Writing is an acquired skill, it does not happen overnight. Everyone uses different skills to achieve efficient written documents. As individual’s we must recognize which skills provide us the capabilities to write a well written paper. The skills I find most important to write a paper are free writing, researching, and using proper grammar. These three skills enable me to write a paper that is readable and have substance.
Free writing is the process of writing without stopping for a certain amount of time or to a certain length, say ten minutes or one page. While free writing you generate ideas and information, going around the part of your brain that does not want or cannot write. What you write is not important, continuing to let ideas flow from your own thoughts is. Doing this without leaving out ideas you may think are dumb or without fear of repeating yourself you allow your mind to be free of clutter that may cause writers block. At the same time giving you a chance to become aware of ideas you had no idea were even there. You may also try focused free writing, starting out with a question about the specific topic you want to discuss. Then answer the question without stopping, letting your mind be free of the restraints of grammar and spelling. Once you have your thoughts on paper you can decide the best way to approach the subject or topic at hand.
The next step is researching your topic. Choose a topic that has a wide range of resources available. While researching your topic, be sure to check publication dates, avoiding outdated material, so you are sure to be using creditable resources. Use index cards, notebooks, or your laptop to keep valuable information easy to retrieve when it comes time to start writing. Having accurate, plentiful resources will help you develop more ideas and provide enough information to avoid a vague, boring paper. An abundance of information can be both useful and useless. You want to make sure you stay on topic, going...