Often, the hardest thing about writing an academic paper is the blank page staring at you. The course has been so rich, and the instructor demands some innovative ideas – you know you have a great paper in you somewhere, but where do you begin?
We live in a time when inspiration is coming at us from all angles, but most of those angles start with “www.” Rather than resist the twenty-first century student’s birthright, embrace the jumble of words and images that is the Web and dive right in as you seek initial inspiration.
Here’s your “day in the life of starting a paper” guide with some step by step hints to get you from “I have no idea what to write” to “awesome, the outline is done!”
Morning
Procrastination with a Purpose
Search online, follow links down unlikely paths, and allow the peer-reviewed research to mix with the crazy stuff of conspiracy theorists. Bookmark freely. Share the really weird stuff on your Facebook page to make it fun.
Begin To Be Discerning
Copy and paste some of the more compelling passages that will either be included in your paper or serves as sources of inspiration. Just remember, you are copying this information (as well as the source) so that you can later quote it correctly and attribute the words and ideas to the original writer. For help setting up that work cited section, look to StyleEase’s paper formatting software.
Lunchtime
Inspiration, Unplugged
Once you’ve cast your net wide and pulled in a lot of tin cans and old tires as well as a few real keepers, it’s time to walk away from the screen for a while. Talk to your classmates about their assignments and ask your roommates about their work in unrelated fields – you never know how one idea will trigger something new in you.
Scribble Your Way To A Thesis Statement
Sit down with a sandwich and a notebook and just let yourself fill a few pages with thoughts related to your essay. Jot down the general topic for your paper at the top of the sheet and then let yourself fill the page with ideas for at least five minutes. You may churn out almost as many random and irrelevant ideas as you found when you were web surfing, but a few perfect bits may float to the surface and begin to come together.
Afternoon
More Disciplined Research
Your next stop is the library. There, you have the opportunity to browse the stacks and surround yourself with another treasure trove of ideas, but these are much more likely to be credible than those which you found online. With a nice stack of books under your arm, go visit one of the reference or research librarians for some guidance on trustworthy web resources. They will most likely be able to show you lists of databases specific to your field of study that can help you really hone your search.
Create a Working Bibliography
Set yourself up in a quiet corner where you can pour through the books you pulled and also check out the recommended databases for relevant articles. Before you know it, you have a working bibliography. As you get deeper into your research some ideas and sources will be tossed aside, and a few more will certainly need to be added, but it’s a lot more useful than the funny cat videos you were finding during the morning’s random search. If you have your laptop with you, and have installed your StyleEase Software product for the style you need (APA, MLA, Chicago styles), you can capture and store all of these valuable bibliography entries into a database for easy retrieval later on.
Imagine an Outline
Depending on the scope of your paper, it may be possible to put together a pretty comprehensive outline after a couple of hours with some good sources. At the very least, you will have a path to follow when you come back to your work the next day.
Dinnertime
Celebrate – A Little
Enjoy yourself, you’ve earned a nice meal with friends and a relaxing evening – you conquered writer’s block in less than a day!
Filed under: General Writing Information
