Dear Reader,
I can always tell final papers are getting close when I wake up in the morning and I’m half asleep but still somehow stringing together ideas about theory. I thought it was unique to me and my overactive mind, but I mentioned it to another PhD friend of mine, and he said it’s the same for him. Neither of us are awake yet, but our minds are churning out sentences for journal articles, exams, and conference papers. He called it obsession. When I told someone else, they called it passion.
What keeps me up—and wakes me up, clearly—are these thoughts about writing. My mind is replaying moments from class, drafting mental research questions, critiquing potential thesis statements and, of course, planting little seeds of doubt that fester into imposter syndrome. Which text should I choose for my final paper? What will the literature review look like? Check OMNI. Check Google Scholar. That idea was already published. But was it done well? Let’s look. It’s 4:17am. That’s okay. I’m not sleeping anyway. I need to know. It’s 4:42am. Yes, it was well argued. Can’t write on that. Think. What else? Maybe just wait another week. But that’s one less week of writing. Check the syllabus. Those secondary readings seem interesting. Read them. Now? No. Tomorrow. Check tomorrow’s agenda. It’s full. The next day? No. It’s full too. So, wait another week. But what about that first book on the course? Check OMNI. Check Google Scholar…
Getting started with my papers has always been the most difficult part of the entire process, but over the years I’ve tried out a handful of strategies to get my ideas out of my head during the day so that I can (hopefully) sleep at night and not wake up thinking about writing a paper. Since I need to revisit them, I thought I’d bring you along for the reflective journey.
Review Material
Review. Review. Review.
From annotations in the margins of scholarly articles to class or exam notes, everything is worth a quick read. Skimming past notes helps me consolidate information and draw connections between readings. This is my go-to method for getting started. (Well, after a couple nights of worrying, it seems…)
Talk it Out
Seems simple, right? I always encourage the students I TA to just come chat with me, even if they’ve only read the assignment instructions once. I tell students at SASS the same thing. Just talk through the ideas and brainstorm with me. I can give this advice, but I can’t say I’m the best at following it myself.
If you’re like me, you don’t want to verbalize your ideas until they’re fully formed. I worry the ideas will sound outlandish or baseless, but who honestly comes up with field-altering ideas in the first ten minutes of thinking about a text? It takes time, and conversation is one of the best ways to form ideas more fully. Talking with a course professor or supervisor is great because they have extensive knowledge of the field and can offer content-specific resources and critiques. Writing Consultants at SASS (like me!) are also available for writing-specific support, including brainstorming.
Free Write / Free Talk
Blank document. Flashing cursor.
Empty lines. Pencil at the ready.
Whether you go about it digitally or physically, free writing can help you get the ideas out of your head and in front of you. I find this helps me stop overthinking ideas at 4:00am because they’re on paper and I don’t need to start from scratch every time I think about the title of the book I’m considering for my paper.
Free talking is another option. There are plenty of free software options for speech-to-text transcription. Get out of your own head and get the ideas on paper. It can be frustrating to talk through ideas that seem to go nowhere, but it’s never wasted time. You will always have this material to revisit later. Maybe you encounter a journal article down the road that alters the way you were considering the idea. It’s worth getting the ideas out.
Developing Research Questions
We did an activity in my pedagogy class a couple weeks ago that is worth sharing. We had to select a research prompt and, instead of just writing down ideas, we had to draft as many questions as we could about the prompt in an attempt to craft unique research questions to guide our work. After spending 15 minutes and developing lists of questions—many of which could yield effective papers—I saw the benefits of the practice. Having a central question on hand to guide research also quells the late-night overthinking because I spend less time stressing about the vastness of my issue. If the topic is narrow enough, I don’t need to scroll through OMNI and Google Scholar for hours to generate ideas about broad themes.
While there is a plethora of strategies to get started with writing, I find these most useful. If you’re finding yourself in a similar situation to me, I recommend trying these four methods. As we embark on the writing season, know that you are not alone. I’m right there with you, just like the other members of your cohort.
I wish you well with your projects! And book an appointment with me or any of the other writing consultants if you want support. We’re more than happy to help.
Until next time,
April