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Organization: Getting Started
Getting papers started often seems the hardest
part of the process. Advice about structuring papers may seem irrelevant to
the student who is stuck, gnawing on a pencil, in front of a blank page.
Anxious to get the paper from inside the head onto the page, writers may
become so obsessed with the product that they flounder about in the process.
An outline may seem slightly
threatening, like a contract you cannot break or a dentist appointment. But
making a plan for a paper need not inhibit the flow of ideas. A plan can get
them going by helping you decide what is most important to say.
What follows is a list of methods for shaping the raw
material of a paper. Not all of them will work for all kinds of papers, for
all people. Experimenting with various methods will help you see what works
best when. Often writers who have "always done it that way" find
that trying a new way releases energy and improves the prose.
Using
The Paper Topic
Rough
Magic
Grocery
Lists
Up
Against The Wall
Paragraph
Outline
Building
On Evidence
Traditional
Outlines
Starting
With Last Paragraph
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