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How to Finish a Huge Assignment or Project Overnight

one night assignment

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The great American writer Mark Twain once said,

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.”

When we live by that advice, though, we sometimes find ourselves chugging concentrated coffee at 2 a.m. in a valiant effort to stay awake and finish a huge project that’s due in 6 hours.

As productive as I’d like to think I am… I’ve been there.

If you’ve been there as well – or maybe if you’re there right now – this week’s video is for you. I’m not going to waste time lecturing you about the importance of planning, there are other videos for that – let’s just look at the best plan of attack when you find yourself in a time crunch.

Now, we’re going to look at some specific concepts related to planning and willpower in a minute – The Impact Effort Matrix, Ego Depletion – but let’s start with the foundation: location selection .

I think your location is vital when you’re working under pressure, and personally I like to pick my study locations based on their “vibe” – that is, what’s going on around me. I tend to favor coffee shops and libraries – I still go to my university library at times even though I’ve graduated – because I work well when I’m surrounded by other people who are also working. Also, close proximity to caffeine is helpful.

The most important part of location selection, though, is avoiding the “call of the pillow”. When you’re studying in a time crunch, it’s likely you’ll be doing it late into the night. That’s why you want to get as far away from your bed as possible.

The later it gets, the more you’ll start rationalizing how good a nap might be and the more you’ll start deciding that certain parts of your project don’t matter. So pick a place where going to bed would be more effort than finishing the next part of your project.

That piece of business taken care of, it’s now time to plan your efforts . Before you start working, take some time to break down your workload into individual parts. Then, it’s time to figure out which ones should get the bulk of your attention.

Dwight Eisenhower often remarked that,

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”

In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Steven Covey popularized the “Eisenhower Decision Matrix”, which is based on this principle. In the matrix, tasks are categorized based on their importance and urgency.

When you’re in a time crunch, though, everything can seem urgent – so importance is the factor you should focus on in this case. To that end, let’s use a similar but more fitting tool – the Impact/Effort matrix .

Impact/Effort Matrix

Here, tasks in a project are given scores based on their impact to the overall success of the project and the effort it will take to implement them. To illustrate how this works, here’s an example from my life.

When I was a senior in college, one of my final projects was building a web app. My idea was called AMPanic, and it was an app that would require you to log in and tell if you’re awake before a certain time – otherwise it would send an embarrassing email to someone. This was actually the precursor to the early wake-up system I use now, which I detailed in this video .

With this project, though, I found myself in a time crunch trying to finish it. So I broke my project down into different parts that I’d have to code and prioritized them using this Impact/Effort matrix.

The core functionality – the code that would let you set an alarm and an email message, the code that would schedule and send the email on time, and the function to cancel the email if the user checked in on time in the morning – those required a lot of effort to build, but they also had the highest impact on the project.

On the other hand, some parts of the site – like the About, FAQ, and Contact pages – didn’t have as high of an impact, but they were low-effort tasks. Since they didn’t take much time to create, I made sure to include them to make the site look more complete.

The main element of the site that I chose NOT to focus on was the user registration and login system. A proper one needs functions for resetting passwords, but I decided that the core alarm setting functionality would be more important to my grade since that was the point of the whole project. So I used a login system I had written for an old project and didn’t bother creating a way to reset passwords.

In the end, it was a worthwhile decision; the alarm system was more advanced than most of the other projects in the class, so I ended up getting an A.

To assign Impact/Effort scores to each component of your project – or each assignment if you’re juggling multiple – consider the following factors:

  • What the core deliverables are
  • The grading criteria for the project, what which components count for the most points
  • What percentage of your grade each assignment counts for
  • How much each component will contribute to the knowledge you need to have for tests, which usually impact your grade the most

Once you’e assigned scores to each component, I think it’s a good idea to tackle the ones with the highest impact and highest effort first. This is due to Ego Depletion – a phenomenon explained in Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow . Citing research from the psychologist Roy Baumeister, he reveals that:

“…an effort of will or self-control is tiring; if you have had to force yourself to do something, you are less willing or less able to exert self-control when the next challenge comes around.”

Use the bulk of your willpower to complete the harder tasks first; that way, you’ll only have to deal with low-effort, high-impact tasks when you’re feeling drained.

That’s where we’re going to close for this week. If you select your location well, plan based on impact and effort, and tackle your tasks in a way that utilizes your willpower effectively, you’ll make if through your time crunch in one piece.

Need help finishing a personal project you’ve been procrastinating on? Read this next .

If you’re unable to see the video above, you can view it on YouTube .

Looking for More Study Tips?

10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades - Thomas Frank

You’ll find more tips on planning, study environments, and maintaining willpower in my free 100+ page book called 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less) .

The book covers topics like:

  • Defeating procrastination
  • Getting more out of your classes
  • Taking great notes
  • Reading your textbooks more efficiently

…and several more. It also has a lot of recommendations for tools and other resources that can make your studying easier.

If you’d like a free copy of the book, let me know where I should send it:

I’ll also keep you updated about new posts and videos that come out on this blog (they’ll be just as good as this one or better) 🙂

Video Notes

How to Finish a Huge Assignment or Project Overnight

  • Eisenhower Decision Matrix
  • Impact/Effort Matrix
  • Ego Depletion

What other topics related to working under tight deadlines would you like to see covered in the future?

Do you have any additional tips? Share them below 🙂

If you liked this video, subscribe on YouTube to stay updated and get notified when new ones are out!

Images: Eisenhower , Twain , Twain living room , James Cameron , ocean trench , Everest , wall of books , Big Ben , coffee shop

The Daring English Teacher on Teachers Pay Teachers Secondary ELA resources Middle School ELA High School English

Night One Pager: Assigning a One-Pager Project as a Culminating Project

Assigning a One-Pager as a Culminating Project. A one pager project for Night

I recently assigned a one pager final project to my sophomores for their culminating Night project. I wanted to combine as many rigorous ELA content ideas as possible, while also designing a fun project for students that provided them with a bit of choice. This Night one pager project was the perfect way to finish the memoir!

To make this one pager project rigorous, I required my students to include multiple MLA-cited quotations with a literary analysis explanation. These are skills my students have learned and practiced all year long, so it was a way for me to assess that skill. I also wanted to give my students an opportunity to express their creativity, and it came through. In considering all of these elements, the one pager was the perfect culminating activity for Night!

What is a One Pager?

A one pager is a classroom assignment, activity, or assessment where students place all of their work on one page. With a one pager, students combine visual and text elements to demonstrate a thematic and symbolic meaning of a text. A one pager can include quotes from a text, quote analysis, critical thinking questions and answers, and visual representations of a setting, symbol, or character.

Furthermore, the one pager is also extremely versatile, and teachers can tailor it to fit their needs. You can read more about the one pager, sketch notes, and mind maps in this blog about coloring in the secondary ELA classroom .

Assigning a One Pager Project as a Culminating Activity for Night

For the actual assignment, I created a one-pager choice board that is similar that requires students to connect four elements. Every student had to complete the quotes, questions, and images element of the project. From there, students had their choice of four different items they could include: a connection to a song, a timeline, a setting, or a figurative language option. By providing students with a choice, they feel like they have more say with their work.

I reviewed the assignment with my students, explained my expectations, passed out the handout (which was printed double-sided with the instructions on the front and the brainstorming organizer and checklist on the back), and showed my students some examples. Keep reading the post. You can sign-up for my emails to receive a free Google Docs copy of this assignment which includes the assignment, checklist, planning sheet, and a rubric.

Slide17 1

On the day projects were due, I provided my students with an opportunity to present their one-page to class. I did this as an extra-credit option. For each student who volunteered to present their project, I gave them an extra 5 points on their project).

The Night One-Pager was an enjoyable project for my students, and it was the perfect final project to assign at the end of the school year.

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Teaching Night in the High School Classroom

When I teach Night to my sophomores, I use this Night Teaching Unit that includes a 5-week pacing guide.

This Night Activities Bundle includes pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading activities to use when teaching Night. This Night Teaching Unit Begin includes teaching resources and activities for you to complete with your students before, during, and after you read Night.

Assigning a One-Pager as a Culminating Project

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“ When I had to teach this novel last minute and hadn’t even read the book before, this resource saved my sanity! I love resources from The Daring English Teacher, so I knew this would get me through and ensure my students were successful, even if I wasn’t 100% confident with the text.”

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essay writing overnight

A student protester's guide to last-minute essay writing

I f those trips down to the demos in Westminster have left you behind schedule for your end-of-term assignment, you may well be forced to write in the small hours this week. Here's how to pull it off safely and successfully.

12am: Get as far away from your bed as possible

Before you begin, avoid warmth and soft furnishings. Propped up on pillows in the glow of a laptop may feel like savvy ergonomics, but your keyboard will start to look pillow-like by midnight, and 418 pages of the word "gf64444444444444444444" will detract from the force of your argument. You could try the kitchen. Or Krakow. But your industrially lit 24-hour campus library should do the trick.

12:25am: Take a catnap

Thomas Edison used to catnap through the night with a steel ball in his hand. As he relaxed and the ball dropped, he would wake up, usually with fresh ideas. "Caffeine and a short nap make a very effective combination," says Jim Horne, director of the Loughborough Sleep Research Centre. "Have the coffee first. This takes about 20 minutes to work, so take a 15-minute nap. Use an alarm to wake up and avoid deep sleep kicking in. Do this twice throughout the night."

12.56am: Reduce your internet options

Temporarily block Twitter, Spotify, Group Hug, YouTube, 4od and anything else that distracts you. Constantly updating your word count on Facebook may feel like fun, but to everyone else you'll look like you're constantly updating your word count on Facebook.

1-3am: Now write your essay. No, really

You've widened your margins, subtly enlarged your font and filled your bibliography with references of such profound obscurity that no one will notice you're missing 3,000 words. It's time to brainstorm, outline, carve words, followed by more words, into that milk-white oblivion that taunts you. Speed-read articles. Key-word Google Books. Remember texts you love and draw comparisons. Reword. Expound. Invent. Neologise. Get excited. Find a problem you can relish and keep writing. While others flit from point to point, your impassioned and meticulous analysis of a single contention is music to a marker's eyes.

3-5am: Get lost in your analysis, your characters, your world Write like you're trying to convince the most stubborn grammarian about truth, or heartless alien invaders about love. Don't overload with examples – be creative with the ones you have. Detail will save your life, but don't waste time perfecting sentences – get the bulk down first and clean up later. "The progress of any writer," said Ted Hughes, "is marked by those moments when he manages to outwit his own inner police system." Outwit your own inner police system. Expect progress. Ted says so.

5:01am: Don't cheat

It's about now that websites such as easyessay.co.uk will start to look tempting. And you may sleep easier knowing that a dubiously accredited Italian yoga instructor is writing about Joyce instead of you. But the guilt will keep you up between now and results day. And you'll toss and turn the night before graduation, job interviews, promotions, dinner parties, children's birthdays, family funerals . . . you get the idea.

5.17am: Don't die

Sounds obvious, but dying at your computer is definitely trending. And however uncool it may seem to "pass on" during a five-day stint at World of Warcraft, it will be much more embarrassing to die explaining perspectivism to no one in particular. So be careful. Stay hydrated. Blink occasionally. And keep writing.

5.45am: Eat something simple

"There are no foods that are particularly good at promoting alertness," says Horne. "But avoid heavy and fatty meals in the small hours. Avoid very sugary drinks that don't contain caffeine, too. Sugar is not very effective in combating sleepiness." Fun fact: an apple provides you with more energy than a cup of coffee. Now stick the kettle on.

5.46am: Delight in being a piece of living research

If you happen to be "fatigue resistant" you should now be enjoying the enhanced concentration, creative upwelling and euphoric oneness that sleep deprivation can bring. If not, try talking yourself into it. "Conversation keeps you awake," says Horne. "So talk to a friend or even to yourself – no one will hear you."

6am: Console yourself with lists of writers who stuck it out

Robert Frost was acquainted with the night. Dumas, Kafka, Dickens, Coleridge, Sartre, Poe and Breton night-walked and trance-wrote their way to literary distinction. John and Paul wrote A Hard Day's Night in the small hours. Herman the Recluse, atoning for broken monastic vows, is said to have written the Codex Gigas on 320 sheets of calfskin during a single night in 1229. True, he'd sold his soul to the Devil, but you're missing out on a live Twitter feed, so it's swings and roundabouts.

7am: Remember – art is never finished, only abandoned

Once you accept there's no more you can do, print it off and get to the submissions office quick. Horne: "You're not fit to drive if you've had less than five hours sleep, so don't risk it. Grab some exercise." Pop it in with the breeziness that comes from being top of your marker's pile. Back home, unblock Facebook and start buffering The Inbetweeners. And then sleep. Get as near to your bed as you can. Euphoric oneness doesn't come close.

Matt Shoard teaches creative writing at the University of Kent.

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How to Stay Up All Night Doing Homework

Last Updated: March 7, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jeremy Bartz, PhD . Dr. Jeremy Bartz is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice based in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Bartz specializes in treating depression, anxiety, OCD, mind-body syndromes, chronic pain, insomnia, relationship difficulties, attachment trauma, and resolving the effects of narcissistic trauma. He received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Brigham Young University and completed a fellowship In Pain Psychology at Stanford's premier pain management clinic. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 221,634 times.

Staying up all night to do homework is not advised, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. If your homework has piled up to the point that the only way to complete it is to pull an all-nighter, then make some preparations and get your head in the game. You’re in for a long night.

Getting Organized Before Your All-Nighter

Step 1 Create a workspace.

  • Make sure you have all the resources you’ll need –all your books, assignments and stationery.
  • If it helps you to have music playing as you work, work near a speaker. But choose instrumental music to avoid being distracted by focusing on the song lyrics instead of your assignments.

Step 2 Gather your fuel.

  • Feed your body protein rich foods, like peanut butter sandwiches, turkey sandwiches or hummus and carrots.
  • Stay away from sweets; the sugar will cause you to crash.

Step 3 Prioritize your work.

  • Put the biggest assignments that are due first near the top of the list.
  • Put smaller assignments that you can complete quickly and easily near the bottom of the list. Try to do these towards the end of your night when you’re exhausted.
  • Any assignment that isn’t due the next day should be completed on another night.

Step 4 Create a schedule.

  • Approximate how long each assignment will take you and then block off an appropriate amount of time in your night to do the work.
  • Schedule high priority assignments early in the evening, when you’re still at your best.
  • Schedule in a ten minute break every two hours. Use this time to get up and walk around and give your brain a break.

Step 5 Pump yourself up with a nap.

  • Don’t nap for longer than 30 minutes. If you nap for longer than 30, you risk entering into REM sleep cycle.
  • If you don’t have time for a nap, take a fifteen-minute walk outside. It will accomplish the same thing.

Step 6 Start as soon as you can.

  • Make a concrete plan of what time you’re going to begin working and stick to it. Set an alarm, if you have to.
  • Turn off your phone and any other distractions that might impede you from beginning your work.

Executing Your All-Nighter

Step 1 Begin your caffeine cycle.

  • For every caffeinated beverage you drink, drink a cup of water.
  • As the night goes on, increase the time between caffeinated beverages.
  • If you feel yourself falling into a slump, take a multivitamin.

Step 2 Take a break for exercise.

  • A quick workout can boost your brain's ability to learn and retain information, which will help you break through your slump.
  • Don’t do a full workout – instead, do some quick exercise in the form of 10 pushups, 10 jumping jacks or 10 sit ups.

Step 3 Keep from falling asleep by making yourself uncomfortable.

  • If pinching isn’t cutting it, splash cold water on your face for an added boost.
  • Lower the thermostat in your house or study area to keep your body alert.
  • Take a cold shower to freeze yourself awake.

Step 4 Keep the lights turned on.

  • The closer the light is to your eyes, the better, so try to work near a desk lamp or computer screen.
  • Change rooms every couple of hours so your eyes don’t have time to fully adjust to the bright lights.

Step 5 Chew gum.

  • Keep a stash close to your desk and dip into it whenever you feel yourself slowing down.
  • Drinking mint tea is also a great way to get some added caffeine.

Staying Motivated During Your All-Nighter

Step 1 Invite a friend to join you.

  • Don’t invite over a friend who only wants to talk and hang out. You need someone who will motivate you, not distract you.

Step 2 Stay focused.

  • If you know you can’t go all night without checking Facebook, deactivate your account for the night. You can reactivate it as soon as all your work is done.
  • Give your social media passwords to a friend or parent for the evening so you can’t break in to check your accounts.

Step 3 Don’t try to multi-task.

  • Use your priority list from earlier, cross each item off the list when it’s completed, then move on to the next one.

Step 4 Set up a system of rewards.

  • Every time you finish an assignment, throw a five minute dance party. You’ll get some exercise in and you can listen to your favorite song.
  • Give yourself five minutes to check your phone after completing an item on your to-do list.

Step 5 Take breaks.

  • Take 10 - 15 minutes every two hours to grab a snack or take a walk.
  • If you feel overwhelmed, take a 10 minute break to meditate.

Supercharge Your Studying with this Expert Series

1 - Study For Exams

Expert Q&A

Jeremy Bartz, PhD

Tips from our Readers

  • Since you'll be using them for a prolonged period, make sure to charge up all of your electronics! If your laptop or phone dies halfway through your study sesh, it can take up some of your valuable time to re-charge them.
  • If there are certain foods you know make you tired or sluggish, try to avoid them while you study. Choose food items you know for sure won't make you want to take a nap.
  • If you can get any sleep at all, do so. Even if it's just a half hour to an hour, your brain can really use that time to regenerate!
  • Staying up for too long can be dangerous. Do not stay awake for longer than 36 hours consecutively. Disregarding this advice can lead to sickness and possible death. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
  • If you know you have this much homework, start it as early as possible or during lunch or other down times at school. Starting the homework at 4:00 PM is better than doing it at 4:00 AM! Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

Study

  • ↑ https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/find-a-quiet-place-to-study/
  • ↑ https://au.reachout.com/articles/foods-that-help-our-brain-study
  • ↑ https://www.fnu.edu/7-techniques-improve-study-habits/
  • ↑ https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/studying-101-study-smarter-not-harder/
  • ↑ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/coffee/
  • ↑ https://www.apu.edu/articles/6-crucial-study-habits-for-college-students/
  • ↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/how-to-start-exercising-and-stick-to-it.htm
  • ↑ https://students.ubc.ca/ubclife/pull-all-nighter-if-you-have
  • ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/201905/chew-or-not-chew-gum-when-studying
  • ↑ https://www.fnu.edu/10-reasons-form-study-group/
  • ↑ https://psychcentral.com/blog/psychology-rewarding-yourself-with-treats
  • ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-future-self/201804/giving-yourself-break

About This Article

Jeremy Bartz, PhD

If you need to stay up all night doing homework, there are a few ways to help you stay as productive as possible. First, break down your work into smaller tasks and write a schedule to cover everything. Make sure you take regular breaks to walk around and refresh yourself. You should also turn off your phone, log out of your social media accounts, and avoid any other distractions to help you focus. Keep the main lights on in your room and open a window, which will help you stay awake. You’ll probably need caffeine and some healthy snacks, like fruit and nuts, to keep you going. Just make sure you spread them out over the night so you don’t crash after a few hours. For more study tips, including how to do a coffee nap to wake yourself up, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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  • How to do a large amount of work in a small amount of time: advice from a veteran of rushing, botching, and bashing it out

Clock against purple sky.

1. Get in the zone

I don’t know about you, but I have a dozen little rituals I have to perform before I sit down to do a big slog of work. In general, I make it a rule to work in the library or university, because I find working at home, with all its possibilities of making and drinking tea, drifting off to watch TV, or being drawn into long conversations with my housemates, too distracting.

You should also read…

  • How to Stop Procrastinating: Advice from a Champion Procrastinator
  • 15 Unexpected Things About Life at University

But when I’m really up against the clock, or even about to start what I know will be an all-nighter, I prefer to be in my room, with easy access to vital things like coffee, food and the shower. (N.B. There is nothing like a shower for waking yourself up in the middle of a miserable work-session. Just don’t do what I did one particularly inauspicious Wednesday at 4am: fall asleep sitting down in it with a foot covering the plug, and wake half an hour later under a jet of now-freezing water to find that you have transformed your bathroom into a giant soapy sea).

tidy-desk

But back to the rituals. Before I do any serious, or seriously rushed, work, I’ve got to do a number of things to ‘get in the zone’. This might sound like elaborate procrastination  — which, in reality, it most definitely is — but if I don’t do these little things, I find my concentration is poor, and my mind constantly wanders. First, my room has to be absolutely, books-in-alphabetical-order, spotless — mess is incredibly distracting, and when I’m working I want to use all the space on my desk. Plus, while you’re tidying you get to watch videos of cats falling over on YouTube. Next, I have to have a strong coffee (which I never drink more than a few sips of before remembering that I hate coffee and it gives me a headache — but it smells nice and is somehow a very reassuring thing to sit next to). Third, classical music doesn’t work for me; while I’m working, and especially at night, I find it keeps the mind sharp to blare out tragic noughties techno music. In particular, the songs of the ultimately unsuccessful Australian band Pendulum played at approximately a million decibels are so unpleasant they keep one constantly skittish with adrenaline, hammering out a thousand questionable words an hour while simultaneously imagining you’re in a warehouse rave. Finally, and most embarrassingly, I have a pair of leggings called my essay leggings that I like to wear while I’m working. They’re very comfy (and holey) and haven’t been replaced since my first year of university, because they’re somehow magically conducive to getting lots done in very little time. Now, the line between preparing oneself for work and procrastination is always thin, and one I continually find myself on the wrong side of. Your rituals might look very different to mine, and perhaps take a little less time. But if you need to do certain things to change your mindset from play to work, I’d advise you do them.

2. Work out exactly what you’ve got to do

Now that you’re sitting comfortably at your desk in your spotless room, work out exactly what you’ve got to do — and how long you’ve got to do it. Make a list of your tasks in order of priority, what they involve, the date they’re due in and how long you realistically think they’ll take. Your list might look something like this:

  • Write out labels for Art coursework (2 hours, due tomorrow)
  • Write self-analysis for Art coursework (3 hours, due tomorrow)
  • Finish researching, plan and write History coursework essay (12 hours? 2 days? Due Friday)
  • Finish Physics lab report (2 hours, due Thursday)
  • Maths problems (3 hours, due tomorrow)

Red clock.

Now, for some of these tasks it will be absolutely essential that you hand the work in on or before the deadline . For any task that counts towards your coursework , or an exam, you’ll usually lose marks if they’re late — in my university, we would lose 5 marks out of 100 if an essay was handed in one minute after 12pm on the day of the deadline, and a further 10 if it was more than a day late. For these tasks, you absolutely can’t mess about — they should sit right at the top of your list of things to do, and be the first thing you get out of the way — and the ones you put most effort into getting right. But, even though it won’t make you very popular with your teachers, sometimes you’ve got to accept that you can’t do everything you’re expected to in a small amount of time. When I’ve got a big deadline coming up, I jettison everything else: I tell people I can’t make other commitments, even if that annoys them, and if I haven’t got time, I simply don’t do less important pieces of work. On the list above, for example, I might decide that only the pieces of coursework were really important, and that I wasn’t going to bother handing in the lab report or the Maths problems. Of course, all this is advice for an emergency situation: if you’ve got the time to do everything you need to, then deciding that you won’t is probably not the best strategic move and will mean you have to endure hours of unnecessary telling-off.

Timetable.

Make a timetable detailing exactly when you’re going to do each of the things on your list. Make sure you plan enough time for each task rather than being overly optimistic — you’re going to stick to this timetable no matter what . Think about the times of day when you work best, and how tired you’re going to be at various stages of the day/night/week you’re mapping out — the morning of your deadline, for example, when your eyes are itchy with tiredness and your brain about as much use as its equivalent weight in mincemeat, is probably not the best time to be proof-reading or tackling difficult Algebra problems. I study English and consequently write lots of essays, and I find that I can read and take notes at pretty much any time of day, but planning and writing are tasks I can only really do well first thing in the morning. Once you’ve made your plan, sit back and take a deep breath — it might be a rush, and you might not see sunlight for the next week, but it is possible to do everything you need to in the time you’ve got. All you need to do (and this is the important bit) is make sure you stick religiously to your timetable. Here’s how:

 4. Let things be less-than-perfect

Not every work of art can be perfect; sometimes you really must wrap it up and move on.

If you’re still not happy with something near the end of the time you’ve allotted for it — tough. Finish up and leave it in its imperfect state — if you’re lucky, you might have time at the end to come back to it, but it’s much more important to stick to a schedule which will allow you to get everything done than it is to perfect one part of the task. This means not reading that extra useful-looking article, not toying with the wording in an introduction any longer, and leaving a problem you just can’t solve. Remember — when you’re working on any task, it’s completely normal that that task will feel like the most important one — but it’s important to take a step back and gain some perspective over your whole project. I’m constantly messing up because I find it really hard to leave things alone – – for example, I wasn’t happy with my dissertation last year the day before I handed it in, and decided to stay up all night before the deadline restructuring and rewriting the last 3,000 words before I’d even begun my referencing or conclusion. This meant (as I’m sure you can guess) that the section I rewrote was garbled and full of spelling mistakes, my footnotes and bibliography were a total mess and my conclusion was 5 lines long- not exactly what I’d planned when I decided to begin my noble rewriting mission, and not exactly the formula for a winning dissertation. Polished and finished, if slightly flawed, work will always make a much better impression than something messy and incomplete, even if it’s more carefully thought out — it actively irritates examiners to find silly mistakes or signs of haste in things they’re marking. Take it from me, look at the bigger picture and simply move on .

5. Be selfish

Party balloons.

I’ve got a friend who actively refuses to make any plans other than a quick coffee for about four weeks before any deadline. Sometimes she doesn’t leave her house for days, and while she’s working she lets other people cook for her and tidy up her mess. Last year she didn’t go to her boyfriend’s birthday party because it was the week before a talk she was preparing. Now, this might all sound a bit mad, but my friend always does really, really well at everything she puts her mind to. Basically, in quite an extreme way she’s got her priorities straight — most of the time she’ll do anything for anyone, but when she’s got important work on her plate, she’ll say honestly that she needs to concentrate, and just can’t make other commitments. I, meanwhile, work in the absolute opposite way. I let friends come to visit me the week before a deadline because I don’t want to annoy them by cancelling, and am anxious about work and cranky for the whole time they’re there. I’ll go to the library with someone else but get annoyed when we distract each other. I end up getting so stressed out over all the commitments I’ve made that I can’t concentrate even when I’ve actually got time to work. I’ve come to conclude that my friend’s got it sorted. When you’ve got stuff to do, be selfish. This is one of very few chances you’ll have in your life (apart from, if you’re a girl, maybe your wedding) to be totally unreasonable, self-centred, and rude to everyone around you. Like a mad cross between Professor Snape and Kim Jong Un. Get your mum to make you dinner but refuse to sit and eat it at the table. Cancel plans, leave a mess. Refuse to read someone else’s work or do anyone a favour. Your friends might not like the new crazy you, but you’ll probably annoy them just as much by being irritable and stressed than you will by being selfish — and if you pick the latter course, you might actually get stuff done.

6. Do not entertain the thought that you might not finish

With the energy I’ve spent over the years asking for extensions, making up excuses or writing cringing apology emails to tutors and employers explaining that I just haven’t done things, I could have written novels. Stuff it, I could have written the Iliad . Extensions and the like might feel brilliant in the short term, but they’re not the solution to anything — you’ll still have to do the work one way or another, and you’ll annoy people and complicate your own life in the process of putting it off.

7. Just do the work

This is fairly self-explanatory. Though this article has tried to show that you can make things seem easier and more surmountable by organising, rationalising, and preparing, there are no magic solutions that can make you work miraculously quickly. There’s no substitute for sitting down, closing the door, turning off the internet and just doing your work . It might not be exactly fun, but it’ll feel worth it when you’re done, and then you can sleep and relax properly without feeling guilty or stressed. Got any top tips for getting things done quickly? Let us know in the ‘Comments’ section below!

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How to Write an Essay in One Night

If you are reading this article, chances are, you are in trouble wondering how to write a 5000 word essay in one night. Perhaps, you have been procrastinating until the very last minute, or were buried deep under other work, or weren’t able to dedicate your time fully to your writing for some other purpose. The outcome is the same – you are supposed to hand your research paper in tomorrow, and you are still at square one.

You have just one night to begin and complete the essay, so what are you going to do? One thing is for sure – you are not getting any sleep tonight. As for all the rest, we are going to cover it in this article.

How to Write a Research Paper in One Night

If you have an urgent assignment due the tomorrow morning, you will have to work for the whole night. When writing a paper in one night, you will be pressed not just by the lack of time, but by exhaustion and sleepiness as well. All this means that you should pay extra attention not just to the actual writing techniques, but to how you organize the very writing process as well.

  • Stock up on healthy snacks for studying . You are going to need some energy to keep you going through the night. Being distracted by hunger isn’t very conducive for the efficient work. At the same time, it isn’t the best idea to take long breaks to have a full-fledged meal, so snacks are the way to go. Nuts are especially recommended – they give plenty of energy without causing a sugar rush that may leave you exhausted after it passes;
  • Use the power of caffeine. Whether you like coffee and energy drinks, you need them to keep you awake and aware throughout the night. So get a lot of it. Just make sure to be careful drinking concentrated energy drinks and don’t mix them with prescription drugs;
  • Take breaks. It may seem counterintuitive when you need to get a job done as fast as possible, but experience shows us that occasional short breaks more than compensate for the time you ‘lose’ on them. The longer you work, the less efficiently your brain functions. There comes a time when you simply stare at the screen, unable to think about another word to type. Short breaks (preferably combined with bouts of physical exercise) won’t restore your brain to full capacity, but they will still recharge you a little bit and make it easier to go on;
  • Keep yourself hydrated. Those wondering how to write an essay in one night tend to forget that the process is not just about having tons of coffee and eating snacks. It’s about keeping your body and brain hydrated. Water is essential for proper functioning of the brain and your energy levels, and caffeinated drinks cannot serve as a replacement. So, get a bottle of water and keep it close at hand;
  • Make sure you don’t get distracted. Writing at night has its benefits, as most people are asleep, and there are fewer things in your immediate vicinity to call for your attention. Nevertheless, you should take care to eliminate all the potential distractions, especially those that you know are attractive for you. Turn off your smartphone, disable notifications in social media and email. Even better, use some blocking software like RescueTime to prevent yourself from visiting your favorite websites – you are going to work using the Internet, so these are especially dangerous for your concentration.

How to Write Research Paper in One Night: 5 Preparation Tips to Follow at Night

You have to submit your paper in the morning. This means that you have a very limited amount of time to complete your job. Each minute has to be used to the fullest. This means that some preparation is in order – if you just plunge into writing, at the very best, your paper will be unreadable. At worst, you won’t be able to finish it on time at all.

  • Brace yourself for the worst. If you’ve done absolutely no reading on the subject matter of your paper, consider accepting the fact that you won’t be able to hand the paper in tomorrow. Contact your instructor and inform them that your paper will be late. In many ways, it is preferable to simply not handing it in because you weren’t able to complete the job on time. Another alternative is to submit a poorly written paper because it is very likely to be the only thing you can churn out in just 1 night. It is not the end of the world, nor it is an easy way out – it is just a way of cutting your losses when you still have time to do it with dignity;

time management strategy for essay writing

  • Plan your time. As you have very little time, you have to use it to the maximum efficiency. To do so, you have to prepare a plan and stick to it. If you simply sit down and get to work, you will not be able to track your progress and see that, for example, you are taking too long at a certain stage and won’t be able to finish on time if you continue in this fashion. Break your time into 30-minute intervals and evaluate how much of if you need for each task. Try to have at least an hour unassigned to anything because some steps will inevitably take longer than planned.
  • Take your time reading the prompt. You are in a hurry, but not reading the prompt attentively can lead to catastrophic results – you may miss some important details (like the need to use a certain number of sources) or misunderstand the question entirely. It is unpleasant enough in normal circumstances, but right now, you cannot afford to find out that the essay you’ve just finished was written using a wrong prompt. Ideally, you should write down the main points of the prompt in your own words so that you can refer to them later on – this way, you can be sure you’ve understood everything correctly;
  • Make sure you understand the style and formatting guidelines. Be too quick to read them, and you may realize too late that you’ve gotten things wrong and had to single space your paper and now you have to write as much as you’ve already done, but there is no time to do so;
  • Take notes from reliable sources. If you’ve done some reading and have at least a basic acquaintance with the topic, organize the books and sources you have when dealing with the overnight essay. Skim over them and make notes, marking down fragments you want to cite.

6 Writing Tips to Prepare a Well-Written Paper

Writing an urgent paper isn’t much different from writing when you have all the time in the world – you just have to work fast and don’t have the right to make any mistakes. This means that you should carefully divide your work into stages and avoid dispersing your attention. Do one thing at a time, never getting distracted either by things outside your job or by other stages.

#1. Don’t even consider plagiarizing. A lot of students looking for the best solutions on how to write an essay overnight feel the temptation to copy-paste somebody else’s works or fragments of those. Wrong! No matter how tough the assignment gets, using texts written by fellow students is a crime. We live in times when even middle school English teachers use plagiarism checkers when looking through the works of their students. In most cases, plagiarism is immediately obvious even without specialized software, but even if it isn’t, any checker will immediately spot your attempt at copy/paste. You will get caught and some consequences of plagiarism are possible. At the very best, it will get on your record. At worst, you will be expelled;

#2. Think about a thesis statement. This is a key to any successful paper. Without a clear, concise and definite thesis statement, an assignment risks turning out to be weak, unfocused, and vague. Think about the main argument you make in your paper and try to formulate it in a single sentence. If you have problems doing this, it means that you haven’t fully understood what is required of you. Therefore, you have to spend some time clarifying your point. After you manage to create a thesis statement, write it down on a separate sheet of paper. Keep it in front of you at all times so that you don’t stray away from your primary topic;

#3. Do a short brainstorming session. Write down any ideas that can help you support your argument. This is a good time to start marking down the quotes and references you are going to make. Write down everything that comes into your head – don’t try to separate good ideas from bad ones at this point, you don’t have to use everything you come up with right now;

#4. Prepare an outline, i.e., a detailed plan for your paper. It should include, in short form, everything you intend to write in every part of your essay: how you introduce the topic, your thesis statement, points to be mentioned in each paragraph along with the accompanying supporting evidence, how you want to sum things up in the conclusion, and so on. A well-written outline means that when it comes to writing per se, you will simply have to elaborate on each point to get a full-fledged paper;

#5. Be concise. Whether you have a word count to fill in or not, padding your text won’t help you. If you simply have to drive your point home, you don’t have time for long-winded phrases, especially if you’re not really sure how to finish an assignment in one night . If you have to achieve a certain word count, your instructor will immediately spot your attempts at bloating your paper with filler, which can lead to a worse grade than you can receive if you write my essay properly. Short and simple sentences aren’t a sign of low intelligence – if you successfully express your thoughts, it is the sign of thinking that cuts to the chase and eliminates unnecessary details;

Proofreading essay tips

#6. Proofread. Don’t treat proofreading as something that you will do if you have some time and energy left after you’ve finished with the “real work”. Proofreading is just as a real work as gathering sources and writing, especially if you write in such a hurry. When you have a few hours to complete a paper, you are bound to make mistakes that can seriously decrease your chances of getting a good grade. Ideally, you should let your paper lie a little bit before you start proofreading it. Obviously, this is not the situation when it is possible, so use whatever time is left to do it. Check your formatting for compliance with college guidelines and your assigned formatting style. Check your style – if you find colloquialisms, jargon or slang, eliminate it. Avoid passive voice – in most cases, it makes speech lifeless and hard to read.

We hope these tips will help you deal with your situation right now and emerge from this crisis with flying colors. And perhaps, the memory of this experience will be enough to prevent you from procrastinating the next time you have to write an important assignment!

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one night assignment

Author: Patricia Jenkins

Patricia Jenkins is the senior writing advisor at FastEssay blog for international students that seek quick paper assistance. In her blog, Patricia shares useful tips on productivity, writing, research, references. Sometimes Patricia goes off topic by sharing her personal experience peppered with lively humor and healthy irony. View all posts by Patricia Jenkins

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7 Tips to Write a Paper in a Night: Save Time & Be Focused

Assignment • January 16, 2021

Table of Contents

How to Write a Paper in One Night

Need to finish a paper during the night?

While doing an assignment in the last minute and at night isn’t usually ideal, it’s not impossible. In fact, with the right mindset and dedication, you can write a high-quality paper in one night. Some people are just  more productive  at night.

So, what does it take to achieve this feat?

You can do a couple of things to make you a smart student when it comes to paper writing.

Choose a Comfortable Space and Carry Everything You Need

You will need to look for a comfortable and quiet room to achieve maximum concentration when you write at night.

Decide what materials and devices you will need to write your task and carry only that.

Bring water with you to keep you hydrated. And if you feel hungry at night, carry healthy snacks, too. Having everything you need will save you from taking frequent breaks to reach for something in another room.

Get Rid of Distractions Including Social Media

If you know you spend a lot of time on your phone at night, don’t bring it with you. And if you can’t stay long without it, take 5-minute breaks every 2 hours to check it.

Get rid of any other things that might also distract you when you write at night. That includes TV and gadgets you are not using for assignment purposes.

Use the One Hour Analyze and Understand the Assignment

Don’t dive into the writing process immediately because you are working at night. Take 30 minutes to 1 hour to thoroughly analyze the instructions and requirements.

  • What does your professor want you to write?
  • How long is the paper expected to be?

Analyze everything and set goals that you intend to achieve by the end of the one night.

If you haven’t been assigned a topic, you must develop one that you’ll write about. Pick a topic that’s manageable, easy to research, and find relevant literature on.

Break Down the Assignment and Set Time Limits

When you have a good idea of what the paper entails, break it down. You want it to be in manageable chunks that you can cover for most of the night.

Once you outline all the tasks you need to do, set timelines for each one. For example, you can set aside 1 hour between 10-11 to research and compile your sources.

Research Well and Organize Your Evidence

Once you know what you want to write about, i.e., your topic, it’s time to research it. Research is crucial as it gives you the information you need to write your paper.

Also, research will help you gather the references you will need to write your bibliography.

Since you are doing your paper at night, consider using online resources instead of books from the library.

In this case, ensure you define keywords to make your searches more specific. Also, going through your notes from previous lecturers can help you find one or more valuable references.

Some referencing tips you may find useful include:

  • Find direct quotes quickly and easily by using Google Scholar;
  • Gather as many sources as you can find within the time allocated and then sort them out;
  • Take advantage of MS Word automatic referencing system to get the style right;
  • Compile your citations as you write rather than doing them at the end.

Create a Paper Outline to Make Writing Easy

After the research stage, you have everything you need to write. Create an outline so that your work for the rest of the night remains, expanding your ideas.

A quick outline should be pretty straightforward.

For an essay, write an introduction, the body (list your ideas for each paragraph), and a conclusion.

Take a Breather Before Proofreading Your Paper

Once you write your paper, one final stage remains. And that is proofreading and editing.

Always took some time between writing your paper and proofreading (15-30 minutes). During this night break, do something that enables you to destress and unwind.

The process can take several minutes to one hour, depending on the paper’s length and your speed.

Final Words

Ensure that you conform to all the necessary steps of paper writing: planning, researching, writing, and proofreading.

If you have little time to write your paper, use the above-discussed tips to write your assignment faster. If you’re exhausted and still need to write a paper at night, try taking a 60-90-minute power nap first.

The important thing is making your night productive.

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

  • Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
  • Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

  • What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

  • What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that he or she will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

  • define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
  • describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
  • explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
  • illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
  • summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
  • trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
  • research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

  • compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
  • contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
  • apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
  • cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
  • relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

  • assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
  • prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
  • evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
  • support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
  • synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
  • analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
  • argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

  • What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
  • In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove her point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
  • What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
  • How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, he or she still has to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

  • Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
  • The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and she already knows everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality she or he expects.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

  • spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
  • use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
  • use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
  • get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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  • General Health

All night, done right: Getting the most out of an all-nighter

Some roommates of mine and I have been thinking about sleeping lately.

Usually we're all told to get eight to nine hours of sleep, and a lot of the time we do! The problem is, once in a while, when there's an essay to write or exam to study for, I or my friends may end up having no choice but to be up until 6 in the morning. No one's really explained what the best thing is to do if you have to be up.

What would you suggest? Should we eat? Take a quick nap before class, sleep during the afternoon or wait until evening? Any suggestions you have would be great.

Dear Reader, 

Although it may be tempting to burn the midnight oil before a big exam to cram in as much information as possible, you might not be getting the benefits of all that work. When it comes to recalling information and performing well, having adequate sleep leading up to an exam is key. Sleep is also crucial to good mental and physical health, both of which are factors that also influence academic performance. Because of that, whenever possible, it may be more beneficial to focus on nighttime sleep instead of staying up to study or do other work. However, even with the best planning, sometimes there are situations where students end up losing sleep over assignments. Read on for strategies to maximize your sleep while meeting deadlines. 

Sleep is often the first sacrifice when life becomes busy and stressful, but even a consistent loss of just an hour or two of sleep can have adverse effects. Research shows that students who pull an all-nighter or decrease their sleep time by just a few hours are less likely to perform well on a next-day exam compared to students who slept the recommended seven to nine hours. With this in mind, all-nighters may be better suited for finishing an assignment or writing an essay (i.e., something that doesn't require memory and recall the next day); though staying up all night to finish an assignment is probably still best kept as a final resort. Having proper sleep each night not only allows you to learn and retain important information better, but also aids physical health by regulating hormones and supporting your immune system. There are various documented impacts of sleep deprivation further supporting the importance of sleep. 

Understandably, there may be rare occasions when you're faced with an all-nighter and sleeping a full night isn't an option. If this scenario can't be avoided, here are some tips for maximizing your study, sleep, and recovery time: 

  • Prioritize sleep: If you know in advance that you may need to stay up late to study or work, you might try to prioritize sleep on the days leading up to the late-night study session. 
  • Let there be light: Staying in well-lit rooms while studying can help to keep you alert and awake. Begin turning the lights down as it gets closer to bedtime and when you’re ready to turn in for the night, try to keep your sleeping area dark or use a sleep mask. 
  • Caffeine crutch: If caffeine is your thing, remember that a little bit can go a long way. It's best to sip a small amount of coffee, tea, or other caffeine-containing drinks over a longer period of time rather than chugging it all at once. This is because drinking caffeine quickly has the potential to cause a caffeine crash.  Although it’s typically recommended that caffeine consumption be avoided starting in the late afternoon—around eight hours before bedtime—in order to minimize its impact on your sleep, that can be challenging when you’re trying to use the caffeine to stay awake and study. That said, the way that caffeine affects the body can differ from person to person so timing your caffeine intake to align with when you think you’ll be studying and minimizing consumption throughout the session may help sleep come a little easier when you’re done for the night. Drinking a glass of cold water can also serve as a good pick-me-up without having the longer lasting impacts of caffeine. 
  • Power naps: Short naps, ideally 15 to 20 minutes, may also be energizing. A nap that is longer than 30 minutes may lead to temporary mental confusion and impaired performance in learning and reasoning. These naps can be taken just before or during your all-nighter. 
  • Break time: Like with any type of study session, taking periodic breaks can help with alertness. Breaks should involve something stimulating, like walking or stretching. 
  • Fuel up for productivity: Eating foods with plenty of nutrients and avoiding foods that may upset your stomach can help you stay up past your bedtime. During the night, grabbing small nutritious snacks can provide much-needed energy and allow for breaks. 

If you have the opportunity to rest before the exam, taking another brief nap may be useful. Anything longer than a nap may make it harder to get back to your regular sleep schedule. Your best bet for getting your sleep back on track is to go to bed at your usual time the evening after the all-nighter (or a bit earlier) and wake up at your usual rising time the next morning. 

If you find yourself frequently occupying the late hours of the night with schoolwork, you may also find it helpful to implement new time management strategies . Using these strategies will hopefully minimize the need to pull all-nighters in the future. You may consider exploring time management strategies such as identifying high-priority tasks and spreading out your study time, rather than cramming all at once. As a student, your school or university may offer specific support, like health education, coaching, or support groups for improving time management skills that may be worth checking out. 

With thoughtful planning, support, and determination, your dreams of getting that good grade and getting good sleep can become a reality! 

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October 17, 2021

13 Lessons to Teach Night by Elie Wiesel

one night assignment

What it’s about? Click HERE for the full lesson

Night by Elie Wiesel is an  heart wrenching novel about the horrors of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s autobiography he loses his sister, mother, and father on his traumatizing journey during the Holocaust. He barely survives and needs to pick up the pieces of a devastating war. The novel is about brutality, loss, family, and friendship.

Night by Elie Wiesel: How to Teach It! Vocabulary

I start by passing out a vocabulary sheet in which students have the page number and the vocabulary word. Students are to write a simple synonym for the definition. I like to keep definitions as simple as possible because when you use long definitions there is a low chance of student retention.

Night by Elie Wiesel: How to Teach It! Journal Responses

Second, I have multiple journal responses that I use throughout the unit that are engaging and assess student comprehension.

  • Some of the examples are to write a letter to a character. Tell them how you are similar or different. Tell them something you admire about them and why. This puts the students through the thought process of what empathy is like.
  • Another journal response can be to Create a mock interview between yourself and a character. Create interview questions, practice and be prepared to present in front of the class.
  • Students can Predict what will happen in the next chapter and craft a chapter from a character’s perspective in first person point of view. Be prepared to share the chapter with your classmates.
  • Or, choose a significant incident in the book and write a journal entry from a character’s point-of-view
  • You can ask them If you were given the opportunity to ask the author 5 questions what would they be? Write the questions below and explain why you want the answers to these questions.
  • To assess setting students can create the setting in a drawing below. Be specific with details.
  • Lastly draw a primary character and at least one secondary character in the box below. Be accurate in your drawing.

one night assignment

Night by Elie Wiesel: How to Teach It!: Reading Comprehension

  • Visualize-I ask students to draw a symbol that best represents the book.
  • Summarize-Students will summarize the book, a chapter, or a section of the book.
  • Clarify-Students are to analyze where they lack an understanding of the book. They are to ask themselves, what do I need to re-read in order to fully comprehend the material?
  • Connect-students ask themselves how the material connects to other material in the book and to other texts they have read.
  • Respond-Students analyze how the author uses literary devices in the work and why.
  • Question-Students are to make a list of questions they have for the author for further understanding.
  • : Costa’s Question Cues

Next I have students create a list of high order thinking questions using Costa’s question cues. Some of Costa’s question stems begin with the following:

  • Compare/contrast

You can collect these questions and answers and use them for a Socratic Seminar or a Four Corner Discussion. Pass out a list of the questions for students to work on at home. Have students return with their questions and answers. Elect two leaders to lead the discussion. Remain as an observer and allow for a meaningful discussion about the book.

Night by Elie Wiesel: Connections

I like to take connections with the book a step deeper because of the importance of engaging the students by connecting them with the material. I have students look up quotes of things that happen in the book that remind them of something from their own lives. They write the quote and begin a connection with something like, “This reminds me of a time that….” Students catalogue the quotes and connections as they read through the book.

Night by Elie Wiesel: Purpose of Reading

It is important to note the purpose of reading a text. Students are always asking “what is the point of this?” and there is only a positive outcome if a teacher takes the time to answer this question. Some purpose of reading questions can be:

  • What are the characters’ motives or goals?
  • What is the conflict?
  • What am I visualizing?
  • What is the message the author is trying to convey?
  • What mood is the author creating?
  • What problem is the character facing?
  • How is the plot developing the story?
  • Why did the author write this story?
  • What themes are addressed in this text?
  • What is your emotional response to the text?

Through analyzing and discussing the answers to these questions, you can come to a consensus as to what the purpose is of reading a text-even if it’s just for fun! In the case of Night it brings awareness of the adversities of the Holocaust.

Night by Elie Wiesel: Sentence Starters

The next assignment I have students complete throughout the reading are sentence starters. Sentence starters help students to analyze their own thinking and wonderment. Some examples of sentence starters are:

  • I wonder…
  • I was surprised that…
  • I don’t really understand…
  • I was reminded that…

Night by Elie Wiesel: Exposition Writing

Some practice with writing an exposition can be done by simply using a statement and backing it up with evidence. For example, if we are to look at the statement “Authoritarianism is traumatizing” then the evidence to back it up.

Night by Elie Wiesel: Compare/Contrast Characters

Another assignment worthy of a teacher’s attention is to compare contrast characters physical and emotional descriptions. You can utilize a graphic organizer to effectively list information.

Night by Elie Wiesel: Close Reading Questions

It is highly effective to take a close reading passage from the book and have students analyze it by answering a list of carefully crafted sentences. A list of close reading sentences can look like this:

  • What does this passage mean to you?
  • Why do you think it is important to the text as a whole?
  • What confuses you about the passage?
  • Why is understanding this passage important to your response to the book as a whole?
  • How does the passage connect to other ideas in the book?
  • How does the author feeling about the ideas, characters or events they are presenting?
  • Do the characters remind you of anyone else in fiction, history, or anyone else in your life?
  • What is revealed about the characters you have read in this passage?

Night: Have Fun With Learning! Roll the Dice Activity

It is crucial that students have some fun while learning. A simple way to create some fun is by creating a “roll the dice” activity sheet. On a sheet of paper create the following activities:

  • Paraphrase learned information in one sentence.
  • Create a bookmark for today’s learning.
  • Write original lyrics to a song that relates to today’s topic.
  • Write four what if questions about the topic
  • Create vocabulary cards for the five most essential terms
  • Write an acrostic poem about the topic
  • Write a letter to a family member or friend about the topic
  • Create an analogy for today’s topic and an image
  • Create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast information
  • Summarize what you learned today to three classmates

Have students role dye and whichever number they land on they will complete as a group. If you only have once set of dye, you can roll for the whole class.

A One-Pager Assignment Project

The purpose of the one-pager assignment is to take a close look at the novel and analyze its themes, characters, quotes, etc.

The top half should focus on symbolism and themes using words and images. The bottom half should focus on key characters from the text and how they develop.

You may also use other symbols, drawings and words as you wish.

The border is themes. Students can get creative and maximize their efforts with a one-pager assessment.

Create a Plot Structure Diagram

Create a plot structure diagram using the mountain analogy with the following:

  • Rising action
  • Falling action

6-Panel StoryBoard

Students can get a little creative and create a six-panel storyboard where they illustrate and write about a scene. They can also do an extension of a paragraph or the book.

Philosophical Chairs Discussion

Philosophical chair discussions are important in that they not only teach students to take a critical look at a topic but they learn how to express their opinions and evidence about the topic effectively. A great philosophical chairs discussion topic for this book is Countries should have helped to stop the Holocaust sooner. Have students choose a side, write about their opinions using evidence from the text and share their work in an articulate manner.

A thorough final assessment can be the essay. For this particular book I would do a literary analysis or if you want to extend the philosophical chairs discussion, you can use the same topic from the philosophical chairs discussion.

However you teach “A Good Kind of Trouble” you are doing your students a service as it is a book worthy of attention and analysis. Get this full lesson in my TpT. Click HERE for the full lesson. To Read a blog post on March click HERE

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  • Coursework Help UK Blogs

How to do coursework in one night fast?

coursework in one night

Description

There are many different types of students in an institution. Some students are really punctual and submit all their assignments on time. However, the majority fall in the criteria of the late bloomers. They are the students who keep everything pending till the very last minute. While nobody plans to do it at the very last minute, somehow, they end up doing their projects exactly then. And oh my, it is a really stressful situation to be in. Coursework in one night?

Coming to the coursework, it is a very serious academic paper. The students are expected to nail this one so they can get good grades and the jobs of their dreams. While many students start writing their coursework months prior to the due date, there are others who have to complete their coursework in one night. Coursework in one night? It might sound really absurd to many people, but there are some students who actually write their coursework in one night and still manage to get good grades and excel in their academia.

Writing a Coursework

Writing a coursework in one night is a herculean task in itself. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in a very short duration of time. You not only have to write a lot of words but also have to create a valid argument and address the issue as well. Many students seek coursework help UK since they don’t have many options at the last minute. They get their coursework written by coursework help UK . These coursework help UK provide you with coursework help in a very short period of time. Coursework help is always a good idea when you have little to no time left. But if you insist on writing your own coursework, given below are a few tips you must follow to complete your coursework in one night.

Let’s see some of the points.

Create a good schedule

Creating a schedule is one of the first and foremost things you need to do when you sit down to write your coursework. Plan and put together a schedule for your evening and night. Don’t just absurdly write down anything. Work your way through the schedule by planning out half hour by half hour. This is a very important step. Without a proper schedule, you will not be able to manage your time. Subsequently, if you don’t manage your time, you will not be able to complete your coursework.

Set aside some time for planning. Keep the majority bulk of your time for writing your coursework. That is not enough. Most importantly, keep the rest of your time for proofreading and editing your draft.

Read the requirements carefully

Keep in mind to read the instruction manual very carefully. You must make sure you write exactly what is needed to be written. While you may not have the kind of time to write the greatest and the best paper ever, you can at least complete your assignment on time. Make sure you download the complete format. Underline all the important points you need to address in your coursework.

Stay well informed

It is essential that you keep yourselves well informed about the topic you need to write your coursework on. Unless and until you don’t have the proper information to move forward with, you will not be able to write anything worthwhile in your coursework . However, keep in mind that you have limited time. Do not go too deep into the research. Simply skim through the text and pick out all the important points.

While reading, make sure you keep an eye out for the examples. There’s no better way to explain something than writing it alongside some examples. Make sure that the information you are using is authentic and genuine. Look for online papers, books, articles and as many sources as you can gather.

Start writing

Your literature and the main body is the most important part of your coursework. Without a strong argument or a point, your paper will appears to be unfocuse and shabby. Think of a good argument and keep rewriting that unless you get the perfect point. Once you get that, take your coursework forward from that point. Once you have gotten a good thesis, write it down and keep it in front of your eyes at all times.

Edit your final draft. Firstly proofread your coursework and keep editing it until you get your final draft. This step is very important and must be carried out with due diligence.

Now that you have read this blog, you are all set to finish your coursework in a night. However, if you still want professional help, Uniresearchers is the best platform.

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How To Get An Essay Done In One Night

  • Author Sandra W.

one night assignment

Expert Tips On How To Get An Assignment Done In One Night

Most students ask us how they can get an essay, paper, assignment, or a project done in one night. The simple answer we give them is that they should hire one of our essay writers to help them do it. Our writers can do the paper within a few hours to make sure you beat your deadline. However, if you still insist on doing your own paper, we have some expert tips on  how to get an essay done fast.

How To Write An Essay In One Night

Step One- Choose a topic

If your teacher allows it, select a topic that you are already familiar with and one, which you can easily get an abundance of information. If you do not have a topic, you can use one of our 200 argumentative essay topics to get your paper done an essay in one night

Step Two: Search for Information

Search the information available on the topic. You can use your school library, google scholar, or google books, as well as other journal databases. Make an outline with the information that you get.

Step Three: Start writing!

Once you have everything that you need, writing the paper will be easy. Although you do not have time, do not write in a rush because you will make many grammatical errors. Depending on the length of the paper, you can do it in a few minutes. Some things to consider:

v Formatting- Use the correct APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard or any other format that your teacher asks you to use. Check out the files attached below for specific guides on each style

v Proofread your paper- Do not turn in a paper that you have not proofread. Just proofreading can turn a B paper into an A Essay Paper.

v Do not plagiarize! – Pulling other people information can get you kicked out of school. You can use our free plagiarism checking services free of charge.

Essay Done In One Night By Expert Writers

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one night assignment

Is ‘Saturday Night Live’ New Tonight, April 13, 2024? How to Watch

W ith the week coming to an end and people enjoying their weekend, that can mean only one thing – it’s time for Saturday Night Live . When it comes to the weekend, there seems no better way of enjoying some rest and relaxation than with some laughs. Season 49 of SNL welcomed some big names in Hollywood like Josh Brolin and Adam Driver. And while SNL has taken some time off in the past, here are all the details about tonight’s episode and what to expect. 

Kicking off the night with some good news, SNL will be airing a new live episode tonight with none other than Ryan Gosling hosting. Just last summer, Margot Robbie and Gosling dominated the box office when they showcased the hit film Barbie . While focusing on Barbie finding her place in the world, Gosling stole the film with his portrayal of Ken. His antics not only gained him high praise but landed him a performance at the Academy Awards. With the world full of “Kenergy”, Gosling’s performance tonight is sure to come packed with laughs. 

Ryan Gosling Starstruck Of Country Singer On ‘Saturday Night Live’

While Gosling knows how to dance, sing, and act, he will only be the host this evening and not the musical guest. That honor will go to country star Chris Stapleton. The country singer is a top name in country music and even performed the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Having thousands of fans, it seemed that Gosling was also a massive fan of Stapleton. In a promo for SNL tonight, Gosling tried his best to get an autograph for the country icon. The only problem – nerves go in the way. Trying to come up with the best introduction line, Gosling proved that even celebrities get starstruck. 

[RELATED: 3 of the Saddest Chris Stapleton Songs]

Loving the SNL promo, fans filled the comment section, writing, “SNL.. Ryan Gosling is the king of timeless digital shorts.. WE expect another timeless classic from him again.” Another fan added, “OMG can’t wait.  loved SNL since the beginning and I literally have not missed an episode.” 

With high expectations for SNL tonight, be sure to tune in to see both Gosling and Stapleton take over Studio 8H. The show airs live on NBC starting at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT.

(Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

The post Is ‘Saturday Night Live’ New Tonight, April 13, 2024? How to Watch appeared first on American Songwriter .

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Is ‘Saturday Night Live’ New Tonight, April 13, 2024? How to Watch

Syracuse police chief: ‘We lost two heroes last night’

  • Updated: Apr. 15, 2024, 10:26 p.m. |
  • Published: Apr. 15, 2024, 9:19 p.m.

Syracuse, N.Y. — More than a hundred police officers and other public safety officials silently stood shoulder to shoulder late Sunday night outside the door to the emergency room at Upstate University Hospital.

They had come from all over to show respect for Syracuse police officer Michael Jensen and sheriff’s Lt. Michael Hoosock, who were killed in a shootout earlier that night in Salina. Some were in their formal uniform, but others were wearing whatever they had on when they got the news and sped to the hospital.

Many were back patrolling the streets Monday, even as they were dealing with emotions that Joseph Moran, the president of the Syracuse Police Benevolent Association, said were “indescribable.”

“They don’t have time to grieve,” he said at a Monday afternoon news conference. “They’re out responding to calls right now, providing the city a great service.”

Before Sunday night , it had been more than 30 years since the last time Syracuse lost a police officer in the line of duty. A sheriff’s deputy hadn’t been killed in the line in two decades.

The moment was one for which Syracuse Police Chief Joseph Cecile, who has put in nearly 40 years at the department, said there was no way to prepare.

“We lost two heroes last night,” the chief said.

Cecile said the department would venerate the officers’ ultimate sacrifice through excellent police work.

“We will honor these fallen officers by picking up that badge and holding that line” between order and disorder, he said. “That’s what cops do.”

Jensen joined the force about 2 1/2 years ago, Cecile said. He earned an officer of the month award four months ago.

Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley said it was hard to find the words to describe what it meant to lose Hoosock.

The long-time cop was a staple in the local community of emergency responders, serving as a volunteer firefighter and paramedic. He leaves a wife and three young children, Shelley said.

“It’s a very sad moment in time for our community and our police families,” he said.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh asked community members to keep the officers in their prayers and “lift them up.”

“We need our officers everyday, and everyday they are there for us,” he said, “Today, they need us. And we must be there for them. Today and always.”

Meadows

Karl and Shirley Schulze place crosses for the fallen officers at the entry to the neighborhood “The Meadows” at Limestone Drive and Larkin Street. Scott Schild | [email protected]

2 CNY police officers killed

  • Slain Syracuse officer Michael Jensen remembered for infectious smile and positive personality
  • Search finds more guns at Salina home where shootout left 2 officers dead
  • Businesses, schools holding fundraisers for families of slain Syracuse officer, deputy
  • Gun used to kill 2 Central NY police officers was illegal, deputies say
  • Both police officers killed in Salina shooting attended Le Moyne College; Campus flags at half staff

Staff writer Jon Moss covers breaking news, crime and public safety. He can be reached at [email protected] or @mossjon7 .

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How to Write a 1000-Word Essay in One Night and Not Lose Your Calm

Adela B.

Table of contents

It’s Sunday night, and you just realized that you haven’t even started writing your 1000-word essay that is due on Monday. How are you going to write it in one night, you wonder.

What follows is panic as you rack your brain, wondering where and how to begin.

Writing is an art. Every word you write mirrors your thoughts and ideas on paper.

Similarly, how you express these words is a way of expressing yourself. While essay writing is not rocket science, it certainly isn’t something you should take lightly as well.

The good news is there is hope, and you can write a 1,000-word essay in one night. In this article, you will learn how.

Writing a 1,000-word Essay in One Night: 4 Preparation Hacks

Preparation is key, especially when you’re expected to write an essay at the last moment. Let’s take a look at four tips to help you prepare for the long night.

#1. Plan your time

Time management is a high priority when you have only a few hours to write your essay. Thus, use your maximum efficiency and your fullest potential to complete the essay on time.

If you plan to just sit down and start writing, you may not be able to track your progress on each interval and see which section of the essay you spent the most time on.

Hence, you should base your essay portions on specific time intervals. For example, break your time into 45 mins and plan to complete each task of the paper in that time frame.

Keep one hour spare in the end to revise, edit, add visuals, recheck arguments, proofread, or even just to read it a couple of times to check the flow of the essay.

#2. Read the prompt carefully

It is critical to read the essay prompt carefully and not miss a single detail present in it, as there might be multiple important pieces of information that are required to be adhered to for completing the essay.

Guidelines like the number of sources to use, how to format the essay according to the professor’s requirement, writing in a particular tone and style, the target audience, or even just understanding the essay topic diligently are fundamental to follow to be able to craft a quality essay without any errors.

The worst thing that can happen after writing and completing your assignment is to learn that you deciphered the prompt incorrectly, or got confused with the type of expectations your professor had for this essay assignment, and now have nothing to submit.

So, read the prompt carefully.

Here’s a useful video by Nicolas Weiss on reading essay prompts

#3. Use reliable sources for notes

As you start framing your essay, remember to refer to credible and reliable sources for your note-taking process.

Citing down your references in a bibliography is a must-needed step in your essay writing and forgetting to complete this step will bring down your grades drastically.

Having credible references and sources makes your essay seem completely thorough and well-researched, as well as gives your content more authority and authenticity.

#4. Create a rough outline of the structure

Before you begin to write your essay, build a rough outline of the important points you need to take note of, the short forms that will be used in the content, and the basic structure of your essay.

It’s important to also note down how you will introduce your essay , your thesis statement, all the points that have to be added in each paragraph, and the evidence that supports these claims.

A well-written outline gives the essay a structured flow, organized points, and no extra fluff, and makes it easier for the readers, or in this case, your professors, to read and understand your essay easily.

Additionally, the outline also helps the writer to not forget important points and arguments that were to be made in the essay.

Here’s How You Can Write a 1,000-word Essay in One Night

Now that we know that preparing before executing is highly primal when, you have to write your essay in one night. Let’s see how we can write a 1000-word essay in one night and do a good job at it.

Write in an appropriate environment

Usually, people don't think too much about the space in which they sit to work . But this is a very important step for writers to take care of to execute flawless and organized pieces of writing.

To write quality articles, blogs , essays, etc., choose an appropriate, peaceful, and distraction-free environment.

Create a mood around you where you are motivated to work so that you can hear your thoughts and express them in words, as well as come up with ideas that can be written down in the best way.

A library or a study nook at your home is the best place to concentrate thoroughly on writing assignments. Switch off your phone, log out of your social media, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, focus on your approach, and write away.

Create an effective plan

It is very important to have a plan to succeed in a task without any complications or errors. Having an effective and smart plan will make any challenging, confusing, or complex task more organized , thorough, and easy to execute.

So, before you begin your essay, think of the following topics, and plan out your entire process of writing the essay:

  • The word limit or essay length ;
  • Creating the thesis statement;
  • Major topics and points to be covered in the essay;
  • A basic outline of the essay’s structure;
  • Examples, references, evidence to cite;
  • Images, GIFS, infographics, or videos to embed (if needed);
  • Suggestions and recommendations.

Once you plan out your essay by having the answers to all these questions, it becomes much easier to frame the entire essay in a short time.

Do thorough research for your essay

Writing a 1000-word essay for your assignment without doing any full-fledged research on your topic, will just nudge you into failure.

Researching to write content that is fresh, informative, and credible is the only way that your professor will deem your essay as a quality piece of writing. Furthermore, you need data and references to back all your arguments and claims.

For example, when you research a topic, you come across multiple sites and reliable sources where you can take out necessary information and data to frame your essay.

As you go further, when you start writing down your points and details that make the content of your paper, you might need to go back to your references sometime or other for help or confirmation.

Place realistic and attainable goals

Don't think about trying to finish your essay in 30 minutes. It is going to end up being poorly executed, with no flow or organized arguments.

Additionally, you would probably have an essay riddled with silly spelling mistakes and grammatical errors that could have been avoided if you took advantage of the entire time you have on your hands to work on drafting a perfect, well-researched, top-quality essay.

Aim for realistic and achievable targets that can be accomplished by you. Sort of a specific time frame to complete the task you’ve assigned yourself for each of these intervals. Take a short break after finishing major portions of your essay, to avoid being stressed or overburdened.

Never forget to edit and proofread

Never leave proofreading your essay as a last resort. It shouldn’t be something that you will only do if you have enough time and energy after working on the entire essay.

Proofreading is a must because when you revise and re-read your essay, you will end up finding mistakes or slip-ups that you could have made while writing in a hurry.

These slip-ups would eventually bring down the entire purpose of writing the essay and decrease your chances of getting a good grade. That is why, resolving these issues after proofreading is critical, to laying out a perfect and flawless essay assignment.

Ideally, you should plan out your essay in such a way that there is enough time, in the end, to revise and edit, wherever necessary.

In conclusion, it is best not to panic and rush the process since writing your essay assignment in one night with a composed head will help immensely in thinking straight and completing a great paper.

Furthermore, use these practical tips and tricks to get the best results out of our guide to write a 1000-word essay in one night and not lose your calm.

If you’re unable to concentrate and need urgent essay writing service , we’re glad to assist. Writers Per Hour’s team of urgent essay writers knows what it takes to write essays quickly without compromising on quality.

So, before you lose your calm, write to us and let our professional essay writers write your 1,000-word essay in one night and help you get the grades you desire.

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photo of Icon of the Seas, taken on a long railed path approaching the stern of the ship, with people walking along dock

Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever

Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas

photo of Icon of the Seas, taken on a long railed path approaching the stern of the ship, with people walking along dock

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Updated at 2:44 p.m. ET on April 6, 2024.

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MY FIRST GLIMPSE of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, from the window of an approaching Miami cab, brings on a feeling of vertigo, nausea, amazement, and distress. I shut my eyes in defense, as my brain tells my optic nerve to try again.

The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally. It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots. Vibrant, oversignifying colors are stacked upon other such colors, decks perched over still more decks; the only comfort is a row of lifeboats ringing its perimeter. There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy. This is the biggest cruise ship ever built, and I have been tasked with witnessing its inaugural voyage.

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“Author embarks on their first cruise-ship voyage” has been a staple of American essay writing for almost three decades, beginning with David Foster Wallace’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” which was first published in 1996 under the title “Shipping Out.” Since then, many admirable writers have widened and diversified the genre. Usually the essayist commissioned to take to the sea is in their first or second flush of youth and is ready to sharpen their wit against the hull of the offending vessel. I am 51, old and tired, having seen much of the world as a former travel journalist, and mostly what I do in both life and prose is shrug while muttering to my imaginary dachshund, “This too shall pass.” But the Icon of the Seas will not countenance a shrug. The Icon of the Seas is the Linda Loman of cruise ships, exclaiming that attention must be paid. And here I am in late January with my one piece of luggage and useless gray winter jacket and passport, zipping through the Port of Miami en route to the gangway that will separate me from the bulk of North America for more than seven days, ready to pay it in full.

The aforementioned gangway opens up directly onto a thriving mall (I will soon learn it is imperiously called the “Royal Promenade”), presently filled with yapping passengers beneath a ceiling studded with balloons ready to drop. Crew members from every part of the global South, as well as a few Balkans, are shepherding us along while pressing flutes of champagne into our hands. By a humming Starbucks, I drink as many of these as I can and prepare to find my cabin. I show my blue Suite Sky SeaPass Card (more on this later, much more) to a smiling woman from the Philippines, and she tells me to go “aft.” Which is where, now? As someone who has rarely sailed on a vessel grander than the Staten Island Ferry, I am confused. It turns out that the aft is the stern of the ship, or, for those of us who don’t know what a stern or an aft are, its ass. The nose of the ship, responsible for separating the waves before it, is also called a bow, and is marked for passengers as the FWD , or forward. The part of the contemporary sailing vessel where the malls are clustered is called the midship. I trust that you have enjoyed this nautical lesson.

I ascend via elevator to my suite on Deck 11. This is where I encounter my first terrible surprise. My suite windows and balcony do not face the ocean. Instead, they look out onto another shopping mall. This mall is the one that’s called Central Park, perhaps in homage to the Olmsted-designed bit of greenery in the middle of my hometown. Although on land I would be delighted to own a suite with Central Park views, here I am deeply depressed. To sail on a ship and not wake up to a vast blue carpet of ocean? Unthinkable.

Allow me a brief preamble here. The story you are reading was commissioned at a moment when most staterooms on the Icon were sold out. In fact, so enthralled by the prospect of this voyage were hard-core mariners that the ship’s entire inventory of guest rooms (the Icon can accommodate up to 7,600 passengers, but its inaugural journey was reduced to 5,000 or so for a less crowded experience) was almost immediately sold out. Hence, this publication was faced with the shocking prospect of paying nearly $19,000 to procure for this solitary passenger an entire suite—not including drinking expenses—all for the privilege of bringing you this article. But the suite in question doesn’t even have a view of the ocean! I sit down hard on my soft bed. Nineteen thousand dollars for this .

selfie photo of man with glasses, in background is swim-up bar with two women facing away

The viewless suite does have its pluses. In addition to all the Malin+Goetz products in my dual bathrooms, I am granted use of a dedicated Suite Deck lounge; access to Coastal Kitchen, a superior restaurant for Suites passengers; complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream (“the fastest Internet at Sea”) “for one device per person for the whole cruise duration”; a pair of bathrobes (one of which comes prestained with what looks like a large expectoration by the greenest lizard on Earth); and use of the Grove Suite Sun, an area on Decks 18 and 19 with food and deck chairs reserved exclusively for Suite passengers. I also get reserved seating for a performance of The Wizard of Oz , an ice-skating tribute to the periodic table, and similar provocations. The very color of my Suite Sky SeaPass Card, an oceanic blue as opposed to the cloying royal purple of the standard non-Suite passenger, will soon provoke envy and admiration. But as high as my status may be, there are those on board who have much higher status still, and I will soon learn to bow before them.

In preparation for sailing, I have “priced in,” as they say on Wall Street, the possibility that I may come from a somewhat different monde than many of the other cruisers. Without falling into stereotypes or preconceptions, I prepare myself for a friendly outspokenness on the part of my fellow seafarers that may not comply with modern DEI standards. I believe in meeting people halfway, and so the day before flying down to Miami, I visited what remains of Little Italy to purchase a popular T-shirt that reads DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL across the breast in the colors of the Italian flag. My wife recommended that I bring one of my many T-shirts featuring Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, as all Americans love the beagle and his friends. But I naively thought that my meatball T-shirt would be more suitable for conversation-starting. “Oh, and who is your ‘daddy’?” some might ask upon seeing it. “And how long have you been his ‘little meatball’?” And so on.

I put on my meatball T-shirt and head for one of the dining rooms to get a late lunch. In the elevator, I stick out my chest for all to read the funny legend upon it, but soon I realize that despite its burnished tricolor letters, no one takes note. More to the point, no one takes note of me. Despite my attempts at bridge building, the very sight of me (small, ethnic, without a cap bearing the name of a football team) elicits no reaction from other passengers. Most often, they will small-talk over me as if I don’t exist. This brings to mind the travails of David Foster Wallace , who felt so ostracized by his fellow passengers that he retreated to his cabin for much of his voyage. And Wallace was raised primarily in the Midwest and was a much larger, more American-looking meatball than I am. If he couldn’t talk to these people, how will I? What if I leave this ship without making any friends at all, despite my T-shirt? I am a social creature, and the prospect of seven days alone and apart is saddening. Wallace’s stateroom, at least, had a view of the ocean, a kind of cheap eternity.

Worse awaits me in the dining room. This is a large, multichandeliered room where I attended my safety training (I was shown how to put on a flotation vest; it is a very simple procedure). But the maître d’ politely refuses me entry in an English that seems to verge on another language. “I’m sorry, this is only for pendejos ,” he seems to be saying. I push back politely and he repeats himself. Pendejos ? Piranhas? There’s some kind of P-word to which I am not attuned. Meanwhile elderly passengers stream right past, powered by their limbs, walkers, and electric wheelchairs. “It is only pendejo dining today, sir.” “But I have a suite!” I say, already starting to catch on to the ship’s class system. He examines my card again. “But you are not a pendejo ,” he confirms. I am wearing a DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL T-shirt, I want to say to him. I am the essence of pendejo .

Eventually, I give up and head to the plebeian buffet on Deck 15, which has an aquatic-styled name I have now forgotten. Before gaining entry to this endless cornucopia of reheated food, one passes a washing station of many sinks and soap dispensers, and perhaps the most intriguing character on the entire ship. He is Mr. Washy Washy—or, according to his name tag, Nielbert of the Philippines—and he is dressed as a taco (on other occasions, I’ll see him dressed as a burger). Mr. Washy Washy performs an eponymous song in spirited, indeed flamboyant English: “Washy, washy, wash your hands, WASHY WASHY!” The dangers of norovirus and COVID on a cruise ship this size (a giant fellow ship was stricken with the former right after my voyage) makes Mr. Washy Washy an essential member of the crew. The problem lies with the food at the end of Washy’s rainbow. The buffet is groaning with what sounds like sophisticated dishes—marinated octopus, boiled egg with anchovy, chorizo, lobster claws—but every animal tastes tragically the same, as if there was only one creature available at the market, a “cruisipus” bred specifically for Royal Caribbean dining. The “vegetables” are no better. I pick up a tomato slice and look right through it. It tastes like cellophane. I sit alone, apart from the couples and parents with gaggles of children, as “We Are Family” echoes across the buffet space.

I may have failed to mention that all this time, the Icon of the Seas has not left port. As the fiery mango of the subtropical setting sun makes Miami’s condo skyline even more apocalyptic, the ship shoves off beneath a perfunctory display of fireworks. After the sun sets, in the far, dark distance, another circus-lit cruise ship ruptures the waves before us. We glance at it with pity, because it is by definition a smaller ship than our own. I am on Deck 15, outside the buffet and overlooking a bunch of pools (the Icon has seven of them), drinking a frilly drink that I got from one of the bars (the Icon has 15 of them), still too shy to speak to anyone, despite Sister Sledge’s assertion that all on the ship are somehow related.

Kim Brooks: On failing the family vacation

The ship’s passage away from Ron DeSantis’s Florida provides no frisson, no sense of developing “sea legs,” as the ship is too large to register the presence of waves unless a mighty wind adds significant chop. It is time for me to register the presence of the 5,000 passengers around me, even if they refuse to register mine. My fellow travelers have prepared for this trip with personally decorated T-shirts celebrating the importance of this voyage. The simplest ones say ICON INAUGURAL ’24 on the back and the family name on the front. Others attest to an over-the-top love of cruise ships: WARNING! MAY START TALKING ABOUT CRUISING . Still others are artisanally designed and celebrate lifetimes spent married while cruising (on ships, of course). A couple possibly in their 90s are wearing shirts whose backs feature a drawing of a cruise liner, two flamingos with ostensibly male and female characteristics, and the legend “ HUSBAND AND WIFE Cruising Partners FOR LIFE WE MAY NOT HAVE IT All Together BUT TOGETHER WE HAVE IT ALL .” (The words not in all caps have been written in cursive.) A real journalist or a more intrepid conversationalist would have gone up to the couple and asked them to explain the longevity of their marriage vis-à-vis their love of cruising. But instead I head to my mall suite, take off my meatball T-shirt, and allow the first tears of the cruise to roll down my cheeks slowly enough that I briefly fall asleep amid the moisture and salt.

photo of elaborate twisting multicolored waterslides with long stairwell to platform

I WAKE UP with a hangover. Oh God. Right. I cannot believe all of that happened last night. A name floats into my cobwebbed, nauseated brain: “Ayn Rand.” Jesus Christ.

I breakfast alone at the Coastal Kitchen. The coffee tastes fine and the eggs came out of a bird. The ship rolls slightly this morning; I can feel it in my thighs and my schlong, the parts of me that are most receptive to danger.

I had a dangerous conversation last night. After the sun set and we were at least 50 miles from shore (most modern cruise ships sail at about 23 miles an hour), I lay in bed softly hiccupping, my arms stretched out exactly like Jesus on the cross, the sound of the distant waves missing from my mall-facing suite, replaced by the hum of air-conditioning and children shouting in Spanish through the vents of my two bathrooms. I decided this passivity was unacceptable. As an immigrant, I feel duty-bound to complete the tasks I am paid for, which means reaching out and trying to understand my fellow cruisers. So I put on a normal James Perse T-shirt and headed for one of the bars on the Royal Promenade—the Schooner Bar, it was called, if memory serves correctly.

I sat at the bar for a martini and two Negronis. An old man with thick, hairy forearms drank next to me, very silent and Hemingwaylike, while a dreadlocked piano player tinkled out a series of excellent Elton John covers. To my right, a young white couple—he in floral shorts, she in a light, summery miniskirt with a fearsome diamond ring, neither of them in football regalia—chatted with an elderly couple. Do it , I commanded myself. Open your mouth. Speak! Speak without being spoken to. Initiate. A sentence fragment caught my ear from the young woman, “Cherry Hill.” This is a suburb of Philadelphia in New Jersey, and I had once been there for a reading at a synagogue. “Excuse me,” I said gently to her. “Did you just mention Cherry Hill? It’s a lovely place.”

As it turned out, the couple now lived in Fort Lauderdale (the number of Floridians on the cruise surprised me, given that Southern Florida is itself a kind of cruise ship, albeit one slowly sinking), but soon they were talking with me exclusively—the man potbellied, with a chin like a hard-boiled egg; the woman as svelte as if she were one of the many Ukrainian members of the crew—the elderly couple next to them forgotten. This felt as groundbreaking as the first time I dared to address an American in his native tongue, as a child on a bus in Queens (“On my foot you are standing, Mister”).

“I don’t want to talk politics,” the man said. “But they’re going to eighty-six Biden and put Michelle in.”

I considered the contradictions of his opening conversational gambit, but decided to play along. “People like Michelle,” I said, testing the waters. The husband sneered, but the wife charitably put forward that the former first lady was “more personable” than Joe Biden. “They’re gonna eighty-six Biden,” the husband repeated. “He can’t put a sentence together.”

After I mentioned that I was a writer—though I presented myself as a writer of teleplays instead of novels and articles such as this one—the husband told me his favorite writer was Ayn Rand. “Ayn Rand, she came here with nothing,” the husband said. “I work with a lot of Cubans, so …” I wondered if I should mention what I usually do to ingratiate myself with Republicans or libertarians: the fact that my finances improved after pass-through corporations were taxed differently under Donald Trump. Instead, I ordered another drink and the couple did the same, and I told him that Rand and I were born in the same city, St. Petersburg/Leningrad, and that my family also came here with nothing. Now the bonding and drinking began in earnest, and several more rounds appeared. Until it all fell apart.

Read: Gary Shteyngart on watching Russian television for five days straight

My new friend, whom I will refer to as Ayn, called out to a buddy of his across the bar, and suddenly a young couple, both covered in tattoos, appeared next to us. “He fucking punked me,” Ayn’s frat-boy-like friend called out as he put his arm around Ayn, while his sizable partner sizzled up to Mrs. Rand. Both of them had a look I have never seen on land—their eyes projecting absence and enmity in equal measure. In the ’90s, I drank with Russian soldiers fresh from Chechnya and wandered the streets of wartime Zagreb, but I have never seen such undisguised hostility toward both me and perhaps the universe at large. I was briefly introduced to this psychopathic pair, but neither of them wanted to have anything to do with me, and the tattooed woman would not even reveal her Christian name to me (she pretended to have the same first name as Mrs. Rand). To impress his tattooed friends, Ayn made fun of the fact that as a television writer, I’d worked on the series Succession (which, it would turn out, practically nobody on the ship had watched), instead of the far more palatable, in his eyes, zombie drama of last year. And then my new friends drifted away from me into an angry private conversation—“He punked me!”—as I ordered another drink for myself, scared of the dead-eyed arrivals whose gaze never registered in the dim wattage of the Schooner Bar, whose terrifying voices and hollow laughs grated like unoiled gears against the crooning of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

But today is a new day for me and my hangover. After breakfast, I explore the ship’s so-called neighborhoods . There’s the AquaDome, where one can find a food hall and an acrobatic sound-and-light aquatic show. Central Park has a premium steak house, a sushi joint, and a used Rolex that can be bought for $8,000 on land here proudly offered at $17,000. There’s the aforementioned Royal Promenade, where I had drunk with the Rands, and where a pair of dueling pianos duel well into the night. There’s Surfside, a kids’ neighborhood full of sugary garbage, which looks out onto the frothy trail that the behemoth leaves behind itself. Thrill Island refers to the collection of tubes that clutter the ass of the ship and offer passengers six waterslides and a surfing simulation. There’s the Hideaway, an adult zone that plays music from a vomit-slathered, Brit-filled Alicante nightclub circa 1996 and proves a big favorite with groups of young Latin American customers. And, most hurtfully, there’s the Suite Neighborhood.

2 photos: a ship's foamy white wake stretches to the horizon; a man at reailing with water and two large ships docked behind

I say hurtfully because as a Suite passenger I should be here, though my particular suite is far from the others. Whereas I am stuck amid the riffraff of Deck 11, this section is on the highborn Decks 16 and 17, and in passing, I peek into the spacious, tall-ceilinged staterooms from the hallway, dazzled by the glint of the waves and sun. For $75,000, one multifloor suite even comes with its own slide between floors, so that a family may enjoy this particular terror in private. There is a quiet splendor to the Suite Neighborhood. I see fewer stickers and signs and drawings than in my own neighborhood—for example, MIKE AND DIANA PROUDLY SERVED U.S. MARINE CORPS RETIRED . No one here needs to announce their branch of service or rank; they are simply Suites, and this is where they belong. Once again, despite my hard work and perseverance, I have been disallowed from the true American elite. Once again, I am “Not our class, dear.” I am reminded of watching The Love Boat on my grandmother’s Zenith, which either was given to her or we found in the trash (I get our many malfunctioning Zeniths confused) and whose tube got so hot, I would put little chunks of government cheese on a thin tissue atop it to give our welfare treat a pleasant, Reagan-era gooeyness. I could not understand English well enough then to catch the nuances of that seafaring program, but I knew that there were differences in the status of the passengers, and that sometimes those differences made them sad. Still, this ship, this plenty—every few steps, there are complimentary nachos or milkshakes or gyros on offer—was the fatty fuel of my childhood dreams. If only I had remained a child.

I walk around the outdoor decks looking for company. There is a middle-aged African American couple who always seem to be asleep in each other’s arms, probably exhausted from the late capitalism they regularly encounter on land. There is far more diversity on this ship than I expected. Many couples are a testament to Loving v. Virginia , and there is a large group of folks whose T-shirts read MELANIN AT SEA / IT’S THE MELANIN FOR ME . I smile when I see them, but then some young kids from the group makes Mr. Washy Washy do a cruel, caricatured “Burger Dance” (today he is in his burger getup), and I think, Well, so much for intersectionality .

At the infinity pool on Deck 17, I spot some elderly women who could be ethnic and from my part of the world, and so I jump in. I am proved correct! Many of them seem to be originally from Queens (“Corona was still great when it was all Italian”), though they are now spread across the tristate area. We bond over the way “Ron-kon-koma” sounds when announced in Penn Station.

“Everyone is here for a different reason,” one of them tells me. She and her ex-husband last sailed together four years ago to prove to themselves that their marriage was truly over. Her 15-year-old son lost his virginity to “an Irish young lady” while their ship was moored in Ravenna, Italy. The gaggle of old-timers competes to tell me their favorite cruising stories and tips. “A guy proposed in Central Park a couple of years ago”—many Royal Caribbean ships apparently have this ridiculous communal area—“and she ran away screaming!” “If you’re diamond-class, you get four drinks for free.” “A different kind of passenger sails out of Bayonne.” (This, perhaps, is racially coded.) “Sometimes, if you tip the bartender $5, your next drink will be free.”

“Everyone’s here for a different reason,” the woman whose marriage ended on a cruise tells me again. “Some people are here for bad reasons—the drinkers and the gamblers. Some people are here for medical reasons.” I have seen more than a few oxygen tanks and at least one woman clearly undergoing very serious chemo. Some T-shirts celebrate good news about a cancer diagnosis. This might be someone’s last cruise or week on Earth. For these women, who have spent months, if not years, at sea, cruising is a ritual as well as a life cycle: first love, last love, marriage, divorce, death.

Read: The last place on Earth any tourist should go

I have talked with these women for so long, tonight I promise myself that after a sad solitary dinner I will not try to seek out company at the bars in the mall or the adult-themed Hideaway. I have enough material to fulfill my duties to this publication. As I approach my orphaned suite, I run into the aggro young people who stole Mr. and Mrs. Rand away from me the night before. The tattooed apparitions pass me without a glance. She is singing something violent about “Stuttering Stanley” (a character in a popular horror movie, as I discover with my complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream Internet at Sea) and he’s loudly shouting about “all the money I’ve lost,” presumably at the casino in the bowels of the ship.

So these bent psychos out of a Cormac McCarthy novel are angrily inhabiting my deck. As I mewl myself to sleep, I envision a limited series for HBO or some other streamer, a kind of low-rent White Lotus , where several aggressive couples conspire to throw a shy intellectual interloper overboard. I type the scenario into my phone. As I fall asleep, I think of what the woman who recently divorced her husband and whose son became a man through the good offices of the Irish Republic told me while I was hoisting myself out of the infinity pool. “I’m here because I’m an explorer. I’m here because I’m trying something new.” What if I allowed myself to believe in her fantasy?

2 photos: 2 slices of pizza on plate; man in "Daddy's Little Meatball" shirt and shorts standing in outdoor dining area with ship's exhaust stacks in background

“YOU REALLY STARTED AT THE TOP,” they tell me. I’m at the Coastal Kitchen for my eggs and corned-beef hash, and the maître d’ has slotted me in between two couples. Fueled by coffee or perhaps intrigued by my relative youth, they strike up a conversation with me. As always, people are shocked that this is my first cruise. They contrast the Icon favorably with all the preceding liners in the Royal Caribbean fleet, usually commenting on the efficiency of the elevators that hurl us from deck to deck (as in many large corporate buildings, the elevators ask you to choose a floor and then direct you to one of many lifts). The couple to my right, from Palo Alto—he refers to his “porn mustache” and calls his wife “my cougar” because she is two years older—tell me they are “Pandemic Pinnacles.”

This is the day that my eyes will be opened. Pinnacles , it is explained to me over translucent cantaloupe, have sailed with Royal Caribbean for 700 ungodly nights. Pandemic Pinnacles took advantage of the two-for-one accrual rate of Pinnacle points during the pandemic, when sailing on a cruise ship was even more ill-advised, to catapult themselves into Pinnacle status.

Because of the importance of the inaugural voyage of the world’s largest cruise liner, more than 200 Pinnacles are on this ship, a startling number, it seems. Mrs. Palo Alto takes out a golden badge that I have seen affixed over many a breast, which reads CROWN AND ANCHOR SOCIETY along with her name. This is the coveted badge of the Pinnacle. “You should hear all the whining in Guest Services,” her husband tells me. Apparently, the Pinnacles who are not also Suites like us are all trying to use their status to get into Coastal Kitchen, our elite restaurant. Even a Pinnacle needs to be a Suite to access this level of corned-beef hash.

“We’re just baby Pinnacles,” Mrs. Palo Alto tells me, describing a kind of internal class struggle among the Pinnacle elite for ever higher status.

And now I understand what the maître d’ was saying to me on the first day of my cruise. He wasn’t saying “ pendejo .” He was saying “Pinnacle.” The dining room was for Pinnacles only, all those older people rolling in like the tide on their motorized scooters.

And now I understand something else: This whole thing is a cult. And like most cults, it can’t help but mirror the endless American fight for status. Like Keith Raniere’s NXIVM, where different-colored sashes were given out to connote rank among Raniere’s branded acolytes, this is an endless competition among Pinnacles, Suites, Diamond-Plusers, and facing-the-mall, no-balcony purple SeaPass Card peasants, not to mention the many distinctions within each category. The more you cruise, the higher your status. No wonder a section of the Royal Promenade is devoted to getting passengers to book their next cruise during the one they should be enjoying now. No wonder desperate Royal Caribbean offers (“FINAL HOURS”) crowded my email account weeks before I set sail. No wonder the ship’s jewelry store, the Royal Bling, is selling a $100,000 golden chalice that will entitle its owner to drink free on Royal Caribbean cruises for life. (One passenger was already gaming out whether her 28-year-old son was young enough to “just about earn out” on the chalice or if that ship had sailed.) No wonder this ship was sold out months before departure , and we had to pay $19,000 for a horrid suite away from the Suite Neighborhood. No wonder the most mythical hero of Royal Caribbean lore is someone named Super Mario, who has cruised so often, he now has his own working desk on many ships. This whole experience is part cult, part nautical pyramid scheme.

From the June 2014 issue: Ship of wonks

“The toilets are amazing,” the Palo Altos are telling me. “One flush and you’re done.” “They don’t understand how energy-efficient these ships are,” the husband of the other couple is telling me. “They got the LNG”—liquefied natural gas, which is supposed to make the Icon a boon to the environment (a concept widely disputed and sometimes ridiculed by environmentalists).

But I’m thinking along a different line of attack as I spear my last pallid slice of melon. For my streaming limited series, a Pinnacle would have to get killed by either an outright peasant or a Suite without an ocean view. I tell my breakfast companions my idea.

“Oh, for sure a Pinnacle would have to be killed,” Mr. Palo Alto, the Pandemic Pinnacle, says, touching his porn mustache thoughtfully as his wife nods.

“THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S your time, buddy!” Hubert, my fun-loving Panamanian cabin attendant, shouts as I step out of my suite in a robe. “Take it easy, buddy!”

I have come up with a new dressing strategy. Instead of trying to impress with my choice of T-shirts, I have decided to start wearing a robe, as one does at a resort property on land, with a proper spa and hammam. The response among my fellow cruisers has been ecstatic. “Look at you in the robe!” Mr. Rand cries out as we pass each other by the Thrill Island aqua park. “You’re living the cruise life! You know, you really drank me under the table that night.” I laugh as we part ways, but my soul cries out, Please spend more time with me, Mr. and Mrs. Rand; I so need the company .

In my white robe, I am a stately presence, a refugee from a better limited series, a one-man crossover episode. (Only Suites are granted these robes to begin with.) Today, I will try many of the activities these ships have on offer to provide their clientele with a sense of never-ceasing motion. Because I am already at Thrill Island, I decide to climb the staircase to what looks like a mast on an old-fashioned ship (terrified, because I am afraid of heights) to try a ride called “Storm Chasers,” which is part of the “Category 6” water park, named in honor of one of the storms that may someday do away with the Port of Miami entirely. Storm Chasers consists of falling from the “mast” down a long, twisting neon tube filled with water, like being the camera inside your own colonoscopy, as you hold on to the handles of a mat, hoping not to die. The tube then flops you down headfirst into a trough of water, a Royal Caribbean baptism. It both knocks my breath out and makes me sad.

In keeping with the aquatic theme, I attend a show at the AquaDome. To the sound of “Live and Let Die,” a man in a harness gyrates to and fro in the sultry air. I saw something very similar in the back rooms of the famed Berghain club in early-aughts Berlin. Soon another harnessed man is gyrating next to the first. Ja , I think to myself, I know how this ends. Now will come the fisting , natürlich . But the show soon devolves into the usual Marvel-film-grade nonsense, with too much light and sound signifying nichts . If any fisting is happening, it is probably in the Suite Neighborhood, inside a cabin marked with an upside-down pineapple, which I understand means a couple are ready to swing, and I will see none of it.

I go to the ice show, which is a kind of homage—if that’s possible—to the periodic table, done with the style and pomp and masterful precision that would please the likes of Kim Jong Un, if only he could afford Royal Caribbean talent. At one point, the dancers skate to the theme song of Succession . “See that!” I want to say to my fellow Suites—at “cultural” events, we have a special section reserved for us away from the commoners—“ Succession ! It’s even better than the zombie show! Open your minds!”

Finally, I visit a comedy revue in an enormous and too brightly lit version of an “intimate,” per Royal Caribbean literature, “Manhattan comedy club.” Many of the jokes are about the cruising life. “I’ve lived on ships for 20 years,” one of the middle-aged comedians says. “I can only see so many Filipino homosexuals dressed as a taco.” He pauses while the audience laughs. “I am so fired tonight,” he says. He segues into a Trump impression and then Biden falling asleep at the microphone, which gets the most laughs. “Anyone here from Fort Leonard Wood?” another comedian asks. Half the crowd seems to cheer. As I fall asleep that night, I realize another connection I have failed to make, and one that may explain some of the diversity on this vessel—many of its passengers have served in the military.

As a coddled passenger with a suite, I feel like I am starting to understand what it means to have a rank and be constantly reminded of it. There are many espresso makers , I think as I look across the expanse of my officer-grade quarters before closing my eyes, but this one is mine .

photo of sheltered sandy beach with palms, umbrellas, and chairs with two large docked cruise ships in background

A shocking sight greets me beyond the pools of Deck 17 as I saunter over to the Coastal Kitchen for my morning intake of slightly sour Americanos. A tiny city beneath a series of perfectly pressed green mountains. Land! We have docked for a brief respite in Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis. I wolf down my egg scramble to be one of the first passengers off the ship. Once past the gangway, I barely refrain from kissing the ground. I rush into the sights and sounds of this scruffy island city, sampling incredible conch curry and buckets of non-Starbucks coffee. How wonderful it is to be where God intended humans to be: on land. After all, I am neither a fish nor a mall rat. This is my natural environment. Basseterre may not be Havana, but there are signs of human ingenuity and desire everywhere you look. The Black Table Grill Has been Relocated to Soho Village, Market Street, Directly Behind of, Gary’s Fruits and Flower Shop. Signed. THE PORK MAN reads a sign stuck to a wall. Now, that is how you write a sign. A real sign, not the come-ons for overpriced Rolexes that blink across the screens of the Royal Promenade.

“Hey, tie your shoestring!” a pair of laughing ladies shout to me across the street.

“Thank you!” I shout back. Shoestring! “Thank you very much.”

A man in Independence Square Park comes by and asks if I want to play with his monkey. I haven’t heard that pickup line since the Penn Station of the 1980s. But then he pulls a real monkey out of a bag. The monkey is wearing a diaper and looks insane. Wonderful , I think, just wonderful! There is so much life here. I email my editor asking if I can remain on St. Kitts and allow the Icon to sail off into the horizon without me. I have even priced a flight home at less than $300, and I have enough material from the first four days on the cruise to write the entire story. “It would be funny …” my editor replies. “Now get on the boat.”

As I slink back to the ship after my brief jailbreak, the locals stand under umbrellas to gaze at and photograph the boat that towers over their small capital city. The limousines of the prime minister and his lackeys are parked beside the gangway. St. Kitts, I’ve been told, is one of the few islands that would allow a ship of this size to dock.

“We hear about all the waterslides,” a sweet young server in one of the cafés told me. “We wish we could go on the ship, but we have to work.”

“I want to stay on your island,” I replied. “I love it here.”

But she didn’t understand how I could possibly mean that.

“WASHY, WASHY, so you don’t get stinky, stinky!” kids are singing outside the AquaDome, while their adult minders look on in disapproval, perhaps worried that Mr. Washy Washy is grooming them into a life of gayness. I heard a southern couple skip the buffet entirely out of fear of Mr. Washy Washy.

Meanwhile, I have found a new watering hole for myself, the Swim & Tonic, the biggest swim-up bar on any cruise ship in the world. Drinking next to full-size, nearly naked Americans takes away one’s own self-consciousness. The men have curvaceous mom bodies. The women are equally un-shy about their sprawling physiques.

Today I’ve befriended a bald man with many children who tells me that all of the little trinkets that Royal Caribbean has left us in our staterooms and suites are worth a fortune on eBay. “Eighty dollars for the water bottle, 60 for the lanyard,” the man says. “This is a cult.”

“Tell me about it,” I say. There is, however, a clientele for whom this cruise makes perfect sense. For a large middle-class family (he works in “supply chains”), seven days in a lower-tier cabin—which starts at $1,800 a person—allow the parents to drop off their children in Surfside, where I imagine many young Filipina crew members will take care of them, while the parents are free to get drunk at a swim-up bar and maybe even get intimate in their cabin. Cruise ships have become, for a certain kind of hardworking family, a form of subsidized child care.

There is another man I would like to befriend at the Swim & Tonic, a tall, bald fellow who is perpetually inebriated and who wears a necklace studded with little rubber duckies in sunglasses, which, I am told, is a sort of secret handshake for cruise aficionados. Tomorrow, I will spend more time with him, but first the ship docks at St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie, the capital, is more charming in name than in presence, but I still all but jump off the ship to score a juicy oxtail and plantains at the well-known Petite Pump Room, overlooking the harbor. From one of the highest points in the small city, the Icon of the Seas appears bigger than the surrounding hills.

I usually tan very evenly, but something about the discombobulation of life at sea makes me forget the regular application of sunscreen. As I walk down the streets of Charlotte Amalie in my fluorescent Icon of the Seas cap, an old Rastafarian stares me down. “Redneck,” he hisses.

“No,” I want to tell him, as I bring a hand up to my red neck, “that’s not who I am at all. On my island, Mannahatta, as Whitman would have it, I am an interesting person living within an engaging artistic milieu. I do not wish to use the Caribbean as a dumping ground for the cruise-ship industry. I love the work of Derek Walcott. You don’t understand. I am not a redneck. And if I am, they did this to me.” They meaning Royal Caribbean? Its passengers? The Rands?

“They did this to me!”

Back on the Icon, some older matrons are muttering about a run-in with passengers from the Celebrity cruise ship docked next to us, the Celebrity Apex. Although Celebrity Cruises is also owned by Royal Caribbean, I am made to understand that there is a deep fratricidal beef between passengers of the two lines. “We met a woman from the Apex,” one matron says, “and she says it was a small ship and there was nothing to do. Her face was as tight as a 19-year-old’s, she had so much surgery.” With those words, and beneath a cloudy sky, humidity shrouding our weathered faces and red necks, we set sail once again, hopefully in the direction of home.

photo from inside of spacious geodesic-style glass dome facing ocean, with stairwells and seating areas

THERE ARE BARELY 48 HOURS LEFT to the cruise, and the Icon of the Seas’ passengers are salty. They know how to work the elevators. They know the Washy Washy song by heart. They understand that the chicken gyro at “Feta Mediterranean,” in the AquaDome Market, is the least problematic form of chicken on the ship.

The passengers have shed their INAUGURAL CRUISE T-shirts and are now starting to evince political opinions. There are caps pledging to make America great again and T-shirts that celebrate words sometimes attributed to Patrick Henry: “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” With their preponderance of FAMILY FLAG FAITH FRIENDS FIREARMS T-shirts, the tables by the crepe station sometimes resemble the Capitol Rotunda on January 6. The Real Anthony Fauci , by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears to be a popular form of literature, especially among young men with very complicated versions of the American flag on their T-shirts. Other opinions blend the personal and the political. “Someone needs to kill Washy guy, right?” a well-dressed man in the elevator tells me, his gray eyes radiating nothing. “Just beat him to death. Am I right?” I overhear the male member of a young couple whisper, “There goes that freak” as I saunter by in my white spa robe, and I decide to retire it for the rest of the cruise.

I visit the Royal Bling to see up close the $100,000 golden chalice that entitles you to free drinks on Royal Caribbean forever. The pleasant Serbian saleslady explains that the chalice is actually gold-plated and covered in white zirconia instead of diamonds, as it would otherwise cost $1 million. “If you already have everything,” she explains, “this is one more thing you can get.”

I believe that anyone who works for Royal Caribbean should be entitled to immediate American citizenship. They already speak English better than most of the passengers and, per the Serbian lady’s sales pitch above, better understand what America is as well. Crew members like my Panamanian cabin attendant seem to work 24 hours a day. A waiter from New Delhi tells me that his contract is six months and three weeks long. After a cruise ends, he says, “in a few hours, we start again for the next cruise.” At the end of the half a year at sea, he is allowed a two-to-three-month stay at home with his family. As of 2019, the median income for crew members was somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000, according to a major business publication. Royal Caribbean would not share the current median salary for its crew members, but I am certain that it amounts to a fraction of the cost of a Royal Bling gold-plated, zirconia-studded chalice.

And because most of the Icon’s hyper-sanitized spaces are just a frittata away from being a Delta lounge, one forgets that there are actual sailors on this ship, charged with the herculean task of docking it in port. “Having driven 100,000-ton aircraft carriers throughout my career,” retired Admiral James G. Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, writes to me, “I’m not sure I would even know where to begin with trying to control a sea monster like this one nearly three times the size.” (I first met Stavridis while touring Army bases in Germany more than a decade ago.)

Today, I decide to head to the hot tub near Swim & Tonic, where some of the ship’s drunkest reprobates seem to gather (the other tubs are filled with families and couples). The talk here, like everywhere else on the ship, concerns football, a sport about which I know nothing. It is apparent that four teams have recently competed in some kind of finals for the year, and that two of them will now face off in the championship. Often when people on the Icon speak, I will try to repeat the last thing they said with a laugh or a nod of disbelief. “Yes, 20-yard line! Ha!” “Oh my God, of course, scrimmage.”

Soon we are joined in the hot tub by the late-middle-age drunk guy with the duck necklace. He is wearing a bucket hat with the legend HAWKEYES , which, I soon gather, is yet another football team. “All right, who turned me in?” Duck Necklace says as he plops into the tub beside us. “I get a call in the morning,” he says. “It’s security. Can you come down to the dining room by 10 a.m.? You need to stay away from the members of this religious family.” Apparently, the gregarious Duck Necklace had photobombed the wrong people. There are several families who present as evangelical Christians or practicing Muslims on the ship. One man, evidently, was not happy that Duck Necklace had made contact with his relatives. “It’s because of religious stuff; he was offended. I put my arm around 20 people a day.”

Everyone laughs. “They asked me three times if I needed medication,” he says of the security people who apparently interrogated him in full view of others having breakfast.

Another hot-tub denizen suggests that he should have asked for fentanyl. After a few more drinks, Duck Necklace begins to muse about what it would be like to fall off the ship. “I’m 62 and I’m ready to go,” he says. “I just don’t want a shark to eat me. I’m a huge God guy. I’m a Bible guy. There’s some Mayan theory squaring science stuff with religion. There is so much more to life on Earth.” We all nod into our Red Stripes.

“I never get off the ship when we dock,” he says. He tells us he lost $6,000 in the casino the other day. Later, I look him up, and it appears that on land, he’s a financial adviser in a crisp gray suit, probably a pillar of his North Chicago community.

photo of author smiling and holding soft-serve ice-cream cone with outdoor seating area in background

THE OCEAN IS TEEMING with fascinating life, but on the surface it has little to teach us. The waves come and go. The horizon remains ever far away.

I am constantly told by my fellow passengers that “everybody here has a story.” Yes, I want to reply, but everybody everywhere has a story. You, the reader of this essay, have a story, and yet you’re not inclined to jump on a cruise ship and, like Duck Necklace, tell your story to others at great pitch and volume. Maybe what they’re saying is that everybody on this ship wants to have a bigger, more coherent, more interesting story than the one they’ve been given. Maybe that’s why there’s so much signage on the doors around me attesting to marriages spent on the sea. Maybe that’s why the Royal Caribbean newsletter slipped under my door tells me that “this isn’t a vacation day spent—it’s bragging rights earned.” Maybe that’s why I’m so lonely.

Today is a big day for Icon passengers. Today the ship docks at Royal Caribbean’s own Bahamian island, the Perfect Day at CocoCay. (This appears to be the actual name of the island.) A comedian at the nightclub opined on what his perfect day at CocoCay would look like—receiving oral sex while learning that his ex-wife had been killed in a car crash (big laughter). But the reality of the island is far less humorous than that.

One of the ethnic tristate ladies in the infinity pool told me that she loved CocoCay because it had exactly the same things that could be found on the ship itself. This proves to be correct. It is like the Icon, but with sand. The same tired burgers, the same colorful tubes conveying children and water from Point A to B. The same swim-up bar at its Hideaway ($140 for admittance, no children allowed; Royal Caribbean must be printing money off its clientele). “There was almost a fight at The Wizard of Oz ,” I overhear an elderly woman tell her companion on a chaise lounge. Apparently one of the passengers began recording Royal Caribbean’s intellectual property and “three guys came after him.”

I walk down a pathway to the center of the island, where a sign reads DO NOT ENTER: YOU HAVE REACHED THE BOUNDARY OF ADVENTURE . I hear an animal scampering in the bushes. A Royal Caribbean worker in an enormous golf cart soon chases me down and takes me back to the Hideaway, where I run into Mrs. Rand in a bikini. She becomes livid telling me about an altercation she had the other day with a woman over a towel and a deck chair. We Suites have special towel privileges; we do not have to hand over our SeaPass Card to score a towel. But the Rands are not Suites. “People are so entitled here,” Mrs. Rand says. “It’s like the airport with all its classes.” “You see,” I want to say, “this is where your husband’s love of Ayn Rand runs into the cruelties and arbitrary indignities of unbridled capitalism.” Instead we make plans to meet for a final drink in the Schooner Bar tonight (the Rands will stand me up).

Back on the ship, I try to do laps, but the pool (the largest on any cruise ship, naturally) is fully trashed with the detritus of American life: candy wrappers, a slowly dissolving tortilla chip, napkins. I take an extra-long shower in my suite, then walk around the perimeter of the ship on a kind of exercise track, past all the alluring lifeboats in their yellow-and-white livery. Maybe there is a dystopian angle to the HBO series that I will surely end up pitching, one with shades of WALL-E or Snowpiercer . In a collapsed world, a Royal Caribbean–like cruise liner sails from port to port, collecting new shipmates and supplies in exchange for the precious energy it has on board. (The actual Icon features a new technology that converts passengers’ poop into enough energy to power the waterslides . In the series, this shitty technology would be greatly expanded.) A very young woman (18? 19?), smart and lonely, who has only known life on the ship, walks along the same track as I do now, contemplating jumping off into the surf left by its wake. I picture reusing Duck Necklace’s words in the opening shot of the pilot. The girl is walking around the track, her eyes on the horizon; maybe she’s highborn—a Suite—and we hear the voice-over: “I’m 19 and I’m ready to go. I just don’t want a shark to eat me.”

Before the cruise is finished, I talk to Mr. Washy Washy, or Nielbert of the Philippines. He is a sweet, gentle man, and I thank him for the earworm of a song he has given me and for keeping us safe from the dreaded norovirus. “This is very important to me, getting people to wash their hands,” he tells me in his burger getup. He has dreams, as an artist and a performer, but they are limited in scope. One day he wants to dress up as a piece of bacon for the morning shift.

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC (the Icon of the Seas is five times as large as that doomed vessel) at least offered its passengers an exciting ending to their cruise, but when I wake up on the eighth day, all I see are the gray ghosts that populate Miami’s condo skyline. Throughout my voyage, my writer friends wrote in to commiserate with me. Sloane Crosley, who once covered a three-day spa mini-cruise for Vogue , tells me she felt “so very alone … I found it very untethering.” Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes in an Instagram comment: “When Gary is done I think it’s time this genre was taken out back and shot.” And he is right. To badly paraphrase Adorno: After this, no more cruise stories. It is unfair to put a thinking person on a cruise ship. Writers typically have difficult childhoods, and it is cruel to remind them of the inherent loneliness that drove them to writing in the first place. It is also unseemly to write about the kind of people who go on cruises. Our country does not provide the education and upbringing that allow its citizens an interior life. For the creative class to point fingers at the large, breasty gentlemen adrift in tortilla-chip-laden pools of water is to gather a sour harvest of low-hanging fruit.

A day or two before I got off the ship, I decided to make use of my balcony, which I had avoided because I thought the view would only depress me further. What I found shocked me. My suite did not look out on Central Park after all. This entire time, I had been living in the ship’s Disneyland, Surfside, the neighborhood full of screaming toddlers consuming milkshakes and candy. And as I leaned out over my balcony, I beheld a slight vista of the sea and surf that I thought I had been missing. It had been there all along. The sea was frothy and infinite and blue-green beneath the span of a seagull’s wing. And though it had been trod hard by the world’s largest cruise ship, it remained.

This article appears in the May 2024 print edition with the headline “A Meatball at Sea.” When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

  • Fight Schedule

one night assignment

BREAKING: Major WWE Champion Injured, Title Might Be Vacated On Monday Night Raw

This popular WWE champion may have to relinquish the gold due to an injury.

  • Author: Fernando Quiles Jr.

One major champion under the WWE banner might be forced to relinquish the gold.

Injuries are an unfortunate reality of the wrestling business. Performers take extra steps to ensure the safety of themselves and their peers, but things don't always go according to plan. That's why WWE has urged its fans to never try the moves they see on TV unless they are being guided by a professional.

This injury in particular could derail major plans, as the champion in question is a popular superstar in the midst of her hottest run yet.

WWE CONTRACT STATUS OF TWO MAJOR MONDAY NIGHT RAW SUPERSTARS REPORTEDLY REVEALED, WHEN WILL DEALS EXPIRE?

PWInsider reports that Monday Night Raw's Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley suffered an injury during last week's episode of the red brand. The report notes that the injury is serious enough that there have been talks of potentially vacating the title as soon as tonight's show.

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Apr 1, 2023; Inglewood, CA, USA; Rhea Ripley during Wrestlemania Night 1 at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

At this time there is no word on the exact nature of Ripley's injury. She was involved in a backstage brawl with her rival Liv Morgan during last week's episode of Monday Night Raw. Liv even threw a chair at the Women's World Champion to begin the backstage assault.

Sports Illustrated's MMA Knockout will keep you posted on the latest regarding Rhea Ripley's injury and the status of the WWE Women's World Championship.

Stick with MMA Knockout for more daily coverage of the UFC, MMA, WWE, and AEW.

Follow MMA Knockout on  Twitter  and  Facebook .

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    1.45pm - 6pm: Write the body of the essay. 6pm - 6.45pm: Dinner break. 6.45pm - 10.30pm: Edit, improve and meet the word count. 10.30pm - 11pm: Print (if needed) and get everything ready for the morning. Remember to schedule a few short 10-minute breaks (one every 45-60 minutes should do the trick).

  7. How to do a large amount of work in a small amount of time: advice from

    Third, classical music doesn't work for me; while I'm working, and especially at night, I find it keeps the mind sharp to blare out tragic noughties techno music. In particular, the songs of the ultimately unsuccessful Australian band Pendulum played at approximately a million decibels are so unpleasant they keep one constantly skittish ...

  8. How to Write an Essay in One Night (16 Effective Ways)

    How to Write a Research Paper in One Night. If you have an urgent assignment due the tomorrow morning, you will have to work for the whole night. When writing a paper in one night, you will be pressed not just by the lack of time, but by exhaustion and sleepiness as well. All this means that you should pay extra attention not just to the actual ...

  9. How to do coursework in one night fast?

    Writing a coursework in one night is a herculean task in itself. There's a lot of work that needs to be done in a very short duration of time. ... you can at least complete your assignment on ...

  10. 7 Tips to Write a Paper in a Night: Save Time & Be Focused

    How to Write a Paper in One Night. Need to finish a paper during the night? While doing an assignment in the last minute and at night isn't usually ideal, it's not impossible. In fact, with the right mindset and dedication, you can write a high-quality paper in one night. Some people are just more productive at night.

  11. Understanding Assignments

    What this handout is about. The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms ...

  12. All night, done right: Getting the most out of an all-nighter

    Power naps: Short naps, ideally 15 to 20 minutes, may also be energizing. A nap that is longer than 30 minutes may lead to temporary mental confusion and impaired performance in learning and reasoning. These naps can be taken just before or during your all-nighter. Break time: Like with any type of study session, taking periodic breaks can help ...

  13. 13 Lessons to Teach Night by Elie Wiesel

    A One-Pager Assignment Project. The purpose of the one-pager assignment is to take a close look at the novel and analyze its themes, characters, quotes, etc. The top half should focus on symbolism and themes using words and images. The bottom half should focus on key characters from the text and how they develop.

  14. Tips for completing assignments faster : r/college

    4) Breaking the assignments into chunks and doing the assignments in chunks (for example, if I have 20 problems to do in a week, I would do 5 problems a day. Or if I have an essay due, I'll work on two paragraphs or just one paragraph a day). 5) Setting aside a set amount of time to complete an assignment. For instance, it used to take me 5 ...

  15. PDF Night: A Unit Plan

    Night: A Unit Plan Second Edition Based on the by Elie Wiesel Written by Barbara M. Linde, MA Ed. ... Reading Assignment Sheet 10 Study Questions 12 Quiz/Study Questions (Multiple Choice) 22 Pre-Reading Vocabulary Worksheets 35 Lesson One (Introductory Lesson) 46 Writing Assignment 1 48 Writing Evaluation Form 49 Nonfiction Assignment Sheet 50

  16. How to do coursework in one night fast?

    Create a good schedule. Creating a schedule is one of the first and foremost things you need to do when you sit down to write your coursework. Plan and put together a schedule for your evening and night. Don't just absurdly write down anything. Work your way through the schedule by planning out half hour by half hour.

  17. I successfully stayed up late and finished my assignment due ...

    I successfully stayed up late and finished my assignment due this morning. For a while I've been putting a large emphasis on my sleep schedule. I'm someone who can't properly function with less than 8hrs of sleep. Not only am I tired throughout the day but I'm more likely to sleep in if I have to wake up without enough sleep prior.

  18. One Night with the King: The "Assignment"

    A conclusion to the book of Esther that ends with her finalizing her assignment and saving a nation that God prepared her to deliver. What is your assignment...

  19. ReadWorks

    Join Us. ReadWorks reaches more than 13.5 million students and teachers each year with a mission to serve every district, school, and student, while prioritizing low-income communities.

  20. Night One-Pager Assignment (docx)

    Assignment Checklist o The entire page is filled with color, images, or text. o My one-pager includes the title and author. o All of my quotes are properly cited in MLA Format. "quote" (Author last name pg. no). o My one-pager includes a border. o My one-pager includes at least one image with a cluster of words with it. o I have included a connection to the text, self, or the world.

  21. Writing an ENTIRE Assignment in ONE NIGHT!!!

    Writing an ENTIRE Assignment in ONE NIGHT!!!Insta-Megzee_xxTiktok-meganj67

  22. Expert Tips On How To Get An Assignment Done In One Night

    Step One-Choose a topic. If your teacher allows it, select a topic that you are already familiar with and one, which you can easily get an abundance of information.If you do not have a topic, you can use one of our 200 argumentative essay topics to get your paper done an essay in one night. Step Two: Search for Information.

  23. Is 'Saturday Night Live' New Tonight, April 13, 2024? How to ...

    W ith the week coming to an end and people enjoying their weekend, that can mean only one thing - it's time for Saturday Night Live.When it comes to the weekend, there seems no better way of ...

  24. Syracuse police chief: 'We lost two heroes last night'

    The moment was one for which Syracuse Police Chief Joseph Cecile, who has put in nearly 40 years at the department, said there was no way to prepare. "We lost two heroes last night," the chief ...

  25. How to Write a 1000-Word Essay in One Night

    The good news is there is hope, and you can write a 1,000-word essay in one night. In this article, you will learn how. Writing a 1,000-word Essay in One Night: 4 Preparation Hacks. Preparation is key, especially when you're expected to write an essay at the last moment. Let's take a look at four tips to help you prepare for the long night. #1.

  26. Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever

    Day 2. I WAKE UP with a hangover. Oh God. Right. I cannot believe all of that happened last night. A name floats into my cobwebbed, nauseated brain: "Ayn Rand." Jesus Christ. I breakfast alone ...

  27. GAME RECAP: Oilers 9, Sharks 2

    McDavid records his 100th assist as the Oilers blow out the Sharks 9-2 on Monday night at Rogers Place in their final home game of the regular season ... With one more goal needed for Foegele to ...

  28. WWE News: Major Heel Turn Occurs During Monday Night Raw Ahead Of WWE

    Fernando Quiles Jr. Apr 16, 2024. One notable WWE superstar has turned heel. It isn't often that an in-ring performer stays a babyface or a heel for their entire career. Even John Cena was a heel ...

  29. BREAKING: Major WWE Champion Injured, Title Might Be Vacated On Monday

    One major champion under the WWE banner might be forced to relinquish the gold. ... PWInsider reports that Monday Night Raw's Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley suffered an injury during last week ...

  30. Canucks Clinch Pacific Division Beating Flames 4-1 on Fan Appreciation

    11:15 PM. The Vancouver Canucks cooled off the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on Fan Appreciation Night with a 4-1 win to secure the Pacific Division Title. Head Coach Rick Tocchet reflected on ...