Posts published on April 28, 2015

Writing Strategies: Ways To Cope With Your Tasks Four Times Faster

By Jessica Elmore

 Factors that influence speed of writing are as follows: manner of writing and time-management. If you know much about these two things, then you know how to fasten your writing process.

A century ago the only way to note anything was handwriting. But you are lucky enough to live in a digital era where options to record information you need seem to be countless.

So what can be improved in the writing techniques you use and usual way you manage your time? Let’s dwell on the tricks, which are sure to help you work faster and more productively.

Change your manner of writing

  • Handwriting vs computer writing

Tastes differ, you know. What’s better for you: to write by hand or use computer instead? If you tried only one method out of these two, it’s high time to test the other one. It’s been proven by any person who regularly uses computer, typing speed rises time and time again.

  • Take notes reasonably

Don’t put everything down, use keywords with short but meaningful explanation. If you write only keywords, perhaps you won’t be able to recollect what your professor was talking about at the moment.

  • Use symbols

If you have good drawing skills it’s only an advantage for you. Though you don’t obligatory need to possess them. During lectures and seminars when you’re in a hurry to note everything, all means are good – writing, drawing…

For example: is it faster to write “man equals man” or “man = man”? Of course, this example might seem to be rather simple, but you do understand how it works.

  • Acquire shorthand writing skill

You can attend courses of shorthand writing or just find a suitable video course online teaching this technique. In a few words, it’s a system of symbols and abbreviations designed for writing faster, which proved to be efficient.

Develop time-management skills to write faster

  • Research in advance

Take the time for gathering information and only then get to work. When all material you need is at hand, you don’t waste time on sitting in a library or searching the Internet.

  • Write a plan

It will take you only half an hour or less to create a draft of your plan. Think over all your ideas thoroughly and write them down. State what you are going to do step by step. Define how much time it is going to take you to fulfill each planned item. You can better your plan in the course of work, but try not to get sidetracked from your plan – it steals time.

  • Use timer

Define which time limit is comfortable for you – 15, 20 or 30 minutes. The main idea is to write non-stop. Switch on your timer and don’t pay attention to it until it lets you know you need to take a break. Write without pauses and as fast as possible.

  • Eliminate distractions

You know how many things may distract your attention – social media, friends, texting, Skype messages… These are time thieves. If you’re really eager to be through with your writing tasks, you’ll need to learn to work without interruptions and ignore them!

  • Quantity first, quality later

Forget about editing your text for a while. It’s going to be the last thing do. Write without rereading, write as more as possible keeping in mind that you’ll have to delete or rearrange some passages when proofreading. But it will be then – now write and forget about the Backspace key, text font, etc. You’ll have time to polish your writing later on.

  • Make sure your writing is unique

No doubt, that writing fast you might lose track of what should be cited and quoted. Then, why not switch to automatic plagiarism checkers functioning online, like Unplag, Plag Control, etc.? They do not need installing additional software. The speed of checking is quite fast, which means that you won’t waste much time.

Hopefully, all of the above prompts will turn to be of great help for you. Still if there are some tricks you’d like to share, feel free to write them below in the comments.

Jessica Elmore is a young writer and blogger at JessicaElmore.com keen on the latest trends in education, blogging and marketing