Mind Map. Outline. Vision Board.

There is no one way to write a paper. There is no formula. The blank page is the most fearsome and daunting enemy. What do you do? Do whatever works.

I loathe the blank page. So usually what I do is make it not blank. I put my name on it. (Because I own it now!) And I put the date. (Because I want everyone to know the day on which I p0wnd the blank page!) And then I put a descriptive title!! Like, not even a clever one, just what the topic is, because it’s just a draft. (That’s right, Draft…!)

Of course, the opening line seems like it is so important, and so it can be quite hard to first write this. Many people I know skip this step and come back to it. Then it’s not first anymore. Get it?

I asked Terry Woronov, one of the lecturers in ANTH 1002, what she does, and she said:

I know that at some point everything I write is going to have to include some kind of description of who [what, where, and when, or] what the setting is. [E]ven if I don't know where that material is going to go (start, middle or end), I always start by writing it first. I can always move it around later. I start there because it's information that I know [already]. I don't have to make an argument. It's just description. It loosens me up. I find that by starting this way, I get over the fear of the blank page, and usually, once I'm in the process of description, I start having a better sense of what I actually want to argue. (T. E. Woronov, personal communication, 2015, paraphrase)