Revisit the library to find sources for the topics that still need support.Instead, list the topics you want to tackle in the order you want to tackle. In Cal’s words, the flat outline works as follows: As Cal Newport explains, it’s called a flat outline. Starting in college, I developed my own outlining technique that was much more effective. As it turns out, my technique wasn’t so original after all. I always just made one up afterwards because I was required to turn one in with the final paper. I never created an outline with bullets and numbers and letters before writing the paper. – Cal Newport, “How to Use a Flat Outline to Write Outstanding Papers, Fast”Įver since I learned the traditional method of outlining papers in 8th grade, I felt the system was broken. Most students abandon their hierarchical outline soon after their fingers hit the keyboard.” “It’s impossible to figure out every detail of your argument before you sit down, look at your sources, and actually try to write. Get into the library or database, find your sources, take your notes, and then get to writing. The goal of your initial research session is to give you just enough material to start writing. If you find that you need more info after you start writing, you can always do more research. Don’t worry about not having enough information. Spending any more time than this puts you at a point of diminishing returns.

That is, if the paper is supposed to be 5 pages, don’t spend more than 2.5 hours on research (maximum). As I explained in my guide to research, you shouldn’t spend more than 30 minutes per page of the final paper researching. To overcome the temptation to procrastinate on research, I employ my favorite approach for beating all forms of procrastination: setting a time limit. “One more source” can easily turn into hours that you could have been writing. But beware! If you’re not careful, research can be one of the best ways to procrastinate. Once you understand the assignment, you need to start researching. Demonstrating this level of engagement with your assignments can only boost your grade. It doesn’t matter how good a paper is–if it doesn’t answer the question, it’s going to receive a bad grade.īest case scenario, the professor is nice and lets you rewrite it, but why do all that extra work? Furthermore, asking the professor for clarification shows initiative–that you care about the assignment. Students would spend hours researching and writing a paper on a completely different topic than what the professor assigned. Yet, when I was an English TA in college, I saw this problem all the time.

Remember: asking for clarification because you don’t understand the assignment doesn’t make you stupid what’s stupid is to complete the assignment without understanding it. Often, it’s that they know their field so well that it’s easy for them to think some things are “obvious”…even when they aren’t to us non-experts. If the assignment seems vague, it’s not because the professor is trying to trip you up. Don’t be afraid to ask the professor to explain any part of the assignment that’s unclear. The ultimate waste of time when writing a paper is to write something that doesn’t even answer the question the professor is asking. Sound impossible? Read on to see how it works. Today, I’m going to share this process so that you too can write papers more quickly (without a decrease in the quality of your writing). This let me spend more time on things that I enjoyed, such as writing for this blog and taking long walks through the woods. As frustrating as those activities can be, they always seemed more finite than the monumental task of “writing a paper.” You can’t just open the book and start working: you have to brainstorm, research, outline, draft, edit, and add those pesky citations.Īs I moved through college, however, I developed a system for cranking out papers in record time. Even as someone who basically writes papers for a living these days (like this article), I still viewed every college paper with a tinge of dread.Īfter all, writing a paper isn’t like working math problems or reading a chapter of a book. I’m not gonna lie: writing papers can suck.

Bonus Tip: Take a Writing Intensive Class.

Write the Conclusion and Introduction Last.

Quick essay writer