The Chaotic Saga of My History Paper

By ENYA YU ‘26

On Monday, December 11, my history teacher, Mr. Matsumaru, informed us about our upcoming short paper assignment. We started working on it on Friday in class, and it was expected to be due on Monday. I thought this wasn’t quite enough time to write a quality paper, and I was concerned we didn’t have a class peer editing session. However, we had the whole weekend to do it, so I thought it would be fine.

How wrong I was.

For 8.5 hours on Saturday, I set up a Twitch stream of me trying to study and do homework. In short, I was quite unproductive and did not get to start working on my history essay. 

I woke up on Sunday morning determined to finish my essay by that night. I skipped robotics (1 p.m.) and a physics class (3:30 p.m.) to continue working on it. By 4 p.m. or so, I realized I was screwed. The last time I had written a history paper was over a year ago in prep fall, which I had gotten a less-than-stellar grade on. I was definitely not going to be able to finish at a reasonable hour. I decided to send an email to Mr. Matsumaru, begging for an extension. Per his extension policy, I had to request an extension at least 24 hours in advance for it to be considered, except in the case of an emergency. The essay was due at 4:45 p.m. on Monday, and I had only just started writing my email at 4:43. In two minutes, I quickly wrote the email and just barely managed to get it sent in time.

I took this as an excuse to let myself procrastinate. For four hours I waited for a response, to no avail. The realization that I had to actually start working on it dawned on me. At 9:30, I posted a snap on my story saying how I’d have to pull an all-nighter. Little did I know, I had started what would become the longest and most chaotic Snapchat story chain I’ve ever started.

That night, I stayed up until 4 a.m., trying to make progress on my paper. I had been unproductively working on my paper for 16 hours at this point. I skipped two classes the next day (math and English) to catch up on some sleep so that I wouldn’t be completely brain-dead. Mr. Matsumaru responded to my email, agreeing on an extension till Tuesday evening and a meeting to discuss my paper on Monday.

I skipped PE to write my paper, but instead, I fell asleep and took a much-needed nap. During my meeting with Mr. Matsumaru, I asked how to analyze rather than summarize. He explained how I needed more of my own voice in the paper, and that I shouldn’t have to cite every sentence. He said that these assignments are meant to build your essay writing skills in preparation for the long US History papers, and unfortunately, they don’t magically appear in a day.

I had forgotten about a physics test right after the meeting, but fortunately, I think I did okay, especially considering my complete lack of studying for the test.

Later that evening, I scheduled a 7 p.m. writing center appointment for history paper help. My tutor (who happened to be my advisor) told me that the more citations the better! I was quite conflicted and confused. I still tried my best to try and combine the advice from both teachers and continue writing. I stayed in the library till 9:30 p.m. and worked on my paper using one of the library computers. I’ve found that having a larger screen somehow kept me more focused, like a visual “surround sound”. Once I got home, I wasted my time and did absolutely nothing until 11 p.m. The power went out at 3 a.m., so I worked for an hour in the dark before going off to sleep.

I skipped PE again to work on my paper. This time, I had a free block right after, so I had a combined 3 hours of free time before my next class. I sat in the library, working on my paper, until I realized I had forgotten to do my physics homework due in an hour. Fortunately, I finished it in time and headed off to class. Unfortunately, my paper was still incomplete. I accepted my fate of yet another very late night.

Fortunately, the major writer’s block somehow dissolved that night, and I was able to make good progress on my paper. Unfortunately, that happened at 10 p.m. and the steam ran out 2.5 hours later. I sent Mr. Matsumaru another 4 a.m. email, with the agreement that I would send him my essay later that day.

School was over for me by then, as I had no more classes on Wednesday. However, I still went to school to say goodbye to a few of my friends and get some stuff. What was supposed to be a 20-minute visit accidentally stretched on for nearly an hour.

I went home and wasted some time before returning to the grind, at around 3:30 pm. I worked until 5 p.m. when I fell asleep for an hour and a half. It was 6:30 p.m. when I started working on my paper again. Desperately, at 1 a.m., I asked my dad to help me. He sorted out my ideas and gave me advice, but he told me to ask him earlier the next time I had a paper I was struggling to write. This time, instead of sleeping at 4 a.m., I managed to stay conscious until 6 a.m., putting his advice into my paper.

I woke up on Thursday morning with a bit of a cough. I could physically feel the damage these past four nights had done to my immune system. I accepted my fate of a grade deduction for a late paper, 1/3 of a letter grade per 24 hours, meaning that if I had written an A- paper, it would get bumped down to B+. Still, I would rather submit a good but late paper than a bad but on-time paper.

I continued working until 6 p.m., with the support of my dad. A few of my friends proofread my essay for me, saying it was good. I was satisfied. I had finally, finally finished. I ate dinner with my family, then went to sleep at 8 p.m..

In total, I spent a total of 51.5 hours working on this essay or at least staring at my computer with the intention of working.

I hope to never have to do this again for a long time, though I know that I will likely have a repeat of this next year, especially for my US History final papers.