result she writes her paper the night/morning before it’s due. And, if you’re a good enough writer, this may work for you to a certain point. Indeed, I used that approach as an undergraduate and still managed to get A’s. However, I knew that what I was writing wasn’t my best work. And had I been assigned to go back and rewrite the paper, I’m certain my next draft would be markedly better, which is why when I taught First Year Composition, I would have students re-write a paper that they’d turned in earlier in the semester. And you would be amazed how much improved those papers were than the original. The problem with being a Deadline Writer is that you are doing your invention work, your composing, and your editing all at once. And generally, that is not a recipe for success. Plus, there are two other issues that can really hurt the deadline writer. Issue one is the length of your text. If you end up going to graduate school and trying to write a dissertation, trust me, you can’t write a 300 page dissertation the night or even the week before. Issue two, and the more relevant issue for undergraduate writers is exhaustion. I can’t tell you how many papers I’ve read from Deadline Writers that started out pretty good but got progressively worse as they went on, with the conclusion being the weakest part of the paper. The problem with that, of course, is that the end of your paper is the last impression you leave with the instructor before they grade the paper. Ok, so enough about types of writers. Since most of you will do your best work with multiple drafts, I want to talk to you a bit about the drafting process and how to use it more efficiently. Stage 1 of the Drafting Process - The Zero or First Draft Your focus in the first draft should solely be on content. I’d like to take this time to dispel some myths about the first draft: You have to your draft in order. Not true. You can begin your draft in the middle of your paper. Introductions are usually inherently hard for writers and it often takes quite a while for a writer to get into the paper. So why not build momentum by starting with writing a part of the paper that you can write immediately. Often this will make writing the introduction easier when you do try to work on it.
result she writes her paper the night/morning before it’s due. And, if you’re a good enough writer, this may work for you to a certain point. Indeed, I used that approach as an undergraduate and still managed to get A’s. However, I knew that what I was writing wasn’t my best work. And had I been assigned to go back and rewrite the paper, I’m certain my next draft would be markedly better, which is why when I taught First Year Composition, I would have students re-write a paper that they’d turned in earlier in the semester. And you would be amazed how much improved those papers were than the original. The problem with being a Deadline Writer is that you are doing your invention work, your composing, and your editing all at once. And generally, that is not a recipe for success. Plus, there are two other issues that can really hurt the deadline writer. Issue one is the length of your text. If you end up going to graduate school and trying to write a dissertation, trust me, you can’t write a 300 page dissertation the night or even the week before. Issue two, and the more relevant issue for undergraduate writers is exhaustion. I can’t tell you how many papers I’ve read from Deadline Writers that started out pretty good but got progressively worse as they went on, with the conclusion being the weakest part of the paper. The problem with that, of course, is that the end of your paper is the last impression you leave with the instructor before they grade the paper. Ok, so enough about types of writers. Since most of you will do your best work with multiple drafts, I want to talk to you a bit about the drafting process and how to use it more efficiently. Stage 1 of the Drafting Process - The Zero or First Draft Your focus in the first draft should solely be on content. I’d like to take this time to dispel some myths about the first draft: You have to your draft in order. Not true. You can begin your draft in the middle of your paper. Introductions are usually inherently hard for writers and it often takes quite a while for a writer to get into the paper. So why not build momentum by starting with writing a part of the paper that you can write immediately. Often this will make writing the introduction easier when you do try to work on it.