Overcoming writer's block: Starting your academic paper!
Starting the writing process can be the most daunting thing for some of us when faced with starting a new essay or article. If you want to write a killer piece of work the first step is beating procrastination and setting yourself up for success. Don’t forget to download the free-writing prompts!
Staring at a blank page while trying to develop a new idea is intimidating, and, often we waste time at this stage when starting a project. Often deadlines are a factor in causing anxiety that not only fuels procrastination but, makes it harder throughout the writing process.
This post will provide some guidance on how you can introduce new techniques to help stop procrastination and while developing an idea creation mindset
Where do I start?
You’ve just started your journey on a new assignment or article and you’re likely overwhelmed on where to start. The best way to get going is to just write. Sounds too obvious? This may seem silly, but, more people spend too much time thinking about writing or the assignment that they don’t take the time to actually spend some time just writing. Take a moment to actually reflect on how you usually get your ideas. Is the answer writing? Writing is not only a tool for communication but, a tool for thinking.
Start by doing a free writing exercise.
Set up a timer for 10 minutes and write non-stop without going back to edit your work.
If you feel silly about it start off with your feelings. It’s perfectly alright to write “This is Stupid” over and over again if you can think of nothing else. You can also use a prompt as a starter if you need the extra help to start.
Eventually, you will start forming ideas, and some of these ideas may even lead you to your next research project. If you want to become more effective at this try doing this before every writing session you have, ideally this would become part of your daily routine.
Ask Questions.
Imagine this, your starting research on a thesis or paper, and you have no idea what to write about. When we are faced with an open-ended prompt it can be overwhelming to stare at a blank page and have no idea where to start. One way you can overcome this is by asking questions, it doesn’t matter if it’s an assignment or for your own research you plan to publish.
Take for example if I was supposed to write a research paper on Augustus:
Where would I start with something so open-ended?
Well, the first question should be what is interesting to me about Augustus, his rule, or that time?
From there narrow it down a little more with each question. Maybe I’m interested in his Imperial policies compared to Julius Caesar’s ideas so I might ask questions like:
Did Augustus have any policies that were similar to his adopted father Julius Caesar? What did he do differently?
Why did he do this differently?
The goal should be to keep narrowing down on aspects that you can use for your research and give you an idea of what your thought process is at the moment. Remember when trying to come up with a research question that it is not too broad or narrow and is realistic to complete with your time limit and resources.
Reflect on your writing practices
Writing is an essential skill that we all should continuously improve on, regardless if we stay in academia or not when we finish our degrees. We all should take some time to reflect on areas we can improve, and it can be a perfect prompt for your free-writing. Improvement is hard, and no doubt you’ve been given advice that is less than helpful. Truthfully, the best way to improve is to reflect on your own writing habits and goals.
After you’ve completed some free-writing, or an assignment, sit down somewhere quiet and think about the following questions:
Where did I struggle the most?
Where do I want to go in my writing?
What area do I want to practice on?
What are my long-term goals for my writing?
You may have several areas that you need to work on, however, you should focus on one area ( I.E. Grammar, Spelling, Syntax) at a time.
How long you focus on each area is up to you. I recommend revisiting your progress at-least every month to gauge your progress. Don’t forget to reach out for help and feedback from your peers!
