Getting Started

I. Prewriting

Many students procrastinate about writing academic papers because they do not know how to begin. It may help you to learn that few scholars can produce a fully formed document—even a short article—from beginning to end in one sitting. Most experts have developed their own prewriting routine that helps them move successfully from initial idea to final product. If you do not already have a strategy for beginning an assignment, try the steps below, and then adapt them to your needs.

Prewriting Process

1. Decide on a general topic (or use a topic supplied by your professor). Often this will take the form of an assigned research question or a scenario that includes a topic, purpose, and audience. Your professor will be your primary audience, but who else might be interested in the topic? Other seminary students? Pastors? Lay theologians? Can you think of a journal or other venue that might publish an article on the topic? As for purpose, there are two main purposes for an academic paper, to inform and to persuade or argue. Having a scenario in mind should help the task to seem less nebulous to you.

2. List everything you already know about the topic. Beginning with the familiar has several advantages. It prevents you from staring at a blank screen hoping for inspiration. It jumpstarts your thought processes. And it gives you ideas for your initial research.

3. Prepare a list of questions that you want to research. You will amend the list later because research always leads to additional questions. In addition, you often find that your initial questions do not result in enough useful or interesting material. But as with the prior knowledge list, the purpose in this step is to generate ideas.

4. Formulate a preliminary research plan based on your initial questions and the scenario for the assignment. For example, if you are exegeting Scripture, you will need to consult reliable Bible commentaries and read the passage in the original language, if possible. If your topic is liturgy, then you will look for prayer book experts. If you are not already developing a list of experts in the various fields of study, it is not too late to start. When in doubt about which experts to trust, ask your professor.

5. Construct an informal outline. If professors have told you that your papers are poorly organized, the solution is to establish a framework during the prewriting stage that you can use to sort your findings while you research. One method for producing a preliminary outline is to review the material from the previous steps of prewriting and organize based on your prior knowledge list or the questions you developed. You will refine the organizational structure later as your research leads to new information, and you may choose not to include the headings in the finished paper, but having them in place as you gather information will greatly improve your paper’s organization.

6. Follow your research plan. As you consult sources, take thorough, copious notes on any material that you find interesting and think might be useful in your paper. Record your notes in the appropriate spot in your preliminary outline. With each note, include enough information about the source so you can easily prepare the footnotes and bibliography that are required in academic writing. (Read more about research here.)

Conclusion

At some point during your research, you will begin to formulate your own thoughts on the topic. When that happens, cooperate with the process, and type your ideas in the appropriate spot in the preliminary outline. But to prevent confusion later, be sure to distinguish your words from those of your sources; for example, highlight them or use a different color text or an indentation scheme. As you write, silence the critic in your head and just focus on getting your ideas out. Editing, rewriting, and proofreading are necessary, but they should all be addressed much later in the writing process.

But what about a thesis statement? It is not as important at this stage of writing as many people think. You will need one for the paper that you turn in, but if you write one before you complete your research, you should reexamine it when you start to edit because your research findings may have changed what you want the paper to say.

Southern Seminary Video: Thesis Statements