Beat the Block: A Guide to Writing Academic Papers

What to do When you Can't See Past the Prompt

Writing is a huge part of the academic journey. When is the last time you were handed a writing assignment and knew exactly what you were going to write? More often than not, writing assignments are a drag. Whether it is a Ph.D. dissertation, a college admissions essay, or a middle school creative writing assignment, the most challenging part of writing is getting started and staying on track. Students can waste hours of their valuable time trying to get past writer’s block and rewriting essays.

The Starting Line

When you first sit down to start your assignment, what is the first thing you do? I hope you answered something along the lines of making an outline or game plan and not sitting there and staring at a blank paper like my friend Spongebob over here. If you feel called out, I have some news for you... if you are not making outlines, you are seriously doing yourself a disservice.

Outlines do not have to be the antiquated whole-page-every-idea outline you were forced to make in your early school years. Instead, outlines should be structured like a to-do list. They should narrow down your thoughts and decide on the general direction of your paper. Essentially, jotting down a few key points that you will mention along the way will get you into a mindset that will allow the words to flow more easily.

The Finish Line

Have you ever written a paper, been about halfway through it, and realized that you have more support for a different argument or want to go in a different direction? Or worse, have you been halfway through an essay and realized you have nothing left to say even though you haven’t

reached the length requirement? Once again, this is where an outline can be your hero. By taking the time to brainstorm your thoughts ahead of time, you will know if you have enough information before you take the time to write out several paragraphs or pages.

Yes, the outline may take time to make. Yes, you will still spend time thinking and not necessarily writing. However, once you have a solid game plan on how to answer the question at hand or support an argument, the words will fall into place. Who knows you might be typing or writing so fast, you don’t even realize you are finished. The goal here is to be able to think about the essay beforehand so that by the time you start actually writing, the essay “writes itself.”

The Future

From beginning to end, the Beat the Block series will focus on helping you or your student to elevate your essays and streamline the writing process to make assignments easier, more efficient, and more effective. Stay tuned for new posts every Wednesday with tips on how to generate ideas, make your outline even easier, use references, edit your work, and more.

-Erin Bitinaitis

M.S. Psychology

Better than Books LLC