For some students, the request from a teacher or lecturer to write an essay can bring about fear and anxiety. Read on to find out how to reduce that fear and anxiety using good writing strategies.

I had a conversation recently with Stuart Marsden from Claro Software, a company that develops assistive technology to help with the challenges associated with Specific Learning Differences. He was wanting to tell me about their new product called Claro Writing Helper.

If you follow this blog you will know how much I love software that can help take away stress and anxiety for student with dyslexia. Usually I talk about how one should use mind mapping first in order to get ideas out of the brain and then worry about spelling and grammar later. Stuart reminded me that actually there is more to get stressed about than just spellings and grammar….

Spellings, grammar AND what else?

At undergraduate level, writing an essay has a number of challenges. Yes good spelling and grammar are important, but also there are other factors at play such as word count and deciphering just what the question is really asking for.

The question that leads to the essay could easily be written in a complicated manner that could be confusing. The confusion could lead to the essay being expertly written about the wrong topic!

I personally failed an exam once because I lost lots of points on a question that I gave a fantastic answer for but because I misunderstood the question, it was totally not what the exam board was asking for.

Stuart was telling me that so often we try to process the whole question rather than break it down. We actually need to find the ‘instructional verbs’ and use them to guide how the essay is written.

He also told me about how confusing using references are which are increasingly required as one progresses through the education system.

He went on to tell me more about other great ways to reduce stress and anxiety in essay writing than about his software.

So it struck me that it would be good to get Stuart on a webinar to discuss this further so that parents, teachers, students and DSA assessors can consider the principles of feeling in control when writing an essay and thus less anxious.

If you would like to join Stuart and I then click the banner below and book your free place.