You’ve done all your research, now it’s time to start putting words on the page. Before you begin, here are some things you can do to set yourself up for greatness:
- Check in with the assignment instructions. If you’ve been putting lots of time and effort into learning as much as you can about your topic, it can be easy to lose track of what your instructor actually wants you to write. Instructors’ requirements and expectations for research papers vary; make sure you understand what your instructor wants before you start writing.
- Decide how to track your in-text citations. It’s easy, once you start writing, to lose track of where your information is coming from. Luckily, if you’ve been taking notes as you read, you should be in an excellent position to keep track of your information. If writing out full in-text citations for a first draft seems like too much work, decide on a system that will make it easy for you to put them in later. Some possible systems include color-coding your quotes and paraphrases, writing notes/comments to yourself in your draft, or including incomplete-but-decipherable in-text citations as you write.
- Get to know your writing process. Every writer works differently. Some like to write in noisy coffee shops, others need complete silence. Some need a buddy for accountability, but others know they will be distracted. Find the writing conditions that work best for you and then recreate them every time you get ready to write.
- Coffitivity
If you like that coff
ee shop atmosphere, Coffitivity is a free site that provides simulated coffee shop background noise.
