungle Jeeps

Jungle Swings

Jungle Swings

Kong

Monkey Mayhem

Pirate Ship

Pirate Ship

Rescue Fire Rangers

Rescue Fire Rangers

Rhino Rollercoaster

Rhino Rollercoaster

Serengeti Gallopers

Serengeti Gallopers

Slippery Snake Slide

Slippery Snake Slide

Venom

Zambezi Water Splash

Important information.

  • We operate a time board system during off-peak dates (weekdays outside of school holidays), with rides running for 30 minutes before closing and then reopening 30 minutes later.  

Wristband and ride ticket prices are charged in addition to Park admission. Everyone, including under 3s, will need a wristband or ride tickets to go on the rides, if they meet the minimum height requirements.  

  • If the ride requires 1:1 accompaniment of a child due to their height, each child would need to be accompanied by at least one person who meets the height requirements. On water rides, this person must be a person over the age of 18.

Wristbands and ride tickets are available to purchase separately on the day of your visit, from the Adventure Theme Park. Wristbands and ride tickets are only valid on the day of purchase and no refunds are available.

Wristbands must be fitted by the cashier at the point of purchase, are non-transferable and invalid if removed.

The Wristband Office will close one hour before the Theme Park rides close.

Safety Info

A shirt must be worn by all guests wishing to go on any of our Theme Park rides, and must remain on whilst on the rides.

Shoes must also be worn at all times to access our Theme Park rides. If you are wearing loose footwear (flip flops/sandals etc.), our ride operator will attend and advise where to leave your shoes on certain rides.

Long sleeved shirts must be worn if a guest would like to go on ‘Slippery Snake Slide’.

All guests must also be able to sit up and hold on unaided when on any ride.

Accessibility Info

Read more about accessibility on the rides - click here . 

We will issue an Essential Companion Wristband free of charge when accompanying the guest requiring support has purchased a wristband. You will need to show your Essential Companion Admission Ticket again at the Wristband Office. In order to qualify for a free essential companion, you must have applied through Nimbus, please  click here  for more information.

IMAGES

  1. Visiting Santa At West Midlands Safari Park

    west midlands winter safari

  2. How to Spend 5 Hours at West Midland Safari Park with Older Children

    west midlands winter safari

  3. Ice Age at West Midland Safari Park

    west midlands winter safari

  4. Winter-Map-2019

    west midlands winter safari

  5. West Midlands Safari Park

    west midlands winter safari

  6. Chipper: Win tickets to the Wild Winter safari! at West Midlands Safari

    west midlands winter safari

VIDEO

  1. Session 4

  2. Part -2

COMMENTS

  1. West Midlands Safari Park

    Meet Bluey at West Midlands Safari Park this half term 07/02/2024 Read more. Watch the moment a rare baby rhino is born on CCTV 18/01/2024 Read more. Bookings Open For Safari Park's Wild New Lodges 16/01/2024 Read more. Tree-mendous-treat-for-cubs-first-christmas ...

  2. West Midlands Safari Park

    West Midlands Safari Park has teamed up with Nimbus Disability, the administrators of the Access Card scheme, to oversee essential companion tickets and easy access eligibility. To benefit, you must apply online through Nimbus Disability at least 7 days before your planned visit. Successful applicants with a +1 qualify for a free Essential ...

  3. West Midlands Safari Park

    Discover our opening times, upcoming events, park map and more to plan your visit seamlessly. Your safari experience begins here, ensuring every moment is filled with excitement and discovery. West Midlands Safari Park is home to some of the world's most beautiful & endangered animal species. Safari Drive-through, Theme Park & more.

  4. Safari Lodges

    7. 8. 9. Introducing the award-winning Safari Lodges at West Midlands Safari Park. A mixture of beautiful lodges and premium cottages, designed to give you an up-close and immersive overnight wildlife experience like no other. Safari Lodges short breaks include dinner and breakfast, spectacular views of the animals, admission to the Park during ...

  5. West Midlands Safari Park

    West Midlands Safari Park's Animal Attractions. There are loads of animals to see here, and you'll have lots of opportunities to discover new animals and take some brilliant photos! Explore the African walk-through area and spot African elephants in an elephant valley, the magnificent lions, crane your necks to gaze at the elegant giraffes, and ...

  6. Amazing, a lot of money but so worth doing

    Katie K, Marketing at Safari Lodges At West Midlands Safari Park, responded to this review Responded 14 June 2024 Wow, great photos! Thank you for the 5* review, we are so glad your recent stay in our Lion Lodge was such an adventure and hope you enjoyed getting to know our bachelor group of lions from such a close proximity.

  7. West Midlands Safari Park

    10:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Write a review. About. Join us for the perfect family day out... Journey on the four-mile Safari Drive and come face-to-face world's most extraordinary and beautiful animals such as the gentle giraffe, impressive rhino, inquisitive African wild dog, incredible African elephants and magnificent lions and tigers.

  8. Safari Lodges At West Midlands Safari Park

    718 reviews. NEW AI Reviews Summary. #1 of 2 hotels in Bewdley. Spring Grove West Midlands Safari Park, Bewdley DY12 1LF England. Visit hotel website. E-mail hotel. Write a review. Check availability. View all photos (2,267)

  9. West Midlands Safari Park in November: A Unique Winter Adventure

    West Midlands Safari Park is a popular attraction located in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England. During the winter season, which runs from November to mid-February, the park offers a unique experience for visitors, with reduced operating hours and a focus on the park's diverse wildlife.

  10. Do you see many animals in winter?

    Get quick answers from West Midlands Safari Park staff and past visitors. Get notified about new answers to your questions. West Midlands Safari Park, Bewdley: "Do you see many animals in winter?" | Check out answers, plus see 6,717 reviews, articles, and 8,012 photos of West Midlands Safari Park, ranked No.3 on Tripadvisor among 30 attractions ...

  11. Safari Lodges

    JUNIOR KEEPER EXPERIENCE. Young keepers will get to meet our Asian rhinos, lorikeets, meerkats and lemurs as well as tours around the Reptile House and Safari Drive-through. They'll spend the morning experiencing the life of a Keeper and the duties this entails! £175.00 per person (aged between 10-15 years). Click here for more details.

  12. Coach Trips & Holidays to West Midland Safari Park

    Then make sure you visit the award-winning West Midland Safari Park with its 1,700 magical animal encounters and four miles of safari, home to rhinos, cheetahs, lions, tigers, giraffes and elephants. Book today with National Holidays for a fun family trip and enjoy the ultimate safari experience, offering something for everyone.

  13. Opening Times

    Safari Drive Open: 10:00. Safari Drive Last Entry: 13:00. Wildlife Trails Open**: 11:30 - 16:00. * The Wristband Office closes 1 hour prior to rides closing. ** Wildlife Trails include African Walking Trail, Tiger Tropics, African Village, Lemur Woods and Lion Ridge. West Midlands Safari Park. Bewdley, Worcs, DY12 1LF. Our opening and closing ...

  14. Are you open every day?

    We open daily during our Summer Season, from mid-February until early November. During our Winter Season, we are just open Friday - Sundays and daily for our special Santa Safari event. To see our year calendar, Click Here. 66 out of 95 found this helpful. West Midlands Safari Park.

  15. DREAM SAFARI STAYS

    Watch the wildlife as night falls over the Park and enjoy a delicious meal prepared by our talented chefs. Wake up with views of tigers, lions, elephants, cheetahs, giraffe, rhino, hippos, wild dogs or red pandas as you enjoy your in-lodge meal. Safari Lodges short breaks include exclusive views of the animals, admission to the Park during the ...

  16. Safari Lodges at West Midland Safari Park

    Introducing Safari Lodges at West Midland Safari Park. A mixture of luxury lodges and premium cottages, designed to give you an up-close and immersive overnight wildlife experience like no other.Safari Lodges short breaks include dinner and breakfast, spectacular views of the animals, admission to the Park during the day and Theme Park wristbands*.*Summer season only.

  17. West Midland Safari Park's first glimpse of red panda cub

    BBC News, West Midlands. West Midland Safari Park. The cub was captured on camera when mother Mei Lin carried it to a new nest box. The first red panda cub to be born at West Midland Safari Park ...

  18. giraffe experience west midlands safari park

    WINTER PRICES (UNTIL 9TH FEB 2024) Online advance Individual Admission (3+yrs) - From £19.00. On the day Individual Admission (3+yrs) - £29.00. Essential Companion/Carer* Ad

  19. west midlands safari park monkey mayhem

    Monkey Mayhem. West Midland Safari Park; Theme Parks; United Kingdom; Spin through the trees... Monkey Mayhem is West Midland Safari Park's spinning wild mouse rollercoaster. The

  20. Win Santa Safari tickets at West Midlands Safari Park

    With summer over, it's time to look towards plans for the festive season, so West Midlands Safari Park is giving away three family tickets to its annual, magical Christmas event, Santa Safari. Running from 22nd Nov - 24th Dec, Santa Safari is magical festive day out for the whole family, combining a four-mile winter Safari and a visit to ...

  21. West Midland Safari Park has been bought by new owner

    (Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire) Read More Related Articles. The puppy breeds you're most likely to get for Christmas 2018; Visitors will continue to be able to visit West Midland Safari Park at ...

  22. West Midlands Safari Park

    Ride Wristband - £14.90. Little Penguin Wristband - £7.00 (child between 0.8m-1.0m in height) Ride Ticket Prices 2024: 1 Ride Ticket - £2.00. 4 Ride Tickets - £7.00. 6 Ride Tickets - £9.00. Please note: If your child is under 3 but tall enough to go on the rides, they will still need a wristband or ride tickets.

  23. Three who organised illegal street races in West Midlands given jail

    Two men and a woman who organised illegal street racing in the West Midlands have been handed lengthy jail sentences in a major victory on our fight against the dangerous gatherings. Ahzi Nagmadin, Jessica Roberts and Rashani Reid all arranged events described as 'festivals of dangerous driving' through social media and group chats.

  24. Spiking Intensification Week: understanding spiking and how to report

    However, West Midlands Police is committed to believing victims of spiking and securing all possible evidence, including increased testing for the presence of drink spiking substances. The signs of being spiked. It can be hard to tell if your drink has been spiked, but if you notice any changes to the taste or appearance of your drink, stop ...

  25. Brother and sister convicted of stealing charity funds

    A Birmingham brother and sister have today been found guilty of fraud offences relating to donated charitable funds. Rajbinder Kaur, 55, was convicted for money laundering and six counts of theft amounting to £50,000 and one count under Section 60 of the Charities Act 2011 - knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.