Here's to my sanity and yours:
So when I started college, I made myself a vow: write. I want to learn how to write, so boom, I'm now in a journal club. There I edit, revise, and publish (it's an individualized team kind of thing that everyone wants me to try out, you see) undergraduate papers in neuroscience. I really do think that this journal club is the best thing that could have happened on a campus where the field of neuroscience is strong and budding (the department is getting money, can you believe that?!). The "but" comes when I sit down and begin revising papers. I would rant about how awfully-written these papers are, but that would undermine the glittery ideas in them. The problem isn't that college students have nothing to say. No, far from that. The problem, I have begun to realize, is that their ideas are jumbled - much too jumbled. Organization is a big problem. It's a big, college-sized dilemma. Here are a few things I have learned over the past few years that have helped me give less stress to those whom I ask to read my stuff (here's a thank you to those of you who I know have sweat bullets over my draft #1s to my draft #23s... my college application essays pained you more than they pained me, huh?):
1. Stop. Don't even start writing, and think about what you want to write. This helps. Breathe, sip a $5.00 Starbucks coffee if you have to, crank up the music - do whatever you have to do to clear your head - and focus on what you want to say.
2. Brain dump. Get out a rough sheet of paper and a pen (or pencil, just don't give in to the urge of erasing anything that you write here) and start scribbling. If you like webs, make a web, but in my opinion, even that might be too organized. Be messy, write quickly. Draw lines connecting ideas, circle the ones that you're particularly proud of, work all over your page. You can type if you would like, but here I'm going to give you an enlightening thought: a pencil can be the extension of your arm, thoughts, and imagination. Your thoughts rarely go in straight lines, and thus having to write in lines without being able to draw circles and connecting pencil markings can impede your flow of ideas. Use a piece of paper - Socrates did, so don't be stupid.
3. If you don't like what you've put down on paper, too bad. Don't do the last exercise again, because then you'll feel like you're not really obligated to put your best efforts into doing step two on your next paper. Instead, write down the purpose of your paper. Think about it, then write down the ultimate point that you want to make. It's simple, but trust me when I say that it's very, very easy to lose track of your main point when you start researching and sifting through the minute details. And remember, you don't have to take a side to write an interesting paper - you just have to be clear and not contradict yourself.
4. Do your research. But not. too. much. (This research part may not apply to you, in which case, read on.) You can get easily sucked into a spiral of research, and never stop because you will always feel like you need more. Stop! Start planning your paper, and fill in the gaps as you go.
5. Write an outline. And they're allowed to be super rough. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Mine are usually absolute messes. I mean, I hate, hate, hate outlines. I'd rather just jump into writing, but I know that if I start making an outline, I force myself to have some foresight. I force myself to think about the future points that I am working towards, and this makes me write a stronger introduction. You can do the same. Your outline can be full of one-word, organized bullets or hold short phrases. I wouldn't suggest complete sentences, because you will want to have some flexibility as you write your paper (why waste time perfecting sentences on an outline?).
6. Fill in research holes. (Read on if this doesn't apply to you.) The holes were easy to spot, weren't they? After you begin writing down what you know and what you want to know, you'll easily understand that you don't know. Now is the time to do a quick Google Scholar search, or the like, and educate yourself. Turn your holey, swiss cheesed brain into heavy, packed mozzarella!
7. Start writing. Do what you need to do to write about the knowledge that you have equipped yourself with over the years, days, minutes of research, thinking, imagining - whatever fits the reason for your writing a scholarly paper, a blog entry, the next Harry Potter novel.
8. When you think you're done, and you feel like all you want to do is let go of your paper and hand it in and never think about it again (breathe, first of all, and congrats, you're honestly almost there!), stop. Reverse outline it. This means go back and paraphrase each paragraph that you have written. Do these paraphrased sentences stitch together like your paragraphs should? Does the content of your paraphrasing sound like the original outline? Basically, is the topic of each paragraph clear? If everything sounds fine to you, well then, you can't do much more, can you? Leave your paper alone for now. Don't obsess; come back later to nitpick if you have to. For now, #9.
9. Leave it alone. Get yourself that $5.00 Starbucks Frappaccino, or better yet, a froyo. It has lower fat and sugar content that italian ice, gelato, and ice cream. Add a topping of blueberries, and you've got yourself a healthily-bacteriafied treat rich in antioxidants, the goodness that boosts brain health against age-related conditions like Alzheimer's. Write, and eat, on!
9. Leave it alone. Get yourself that $5.00 Starbucks Frappaccino, or better yet, a froyo. It has lower fat and sugar content that italian ice, gelato, and ice cream. Add a topping of blueberries, and you've got yourself a healthily-bacteriafied treat rich in antioxidants, the goodness that boosts brain health against age-related conditions like Alzheimer's. Write, and eat, on!
