Students often find themselves close to a writing deadline, staring at a computer screen at a loss for words. Struggling to find the right words to make the right points can be a major task, and with an assignment deadline hanging over-head the task can sometimes seem insurmountable. Most don't even consider writing more than one draft unless the assignment requires it. Writing in one shot seems so much more efficient. But that isn't always the case.
Outlined here are a few drafting techniques that help to break down writers block, and ultimately produce a higher-quality paper in a shorter amount of time.
Write and Put Ideas on Paper
Sometimes the hardest part of writing a paper is meeting arbitrary word count requirements. This difficulty is doubled when the writer tries to focus simultaneously on deciding what points to make and how best to make them. The solution: a writer shouldn't worry about word choice, grammar, or punctuation on the first pass. When approaching a writing assignment, the first priority should be to put ideas on the page. Of course, this doesn't mean one should deliberately write improperly, as doing so could cost the writer more time in the long run. The focus, however, should be on filling the page with ideas in rough form.
Leave Space for Quotes
While writing at this rapid-fire pace, the writer may come to a place where a quote or an attribution is necessary. The writer should not stop to search for the exact material needed. Rather, he or she should leave a note or paraphrase of the intended quote, and then find it later. When writing a research paper, it may be helpful to write important quotes and page references first. The key is to perform these tasks one at a time.
Include Redundant Thoughts in First Draft
In the first draft, the writer may repeat ideas. This is acceptable, and may actually provide a benefit in the second pass. If more than one sentence or paragraph that expresses essentially the same idea, the writer will able to choose the best later.
Revise Writing and Rewrite
After the ideas have been written in rough form, it’s time to clean up the mess. This is the time to go through the paper and devote attention to word choice, style, and punctuation. Quotes should be put into place, and material should be reordered as the writer sees fit. A benefit to the drafting method is that, if the writer doesn’t have the time or skill to do so, most of the clean up work can be handed off to a friendly English major, or one interested in making a few dollars. The hard work has already been done. These are just details.
The tips included above are intended to improve the speed and quality of one's writing. This is accomplished by writing a rapid first draft, with full attention to the ideas being communicated, and then using a second draft as a polishing opportunity.
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