Professor, English
Q: What advice do you have for students about the process of writing an academic paper?聽
A: What I find myself recommending again and again, whatever genre of academic writing people are working with, is a basic strategy I draw from journalism鈥攖o 鈥渇ind your angle鈥�: find a way of approaching a topic/project that interests you, that you can call your own, and that readers will likely find intriguing. And as a corollary鈥攖o the extent that you can within the parameters of what you鈥檙e given to do, find what genuinely interests you. This may not be what your readings emphasize, nor what the instructor accents, nor even what you initially expected would interest you. When the doodles in the margins of your notes suggest a line of interest other than what you鈥檇 planned on, follow that lead: it may bring you to a more stimulating approach. Then, 鈥渟leep on it鈥�; leave time to let the back of your mind deepen the work. I鈥檝e always found that the best ideas about how to go further with what I鈥檓 doing, as well as moments of greatest lucidity about what I am doing, often emerge when I鈥檓 not vigilantly at my desk, but rather when I鈥檓 almost asleep, buying groceries, mending a button or taking a walk.
Photo credit: Blair Folts
Recommended reference:
Peter Elbow, Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981)鈥攏ow available in electronic edition through 海外直播b站 Libraries