A Study in Stress Elimination: Final Papers Edition - Jenna J.

It’s time for final papers! (Cue the panicked screams! Cue the nail biting! Cue the all-nighters in front of your computer!) Final papers can be intimidating due to their increased length and high level of mental involvement. However, you don’t have to go into freak-mode when scrambling to complete them. You can do it (with limited sanity-loss) by setting goals, establishing organization, and revising thoroughly.

Goal-setting is important when faced with a large task such as a lengthy final paper. Start at the beginning. Do you clearly understand the prompt or assignment? If not, communicate with your professor or classmates until you do. Next, decide what approach you will take to the assignment. When picking a topic or text to discuss in your paper, remember to pick something that interests you—this will help you stay engaged while writing! Keep setting small goals as you form the paper. Today, write your thesis. Tomorrow, make an outline. This weekend, research. Next week, write and revise. Keep on track so you don’t get overwhelmed!

Staying organized will also help you ease stress when writing your final paper. Make a list or outline detailing your topic or argument and the key ideas you want to address. When finding sources, think about which articles you will use to accompany each key point. Keep track of quotes, page numbers, and citations so that you can find them easily while writing your paragraphs. When thinking about organization within your paper, look at your outline to see whether you may benefit from a logical, chronological, or other form of “flow.” Constantly referring to your list of key ideas can help you stay on track while writing and eliminate the tendency to write off-topic and waste time.

Finally, make time for revisions after writing your paper. Get it all out in the first draft—sit down and type your ideas as they come. This can help break the barrier between you and the blank page as well as give you something tangible to work with. Once you have words written, you can revise. Re-visit your thesis and outline. Did you go off on a tangent? Does your logic flow in an understandable manner? Did you say everything you wanted? Consider your language—something that you wrote informally at first may be re-worded for an academic context. If some areas of your paper seem too weak, consider bolstering them with more in-depth thinking and sources. This strategy can also help if you are short on pages. Enhance your paper with more “thinking” and “information” rather than “B.S.” Read your paper out loud to identify too-repetitive words, areas where sentences could be varied, and grammatical errors.

Final papers may be different than “regular” papers, but staying calm and applying familiar writing strategies can help diminish their terror. Good luck to everyone; happy writing!