ARGH!

Must...write....paper...*sigh*

from JoeUser Forums
This really blows. Stupid 15 page paper...I've been reading stuff and my mind is rather jumbled for the time being...I want to write, but my mind is a mess. I've been researching and sleeping for the past 2 days and all I have is a title and one sentence so far. I'm going for about 10 pages because my prof said that's better than using filler just for the page count. While I know I can do this, I still have to stress and bitch about it. I'm doing it over memory representation and it's such a pain...I like philosophy, but Christ, all the stuff I've looked at is incredibly dense. Bleh! I'm hoping I can get at least a few pages done tonight...and the rest by tomorrow. However, with all the crap zooming around in my head I'm not entirely sure how to organize this demon spawn of an assignment. I know introduction and conclusions are basics, but the body is drawing a blank for the moment....ah well, I suppose I'll have it figured out by tomorrow and plow through it. Hopefully...

Feel free to throw me any advice or ideas...I'm in total freakout mode right now...but I put myself here with my procrastination....*sigh*....it's due Thursday, but I'd like to have it done by tomorrow so I can revise.

...and again I say, "ARGH!"

~Zoo
blogging
3,288 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
What I always did with research papers and reports is to write the points I want to cover out on index cards. One point or idea per card, and then organize them into some sort of sensible order. It helped me to visualize the layout of the paper before starting to do the actual writing.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Zoo, do you ever use notecards?

I used to put all the info I wanted to include down on individual notecards (with the source written on the back), and then I would look them over and put them in the order that I wanted them.

From there, it was just filling in the gaps (BS, lol) from one bit of info to the next.

It made organizing a paper soooo much easier.

And I don't think starting on Saturday on a paper due Thursday is procrastinating! I could never motivate myself to start something that far ahead of time unless I was really, reeeeaaaally interested in it.

Good luck!
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
LOL, sorry Mason. I started typing and had to do some stuff and came back to it...hahaha...you had already said what I was trying to say!
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top

LOL, sorry Mason. I started typing and had to do some stuff and came back to it...hahaha...you had already said what I was trying to say!


When I saw this I assumed we were both typing at the same time. Great minds think alike.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Well, if it's TW AND Mason recommended, you know it must be good! Haha.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Heh, heh...pretty good idea. I never really use notecards for anything...but I might give it a shot. Now I just need to come up with the proper ideas and integrate from there....that's the hard part. I can bullshit with the best of them, that's never a problem, but I really need to get my base in order. I think I will have to draw up an outline for this bad boy...

~Zoo
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

Heh, heh...pretty good idea. I never really use notecards for anything...but I might give it a shot. Now I just need to come up with the proper ideas and integrate from there....that's the hard part. I can bullshit with the best of them, that's never a problem, but I really need to get my base in order. I think I will have to draw up an outline for this bad boy...



~Zoo


The note cards themselves are your outline. Just go through the material jotting down main talking points on the cards. You might be surprised at how easily the paper develops once you go through and organize them.
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm not a notecard type kid. Come on, it's the twenty-first century! But I do use a handy "mind-mapping" software called FreeMind. It's open source, and a small program, but it lets you create different bubbles with all the points you want to say, and then you can organize them that way, moving them about, attaching them to other ideas, etc.

it's like notecards for the very visual like me. You can even give certain bubbles certain colors, and everything. I find that if I use this program to organize my thoughts, I can get even the nastiest paper done in no time flat.

Good luck, man. I'm suffering right along with you, with a twelve pager, in Spanish, about the feminist implications and overtones of the book Nada by Carmen Laforet, due Friday. So believe me, I feel for you.
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
So believe me, I feel for you.


Heh, indeed you do. Well, it's a hell we can share, eh?

~Zoo
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
Well, it's a hell we can share, eh?


And think of all the honeys in this hell with us. I'm thinking I'll need some serious recuperative dating after this next two weeks . . .
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
with a twelve pager, in Spanish, about the feminist implications and overtones of the book Nada by Carmen Laforet,


Oh my GOD!    (I would be sooooo screwed)

but anyhoo - good luck Zoo!
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm thinking I'll need some serious recuperative dating after this next two weeks . . .


Next week I have finals, so I'll be going home soon...however, the seniors back in the ol' hometown are graduating soon...and that's a good many 18 year olds. I'll be turning 19 on the 26th...so I'm in good shape.

~Zoo
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
(I would be sooooo screwed)


I AM sooooo screwed, believe me . . .
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
I AM sooooo screwed, believe me . . .


Well, you're just writing about Nothing...shouldn't be too bad.

~Zoo
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
Panic and pressure have always been my allies... which is why I've done nothing thus far this weekend. I might get to work tomorrow. Wish I could help, but I know nothing about the topic. Good luck though.

And, when in doubt, change font size to Courier New size 11. It adds to the length, but doesn't look like you're cheating as long as you change the size from 12 to 11.

Oh, and since we're comparing papers -- Paper 1. Pretend like you're an 18th century literary critic. Discuss the new direction literature is taking from 1740-1770. Do you like it? Why or why not? Paper 2. Using Mansfield Park (movie) as your text, do you think the filmmakers were familiar with post-colonialist theorist Said? blah, blah, blah. Paper 3. The rhetoric of Margery Kempe. Paper 4. Something to do with cultural studies, but I really haven't looked at it yet.

Then, finals. Oh joy.
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
And, when in doubt, change font size to Courier New size 11.


Heh, if I start flailing I might indeed do that.

*sigh* I think I'll sleep 'til noonish tomorrow and start typing this baby out...I just need to focus and I'll have it done....*deep breath* *exhale*...

~Zoo