In order to overcome academic writer's block, it's important to know what's behind the block. Unfortunately, the answer, while relatively simple, is one that student writers often don't want to hear. Writer's block is a symptom that the writer doesn't have a solid essay development process that includes a comprehensive planning, or pre-writing, phase. More often than not, the writer does the research and then jumps right into the first draft, and then wonders why he or she can't get past paragraph two. Another common variation is the writer who stares for long periods of time at the assignment instructions but can't think of a way to start. Both of these problems relate to deficits in the pre-writing phase.
Think of writing an essay as similar to crossing a stream by hopping from rock to rock. If you have plenty of rocks, each positioned a short distance apart, you'll have no problem getting to the other side. But if you only have a few rocks, or if you only started placing your rocks in the center of the stream (similar to starting your essay with the first draft), you'll find yourself stuck on the shore, or perhaps perched on a rock midway across, with no idea of what to do next. Some students will claim they get blocked when they aren't interested in the subject. If that's the case, chances are good that the essays they do write without trouble aren't particularly well organized. With a good plan in place, you can write about a boring topic just as easily as an interesting one. Using the stream analogy, it's not the view of the opposite bank that gets you across; it's the placement of the rocks.
With that in mind, here are 10 steps involved in creating an essay. If you follow the plan in order, you shouldn't get blocked, since each step is small and manageable and leads on to the next step.
1. Choose a topic. This will often be a smaller aspect of the assignment. For example, suppose you are being asked to write about ways that literature has influenced America. That's a huge idea, so you need to find a more manageable topic within the question (making sure you meet the guidelines of the assignment). You might choose a single book, like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, and discuss the different ways it influenced America, or you might choose an aspect of America, like race relations, and then select several books that influenced its evolution, like Uncle Tom's Cabin and To Kill A Mockingbird. If you don't know enough about the subject to choose a topic, then you may need to do some preliminary research to gather ideas. You might find articles and books about American literature and skim through them to find possible topics.
2. Do the first part of your research. Read about your topic. Find multiple sources, and, if possible, look at both books and articles in scholarly journals. If your topic is time sensitive, like the current economy, make sure your sources are suitably current. When you find a particularly good source, pay attention to the sources that article or book cites, as this will help you find other resources. I call this "piggyback" research, and it often turns up a much better mix of sources than database searching alone. Read until you think you have a good handle on the major aspects of your topic.
3. Choose your point of view. What do you want to say about the topic? What do you hope to prove? Many writers who get stuck in the middle of an essay do so because they don't really know what they want to say about the topic, so they can't be sure when they've said it. Additionally, without a point of view, it can be hard to organize your research or know when you have enough information. Keep in mind that point of view isn't always just being for or against something. Sometimes, it's a specific idea that you want to get across. So, for example, if your topic is how Jack Kerouac's On the Road influenced America, your point of view might be that the book's depiction of drug use contributed to the 1970s drug culture. In addition to helping give your essay direction, a clear point of view will help focus your research so that you can easily identify what is relevant and what isn't.
4. Combine your topic and your point of view into a single thesis statement. It doesn't have to be polished and ready to drop into your introductory paragraph, but it needs to clearly summarize the main idea of your paper in a single sentence (If you "need" to use two sentences, this is a clue that your idea isn't fully crystallized yet.). Using the Kerouac example, your thesis might be: Depictions of marijuana and Benzedrine use in Jack Kerouac's On the Road contributed to increased acceptance of casual drug use in the 1970s. Once you have a thesis statement, refer back to your assignment instructions to be sure that the thesis meets the requirements of your essay.
5. Using your thesis, complete your research, filling in any gaps in your knowledge that may have presented themselves now that you know exactly what you plan to write about. For example, you may need to find more sources about drug use in the 1970s or critical articles about On the Road. Your research should be very efficient at this stage because you'll be able to see quickly what is relevant to your thesis and what is not.
6. Identify 3-5 (depending on the required length of your essay) arguments in support of your thesis. In other words, if you had to prove your thesis in court, what would you use to back up your claim? If you've researched sufficiently, you should be able to identify these arguments from your accumulated notes. If you can't find at least 3 arguments, you probably need to go back and research your essay further. If you've got a lot of research but still can't find at least 3 arguments, you may need to reconsider your point of view and/or topic. It's possible that the reason you can't find 3 arguments is that your thesis is wrong or unprovable. Once you have 3-5 arguments, put them on a piece of paper underneath your thesis statement. Congratulations! You have the beginnings of an outline!
7. Build your outline. It can help to think of an outline as a series of layers. To keep your paper balanced, you need to have roughly the same number of layers to each argument. Look at each argument you have on your sheet of paper and think of at least two pieces of proof for each argument. If you can't provide at least two pieces of proof, then chances are that your argument isn't particularly sound and needs to be changed. Depending on how complex your topic is, you may need to go to a second layer of proof (essentially offering proof for your proofs) or even a third. Go as deeply as you need to make your point, but be sure to keep balance across your essay. Everything doesn't have to be exactly equal, but you don't want five layers in one section of your outline and only one in another. Here's an example of a basic outline for one argument in our imaginary On the Road essay: 1) Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas mirrors On the Road; a) Both books feature drug use without obvious consequences; b)Both books feature road trips in which the participants experience a "high" while driving that is similar to drug euphoria. This is a segment with just one additional layer, but you would add at least one additional layer, offering at least an excerpt from each novel in support of points a and b. And, if necessary, you would add even more points and levels.
8. Once your level is fully developed and balanced, begin expanding your outline to create your rough draft. This should be relatively simple because all you are doing is crafting sentences to present the points you have outlined. If you reach a point where you are asking "What comes next?" then stop writing and return to your outline. Outlining is a skill like any other, so do be surprised if your first attempt isn't perfect; force yourself to go back and revise it until it works as a solid roadmap to your essay.
9. Once you've written your rough draft, you should set it aside for at least 30 minutes (and, ideally, 24 hours) to let your mind rest before you start editing. If you jump right to the editing process, you will not be able to view the essay objectively.
10. Reread the assignment guidelines, and then read through your essay. Be sure you have met all the requirements of the assignment. Then, check to see if your essay develops logically. You may find you want to move paragraphs around to build your case in a better way. If you outlined well, this should be relatively easy since your ideas are all grouped together logically.
And that's it! If you follow these 10 steps, you shouldn't get blocked because the distance between each step is short and easily navigated. Once you are finished with step 10, all that remains is to proofread your essay for grammar and spelling errors and turn it in!
The next time you become blocked, ask yourself: "Which part of the process am I skipping or attempting to rush through?" Perhaps you didn't take the time to choose a workable point of view, or you may have skimped on your research, leaving you without the knowledge you need to fully address your thesis. Maybe you felt so enthusiastic about your paper idea that you skipped the outline and jumped right into the rough draft. Whatever the reason, stop and go back to the place in the process where you went astray and begin again. You should find your writer's block fading away in no time.