How to Write a Better Paper

Are you a procrastinator or a planner? Do you start writing as soon as you get a paper prompt or are you ten minutes late to class because you were grabbing your paper off of the printer in the computer lab? Professors and teachers always suggest that students get an early start on assigned papers. While this does work for some people (I know a few), it doesn't work for me. For me, it seems that the longer I work on an assigned prompt, the worse my paper gets, becoming disjointed and unclear. Over time I have discovered a five step process that helps me to compose my essays in record time, and while writing ability is the ultimate determinant of your grade, following these steps will help to streamline your writing process. You will find that you complete your essays faster, they are more coherent, and you are likely to see a jump in your average grade. After implementing this process, my average assignment grades went from a B average to A's. It doesn't matter if you are a procrastinator or a planner, just follow the steps.

Analyze and Familiarize

In the first step, you will analyze the prompt and familiarize yourself with the preferences of your professor. During this step, it is also a good idea to collect the sources you will need for the paper. This step will become easier and your results will improve over time. For example, as you become more familiar with citation resources, academic databases, and your professors, you will have more information at your fingertips and you will not need to search for it. This is the information gathering stage. Some things to think about during this process:

Prompt/Professor: When is the paper due? What sources are required or allowed? Are extensions available? Does the professor have office hours or do they prefer emailed questions? What is the required length? Does that include your works cited? Will it be possible to revise your paper after it has been graded for an improved score? Does the professor want MLA, APA, Chicago Style, or a professor-specific format?

Citation/Resources: Which sources do I plan to use? What are the in-line citations as well as the works cited citations for those sources? Where can I go for formatting assistance? What resources are available to aid in my analysis? Are there any writing style guides that will be useful to me in this assignment?

Note: I personally find that easybib is helpful when I write my papers.

Outline and Cite

This step is the most intensive, as well as the most creative. Begin by going through your sources and trying to discern a theme that works with the assigned prompt. Make a note of these in whatever way is most convenient for you. I highlight and use post-it notes. Once you have gathered all of your materials, you can begin to compose your outline. I find the best way to do this is to begin very rough and then refine it. I start by writing out the basic point of each paragraph. Then, under each statement, I write segments of my supporting information along with a shortened version of the source and page number. For example, if I was using "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense." from Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosophers Stone, depending on where you are from), my note would read " Mr. and Mrs. ...nonsense HP:SS P1." After you have completed organizing your thoughts into a cohesive outline, you want to come up with a rough thesis statement. So the outline would end up looking something like this:

"Thesis: While Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is often considered to be pop culture, it touches on the important issues of social inequality, bullying, and the social stigma associated with outcasts.

Intro:

• Dursleys consider themselves superior
• Witches/Wizards considered superior to muggles
• Snape viewed as evil because of his outcast status

p1: The Dursley's consider themselves superior.

• Mr. and Mrs. ... nonsense HP:SS P1
• This boy ... like that HP:SS P1

Etc."

Be sure to include all the sources that are required to fulfill your prompt and then, once you are satisfied, move on to the next step.

Write, Write, Write

Now is when there is the most visible accomplishment. Using your outline, combine all of your main points and claims into paragraphs. You have already done all the hard work of figuring out what to say, now you just need to say it. Write without editing and be aware that you will probably be writing things that will eventually be edited out. Do not write to a page or word count. Write to get your outline on the page in a coherent fashion. Once you have finished the body of your paper, compose your works cited or bibliography and then move on to the next step.

Some Suggestions: For each sentence of source material, attempt to spend two sentences explaining its importance or impact. Explain how it supports your claim. Try your best to include your sources during this step, but if you can't, write (SOURCE) after your quote so that you don't forget to include the source later. Avoid using contractions, if you can. Try to remember to write in the present tense rather than past tense. Attempt to use active voice rather than passive. See the video below for an explanation of passive and active voice.

Proof and Edit

Now that you have written your rough draft, look and see how you are doing with meeting your ideal length. If you are short, go through and see what you can expand on in your paper. Do not hesitate to explain things in detail. If you have gone over the ideal length, decide if you need to shorten a little or a lot. If you only need to shorten your paper a little bit, look for words that are superfluous or phrases that can be replaced with single words. If you have gone over quite a bit, you may want to go through your outline and see if any of your points are redundant or unnecessary. I recently removed an entire paragraph in a paper because I found that, while it did add support to my claim, it was redundant and I did not have the space available for it. This is also when you would correct your formatting. I am an English major, so most of my papers are written in MLA format. This is when I make sure that my margins are correct, paragraph breaks are where I want them, and my inline citations are complete. Make sure to replace all (SOURCE) citations with the correct reference. This is also when you would make sure that your paper has all of the necessary information on it, like your name, professor, the date, etc. Read through the paper completely from beginning to end at least once. I find it best to do this aloud as it allows me to catch things I may not catch otherwise. Then you can go on to the next step.

Some Suggestions: Make sure all of your citations are inserted at this point. Also, verify that all of your sources are properly formatted. For example: quotations around a title or the italicization of a source. This step may seem tedious, but it is worth the time and effort it takes to read through your paper at least once. If you have spare time, having someone else who is qualified read your essay can be helpful. The most useful editor that you can have, however, is your professor. If they offer office hours or conferences in which they can look over your essay or outline, take advantage, if at all possible. This is the person who will ultimately be grading your essay. If they provide you with feedback you can tailor your paper exactly to their specifications.

Submit and Revise

Now that you have completed the first four steps, you can submit your paper. How this is done is completely dependent on the professor or teacher. Some common options are printed, emailed, or submitted through something like SafeAssign or TurnItIn. Be sure to save the essay to your hard drive or to a thumb drive for safe keeping. If at all possible, get a receipt or confirmation of submission. If your professor allows for revision after returning the assignment, take advantage. Even if you have received an A, many professors will offer boosts to other assignments for revisions. In order to revise, it is important to read through all of the provided feedback once in order to get the overall gist. Once you have done so, you can start at the beginning, applying the provided feedback to your paper. Upon completion, read through your essay once more to make sure that your revisions have not interfered with clarity or cohesion, and then submit according to the professor's direction.

That's All!

Having a process by which you approach papers can keep you from getting overwhelmed at the last moment, allows for a uniform approach to assignments, and allows you to progress quickly. By taking the steps to gather materials (Analyze/Familiarize) then organize this information (Outline/Cite), you make it so that when it comes time to write, everything is organized. This organization helps you to avoid writer's block or tangential writing. Allowing yourself to write unfettered helps you to progress quickly, and you may be surprised by how well you write. Having a step in which you format, cite, and edit is one of the ways that you can write so freely. This process works well, both for those who procrastinate and those who plan. Procrastinators (like me) can work their way through the steps in one sitting, moving from gathering to editing in no time. Planners, however, can divide the steps up, doing one per day or even per week, depending on the deadline. This helps procrastinators stay on track and planners to stay organized. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors, and I hope that my process helped you to come up with a process of your own.