When we were beginning our research paper, we talked about different strategies to write it. We watched a video of different famous people talking about how they write papers. My favorite was the cut-n-paste method. It involved reading tons of books, finding every quote you might possibly use and typing them up, citations and all. Then you print out the quotes and take a pair of scissors to it. You go crazy, cutting up the quotes and such, and end up with pieces of paper all over the floor/table. Then you pick those pieces of the quotes you like and outline your paper with them. You glue/tape them to another piece of paper, organized, and then go to your original quotes and find the citations for each quote you picked to use. Finally, write your paper around those quotes.
This method works very well for research-based papers, but it takes a lot of time. I did not do this for my research paper, because I procrastinated, but I plan on trying this method in the future.
I like this method because it is similar to how I think: all over the place. I'm very scatter-brained, and my ideas are often difficult to get down on paper. I feel like this method would give me a way to express my ideas using other's words, refining them in the process, so that when it came time to sit down and write, my ideas are succinct, simple, and already backed by experts. I also like this method because it is hands-on. I already try cutting and pasting on the computer, but I often get lost in all the windows. I like to see everything laid out side-by-side, so this method sounds to me like it would suit me well.
I plan on trying this method with future papers, and maybe even trying it with some creative writing pieces...but first I must stop procrastinating.
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