As I am organizing and writing my thesis, I thought I would share the template I usually follow in order to make my academic writing experience more bearable. I made this myself, learning what worked best for me through (much) trial and error.
I know writing a big paper can feel extremely daunting, but this may be able to help you relax a bit. Once you “fill out” this “template” with all of the information it requires, you’ll realize that all you have to do is write a few paragraphs, weave in some quotes, and you’re good to go! I hope this may be of some benefit to any of you. Good luck with the rest of your semester, darlings! I’m wishing you tons of luck. xx -Jack
How I Organize my Research Papers Before I Write Them:
• Formatting: Headings, pagination, and a (creative) title.
• Thesis: I try to write out a thesis (just one sentence) so I have some foundation to build upon. Usually my theses change or develop as I write—sometimes I change the thesis entirely. Either way, it’s good to at least have some semblance of what you want to write about at the start.
• Organization Outline: I plot out the main topic of each paragraph that way I stay focused while I write. Also that way I can arrange the paragraphs in an order that works most efficiently before I even write the paper. This saves me time instead of trying to blend paragraph topics together in an unnatural way; or not having any idea what some paragraphs should talk about. Here is usually a great place to think up topic sentences you can use later, too!
• Prompt: here is where I type out my prompt for my paper, either given by my professor or one I came up with on my own. I like to keep my prompt closer to the top so I can refer to it throughout my writing to make sure I’m still on the same track.
• Brainstorming: underneath my prompt, I write my initial thoughts—am I arguing? Am I analyzing? What do I want to research? What would make a good idea to focus on? Things like that.
• Research/Academia: After I search through academic and peer reviewed journals, I paste their citation references in this section. That way I can make sure I have enough research (if there is a required minimum), and I can divide my research into categories that I want to address in my paper (so it doesn’t feel too heavy handed in one area only).
• Academic Quotes: I pick out the quotes and research I need to support my thesis here, making sure to organize them in accordance with my citations so I don’t lose track of who wrote what.
• Primary Source Quotes: Here is where I put all of the quotes I think pertain to my thesis from the primary source (book/poem/play/etc). Sometimes I divide the quotes into subcategories, or even color code them, that way I know more smoothly where everything is.
• Works Cited: Finally, I keep a running tally of all of the citations I use so I don’t end up accidentally deleting them (guess how I learned this…ㅜㅜ)
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And that’s it! Now you just have to write! Everything is organized and ready to go. Start as slow as you need, write that first paragraph, sticking to the topic you assigned to it. Take breaks, come back, and re-read it. Save different drafts if you need to, that way you can always go back and salvage whatever you suddenly need. Enjoy the writing process as much as you can. You are contributing to the academic realm of knowledge and ambition, after all!
Υπάρχουν πληγές που δεν φαίνονται, μα αφήνουν τα πιο βαθιά σημάδια.
Δεν προέρχονται από ξένους, ούτε από εχθρούς, αλλά από εκείνους που, θεωρητικά, θα έπρεπε να είναι το ασφαλές μας καταφύγιο.
Ποτέ δεν φανταζόμουν πως η ευτυχία μου θα μπορούσε να γίνει αιτία απογοήτευσης για τους δικούς μου ανθρώπους. Ότι η αγάπη που βρήκα θα έμπαινε στο μικροσκόπιο, όχι για να εκτιμηθεί, αλλά για να αμφισβητηθεί.
Και κάπως έτσι, το πιο φυσικό δίλημμα έγινε το πιο σκληρό: Να επιλέξω τον άνθρωπό μου ή την αποδοχή της οικογένειάς μου;
