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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Dickinson chapter.

Sometimes I can develop a MAJOR case of writer’s block. I will just stare at my screen and my fingers will not move across my keyboard at all. With finals approaching, the last thing you need is a mental block as you sit down to write your finals papers. Here are my best tips for dealing with writer’s block!

 

Just type something on the screen

It can be kind of scary looking at a blank document feeling like you have nothing to say. I find that writing a sentence on the page helps me get started. I was trying to write my thesis proposal the other day and the blank page kept putting me off. So I typed a random sentence about the blank page and those flow of words helped me get started. Just make sure you remember to delete the random sentence before you submit your paper!

 

Give yourself a break

Sometimes when you’re editing a paper, it can feel like you have nothing new to say or you can’t figure out how to improve your work since you’ve been looking at it for so long. When that happens, take a break from the assignment and come back to it. A little time away can often give you a fresh perspective.

 

Keep typing

While this idea contrasts the previous one, it really depends on the assignment as to how you move forward. If you hit a wall as you write, just keep going. Even if your ideas don’t make sense or your grammar is awful, keep typing. You never know what you’ll come up with and it could be really great. Or it could be really awful, but at least you got the idea out of the way. Either way, just persevering when you want to give up can lead to great ideas. 

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Alexandra Loh

Dickinson '19

Alex is a senior English major at Dickinson College. Alex enjoys traveling, cooking, and watching college basketball.
Devon Carlson

Dickinson '20

Devon is a junior at Dickinson College, majoring in Political Science and Educational Studies. At Dickinson, she involves herself in a cappella and soccer, but outside of her school work and extracurriculars, she has a very strong passion for coffee and all things related to The Office.