Originality and Critical thinking

The relief of sending off UCAS and butterflies of receiving the first few acknowledgements were sadly short-lived. My MSc has started in earnest, although I am thoroughly enjoying it, the sheer amount of ‘stuff’ threatened to overwhelm me. If it wasn’t for the fact the course is so interesting and encompassed everything I want to do for the rest of my life, I would have succumbed to the pressure. I did not, however, and I am thriving. There are a lot of doctors on my course who assure me the fast pace and vast content of the course is good training for med school. Seriously, if medical school is anything like this MSc I may expire from sheer joy! There is, however, one aspect I have not yet conquered: the essay.

It took me three years to learn how to write an original and critical essay and by the end of my first degree I was scoring in the 80-90s for my essays. I thought I had mastered the art of scientific writing. I was proved wrong. Our first assessment is proving to be my downfall. I have stressed for nearly 3 weeks about it and I am no closer to finishing the bloody introduction, let alone the essay! Here is the problem, I am used to showing my originality and critical thinking by my approach to answering the question. However, the questions posed have all been dissected, thereby taking you by the hand and leading you to a conclusion. How, within 2000 words, am I meant to be critical or original when you are holding me hostage at the teat? Our module leader has explained that it is about the quality of sources used and what we choose to include within the essay that will be assessed, somehow I not convinced. I have a suspicion that there is something hidden that only  the top 1% of the scientific world knows about, an approach or some sort of insight.  Half the question is asking you describe or define something, but what does that really mean? We can’t even use Wikipedia (I know, I know…) because he heavily implied he has read all the relevant pages to ensure he spots anything similar. That's the trouble with a small cohort: the supervisors have far too much time on their hands.

I don’t know, maybe I’m really over thinking this. Although the pressure to score highly is completely intrinsic, I feel the need to validate my decision to do this MSc with a good grade, a grade I know I am capable of getting. Maybe I need to take a step back and strip the question to the bare bones rather than procrastinate by making lists, timetables and action plans. I’ll just get something down, that is comprehensive and concise, rather than try to invent a new branch of science.