Right now I am sitting in Panera, pretending to write a paper. It’s due tomorrow. Actually, I am working on it, just not at this exact moment, because I’m writing this post. The difficulty is that my thoughts are swirling around in circles. I have both too much and not enough to write about. How did that happen? Clearly my writing, just like the rest of my life, is a paradoxical thing.
The title of this post claims to be able to help you figure out how to write a paper. So here are my tips for writing a paper. I’ll let you decide which ones to take seriously.
1. Make a “paper writing” playlist. Then you can listen to whatever kind of music will best help you concentrate.
2. Be careful what kind of headphones you use to listen to this music though. The kind that go directly in your ears sometimes fall out without warning, and may cause you slight discomfort. Your mother would probably also add that these are guaranteed to cause deafness by age 35.
3. Caffeine is a great aide to your level of alertness. The only annoying thing is the crash afterwards. Hopefully this won’t happen until your paper is turned in.
4. Do NOT EVER attempt to write while sitting on your bed. Strange things appear on the page. You may also find that the temptation to doze is exponentially increased by your location.
5. Procrastinating adds to the motivation for getting the paper done, but it also adds to your stress level. Make sure you factor this into your paper-writing plans.
I guess I should get back to the actual paper now… by the time I’m done, I should be an expert on philosophy of education and will have solved all America’s educational problems [or something like that].
Posted by austin 