Emily sat down at her desk with a cup of coffee, ready to begin writing her 5,000 word essay that was due at midnight. This was the biggest paper she had written so far in her college career and she was feeling the pressure to do well. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and opened up her document file to get started.
The first step was to review the assignment instructions and grading criteria one more time to ensure she had a clear understanding of what was expected. The professor wanted three main parts – an introduction, body, and conclusion. She also needed at least fifteen scholarly sources to support her arguments. Emily highlighted the key requirements so she could refer back to them as needed while drafting.
Next, Emily accessed her outline and notes from previous brainstorming sessions. She had already selected her topic, which was analyzing the portrayal of women in 20th century films. Within that broad topic, she decided to focus specifically on how women were depicted in romantic comedies from the 1950s versus the 2010s. Her outline broke this comparison into four main sections with subpoints to guide her writing.
With her structure in place, Emily began drafting the introduction. She started with a hook to grab the reader’s attention, citing an amusing quote from a 1950s romantic comedy. She then clearly stated her thesis about how the portrayal of women in rom-coms has evolved over the past 60 years. From there, she briefly previewed the four body sections that would support and explain her thesis.
After completing a solid first draft of the introduction, Emily moved on to the first body paragraph. Here she discussed how women in 1950s rom-coms were usually portrayed as homemakers whose main goal was to find a husband. She cited specific film examples and quotes to illustrate her points. She also incorporated analysis from scholarly articles on gender roles in 1950s American cinema.
Emily took breaks every 30-45 minutes to stretch, refill her water bottle, and check social media for a few minutes to recharge. Staying focused for hours at a time on such a lengthy project took mental stamina that required periodic breaks. Between sections, she also reviewed what she had written so far to ensure a smooth logical flow between paragraphs.
It was getting late, but Emily was determined to power through at least the first three body paragraphs that night in addition to finishing the introduction. She made herself a cup of tea and a quick dinner to fuel up for the next push. The second body paragraph examined how female characters in 2010s romantic comedies were portrayed with careers and more empowered personalities compared to earlier films. Here she incorporated more modern sources related to third-wave feminism in mainstream cinema.
By midnight, Emily had drafted well over half the paper including the introduction and first three body paragraphs totaling over 3,000 words so far. She was mentally exhausted but proud of the progress. It was time to call it a night and get some rest before tackling the last section and conclusion in the morning. Before signing off, she did one last review of the content for any errors or weak points to address the next day. A full first draft was coming together and Emily felt confident she was on track to complete the assignment on time.
The next morning, Emily got up early to squeeze in more writing before her classes started. After re-reading what she had completed so far, she jumped right into finalizing the last body paragraph about modern rom-com heroines rejecting traditionally feminine roles. This section analyzed female leads driving plots through assertive actions instead of primarily reacting to male suitors.
Once that paragraph was drafted, it was time for Emily to write the all-important conclusion. Here, she restated her thesis and summarized the major points made in each body section. She closed by emphasizing how the genre had evolved to present multifaceted portrayals of women more aligned with modern feminist ideals compared to the limited housewife archetypes of 1950s films. In total, her conclusion wrapped up the paper’s analysis in just under 500 words.
With the full first draft complete at just over 4,800 words, Emily spent the afternoon thoroughly proofreading and editing. She checked for typos, flow, consistency, and polished sentence structure throughout. References were also double checked for accuracy. Finally, she developed a title for the paper and added an APA style cover page to finish it off professionally.
Feeling confident in her work, Emily submitted her essay at 10:57pm, just three minutes before the deadline. Now all that was left was to wait anxiously for the professor’s feedback and grade. A few weeks later, Emily was thrilled to learn she earned an A- on the paper, one of the highest grades in the class. Months of effort had paid off through diligent planning, writing in chunks over multiple sessions, self-editing, and meeting the deadline. Emily realized that with enough preparation and follow-through, even daunting long essays could be successfully tackled.