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Research owned, citations conquered, and outline is locked and loaded. Buckle on your bungee jumping harnesses, folks, because we're jumping headfirst into the process of writing. To some of you, that sounds like a total piece of cake. You just sit down and start typing out your thoughts and then you stop when you hit the word limit and voilĂ . To others, it sounds like a pit of doom and despair and you would literally rather have dental surgery than write anything longer than a text message.
Well, I'm here to help both of you. The dude who just sits down and writes might benefit from some organizational and tone tips. The dudette who is desperately clawing away from her computer screen might need some motivational and anti-stress techniques. One way or another, everybody's going to do some writing before this lesson is over. That means the reading will be a little shorter, to give you extra time.
And just so you know, even the most famous and talented writers on the planet sometimes hate writing. So it's not just you. Ernest Hemingway, famous manly-man writer of manly literature, said: "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." Sounds fun, right?
Okay, so your research paper will probably not be comparable to a Hemingway novel. But that's probably for the best. (Source)
HOW TO MAKE WRITING LESS PAINFUL
HOW TO MAKE WRITING LESS PAINFUL
NOTES ON MOTIVATION
The first step in actually writing a paper might also be the hardest. You've got to get motivated to actually sit down and start writing the paper. But never fear! Your fearless leader is here with some tried and true techniques.
First and foremost, give yourself time to write the paper. Don't start it the day before it's due and assume that the pressure of the due date will magically make you a better and faster writer. It won't. I may or may not know from personal experience...
Comfort yourself with your amassed research, and your outline. Remember that you're super prepared for this because of all the work you've put in. It'd be crazy not to write a paper at this point.
Remember that there was a reason you originally picked this topic: it's something you care about, and you thought it would make a kick-butt paper. Rekindle that original feeling.
Just write it. I know this is the most annoying advice on the planet, but if you can just get yourself to sit down and start writing it, everything will feel much easier. Start with one sentence. Go.
If motivation is your particular Achilles' heel, then here are some more motivational tips for writing.
NOTES ON THE PROCESS OF WRITING ITSELF
Okay, you've done it. You've actually started writing. But now you need some tips on how to write, and keep writing, and not make more work for yourself later.
You don't have to write the thing in order. This one is pretty major. It can be super hard to start at the beginning of a paper. It can be a great idea to start at one of your major supporting arguments, or even the background information. Then fill in the missing stuff later.
Don't worry about constantly self-editing. Just let it all spill out, and then worry about revising it later. You know what the difference is between a good writer and a bad writer? The good writer sticks with it until it's better. The bad writer just tries to get it perfect in the first draft. I know we're sounding like a poster right now, but this one is true facts, yo.
Be careful with your sources. In the rush of writing, it's easy to lose track of which quote came from which source, and which thing was a direct quote and which ones you paraphrased. Don't get sucked into accidental plagiarism! Prison orange is not a flattering color.
NOTES ON SCHOLARLY WRITING
Now, there are some special writing conventions that people use when they're writing for an academic audience (i.e. you writing for your teacher). These rules aren't all necessarily hard and fast, but they're ways that you signal that you're writing something well-researched and formal, rather than a blog post or an email to your cousin Luis or something. Here are some of the key aspects of a scholarly tone:
Don't use first person. That means, no "I" or "we" statements. Now, when people hear that, they often replace all their "I's" with "One's" and it makes you sound like an obnoxious British schoolboy. You end up with sentences like this: One would not understand the importance of the skateboard without asking oneself about its history." Please no. Instead, reword the sentence to avoid needing a pronoun, like so: It's impossible to understand the importance of the skateboard without examining its history." Much better.
Don't qualify your arguments with think, feel, or believe. This is related to using first person; I mean that you shouldn't preface every argument with "I believe skateboarding culture was an important form of rebellion in the 1990s." Instead, just say it like you mean it: "Skateboarding culture was an important form of rebellion in the 1990s." Boom.
Avoid over-quoting. If you've got good sources, it can be tempting to cram your paper full of lengthy quotes from them. Don't do it. You should only use direct quotes when there's something particular about the way an author said something that is invaluable to your paper. Don't quote something like "our study has found that 85% of skateboarders are under the age of 25." Just make your own statement, like "Statistical studies have shown that most skateboarders are in their teens and early twenties," and then cite the source.
Avoid slang and contractions. Generally, keep it formal. So, instead of saying that D-Day was totes cray-cray, trying saying that D-Day was a dangerous and wildly ambitious military maneuver. In other words, don't try and be overly chill in your history paper.
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