My writing typically begins with a large amount of jumbled thoughts about the topic I am given. Generally I write a large outline where I write down the information I could share on each possible topic or argument to determine which of the topics I know enough about to actually write a paper on. When I decide which argument or topic to choose, I then struggle for a while with coming up with the arguments for each paragraph. I tend to have the most knowledge for arguments that do not flow well into my next idea. I have to spend a lot of time trying to fine tune all of these ideas.
I do not always write a rough draft; the draft I turn in can be the rough draft. Sometimes this works well for me because I did not have time to over think everything I wrote. But generally I find that some of my sentences and ideas are not worded very well and a quick run-through of my paper would have helped with those.
The website I looked at for writing tips had two that really could help my writing. I tend to worry a lot about my initial paragraph; I either begin too broad or way too specific. This website brings the idea that you can skip the beginning paragraph initially until you have already begun your paper and then return and write it. The second idea has to do with the closing paragraph which I also have a difficult time writing. It suggests thinking about several questions that need to be answered in your paper, especially in the closing paragraph.
3 comments:
I like the idea of saving your opening paragraph until the end. That way you have enough knowledge of how your paper flows to construct an introduction that is fairly similar.
I use that same strategy that you use for your opening paragraph but for my title. I think that helps make the title more concise with whatever it is that is written in the actual paper.
The beginning paragraph is always the most difficult for me and I tend to not be able to move on until I've finished it. However, I think waiting until I have written the rest will really help.
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