The Writing Process

Many students don't realize that writing is a process and as such they need a strategy. Many of us (yes, sometimes crazy English teachers) often sit down and just write what comes to mind. This is perfectly okay as a strategy -- it's called free-writing. In my physical classes I like to use a sheet of words I call trigger words. Why not try such a strategy with your own research paper topic?

For example, say your research paper is about the addictive qualities of online gaming. Yet you are having a hard time starting your paper. Put together a list of keywords and vocabulary words you have found in the documents you have reviewed on the topic -- online gaming, virtual reality, gender differences, clinical disorder, computer, Internet, 3D graphics, characters, etc. I suggest starting with about 20-25 words in your list. Let the list sit for a few hours and when you come back to the list, just start writing trying to use all your words writing a couple of paragraphs. It should help you get a start on your first rough draft.

Here's a key to this exercise, though -- set a time limit, 10 minutes is a good start. Don't stop writing until the 10 minutes is up. It doesn't matter if it is nonsense, just keep writing. We can always go back and fix anything we write; the important thing is to just "git 'r' dun!"