Write as you read - Engaging sources - Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Write as you read
Engaging sources
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

We've said this before (and will again): writing forces you to think hard, so don't wait to nail down an idea in your mind before you write it out on the page. Experienced researchers know that the more they write, the sooner and better they understand their project. There is good evidence that the most successful researchers set a fixed time to write every day—from fifteen minutes to more than an hour. They might only draft a paragraph that responds to a source, summarizes a line of reasoning, or speculates about a new claim. 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 miss your goals, post a schedule by your computer.

If you write something that seems promising, add it to your storyboard. You will almost certainly revise it for your final draft, maybe even omit it entirely. But even if you reuse little of it, the more you write now, no matter how sketchily, the more easily you'll draft later. Preparatory writing and drafting aren't wholly different, but it's a good idea to think of them as distinct steps.

If you're new to a topic, much of this early writing may be just summary and paraphrase. When you reread it, you might see few of your own ideas and feel discouraged at your lack of original thinking. Don't be. Summarizing and paraphrasing are how we all gain control over new data, new and complicated ideas, even new ways of thinking. Writing out what we are trying to understand is a typical, probably even necessary, stage in just about everyone's learning curve.