Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010

Write as you read
Engaging sources
Writing your paper

We've said this before (and will again): Writing forces you to think hard, so don't wait to nail down a budding idea before you write it out. Experienced researchers know that the more they write, the sooner and better they understand their project. There is good evidence that successful researchers set a fixed time to write every day—from fifteen minutes to more than an hour. They might write only a paragraph, but they write something, not to start a first draft of their report, but to sort out their ideas and maybe discover new ones.

If you write something that seems promising, add it to your storyboard. You will probably revise it for your final draft, maybe even discard it. But no matter how sketchy or rough this early writing might be, it will help you draft more easily later.

CAUTION

Don't Expect Too Much of Your Early Writings

If you're new to a topic, much of your early writing may be just summary and paraphrase. If you see too few of your own ideas, don't feel discouraged at your lack of original thinking. Summarizing and paraphrasing are how we all gain control over new ideas and learn new ways of thinking. Rehashing what we want to understand is a typical, probably even necessary, stage in just about everyone's learning curve.