BEGINNING THE WRITING PROCESS 

Finish the Course Reader | Talk to yourself | Focus your topic
Spit it out | Revise | You are not alone

Get through that Course Reader 

Writing papers begins with doing the reading and going to class. As you read a text or listen to a lecture, pay attention to your reactions. What interests you? How is it different from what you've seen or heard before? Jot down your thoughts, mark the passage, do whatever it takes to record your response. Sometimes a lecture or a reading is so full of new ideas that you have to concentrate on comprehending it. Write down your understanding. Your notes can provide material for you when you have to develop an argument for a paper.

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Talk to yourself 

Your professor has either handed out paper assignments or has gently reminded you that you have a paper due soon in the ever-popular "Choose your own topic" category. Using your notes from classes and readings, decide what you want to argue in your paper. Explain your ideas to a friend, to your professor during her office hours, to yourself in an outline or diagram. Talking it out lets you work the kinks out of your argument and determine the best way to organize your thoughts without worrying about words and sentences. 

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Focusing the topic of your paper

Tips for Finding a Topic and Creating a Thesis
 

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Spit it out 

Now that you have a structure for your paper, it's time to write. Many students think that they have to produce a final draft on the first try, and every sentence has to be just right. This notion makes writing almost impossible for some students. 

If you give yourself enough time, the first draft won't have to be the final draft, and writing the first draft will go much more smoothly. Put your outline into sentences and paragraphs, but don't let yourself get hung up on one word or one sentence. Use a word that approximates your intended meaning, and circle it so that you can find a better word later. If you write a bulky, murky sentence, write "awkward" next to it in parentheses and move on. The point is to get the first draft done without laboring over it unnecessarily. 

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Revise

Tips on Editing
 

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You are not alone 

Before you start scraping the fun-tack off your walls, consider this: you have friends-animate and inanimate alike--to help you with your writing. 

Your professor didn't set aside office hours so that she will be able to twiddle her thumbs undisturbed. She wants to see students. You are not bothering her if you go to see her to discuss a paper. What does bother her is reading your paper and knowing that the mistakes you made could have been prevented had you only gone to talk to her. This goes double for T.A.s. 

At the Writing Workshop, you will find students who are trained to help you organize your ideas before writing and to help you revise rough drafts. They also have sample papers from years past for you to peruse and cookies for you to eat.  See: Writing Workshop Hours

Use your hallmates, housemates, and friends as sounding boards for your ideas and your papers, and do the same for them. Seeing the weak and strong points of other people's writing can help you improve yours. 

For general grammar and style questions, consult The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Better yet, read the whole book. It's short and worth every page. Like Elements of Style, Part I of William Zinsser's On Writing Well illustrates principles of good writing with examples of both successful and unsuccessful prose. See: Helpful Editing Links

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