Re-Outline to Stay Focused

By Mina Anderson

Normally, it’s best policy to give yourself several days ahead of an essay deadline to compose and edit your writing. This is because spacing out some of the difficult writing steps and giving yourself time to rest allows you to come back to the essay refreshed and re-focused. However, busy schedules (and often procrastination) sometimes lead to long last-minute writing hours at the computer. Procrastination often happens in the first place when we get “stuck” in our writing, which is when we are prone to taking lots of breaks and “walking away” from the assignment. This prolongs the whole writing process. To ensure staying on task, re-outlining your paper can also serve as a short sort of mental break without distracting you from the assignment itself.

Before you begin to write, outline the general structure of your essay. Write down a sentence for your thesis statement and a topic sentence for each of your major paragraphs/arguments. You can then do a skeletal, bullet-point outline of the rest of your paper. Sometime at this point in your writing process, you may also choose to type up the evidence or quotes from other texts in your outline so as to later have them handy. Then you won’t have to use up some of your writing time leafing through articles or papers, giving you more time to focus on the real issue at hand: composing your own argument.

Then, over the course of writing, every time you get stuck and are likely to take a break from writing, re-create your outline. You may find that the structure of your argument in the essay has changed – for instance, maybe you phrased your thesis statement differently in the first draft, or found that in the course of writing you had more to say about a peripheral piece of evidence than you originally anticipated. In cases where the structure of the essay is shaping up to be different from the original outline, alter your outline. Then, when you have finished re-outlining the structure of the essay, you will be able to observe that structure’s “skeletal” body and evaluate its trajectory: is the structure and organization of your essay turning out the way you had originally envisioned? If not, is the new structure more helpful to your argument, or would reverting to the original outline enable you to better explore the essay topic? Which argument points could be collapsed or expanded in order to give you more “wiggle room” to explore your topic more thoroughly or in new directions?

Re-outlining at moments in your writing when you become stuck can allow you to take a mental break of sorts without completely walking away from the essay. It helps keep you focused on the task at hand while also giving you some distance from your writing, so that you might be able to evaluate the essay as a whole and make holistic decisions about where it will be headed next.

If You Can Finish Those Oreos, You Can Write a Stellar Essay

by Lilly McGee

One of the most widespread lies about writing is that some people are born with a natural talent for it. As much as the straight-A students in your writing classes would like you to believe this is true–––that they were born with superior line-editing skills and a propensity for structuring paragraphs–––it’s not. Oh, it is so not.

Those people with so-called “natural talent?” They weren’t born in the Year of the Typewriter or under the star of Thesaurus. They’re not inherently more skilled or intelligent, they just practice excellent self-discipline.

Self-discipline–––who needs it, right? “I don’t have discipline.” Oh, I beg to differ. Have you ever forced yourself to eat the entire scoop of ice cream that Coldstone gave you because otherwise “it’d be a waste?” Have you ever sat through a full episode of a show you loathe just because you need to find out whether Susie murdered Tom, and why on earth did they go back to that island? You have discipline, my friend. You’re just applying it to some wacky things.

“I’m just bad at writing.” If only it were so simple. Just as there are no naturally talented writers, there are no naturally untalented ones. Your self-underestimation is probably coming from one, simple mistake: you’re confusing your thoughtful first draft for a bad, final paper.

This is where the discipline comes in. You can’t just write a single draft–––you’ve gotta write several, because nobody’s first draft is good. Read your piece aloud. Show it to a friend, a writing center consultant, or even your professor (it can be intimidating, but getting advice from the person who’ll eventually grade your paper is priceless).

“I’m not up for that.” Well, it’s certainly not easy. “Writing isn’t my thing.” During the editing process I feel the same way. When I’ve finished restructuring my outline, however, a wave of satisfaction runs through me. When I can read through the final paragraph without bumping into awkward sentences, my fingers get straight up tingly. After I’ve run that final spellcheck? Joy explosion.

Handing the paper to my professor is inherently nerve-wracking. After all, the fate of my work is no longer in my hands. Despite that, there is truly something to be said for the satisfaction of a job well done. Knowing that I worked my butt off and wrote a paper that, in my opinion, could cure cancer with its textual beauty (slight exaggeration due to mental damage from the joy explosion) feels a lot better than handing in a paper written in an exhausted rush the night before. 

While it fails to provide the rush you get when your paper is due in an hour and you don’t have a thesis, drafting makes for consistently better papers. Consider your academic discipline a practice round for the next time you and your best friend decide to finish an entire container of Oreos.

Escaping the Internet

by Sarah Sansolo

When it’s time to focus on your paper, one of the most difficult things to do is to eliminate distractions. No matter where you go, on campus or off, there’s no escape from the biggest distraction of all. How do you stay away from the pull of Facebook and all of the other time wasters?

1. Disable your wireless. If you don’t need to use any online resources, turn off your wireless. The extra step of having to turn it back will remind you that you need to focus.
2. Block those sites. Sometimes you need to research or to access helpful online handouts from the Writing Center while you’re working but need help resisting lure of Facebook. You can download programs, plug-ins, or apps that will block certain websites for a period of time. Check out the Google Chrome Web Store for StayFocusd or the Mozilla Firefox Add-ons page for LeechBlock. If you use a Mac, visit the App Store’s productivity section. There are a lot of other programs out there, but make sure they’re safe and reliable before you download them.
3. Turn off your phone! This may seem a little extreme, but smart phones combine the Internet with texting and Angry Birds to create a distraction disaster. If you absolutely can’t turn it off, move it out of reach. Putting it in a zipped pocket of your bag or down by your feet rather than on the desk allows you to hear any important calls but takes it out of your line of sight.

Eliminating the millions of distractions online allows you to focus on your assignment, but don’t underestimate the importance of taking the occasional break. When you find yourself getting stuck or frustrated, checking Facebook or playing a game can be a great way to recharge. Just make sure to set a timer!