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To make your next writing assignment less of a struggle,
UWT professors Phil Heldrich and Anne Beaufort, both published authors, offer some tips for successful writing. Having struggled with writing themselves and having taught students about the writing process, their advice comes from experience.

Preparing to Write
Pause before you start:

on students’ papers is “probably a lack of pre-paper writing preparation,” Heldrich said. He advises students to review class readings and lectures and then take 20 minutes to reflect on the material. Doing so gives students the chance to draw connections between ideas, he explains. Students may also want to explore their ideas with someone else, like a peer or professor. “Writing is often a collaborative act,” Heldrich says.

The problem seen most often
Read better to write better:

of studying includes summarizing the assigned reading as soon as she finishes it. That extra step in the studying process requires more effort of will on her part, but writing a summary “helps me to sift through and hold onto what I read,” she says. Heldrich recommends writing the summary at the top of the essay’s first page for easy reference. Interacting with the text by taking notes in the margins is also vital. If you want to sell back your textbook, Beaufort suggests buying a stack of sticky notes and attaching them to the margin for notes.

Beaufort’s own method
Create a schedule:

ignoring time constraints is the main cause of stress for students, according to Heldrich. He recommends setting aside a time for each step of the writing process. For instance, you might take the first writing session to create a focus for the paper, and then set a session or two for writing an entire rough draft. Next, set aside a time for revising and a separate time for proofreading. Whatever you do, “start early,” Heldrich emphasizes. Ideally you want to spread the steps out over days rather than hours.

When it comes to paper writing,
Motivate yourself:

beyond the grade,” Beaufort says. She journals about writing projects and suggests students do the same. Find a topic of personal interest and answer the question, “What am I going to get out of this?” If your curiosity is not piqued by any aspect of the assignment, you may want to talk with your professor. If you have some topic ideas to propose, most instructors are willing to give students some latitude on the assignment, Beaufort says.

Find some personal motivation
Starting the First Draft
Refuse to budge:

certain amount of time, sets a kitchen timer, and only gets up when the timer goes off. If that means sitting for 10, 20 or 30 minutes, so be it. “Just keep repeating that process, and eventually you have something to work with,” Beaufort says

Beaufort commits to write for a.
Begin brainstorming:

tools such as outlining or clustering. (Outlining consists of listing topics you wish to include and ordering them by topics and subtopics; clustering is a more visual technique in which you write topics and their subtopics in groups or clusters.) Beaufort suggests bringing out the sticky notes again. Write your ideas on them, and then you can move the notes around to easily structure your paper. Even use a big sheet of paper. “I’m big on drawing,” Beaufort says. Finally, on technique involves thinking about topics before sleep so that you dream about it and “tap into their subconscious.” (Of course, dreams about homework may actually constitute nightmares.) There are numerous ways to force yourself to write, so find a technique that works best for you.

Heldrich recommends organizational
Take a break: 

Don’t torture yourself more than necessary. After you have typed for your allotted amount of time, reward yourself.
Beaufort can personally attest to the effectiveness of this method. The first time she wrote for a professional conference, she says she “agonized” over the paper. Finally, her husband said, “You gotta get out of the house.” The walk on the nearby beach helped her, as did sharing her ideas with her husband.

When she came back inside, she sat down and wrote the paper. Whether you use food, exercise or leisurely reading, a reward system can trick you into getting something down on paper. Though, of course, you will want to reach a balance when it comes to food. If you spend more time drinking mochas than writing, then your grade, budget and waistline will reflect it!

Silence your inner critic on yourself early in the writing process. “I would avoid thinking about… [whether] the writing is good or bad,” Heldrich says. While working on the first draft, being critical can stifle creativity and a chance to think about and explore connections between topics, Heldrich explains. He says revision is necessary, so “trust the writing process.” Beaufort also suggests just turning off your computer screen while you type.

Don’t be too hard
Organizing Your Ideas
Fine-tune your thesis:

thoughts together into a cohesive paper, refer back to your thesis. A successful thesis, which shows the “paper’s central focus,” needs to be clear and concise, Heldrich says. “A thesis need not be boiled down into a single sentence,” he explains, but make sure it explains your position or point. Once you have your rough draft, see what points support and relate to your thesis to find out what to keep and what to trim.

To bring all your random
Color code:

of scribbling can be daunting. “I bring out the colored markers,” Beaufort says. Create a color code system, maybe choosing purple for points in your introduction, green for the history of your subject and red for opposing viewpoints. Highlighting similar ideas will allow you to begin grouping thoughts together.

If you prefer writing out your ideas, pages
Wrap it up:

don’t leave out the conclusion. Heldrich, who says he recently struggled with writing a conclusion, recognizes that students often “run out of steam” at the end of papers. The conclusion should not just be a restatement of what you have already said, which is why revising this part of the essays is so vital. The conclusion “should point to the significance of the idea,” Heldrich says. So don’t just restate what you said—wait, did I already say that?

When organizing your ideas,
Perfecting Your Masterpiece
Revise, revise, revise:  

problem that Beaufort sees in students’ papers is the fact that they appear to have been written the night before they were due. According to Beaufort, “they turn in a draft. It’s not the best work they are capable of.” She says reading the biographies of any professional writer will show you that no one can come up with perfect writing in the first draft; it often takes 10 to 20. But don’t worry. Heldrich says students should aim for a minimum of two revisions.

One
Proofread:

Now is the time to go back to make minor changes. Proofreading differs from revision, Heldrich says, so don’t try to complete both processes at one time. Heldrich recommends reading your paper out loud or asking a fellow student, or anyone who is willing, to look over your paper. Finally, don’t become discouraged if improvement doesn’t happen overnight. Beaufort recalls one teacher telling her to “lower your expectations.” A good writer tries her hardest while realizing that doing her best is enough and that writing is a process. “Does an athlete start out and think that he will go into the Olympic trials tomorrow? No!” she exclaims. As with any skill, Beaufort emphasizes, the more you practice and the more experience you gain, the more you will improve.

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