This writing advice is coming from a writer who has to think of topics to write about once a week in addition to homework (some which include writing). I understand the overwhelming feeling of determining how to finally begin a long paper or even a short assignment. You probably say 500 words a minute, but writing 500 words might take you four hours. Rather than staring at a blank word document, here are a few tips to stimulate the gears in your mind.

My first piece of advice is the easiest. Talk about your assignment with someone. Complaining about assignments and classes already sneaks into conversation without a second thought. Explain your assignment to a friend and see what they suggest as ideas. Often, it is much easier for a person who is not worried about a grade to start spouting ideas. There are not restricted to the bias you have from knowing the professor and going to class. This outside perspective is like the oil needed to turn the gears in your stuck mind. If a friend is willing, use your friend as a soundboard to bounce off your own ideas. Their encouragement is the small push you need to get started.

After making use of your friend's ear, jot down all the ideas and notes you discussed. You might not remember the context of your notes later, and it also serves as a very rough draft of an outline. Next, see which ideas are most related or can be edited to be more related to prompt for the assignment. I like to paste the question or prompt and split up each question. Spacing everything out allows me to see areas I need to fill and gives the illusion of answering separate questions instead of an essay.

Beneath your separate questions, write a response, usually a paragraph, and insert your sources. In this stage, focus on writing, not connecting. Furthermore, since you are only writing, keeping track of which quotes are from which sources is the other main goal. Simply pasting the link or title after a quote, no need to properly cite just yet, prevents the panicked backtracking of which quote is from what website. An extension like Zotero or Endnote is also a good reference organizer to use at the same time. Once you have answered each of your questions, it is time to pull your essay together.

This is where all the pieces connect: inserting transitions. Transitions will make your writing coherent and flow. You have to read over your writing in this stage so you can also catch grammatical errors and typos. After rereading the body, I like to return to my introduction and conclusion and see if the two paragraphs connect to the body paragraphs well. Sometimes the mindset you had when beginning the essay changes as you develop the paper.

Lastly, if you haven't procrastinated, leave your paper or ask a friend to read it for you. Run it through google translate or read it aloud to hear how it sounds. Fix the parts where you stumble on the words or don't understand what you are trying to explain. By splitting up the essay into separate small tasks, it becomes more manageable in a shorter period of time. The less you stress about the assignment, the more time there is to focus on finishing it.