how to memorize an entire essay

How to memorise essays and long responses

Lauren Condon

Marketing Specialist at Atomi

When it comes to memorising essays or long responses for your exams, there are three big things to consider.

• Should you even try to memorise an essay?
• Do you know how to adapt your memorised response to the exam question?
• How on earth are you meant to memorise a 1,200 word essay??

It’s a lot to weigh up but we can help you out here. If you want an answer to the first question, here’s one we prepared earlier. But wait, there’s more! If you’re super keen to read more about question #2, then go ahead and click here .

And for that third point on how to actually memorise a long essay? Well, all you have to do is keep reading...

1. Break it down

Your essay/long response/creative writing piece could be anywhere between 800 and 1,200 words long. Yeah… that’s a lot. So when it comes to memorising the whole thing, it’s a lot easier to break the answer down into logical chunks and work on memorising it bit by bit.

So if you want to memorise your Discovery Essay, you might have something like this:

• Introduction
• Theme 1 with the assigned text
• Theme 1 with the related text
• Theme 2 with the assigned text
• Theme 2 with the related text

You’re going to want to memorise the paragraphs and pay attention to the structure then you can piece it all together in the exam. Having a killer structure makes it a lot easier to remember the overall bones of this situation and if you’re finding this effective, you can even break those body paragraphs down further like topic sentence > example > explanation > connection to thesis.

2. Use memory tricks

Now, there are lots of different strategies and approaches when it comes to memorising a long piece of writing. Moving in sections, you can try reading it out loud over again (slowly looking at the paper less and less) or the classic look-cover-write-check approach. If you’re really struggling, make some of your own flashcards that have the first sentence on one side and the next sentence on the back so you can test your progress.

You could also enlist the help of some creative mnemonics (memory tricks) to remind you which sentence or section needs to come next. Pick one keyword from each sentence in the paragraph and turn them into a silly sentence to help you remember the structure of the paragraph and to make sure you don’t forget one of your awesome points.

3. Play to your strengths

Not all of us are super geniuses that can just read an essay and then memorise the entire thing but we’re all going to have our own strengths. There’s going to be something whether it’s art, music, writing, performance or sport that just ‘clicks’ in your brain and this is what you want to capitalise on. So for me, I was really into debating and public speaking (hold back the jokes please) and was used to giving speeches and remembering them. So whenever I wanted to memorise a long response, I would write out the essay onto palm cards and then practice it out loud like a speech. Did it annoy my family? Yes. Was I too embarrassed to tell people my strategy? Yes. Did it work? Absolutely. 💯

Whatever your strengths are, find a way to connect them to your essay and come up with a creative way of learning your long response that will be much easier and more effective for you!

4. Start early

So you know how there’s that whole long-term/short-term memory divide? Yeah well that’s going to be pretty relevant when it comes to memorising. You’re going to have a much better chance of remembering your long response if you start early and practice it often, instead of trying to cram it in the night before… sorry.

The good news is, you still have a couple of months before the HSC so try to get your prepared response written, get good feedback from your teachers and then make it perfect so it’s ready to go for the HSC. Then, the next step is to start memorising the essay now and test yourself on it fairly regularly all the way up to your exams. This way, you have plenty of time to really lock it deep into your memory.

5. Test yourself

The final and maybe even most important step is to test yourself. And not with flashcards or the look-cover-check-repeat anymore. Once you’ve got the essay memorised pretty well, you want to spend the weeks coming up to HSC doing past questions so you can practice

• Having the essay memorised
• Being able to recall it under pressure
• Adapting it to any question so that all your hard work will actually pay off

For this to work, you really need to commit 100% to exam conditions (no cheating!) and it’s definitely worth sending those responses to your teacher to get them marked. That way, you will actually know if you’re doing a good job of remembering the core of your argument but also tailoring it perfectly to the question.

Any subject with essays or long responses can be super daunting so if you want to have a pre-written, adaptable response ready to go then it’s worth making sure you can actually memorise it for your exam. Remember to break down the essay into sections, play to your memory strengths and make sure you consistently test yourself all the way up to HSC. That should do the trick. 👌

Published on

July 28, 2017

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Memorizing an essay is a useful skill for public speakers, performers, and students alike. When you have a deep understanding of the essay’s content and structure, you can deliver it confidently without the need for notes or other visual aids. In this article, we will explore three effective strategies for memorizing an essay: chunking, mnemonics, and rehearsal.

1. Chunking

Chunking is an efficient approach to learning that involves breaking down the essay into smaller sections or “chunks” instead of trying to memorize the entire piece at once. This method is based on the idea that our brains can process and retain information more effectively when it is presented in manageable portions.

To apply chunking to your essay, start by separating the text into meaningful sections such as paragraphs or groups of related ideas. Then, focus on memorizing one chunk at a time. As you become comfortable with each section, gradually combine them until you are able to recall the entire essay.

2. Mnemonics

Mnemonic devices are memory shortcuts that help your brain encode and recall complex information more easily. Some popular mnemonic techniques include:

– Acronyms: Create a memorable word or phrase using the first letter of each word in a list (e.g., HOMES for the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).

– Acrostics: Form a memorable sentence using the first letter of every word or key idea in your essay.

– Visual imagery: Associate mental images with specific parts of your essay – like imagining a vivid scene to represent each paragraph.

Experiment with different memory systems and choose the ones that work best for you. Incorporate them into your study routine when trying to memorize an essay.

3. Rehearsal

Repetition is key when it comes to memorization. Reading or reciting your essay repeatedly helps reinforce neural pathways in the brain, making it easier to recall its content over time.

Begin by reading your essay aloud several times to fully internalize its structure and phrasings. Afterward, practice reciting your essay from memory. It can be helpful to have a friend or family member present during this process, as they can help you stay on track and provide feedback on your delivery.

As you become more comfortable with the material, focus on aspects such as pacing, tone, and body language to enhance your presentation. Additionally, practice under various conditions (e.g., standing up, sitting down, in front of a mirror) to prepare yourself for different situations.

In conclusion, memorizing an essay is a challenging yet achievable task when employing proper techniques such as chunking, mnemonics, and rehearsals. By dedicating time and effort towards mastering these strategies, you will develop the confidence and skills necessary to present an essay seamlessly – whether it’s for a public speaking engagement or an academic exam.

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How To Study: The Essay Memorisation Framework

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As a medical student, I did have to undertake some exams that required writing essays. One of the questions I often get asked is how you can apply techniques such as active recall and spaced repetition – that I frequently discuss as being ‘the best’ revision techniques – to essay-based subjects. During my third year at university, I adopted the following approach to preparing for my own essay-based psychology exams – it proved highly effective in my own exams and I hope that you can make effective use of it too.

The system can be broadly broken down into two stages:

• The Creation Stage
• Objective to create first class essay plans for every conceivable essay title that they throw at us in the exam.

2.  The Memorisation Stage

• Objective of committing all of these essay plans to memory by systematically using active recall, spaced repetition, spider diagrams and flashcards.

The idea is that, by using these two stages, by the time the exams arrive you’ll have memorised so many essay plans that they will either come up in the exam or the essays will be similar enough that you will have the knowledge to draw up and form coherent and well-structured essay that answer the question effectively.

Creation Stage

There are three main questions in the creation stage:

How to decide what essay titles to pick/prepare

The objective here is to ‘scope the subject’ and find essay titles that cover the entire breadth of the syllabus. The easiest way to do this is to both look through the past papers and start by planning the essays that have come up in the past and then examine the syllabus and identify areas that lend themselves to essays. Once you’ve planned out those essays, you’ll have a better idea as to what style of questions are asked and what material is often covered. This should give you a breadth of essays titles that span the course – if you find that there is still an area of the syllabus that hasn’t been address, try to come up a suitable question and add it to your essay plans to compile.

How you plan the essay

Personally, I would give myself one day per essay plan. Although it’s best to try to have this process ongoing throughout the year, I did the bulk of my essay plan preparation in the Easter holidays (perhaps not ideal!).

My process involved starting off with a question then use Google to get as much information as possible about that particular topic. I would start off with Google because it can give you a good broad overview as well as useful links to review papers that would often provide key details or interesting examples.

Once I had created my essay plan I would then look at the lecture notes and the recommended reading. This meant that a lot of my material was more original than everyone else’s because most other people would’ve built their essays based around the lecture notes, whereas I was building my essays from a Google search supplemented by lecture notes.

Once I had got my research document, I would spend a few hours writing out the essay – consolidating all the information into this one essay that I am ultimately going to learn.

How you make sure your essay plan is really good.

But how do we make an essay plan good? There are 3 key ingredients in my opinions:

• Answering the question
• Adding a bit of spice.

The introduction is the most important part of the essay because you can address all three of these key ingredients and signal to the examiner how you are going to go about compiling the essay and answer the question.

Here is an example of one of the introductions from an essay that I prepared on whether judgement and decision making is cognitive (logical) or affective (emotional).

The historical view in the social sciences has always been that judgements are based solely on content information, with individuals being assumed to form judgements by systematically evaluating all available content information in an unbiased manner. However, over the past three decades a considerable amount of research has challenged this assumption by showing that judgments may be formed not only on the basis of content information (cognitive judgements) but also on the basis of feelings (affective judgement). It is now well accepted that judgement can be both affective and cognitive. Whether it is one or the other depends on a multitude of factors: (1) the salience of the affective feelings, (2) the representativeness of the affective feelings for the target, (3) the relevance of the feelings for the judgement, (4) the evaluative malleability of the judgement and (5) the level of processing intensity. I will discuss these in turn and ultimately argue that generally speaking in day-to-day life, the circumstances are generally those that result in affective rather than cognitive judgements and decision making.

As you can see, I signpost the essay explicitly using numbered points as well as answering the question and outlining to the examiner the direction that my argument is going to go.

The Memorisation Stage

By this point, you should have a good number of essay plans that you’ve created in documents – now the aim is to ‘upload’ those essay plans to our brain. I approached doing this using three main techniques:

Anki Flashcards

With my essays, I used Anki flashcards to memorise paragraphs and main points whether from an essay or key points from a particularly relevant research paper. The aim was to create blocks of content with every Anki flashcard being its’ own ‘block’ which I could then draw upon either for the essays that I had planned or for unfamiliar essays but ones which I could answer using the material from the flashcards.

However, specific paragraphs or points from research papers aren’t helpful unless you can associate them with particular essays – that’s where spider diagrams come into the equation…

Spider Diagrams

Having memorised content blocks from my essays using Anki flashcards, I made one page diagrams of every single essay. The idea being that you would be able to discern the structure of the essay through the spider diagram as well as notice key words that are relevant for that topic and/or that you find particularly helpful in triggering your memory about the key points that you need to raise in answering that question.

Every day I would draw out various spider diagrams from memory and if there were any books that I didn’t know, I would look them up in the master research document or in Anki and actively work on learning those parts.

Over time, this became a highly effective way to systematically use active recall to ensure that I knew absolutely everything.

Retrospective Revision Timetable

The final part of the system involved systematic spaced repetition. If you’ve seen any of my other content, I am a big proponent of retrospective revision timetables. This approach counters the conventional idea of planning a prospective revision timetable which has a number of issues – namely trying to predict the future and inflexibility, amongst others – and instead involves creating a spreadsheet that starts with a list of subjects, topics or essays that we have compiled through scoping our subject and then inputting the dates on which we study those areas as well as colour code the system to provide a visual representation as to which areas we might need to cover again. You can read more about these sorts of timetables  here , where I explain them in more depth.

This structure which combines active recall, spaced repetition, flashcards and spider diagrams was probably the most effective system that I used whilst at university. In the exam, about two thirds of the essays that we had to write, I had already planned. Although the other four essays that I had to write were ‘new’, I had built up such a systematic and in-depth knowledge of the subject that I could more easily draw upon ‘blocks’ of content from my Anki decks which I could then ‘drop’ into these essays to answer them effectively.

I hope this has provided you with a more logical structure with which to utilise active recall, spaced repetition, spider diagrams and flashcards to ensure that you can approach your essay-based exams with more confidence.

Please see the other blog posts in this ‘How To Study’ series for more hints, tips and guidance on studying and revising.

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Essay Memorization Techniques

Linda basilicato.

To memorize an essay or prepare for an essay exam, avoid trying to memorize your practice essay word for word. Instead, memorize key points and put trust in your ability to put together an essay based on those key ideas. Try not to get attached to pretty or well-put sentences written beforehand. This will only occupy valuable mental space needed for the exam. Remember, for an essay test you are graded mostly on content, not eloquence. Papers are the proper outlet for eloquence.

Explore this article

• Write by Hand
• Use Your Own Words
• Know Your Learning Style

Just because you're not going to memorize and regurgitate your practice essay verbatim for the test doesn't mean you shouldn't write it many times. But do try to write from memory. Don't mindlessly copy words from a page. Keep your notes nearby, but use them less and less each time you sit down to write. Again, don't try to memorize exact sentences, just get all the important information down on paper.

2 Write by Hand

If you're going to have to write the essay by hand, practice by hand, at least some of the time. But don't start out the test with your hand already cramped and sore.

After you've written the practice essay you hope to memorize, write a simple outline for it. Use mnemonics to help memorize the outline. Mnemonics are simple memory tricks such as PEMDAS (or Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally), a common memorization technique used by math teachers to help students learn the order of operations (Parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division, addition and subtraction). Other mnemonic devices involve songs, rhymes and silly, simple stories used to string together the basic information you need to remember.

Memorize this outline and write it down as soon as you sit down to take the exam. Then use it as you used your notes during your earlier practice and study sessions.

4 Use Your Own Words

You may wish to memorize a key quote or two, but most of the information should be expressed in your own words. Remember you will most likely be graded on content and by the pieces of information included (or excluded) from your essay. Take the time to really understand concepts that are tricky for you. Come up with illustrative analogies to explain a concept simply and to show that you really understand it.

5 Know Your Learning Style

If you're more of a talker than a writer, use this skill to your advantage. Instead of writing over and over again, simply explain out loud the answer to each question to prove you really understand it. But don't do this exclusively. For every two to four times you explain your answer in speech, write your answer down on paper. Written words are very different from spoken explanation. You will most likely need the written practice to succeed on an essay exam. Don't make the mistake of thinking you will know how to write an essay because you can explain it out loud. You might find yourself stumped or running out of time when you sit down and put pen to paper.

About the Author

Linda Basilicato has been writing food and lifestyle articles since 2005 for newspapers and online publications such as eHow.com. She graduated magna cum laude from Stony Brook University in New York and also holds a Master of Arts in philosophy from the University of Montana.

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How to Memorise an Entire Essay or Speech

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How to memorise a complete essay or speech

Christmas and New year is over and for some there looms the prospect of mid  term exams. A lot of these exams will be closed book exams. A closed  book exam tests your knowledge and memory of a subject. One of the ways  in which some students prepare is to actively learn the subject areas and also  look at past questions and anticipate a question which might come up. At  the moment my wife is studying for exams in which she is actively learning  her subjects and also she has written 3 x 500 word essays on the three areas  of study.

Together we have come up with a system which means that she can memorise a  500 word essay in 1 day and 3 x 500 word essays in 3 days. Together with  actively learning the subject she is confident that she has prepared well.

In this article I will show you the system we came up with to memorise 1500 words verbatim. Sound hard? It is actually quite easy and is a system I used when at university studying for my psychology degree for 2 x 1000 word essays.

This method can also be used for memorising any kind of written work or speech.

Before you begin

Before you begin this it is important to actually believe that you can memorise  a complete essay or speech whether it be 500 words or 2000 words. When  I first suggested using this method to my wife she said that she would never  be able to memorise an essay word for word.

Once she got over this and started telling herself that she could do it we started.

Active learning

First off, this method of memorising an essay should not be substituted for  actively learning a subject. Active learning is when you read, not skim,  the subject area and take note of the key points. Cross reading is also  very good for active learning. This is when you read books on the subjects  by different authors. Some authors are not good at getting information across  so cross reading is an excellent way learning.

The method for memorising an essay or speech.

You will need to write out the essay or speech first. Treat this part  of the process as if you were writing an essay to hand in for marking by your  lecturer. In other words make sure it is worthy of memorising.

When you have written the essay make sure it is grammatically correct as you will be memorising every comma and full stop.

When you are sure you have a good essay or speech print it off and mark down  the left margin the number of paragraphs e.g. if you have 6 paragraphs write  at the side of each paragraph the numbers 1 "“ 6. In the right hand  margin write the number of sentences in each paragraph. This is the first  part of the memorisation process.

A quiet place to study

Now, make sure you have quiet space to be able to read, walk and vocalise  your essay. When you are sure you will not be interrupted you can start.

With your printed essay start walking and reading out loud the essay or speech. When  you have read it out loud a few times go back to the first sentence and read  it out loud. Then read it again and again until you have memorised it. When  you are confident you have memorised it word for word go on to the next sentence. When  you have memorised the second sentence, whilst walking vocalise the first two  sentences without looking at your printed essay. If you are okay  with this go on to do the same with your 3rd sentence and so on until you have  memorised your first full paragraph. This can take anywhere between 15 "“ 45  depending on motivation, alertness, quietness etc.

The reason I ask you to walk is to keep your blood flowing whilst memorising. If  you are sitting down you might nod off, by walking it will prevent you from  nodding off. I find walking up and down an excellent way to concentrate  on reading.

Keep reading, and vocalising your essay or speech until you have memorised  it completely. When you are confident of having memorised it. Vocalise  it without looking at your printed sheet. If you get it right, do it  again, and if you get it right a second time reward yourself with a cup of  tea or coffee or whatever is your want and leave it for a few hours.

When a few hours have passed go back to the essay, read it out loud whilst  walking and looking at the printed sheet and then try to memorise it again.

Once you are confident that you have memorised it completely, at the bottom  of the page write down the first few words of each sentence of your essay,  separated by a comma, and number each line for each paragraph. When you  have done that put in the number of sentences at the end of the list and bracket  it.

For example if I was writing out the first few words of this article for the  first 3 paragraphs it would look like this;

• Christmas and New year, A lot of, A closed book, One of the, At the moment (5)
• Together we have, Together with actively (2)
• In this article, sound hard? (2)

Now what you should do is only look at the list at the bottom of the paper  and read out from that whilst walking. This way you are only looking  at the first few words and finishing the sentence without looking at it. If  you get stuck just go back to the main essay and look at it, until you have  got it completely.

Now memorise the bottom of the sheet of paper with the first few words of  the essay and how many sentences are in each paragraph. This should only  take 10-15 minutes at the most.

This sounds a very convoluted way of memorising an essay but it is a lot easier  than it reads here.

Time taken to memorise

You should be able to memorise a full 500 word essay in about  3 hours, for your first time, using the above method. When you are practiced  you should be able to memorise a 500 word essay in about 60 "“ 90 minutes.

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About the author.

Steven Aitchison

Steven Aitchison is the author of The Belief Principle and an online trainer teaching personal development and online business.  He is also the creator of this blog which has been running since August 2006.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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• Write a College Essay
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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.

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5 Tips For Memorising Your Essay Before Exams

Your final exams are looming and along with it comes a million study tasks you really don’t want to face. Practice papers, drafts and essay scaffolds, most of which are mildly bearable at best. But how do you make it through the one soul wrenching, mind numbing task no one likes? I’m talking about memorising essays; a seemingly impossible feat that only a few students will master.

It’s true, memorising hundreds sometimes thousands of words is not easy. But it really doesn’t have to be as tough as you think! There’s a bunch of different methods out there, some work and some don’t. So check out these five tried and tested methods to find which ones work for you

1. Try something different

When you’re knee deep in study and feel like you’re just not making progress, try taking a break and come back with a different approach. Remember that sometimes the weirder ideas work best. Try recording your essay and playing it back to yourself. This is a pretty easy one that doesn’t take all your effort and you can listen to your essay on the bus, while running and when going to sleep. Sure, you might cringe at the sound of your own voice but once you get over the initial disgust it’s not all that bad and it’ll make the words stick in your mind.

2. Read before you sleep

This one is super useful when you’ve left the essay until the night before. Avoid wasting time on memorising it word for word. Instead, read over it a few times and pick up on the key ideas of each paragraph then hit the hay. Studies have shown that when we sleep for as little as 15 minutes after studying, our brains review and relearn the information while sleeping.

Additionally, our neural connections of the topic solidify 50% quicker than without sleeping. The catch is that the work you do before sleeping has to be legit, you have to be focused and alert, not falling asleep. When you wake up you’ll remember these key ideas and ready to pick up the rest a whole lot easier.

3. Read, cover, write, check

Again, this is more of a last minute tactic and rote learning like this doesn’t really work in the long run. If you want to be able remember your essay in three months time then jump down to no. 5.

But the read, cover, write, check method is pretty self explanatory and one you probably used in primary school. Read one sentence, cover it, write it or say it aloud and then check if you were right. Repeat for the following sentences until you’re able to regurgitate your entire essay in order.

4. Use key words

This one is good for cramming a lot of work into a little amount of time. Start by numbering each paragraph, then count how many sentences each paragraph contains. After that, take a look at each sentence and pull out a few trigger words eg. ‘Shakespeare displays this idea by overturning Othello’s loyalty.’ Pull out ‘displays overturning loyalty’. Then work on memorising just these trigger words, that way you can memorise 20 words per paragraph rather than 200.

5. Start early-ish

I know, I know, starting early is super unrealistic and you’ll probably only kick into gear with less than a week till the exam. Just keep in mind that effectively memorising actually takes a fair while. By giving the essay time to stew in your mind, you’ll later be able to recall it without spending hours at a time tediously forcing yourself to pick it up. Try to pump out that essay a few weeks prior to the exam date and give yourself as much time as possible to keep going over it.

by Matilda Reid

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How to Memorize Fast (and Why Most Memorization Tips Suck)

It's not too difficult to learn how to memorize fast and easily – if you use the right strategies, that is.

But most people don't use the right strategies. 

In fact, most people don't use any strategy – they use a few tactics that don't work very well. So, let me be straight with you: If you've been using flashcards or repetition to try to drill things into your brain, you're making things difficult for yourself.

It's time to work smarter, not harder .

Here's the thing: Your mind is a supercar that you haven't figured out how to drive yet. With practice, you can learn how to memorize anything – whether it's a new language, speech, or answers to an upcoming exam.

Oh, and learning how to memorize fast doesn't have to suck, either – it can even be fun. For real. This guide will show you how to memorize fast and easily – the smart way.

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6 Tips on How to Memorize Fast and Easily

If you want to learn how to memorize things fast and easily, you need to be strategic. Here are six tips on how to memorize fast that you'll learn about in this article:

• Understand your learning style
• Learn the 3 'R's of memorization
• Practice the substitution method
• Learn the story and link method
• Use the memory palace method
• Apply spaced repetition strategically

Step 1. Understand Your Learning Style

Before you try to learn how to memorize fast, it can help to have a basic understanding of how you best interpret and absorb new knowledge.

Now, there are four main learning styles usually referred to by the acronym "VARK":

• Reading/writing
• Kinesthetic

Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Visual learners learn best through sight. They like information to be presented visually and tend to prefer seeing and observing things, such as diagrams, pictures, and demonstrations. Many visual learners also like to sketch, draw, and write lists.

2. Auditory 

Auditory learners learn best by listening and when the subject matter is communicated through sound.

They'd rather listen to podcasts , lectures, and audiobooks than read books and notes. If they have to read a book, they're likely to absorb more information if they read it aloud to themselves. Many auditory learners also like to engage in discussions.

3. Reading/Writing

Reading/writing learners prefer to learn through the written word.

They learn best when reading books and articles . They also learn well when taking and reviewing notes. This learning style overlaps with visual learning, however, these learners tend to prefer to express themselves through writing.

Traditional western education systems cater to reading/writing learners by focusing on reading books and writing essays.

4. Kinesthetic

Kinesthetic learners learn best by experiencing or doing things. They're sometimes referred to as "tactile learners." 

This type of learner likes to get moving and use their hands. They excel when they can interpret the subject matter through their physical senses. They prefer hands-on exercises over book-learning every day of the week.

Which Style of Learning Do You Prefer?

It may be pretty obvious which learning style you prefer. For example, it's clear to me that I'm a visual and reading/writing learner – after all, I'm a writer.

However, if you're unsure which style – or styles – of learning you prefer, check out this VARK questionnaire to find out.

It’s also worth noting that most people have a natural preference for more than one style. Oh, and in case you were wondering, no particular learning style is better than the others. They're just different!

Step 2. Learn the 3 'R's of Memorization

It's time to understand the foundations of how to memorize fast and easily: The three 'R's of memorization. 

These three steps are the strategy you need to learn how to memorize fast. Here's how they work:

• Registration: The first step is to record a new memory in your mind with the intention of storing it in your long-term memory. To learn how to memorize quickly, it helps to practice effective registration techniques.
• Retention: In this stage, you work to retain the information in your brain and move it from your short-term memory into your long-term memory so that you can recall it later.
• Recall: In the final stage of memorization, you can use techniques to retrieve the information stored in your mind.

People refer to these steps in different ways – for example, some people call them "encode, store, and retrieve" – but the basic principles are the same.

Most memorization tips miss one or more of these steps. 

For example, repetition can help with retention. However, reading something over and over does nothing to encode the information into your mind intentionally. Plus, it provides no mechanism that you can use to recall the information.

In short, to learn how to memorize faster, you need to use all three 'R's.

Step 3. Learn How to Memorize Fast and Easily

Now that you have the basics under your belt, it's time to learn how to memorize something quickly. So, what is the easiest way to remember something?

The best way to memorize things is to use a mnemonic device – which is just a fancy way of saying a memory device.

What is a mnemonic device?

Simply put, a mnemonic device is anything that helps you to remember something. For example, the phrase "'I' before 'E,' except after 'C'" is a mnemonic device. 

Here's an example of a visual mnemonic device to help remember the numbers of days in the months, with each knuckle representing a 31-day month:

Whenever you hear about 'memory athletes' that can recall the order of six decks of playing cards, they're using mnemonic devices.

It's not magic. It's just practice, and you can do it too.

There are countless mnemonic devices out there. However, we're going to focus on three of the most popular and effective techniques that you can use to learn how to memorize something faster.

Unlike repetition and flashcards, each of these mnemonic devices uses the three 'R's of memorization – registration, retention, and recall.

1. The Substitution Method

This first memory method is super simple. All you need to do is take what you want to remember and substitute it for something more memorable.

For example, say that you're trying to memorize the periodic table of elements. When trying to remember the first element, "hydrogen," you could link it to the word "hydrant" because they sound similar.

For the second element, helium, you could imagine a balloon filled with helium, and so on.

Then, consider which learning style you lean toward and use that information to help you forge a lasting connection. For example:

• If you're a visual learner, you could visualize a bright red fire hydrant on the sidewalk. 
• Auditory learners could practice saying the words "hydrogen, hydrant" out loud to emphasize how they sound similar.
• Reading/writing learners could write the words down, emphasizing how their spellings are similar, with both words beginning with "h, y, d, r."
• Every time they walk past a hydrant, kinesthetic learners could touch the hydrant with their hand and practice saying the word "hydrogen" out loud.

When you need to recall the first element of the periodic table, it'll be a lot easier to remember the red fire hydrant first, which will trigger the memory of "hydrogen."

Substitution is an effective way to register new information in your brain and have a way to recall it easily later.

Plus, this technique doesn't just work with words – you can also use it to remember ideas, concepts, names, dates, or even the key talking points in a speech.

Okay, but how do you remember lots of things?

2. The Link and Story Method

Here's where things get interesting: After you've created some substitutions to memorable words and objects, you can link them together with a story.

Here's an example of how you could link "fire hydrant" (hydrogen) with "balloon" (helium): 

Imagine a bright red hydrant (hydrogen) on a sunny sidewalk at a park entrance. Stood next to the hydrant at the park entrance is a vendor selling balloons (helium) to children entering the park.

Here's the trick: Exaggerate the story so it sticks in your mind more – this will help with retention and recall.

For instance, perhaps the hydrant is broken and is spraying water everywhere. Or maybe the balloon vendor is dressed as a clown. Use whatever works best for you!

Once you create effective associations and link them together with a compelling story , it becomes very easy to remember things.

This method is a great way to register large amounts of information in your mind while also providing a mechanism to recall it.

3. The Memory Palace Method

If you want to know how to memorize a lot of information, try the memory palace method. 

This method has stood the test of time – it was first presented in a book called the "Rhetorica ad Herennium," written in 80 B.C. by an unknown author.

Here’s how to use it:

• Think of a place or a journey you know well, such as your home or a daily commute.
• Identify some significant points in your home or on your commute .
• Link what you want to remember to each one of those points.

For example, say that you need to remember a speech. 

You could break your speech up into points, such as your introduction, three main talking points, your summary, and final thoughts. You can then link each of these points to something in your memory palace.

Your home's front door could represent your speech's introduction. Then, your three main talking points could be the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The summary may be the hallway leading out of the house, and your final thoughts could be the front yard.

Then, whenever you practice your speech, you can imagine walking around your house for each point.

If you have a long speech – or a large amount of information to remember – you can break the information down into smaller chunks and link them to things in each room. 

For example, say you have three aspects in your first talking point (the living room). You could link each one to a piece of furniture, such as the sofa, coffee table, and standing lamp. 

If you practice the memory palace method, you should be able to walk around your house – or run through your commute – in your mind and recall all of the information.

Again, this method hits all three 'R's by providing a way to encode, retain, and recall information.

Step 4. Apply Spaced Repetition

Once you've registered new information in your mind, how can you stop yourself from forgetting it? Apply spaced repetition.

Way back in 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus created the 'Forgetting Curve.' This concept demonstrates how we forget things. Simply put, as soon as we learn something, it starts to fade from our memory.

However, we can prevent this decline by reviewing the information periodically. When we do this, we can increase the strength of the memory.

If you're a visual learner, here's what it looks like:

So, when should you review the subject matter?

At first, it helps to review things often – for example, you may want to review something daily at first, then bi-weekly, and then weekly until you're confident you won't forget it.

Again, look to your preferred learning style to help you. For example:

• Visual learners could draw a storyboard or sketch their memory palace.
• Auditory learners could tell their story aloud or describe walking through their memory palace.
• Reading/writing learners could write their story down and review it regularly.
• Kinesthetic learners could act out the story or walk through their memory palace in real life.

You may also want to review material late in the evening before bed.

Why? Studies show that people who study before bedtime can often remember more of what they learn a day later. Plus, they also felt more confident about their answers.

Summary: How to Memorize Quickly 

If you want to learn how to memorize fast, repetition alone won't cut it – you have to be strategic.

Start by identifying how you learn best. Are you a visual, auditory, reading/writing, or kinesthetic learner?

Then, understand the three 'R's of memorization (registration, retention, and recall) and put them to work:

• First, encode the information in your mind using a mnemonic device, such as the substitution method. 
• Link this information to a story or memory palace to ensure you can easily recall it later.
• Practice spaced repetition to combat the forgetting curve and retain the information.

What are you trying to learn? What is the best way to memorize something for you? Let us know in the comments below!

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How to Memorize an Essay?

Writing an essay is a daunting task in itself. But when you are asked to memorise an essay for your exam, the real test begins. Learning an essay requires strategy, practice and patience. Because you do not have to learn just the facts and the structure and presentation of the essay.

Many students ask GoAssignmentHelp assignment writing experts regarding memorising essays before exams. So, we decided to provide some effective tips and strategies that will surely work for every student. You can utilise these techniques in memorising any long piece of text and score the best grades in your exams.

#1 Understand the purpose of the essay

The first step to memorising an essay is to understand a few things about the essay:

• What is the essay about
• What are the different parts of the essay (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion)
• What is the purpose of each part of the essay
• What are the main topics discussed in the essay

You must begin with reading the essay thoroughly. You may read the essay more than once to understand its purpose. Underline all the new or difficult words that you encounter and make little notes about them in the margin. Then, take a highlighter and underline all the key topics of the essay. For instance,

• Read the introductory paragraph and highlight all the key points mentioned there
• Then, move to the consequent paragraphs and highlight their main points (they are generally mentioned in the first sentence of the paragraph)
• Do the same for the concluding paragraph

Once you understand what the essay is about or the main points discussed in the essay, it becomes easier to memorise the essay. You can do some background reading to understand the technical aspects of the essay even better. For example, if the essay is about global warming, try searching on the internet about it. Before you dive into the essay, make sure you understand what global warming is and its causes and son. This will make it easier for you to understand the essay.

#2 Learn the structure of the essay

Now that you have understood the purpose of the essay. The next step is memorising its structure. You must learn how different arguments are presented in the essay. For example, if your essay is a problems and solutions essay about global warming. First, you will discuss what global warming is. Then, you talk about its causes and at last you talk about how global warming can be reduced. You cannot give the solutions to a problem before explaining what it is.

Similarly, you might be learning an opinion essay on online communication. So first you will explain what online communication is and then you will provide your opinions. You might also memorise the different examples that are used with the arguments or opinions. You must understand that the structure of an essay is the most important aspect. This is because it helps in creating an information flow through the essay. It becomes easier to present your arguments once they are arranged in a logical order.

#3 Divide the essay into different parts

You cannot straightaway memorise 1000 words! So what you can do is simply break down the essay into different parts and focus on learning one part at a time. Learning 200-250 words at one time is much less daunting than learning 1000 words altogether. Now here are some tips on how you can memorise different parts of the essay:

• Create headings for each part so that you can associate with them easily. If we consider the same example of an essay on global warming, the different headings could be – Introduction, What is global warming, Causes of global warming – Cause 1, Cause 2, Cause 3, and so on.
• Use mnemonics to memorise the structure of the essay or the structure of different paragraphs of the essay. Mnemonics are memory tricks where you use rhymes or rhythms to memorise information. Our assignment help experts can provide you with more information about using mnemonics.
• Create flashcards to remember important definitions that are used in the essay. A flashcard is a card that contains a small piece of information. You can use this information to memorise something.
• Use mindmaps to memorise the essay. Mindmaps help in understanding how different pieces of information connect. A mind map has a central idea through which several branches fan out. These branches can have their sub-branches, each connecting to a new piece of information.

#4 Start as early as possible

Do not wait until a day before the exam thinking that you will be able to remember the freshly-learned essay. Memorising an essay is not that easy. You might succeed in cramming the essay but it won’t bring any good as you will soon forget it. So, give yourself some time to remember the facts, information and ideas of the essay. GoAssignmentHelp experts advise that students must start reading and learning the essays at least a month before the exams. This gives you a lot of time to revise the key points, practice and engrave the essays in your minds.

#5 Revise as much as you can

Revision plays a great role in memorising an essay. It helps you identify which parts of the essay are difficult for you so that you can read and memorise them again. Here are a few ways to revise your essay properly:

• Rewrite the paragraphs of the essay to memorise the different key points
• Write down the summary of the essay highlighting all the key points
• Use your flashcards and mindmaps to revise the essay topics
• Always study in a quiet place so that there is no distraction and you can focus on your essay
• Stick your notes around your study table or at a place where you can see them every time
• Read your essay out loud to revise the different parts of the essay

#6 Your study environment matters

Do not think that you will be able to learn an essay while watching TV or talking to your friends on the phone. Your study environment plays a major role in helping you learn. GoAssignmentHelp assignment writers suggest a few ways to create a suitable learning environment:

• Remove all the distractions while you start memorising your essay
• Have a well-lit dedicated place for learning so that you can focus
• Keep all your study materials in your study space so that you do not have to find them every time you sit to memorise your essay
• Identify your learning style and use the same while memorising your essay

To Conclude

Memorising an essay can be tough at first. But, it is not impossible. Start with understanding the purpose of your essay. Divide your essay into parts and focus on one part at once. Learn the structure of the essay thoroughly so that you can present the essay correctly in the exam. Do not delay learning the essay until your exam. Start as early as possible and keep revising your essay after regular intervals. Last but not least, create a suitable learning environment for yourself so that you can concentrate better on memorising the essay.

For more tips on how to write an essay and memorise your essay, consult GoAssignmentHelp assignment experts.

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How To Memorize An Essay

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Did you know that the average person can only retain about 5-7 unrelated items in their short-term memory? Imagine trying to remember an entire essay! Whether you’re a student or a professional needing to recall key points for a presentation, mastering the art of memorization can be a game-changer.

In this post, we’ll explore effective techniques and practical tips on how to memorize an essay effortlessly. From mnemonic devices to spaced repetition , we’ve got you covered with actionable strategies that will help you commit lengthy texts to memory in no time.

Understanding Essay Memorization

Memory basics.

The memory plays a crucial role in learning and retaining information. It consists of two main types: short-term and long-term memory . Short-term memory holds information for a short period, while long-term memory stores it for an extended duration. Understanding these distinctions is essential when learning how to start memorizing an essay effectively.

Retaining the content of an essay involves engaging various techniques to improve retention. Active engagement with the material , such as summarizing key points or discussing them with others, can significantly enhance retention. Incorporating multiple senses during the learning process – like reading aloud or creating visual aids – can further reinforce memory retention .

Retention Techniques

To successfully memorize an essay, individuals must develop personalized strategies that suit their learning style and preferences. This may involve utilizing effective study techniques such as spaced repetition or mnemonic devices to aid in retaining the material more efficiently. Furthermore, setting clear goals for memorization helps individuals stay focused on what they aim to achieve.

Students can experiment with different ways until they find one that works best for them. For instance, some learners might benefit from breaking down the essay into smaller sections and foc using on mastering each part separately before combining them into a cohesive whole.

Preparing to Memorize

Essay breakdown.

When memorizing an essay , it’s crucial to break the text into manageable sections . Identify key points, such as the main thesis and supporting arguments . Understand the structure of the essay, including introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

For instance, if you’re memorizing a history essay on World War II, break it down into sections covering causes, major battles, and outcomes. Each section can then be tackled separately for easier memorization.

Identify main ideas and supporting details within each section of the essay. Summarize key concepts in your own words to aid understanding and retention. Prioritize important information that needs to be committed to memory.

In a literature essay analyzing a novel’s themes, focus on identifying the primary themes along with specific examples or quotes that support them.

Learning Plan

Create a structured plan for learning and memorization by allocating specific time slots for different sections of the essay. Incorporate review sessions into your plan to reinforce memory retention over time.

For example:

• Monday: Memorize introduction & first body paragraph.
• Tuesday: Review Monday’s material; memorize second body paragraph.
• Wednesday: Review Monday & Tuesday’s material; memorize third body paragraph.
• Thursday: Review all previous material; memorize conclusion.

Memory Techniques for Essays

Repetition method.

The repetition method is a powerful technique for memorizing an essay . By using spaced repetition, you can effectively commit the content to memory. Rehearsing key points through repeated practice helps reinforce your understanding and retention of the material. Incorporating regular review sessions into your study schedule will further solidify the information in your mind.

For example, if you’re trying to memorize historical dates or scientific concepts for an essay, spacing out your practice sessions over several days can significantly improve long-term retention. This method allows you to revisit and reinforce the material at optimal intervals, making it easier to recall during exams or when writing essays .

Visualization

Visualization is another effective tool for essay memorization . Creating mental images related to specific parts of the essay can help trigger recall during exams or while writing. Linking visual cues with particular sections of the essay aids in retrieving information effortlessly when needed.

For instance, if you need to remember a complex argument structure in an essay, creating vivid mental images representing each section could help cement those details in your memory. Visualizing these components as distinct and memorable entities makes it easier to reconstruct them accurately when writing from memory.

Association Tricks

Utilizing association tricks , such as connecting new information with existing knowledge or employing mnemonic devices, can greatly enhance essay memorization . Making connections between unfamiliar concepts and familiar ideas facilitates better retention and recall.

Imagine needing to remember a series of persuasive techniques for an English literature essay; associating each technique with a real-life scenario or using acronyms based on their first letters could make recalling them much simpler during exams or while composing essays.

Mind Mapping for Structure

Creating maps.

Organizing information spatially can significantly aid in memorizing an essay. By creating visual maps or diagrams of the essay content, you can link related ideas and concepts together. For example, if your essay discusses different historical periods, you could create a mind map with each period branching out into specific events and details.

Mind mapping techniques allow you to see the overall structure of your essay at a glance, making it easier to recall information during exams or presentations. When organizing your thoughts spatially, consider using colors and images to make the map more visually engaging and memorable.

Visualizing Sections

Breaking down the essay into visual segments helps in improving memory retention. You can associate each section with a distinct visual representation that encapsulates its main theme or argument. For instance, if one section of your essay focuses on environmental issues, you might use nature-related imagery like trees or animals as visual aids for that particular segment.

Active Learning through Practice

Note-taking.

When memorizing an essay , effective note-taking is crucial. Summarize the key points in your own words, ensuring that you understand the content. Organize your notes using headings and bullet points to make them easy to reference later on. For instance, when reading an essay, jot down the main ideas of each paragraph in a few words.

Another effective strategy for note-taking is to use abbreviations or symbols to condense information without losing its meaning. This allows you to capture more details while keeping your notes concise and easily digestible.

Self-Testing

Implementing self-quizzing techniques can significantly enhance essay memorization . Test yourself by recalling the main points of each section of the essay without looking at it. This helps reinforce memory retention and strengthens understanding.

Evaluate your comprehension by simulating exam conditions during self-testing sessions. Set a timer and answer questions related to the content from memory alone, just as you would during an actual exam or presentation.

Memorization Tips and Tricks

Mnemonics, like acronyms or rhymes , are powerful tools for memorizing an essay. By creating memorable phrases that encapsulate key points, you can aid your memory retention significantly. For instance, if you’re trying to remember a list of historical dates or events in an essay, you could create an acronym using the first letter of each date or event to form a new word.

Another mnemonic strategy involves creating rhymes or jingles that encapsulate important details from different sections of the essay. This technique can be particularly effective when studying poetry analysis or literary devices within an English literature essay .

Chunking Information

Chunking information involves breaking down large amounts of content into smaller, more manageable chunks. By organizing the material based on themes or categories, it becomes easier to retain and recall specific details during the writing process. When memorizing essays through chunking, you can group related concepts together under thematic headings such as “historical context,” “literary analysis,” and “main arguments.”

Enhancing memory through chunking also allows for better organization and understanding of complex topics by presenting them in a more digestible format.

Memory Palaces

Creating a mental memory palace is another effective method for memorizing essays. You can associate specific locations with different parts of the essay and use spatial memory techniques for improved recall. For example, when recalling specific quotes from literature analyses within your essay, mentally associating them with particular rooms in your house can help reinforce their placement in your mind.

Optimizing Memorization Time

Scheduled sessions.

Allocating specific study sessions for essay memorization is crucial for effective learning. By establishing a consistent schedule, you can create a routine that reinforces memory retention. Plan regular review sessions within the schedule to reinforce what you’ve learned and enhance long-term memory.

Regular breaks are essential during study sessions as they allow time for relaxation and mental recharge. Balancing study time with regular intervals of rest prevents burnout and promotes sustained focus. Incorporating short breaks also helps in maintaining optimal cognitive function throughout your memorization process.

Sleep and Memory

Understanding the impact of sleep on memory consolidation is vital when aiming to memorize an essay effectively. Prioritizing adequate sleep enables optimal cognitive function, leading to improved information retention. Leveraging quality sleep enhances memory retention, ensuring that the material you have studied stays fresh in your mind.

Overcoming Memorization Challenges

Distraction management.

When memorizing an essay , it’s crucial to minimize external distractions. Find a quiet, comfortable space for study sessions. Ensure the environment is conducive to focused memorization by keeping it tidy and organized. Implement strategies like using noise-canceling headphones or setting specific time slots for uninterrupted concentration.

To stay focused amid distractions, consider techniques such as the Pomodoro method , which involves working in short bursts with regular breaks. This can help maintain focus and prevent mental fatigue. Practicing mindfulness or meditation can enhance your ability to concentrate amidst external disturbances.

Anxiety Reduction

Managing anxiety and stress during the memorization process is essential for effective learning. Implement relaxation techniques such as deep breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation to alleviate anxiety before and during study sessions. Cultivate a positive mindset towards memorization by reframing negative thoughts about the task into more positive affirmations.

By associating memorization with personal growth and achievement, you can reduce feelings of dread or apprehension associated with the task. Remember that feeling anxious is normal but doesn’t have to hinder your progress.

Staying Motivated

Maintaining motivation throughout the essay memorization process requires setting achievable milestones. Break down the material into smaller sections and celebrate each milestone achieved. Seek support from peers or mentors who can provide encouragement when motivation wanes.

Engage in discussions about the topic of your essay with others; this not only reinforces your understanding but also helps sustain enthusiasm for what you’re learning.

Closing Thoughts

Congratulations! You’ve now equipped yourself with a powerful arsenal of essay memorization techniques . By understanding the process, preparing effectively , and utilizing memory strategies , you can conquer the challenge of memorizing essays. Remember, it’s not just about rote learning; it’s about actively engaging with the material and finding what works best for you. So, go ahead, put these methods to the test and discover the one that syncs perfectly with your learning style.

Now, take a deep breath and dive into your essay memorization journey . Embrace the process, stay persistent , and don’t be afraid to tweak these techniques to fit your unique needs. Before you know it, you’ll be effortlessly reciting essays from memory like a pro! Happy memorizing!

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i improve my essay memorization skills.

To enhance your essay memorization skills, try using memory techniques such as visualization, chunking information, and spaced repetition. Engaging in active learning through practice and utilizing mind mapping for structuring the content can significantly aid in improving your memorization abilities.

Is it possible to memorize an entire essay?

While it’s challenging to memorize an entire essay word for word, you can effectively remember key points and structures by employing memory techniques like association, mnemonic devices, and rehearsal. Mind mapping can help organize the content mentally, making it easier to recall during writing or speaking tasks.

What are some common challenges many students face when trying to memorize an essay?

Common challenges in essay memorization include difficulty retaining large amounts of information, maintaining focus during study sessions, and combating mental fatigue. Overcoming these obstacles may involve optimizing your study environment for minimal distractions and breaking down the material into manageable sections for better retention.

How do mind mapping techniques assist with structuring essays?

Mind mapping aids in organizing ideas visually by creating a hierarchical structure that links main topics with supporting details. This technique not only enhances comprehension but also facilitates easier retrieval of information from memory when writing or reciting essays.

Are there specific tips to optimize time spent on essay memorization?

Optimizing time spent on essay memorization involves setting aside dedicated study sessions while ensuring proper rest intervals for effective consolidation of information. Employing active recall methods like self-quizzing and practicing retrieval exercises at spaced intervals can also maximize the efficiency of your study efforts.

Key Takeaways

• Understand the essay content before attempting to memorize, ensuring comprehension and making the process easier.
• Prepare for memorization by breaking the essay into smaller sections and creating a conducive environment for focused learning.
• Utilize memory techniques such as visualization, association, and mnemonic devices to aid in essay memorization.
• Employ mind mapping to organize the essay’s structure and key points, facilitating a clearer and more coherent memorization process.
• Actively engage in practice by reciting, writing, and teaching the essay content to reinforce memory retention.
• Optimize memorization time by scheduling regular, shorter study sessions rather than cramming, allowing for better absorption of information.

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How to Memorise Paragraphs

Last Updated: February 21, 2024

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 13 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 162,262 times. Learn more...

This is a simple way to learn long paragraphs for any occasion. It helps to learn speeches for presentations, lines for plays or answers to questions in language speaking exams.

Community Q&A

• Once you know a phrase highlight it. Thanks Helpful 28 Not Helpful 7
• Hand-writing the paragraph can also help you remember it. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 1
• Try learning five phrases, go to do something completely different for twenty minutes, then come back and test your knowledge of the five phrases before learning the next few. Thanks Helpful 19 Not Helpful 11

• This technique won't work for everyone and it also depends on the size of the script. Thanks Helpful 69 Not Helpful 29

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• ↑ https://www.theclassroom.com/memorize-long-passages-12148758.html
• ↑ https://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/how-to-memorise-an-entire-essay-or-speech/
• ↑ https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/backstage-experts-answer-ways-quickly-memorize-lines-6719/

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How to Write a Memoir Essay

October 12, 2023

What is a Memoir Essay?

A memoir essay is a form of autobiographical writing that focuses on a specific aspect of the author’s life. Unlike a traditional autobiography, which typically covers the author’s entire life, a memoir essay hones in on a particular event, time period, or theme. It is a deeply personal and reflective piece that allows the writer to delve into their memories, thoughts, and emotions surrounding their chosen subject.

In a memoir essay, the author aims to not only recount the events that took place but also provide insight into the impact and meaning of those experiences. It is a unique opportunity for self-discovery and exploration, while also offering readers a glimpse into the author’s world. The beauty of a memoir essay lies in its ability to weave together personal anecdotes, vivid descriptions, and introspective reflections to create a compelling narrative.

Writing a memoir essay can be both challenging and rewarding. It requires careful selection of memories, thoughtful introspection, and skillful storytelling. The process allows the writer to make sense of their past, gain a deeper understanding of themselves, and share their unique story with others.

Choosing a Topic for Your Memoir Essay

Selecting the right topic is crucial to write a good memoir essay. It sets the foundation for what you will explore and reveal in your personal narrative. When choosing a topic, it’s essential to reflect on your significant life experiences and consider what stories or themes hold the most meaning for you.

One approach is to think about moments or events that have had a profound impact on your life. Consider times of triumph or adversity, moments of exploration or self-discovery, relationships that have shaped you, or challenges you have overcome. These experiences can provide a rich foundation for your memoir essay.

Another option is to focus on a specific theme or aspect of your life. You might explore topics such as identity, family dynamics, cultural heritage, career milestones, or personal beliefs. By centering your essay around a theme, you can weave together various memories and reflections to create a cohesive narrative.

It’s also important to consider your target audience. Who do you want to connect with through your memoir essay? Understanding your audience’s interests and experiences can help you choose a topic that will resonate with them.

Ultimately, the topic should be one that excites you and allows for introspection and self-discovery. Choose a topic that ignites your passion and offers a story worth sharing.

Possible Memoir Essay Topics

• Childhood Memories
• Family Dynamics
• Life-altering Events
• Overcoming Societal Expectations
• Love and Loss
• Self-discovery and Transformation
• Lessons from Nature
• Journey from Darkness to Light
• Triumphing Over Adversities
• Life’s Defining Moments

Outlining the Structure of Your Memoir Essay

Writing a memoir essay allows you to share your personal experiences, reflections, and insights with others. However, before you start pouring your thoughts onto the page, it’s essential to outline the structure of your essay. This not only provides a clear roadmap for your writing but also helps you maintain a cohesive and engaging narrative.

First, consider the opening. Begin with a captivating introduction that hooks the reader and establishes the theme or central message of your memoir. This is your chance to grab their attention and set the tone for the rest of the essay.

Next, move on to the body paragraphs. Divide your essay into sections that chronologically or thematically explore different aspects of your life or experiences. Use vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and dialogue to bring your memories to life. It’s crucial to maintain a logical flow and transition smoothly between different ideas or events.

As you approach the conclusion, summarize the key points you’ve discussed and reflect on the significance of your experiences. What lessons have you learned? How have you grown or changed as a result? Wrap up your memoir essay by leaving the reader with a memorable takeaway or a thought-provoking question.

Remember, the structure of your memoir essay should support your storytelling and allow for a genuine and authentic exploration of your experiences. By outlining your essay’s structure, you’ll have a solid foundation to create a compelling and impactful memoir that resonates with your readers.

How to Write an Introduction for Your Memoir Essay

The introduction of your memoir essay sets the stage for your story and captivates your readers from the very beginning. It is your opportunity to grab their attention, establish the tone, and introduce the central theme of your memoir.

To create a compelling introduction, consider starting with a hook that intrigues your readers. This can be a surprising fact, a thought-provoking question, or a vivid description that immediately draws them in. Your goal is to make them curious and interested in what you have to say.

Next, provide a brief overview of what your memoir essay will explore. Give your readers a glimpse into the key experiences or aspects of your life that you will be sharing. However, avoid giving away too much detail. Leave room for anticipation and curiosity to keep them engaged.

Additionally, consider how you want to establish the tone of your memoir. Will it be reflective, humorous, or nostalgic? Choose your words and phrasing carefully to convey the right emotions and set the right atmosphere for your story.

Finally, end your introduction with a clear and concise thesis statement. This statement should express the central theme or message that your memoir will convey. It serves as a roadmap for your essay and guides your readers in understanding the purpose and significance of your memoir.

By crafting a strong and captivating introduction for your memoir essay, you will draw readers in and make them eager to dive into the rich and personal journey that awaits them.

Write the Main Body of Your Memoir Essay

When developing the main body of your memoir essay, it’s essential to structure your thoughts and experiences in a clear and engaging manner. Here are some tips to help you effectively organize and develop the main body of your essay:

• Chronological Structure: Consider organizing your memoir essay in chronological order, following the sequence of events as they occurred in your life. This allows for a natural flow and a clear timeline that helps readers understand your personal journey.
• Thematic Structure: Alternatively, you can focus on specific themes or lessons that emerged from your experiences. This approach allows for a more focused exploration of different aspects of your life, even if they did not occur in a linear order.
• Use Vivid Details: Use sensory details, descriptive language, and engaging storytelling techniques to bring your memories to life. Transport your readers to the settings, evoke emotions, and create a vivid picture of the events and people in your life.
• Show, Don’t Tell: Instead of simply stating facts, show your readers the experiences through engaging storytelling. Use dialogue, scenes, and anecdotes to make your memoir more dynamic and immersive.
• Reflections and Insights: Share your reflections on the events and experiences in your memoir. Offer deeper insights, lessons learned, and personal growth that came from these moments. Invite readers to reflect on their own lives and connect with your journey.

By organizing your main body in a logical and engaging manner, using vivid details, and offering thoughtful reflections, you can write a compelling memoir essay that captivates your readers and leaves a lasting impact.

Reflecting on Lessons Learned in Your Memoir Essay

One of the powerful aspects of a memoir essay is the opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned from your personal experiences. These reflections provide deeper insights and meaning to your story, leaving a lasting impact on your readers. Here are some tips for effectively reflecting on lessons learned in your memoir essay:

• Summarize Key Points: In the conclusion of your essay, summarize the key events and experiences you have shared throughout your memoir. Briefly remind readers of the significant moments that shaped your journey.
• Identify Core Themes: Reflect on the core themes and messages that emerged from your experiences. What did you learn about resilience, love, identity, or perseverance? Identify the overarching lessons that you want to convey.
• Offer Personal Insights: Share your personal insights and reflections on how these lessons have influenced your life. Were there specific turning points or moments of epiphany? How have these experiences shaped your beliefs, values, or actions?
• Connect to the Reader: Make your reflections relatable to your readers. Explore how the lessons you learned can resonate with their own lives and experiences. This allows them to connect with your story on a deeper level.
• Offer a Call to Action: Encourage readers to reflect on their own lives and consider how the lessons from your memoir can apply to their own journeys. Pose thought-provoking questions or suggest actions they can take to apply these insights.

By reflecting on the lessons learned in your memoir essay, you give your readers a chance to contemplate their own lives and find inspiration in your personal growth. These reflections add depth and impact to your storytelling, making your memoir essay truly memorable.

Crafting a Strong Conclusion for Your Memoir Essay

The conclusion of your memoir essay is your final opportunity to leave a lasting impression on your readers. It is where you tie together the threads of your story and offer a sense of closure and reflection. Here are some tips to help you craft a strong conclusion for your memoir essay:

• Summarize the Journey: Remind your readers of the key moments and experiences you shared throughout your essay. Briefly summarize the significant events and emotions that shaped your personal journey.
• Revisit the Central Theme: Reiterate the central theme or message of your memoir. Emphasize the lessons learned, personal growth, or insights gained from your experiences. This helps reinforce the purpose and impact of your story.
• Reflect on Transformation: Reflect on how you have transformed as a result of the events and experiences you shared. Share the growth, self-discovery, or newfound perspectives that have shaped your life.
• Leave a Lasting Impression: Use powerful and evocative language to leave a lasting impact on your readers. Craft a memorable phrase or thought that lingers in their minds even after they finish reading your essay.
• Offer a Call to Action or Reflection: Encourage your readers to take action or reflect on their own lives. Pose thought-provoking questions, suggest further exploration, or challenge them to apply the lessons from your memoir to their own experiences.

By crafting a strong conclusion, you ensure that your memoir essay resonates with your readers long after they have finished reading it. It leaves them with a sense of closure, inspiration, and a deeper understanding of the transformative power of personal storytelling.

Editing and Proofreading Your Memoir Essay

Editing and proofreading are crucial steps in the writing process that can greatly enhance the quality and impact of your memoir essay. Here are some tips to help you effectively edit and proofread your work:

• Take a Break: After completing your initial draft, take a break before starting the editing process. This allows you to approach your essay with fresh eyes and a clear mind.
• Review for Structure and Flow: Read through your essay to ensure it has a logical structure and flows smoothly. Check that your paragraphs and sections transition seamlessly, guiding readers through your story.
• Trim and Refine: Eliminate any unnecessary or repetitive information. Trim down long sentences and paragraphs to make your writing concise and impactful. Consider the pacing and ensure that each word contributes to the overall story.
• Check for Clarity and Consistency: Ensure that your ideas and thoughts are expressed clearly. Identify any confusing or vague passages and revise them to improve clarity. Check for consistency in tense, tone, and voice throughout your essay.
• Proofread for Errors: Carefully proofread your essay for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Pay attention to common mistakes such as subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, and punctuation marks. Consider using spell-checking tools or having someone else review your work for an objective perspective.
• Seek Feedback: Share your memoir essay with a trusted friend, family member, or writing partner. Their feedback can provide valuable insights and help you identify areas for improvement.

By dedicating time to edit and proofread your memoir essay, you ensure that it is polished, coherent, and error-free. These final touches enhance the reader’s experience and allow your story to shine.

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You Don’t Just See a Total Solar Eclipse. You Feel It Completely.

By Ryan Milligan

Dr. Milligan is a senior lecturer in astrophysics at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Almost one year ago, in the middle of the night, I drove from my hometown, Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Dublin to catch an early morning flight to Munich. From there I caught another plane to Bangkok, another to Singapore and yet another to Perth in Western Australia. There, I rented a camper van and began a drive of more than 750 miles north to the town of Exmouth on a remote peninsula on the northwest coast of the continent.

This was the only reasonably accessible location on the planet with decent weather prospects from which to view the total solar eclipse on April 20, 2023. The entire event lasted 62 seconds. It was the 10th total solar eclipse I’d traveled to witness.

Even as a professional solar physicist, I find it difficult to convey why eclipse chasers like me go to such extraordinary lengths to witness such a fleeting phenomenon, again and again. I was extra determined to make the pilgrimage last year after I was thwarted by clouds in Chile in December 2020, and I couldn’t afford the eye-watering cost of traveling to Antarctica in 2021. I needed to whet my appetite before embarking on another expedition to see the totality of the April 8 eclipse in Mazatlán, Mexico.

It may sound absurd, but there is no other celestial event that anyone I know would devote so much time and effort to seeing. If you wish to see the northern lights, you can hop on a plane to Iceland or Norway and have a fairly decent chance of seeing them in the winter months. If you are on the nightside of the planet during a lunar eclipse and the skies are clear, you just need to go outside and look up to see it happening. But unless you are fortunate enough to live within or close to the path of totality, witnessing a total solar eclipse will probably require meticulous planning and marshaling time and money to get you to an optimal location and a bit of luck to make sure the weather forecasts you’ve pored over hold true.

Believe me, it is worth the effort.

A total solar eclipse is not something that you see — it’s something that you experience. You can feel the temperature around you begin to drop by as much as 15 degrees over the five to 10 minutes that lead up to the eclipse. The birds and other animals go silent. The light becomes eerie and morphs into a dusky, muted twilight, and you begin to see stark, misplaced shadows abound. A column of darkness in the sky hurtles toward you at over 1,000 miles per hour as the moon’s shadow falls neatly over the sun, turning day into temporary night — nothing like the calming sunset we take for granted every day. Sometimes, a few stars or planets begin to appear faintly in the sky as your eyes get used to the new darkness.

The hairs stand up on the back of your neck and the adrenaline kicks in as your brain tries to make sense of what is going on. But it cannot. It has no other point of reference to compare these sensations to. A total eclipse elicits a unique, visceral, primeval feeling that cannot be evoked by a photograph or a video or a newspaper article, and that can be experienced only within the path of totality when the moon completely obscures the disk of the sun.

And then of course there is the crowning glory: the sun’s corona, the pearly white outer atmosphere of our nearest star that we can otherwise see only using a fleet of dedicated solar-observing spacecraft. It has an ethereal beauty that is challenging to articulate.

For those brief few moments when the corona appears bright in the sky, all the effort made to experience the totality becomes worth it. You want to soak up every second of it and process every feeling, because it is over all too soon. Once the moon’s shadow has passed you feel both exhilarated and deflated because the next opportunity to experience this sensation again could be years away and on the other side of the world. And it is something that you will crave.

There is also, of course, the professional motivation for me to gaze upon the subject of my research with my own eyes. Most other astrophysicists only get to look at exploding stars or distant comets through gargantuan telescopes, where they appear as mere pixels on a computer screen or a squiggle on a graph. It’s easy to get detached from the beauty of astronomy when your job becomes more focused on securing grant funding, teaching, administrative duties and bureaucracy. Eclipse chasing reminds me why I chose this field of work in the first place and reignites my passion — and I want to inspire my students with that same passion.

Each eclipse is different. The shape and structure of the solar corona varies over the course of each solar cycle. The longer the duration of the eclipse, the darker one’s surroundings are likely to seem. And sandwiched between the sun’s “surface” and the corona is the crimson red chromosphere, the layer of the sun’s atmosphere that I have been researching for almost 20 years to understand its relationship to solar flares. In Australia the briefness of totality meant that this region was exceptionally bright and distinguished, and one could even spot some solar prominences (clouds of hydrogen gas suspended above the chromosphere) with the naked eye. That may also be the case on Monday.

People mistakenly think that a partial eclipse is good enough. It is not. When outside the path of totality, the visibility of even 1 percent of the sun’s disk is enough to outshine the entire corona. The buzz around this year’s eclipse through North America has reached a fever pitch not seen since the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017. The duration of totality will be almost twice as long — almost four and a half minutes. (Whether the weather will cooperate is still an open question .)

This is far from the first time I’ve tried to cajole people into experiencing the totality in full. In 2017, I persuaded several of my friends in the United States to join me in Nebraska to enjoy the spectacle without forcing them to traipse halfway across the globe. They later told me that they at first thought I may have been somewhat exaggerating the experience because of my professional bias, but when the eclipse was over, I knew that they finally got it. Their faces were overcome with emotion and they struggled to articulate how they were feeling. Because it wasn’t just about what they had seen — it was about what they had experienced.

Ryan Milligan is a solar physicist at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has held research fellowships at NASA and the Science and Technology Facilities Council in Britain and was affiliated with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for over a decade.

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