When you must WRITE, what's the best way to start?

Question

So many of us struggle with how to start writing an important document, whether it's for work, school or a Personal Essay for University Admissions. What do you recommend?

Answer 1

I would start with a "brain dump". This is essentially dumping all of the information onto paper about the given topic to be written about. This doesn't have to be neat or organized. The organization will begin later in the outlining process.

Answer 2

1. Depending on how you are writing and for what purpose, you can make either a little time to brainstorm, or you can set aside a dedicated ideation session. If you are writing a high-stakes essay, such as a timed writing assignment for a test, jot down the main 3-4 points and topics you want to cover in your essay. If possible, consider a counterpoint for each one, and acknowledge the other side of the argument. For example, if you were to write a persuasive piece about how to curb anthropogenic climate change, your brainstorm might include words and phrases such as:
2. greenhouse gas emissions
3. carbon neutral societies
4. renewable resources
5. ecological and environmental damage
6. The Paris Agreement
7. If possible, spend some time making associations between these factors. Ask yourself: Which of the topics I came up with relate to one another, and therefore should be grouped together thematically in a single paragraph? Or, what is the effect when I use a particular argument as my concluding statement; does it make the piece weaker or stronger? What would be a natural introduction, and where would be a logical place to end?
8. The time will come to just start writing. If you are using a word processor like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, remember that you can always come back and delete your first sentence(s) later, so even if you write, "Climate change is a bad thing and should be stopped," you can come back later and delete the sentence, or even edit the sentiment to something such as, "Climate change is detrimental to our society and the ecosystems that support it. Measures should be taken to prevent further warming of our planet beyond the acceptable limits laid out in the Paris Agreement."
9. Is it always good advice to acknowledge the counterpoint of any argument you are making. For example, in this case, you must consider that oil and other non-renewable resources are firmly entrenched in our society, our machines, and our lives. You might want to add that solar panels can be expensive and that wind farms have detrimental impacts on avian life. You might argue that the Paris Agreement puts global restrictions on national and local policy, a possible over-reach of power. Remember to acknowledge the other side, then reaffirm your original point, perhaps in the manner of, "While solar panels are initially an expensive investment, they are more economical in the long term. If this endeavor is undertaken on a global scale, installing solar panels can make a significant difference in the way our society consumes energy and in lowering both our individual and international carbon footprint."
10. Remember to edit! Spelling, grammar, and punctuation all count. You may want to edit your ideas for clarity or to make them more nuanced and complex. Remembering that you can always edit your ideas can help you get started and overcome the fear of perfection that the blank page sometimes inspires. Professional authors edit their work, so why should students be any different? You don't have to get it 'right' the first time you write. Get something down on paper so long as you know you can fix it later. And in the end, even a short essay is better than turning in a blank page or missing an assignment. Remember that writing, like anything else, is a learning process, and the more you do it, the better you'll get at it. If you have a big test coming up, practice writing down answers to some potential questions you may be asked. Try free-writing or journaling, or take up creative writing as a hobby.

Answer 3

One Way to Finally Start Writing: Voice-to Text Brain Dump

As both Shaneika and Caitlin have shared, one helpful starting tip is a brainstorm or brain dump session. My preferred method for this is as follows:

1. Pull up your writing prompt phone and/or computer.
2. Open your notes app or a word processor (for example, Google Docs or Microsoft Word)
3. Set a timer for 3 minutes.
4. Turn on the voice-to-text feature on your phone's keyboard or in the word processor.
5. Simply speak whatever comes to mind on the subject of your writing prompt. Here, just focus on continuing your thoughts, no matter where they take you and no matter how they sound.
6. Once your 3 minutes are up, see if you can organize these initial thoughts. Can you find subtopics to explore more deeply? Did something you said encourage curiosity for you to do some research or self-reflection?
7. Flesh out the ideas you brought up in your initial thoughts according to the prompt or task. Remember, support your claims with evidence or explanations, especially for argumentative writing, research papers, or persuasive documents.
8. Finally, refine your writing by cutting out unnecessary, repeated, or unrelated information.

I hope this process helps you start writing any documents you might have trouble starting! This is a method I've used to write everything from college application essays (to get admission into Georgetown University, where I recently graduated) and complex work emails to research papers and study abroad program applications.

Answer 4

When I was younger, I suffered from what one American writer called the “spaghetti” effect – like the Italian noodle, your writing wanders from here to there, without any clear flow or objective. Why’d this happen? My disorganized thoughts led to disorganized writing.

Since we’re almost always writing for some sort of “audience,” we should view our writing as another form of Strategic Communications and Effective Messaging. Here’s my Four-Step Jordan Formula:

1) WHO exactly is my audience? Why are they my audience? Why would, or should, they read this? What can they learn from it? Or in what way could they benefit from it? Or else, why care?

2) WHAT exactly do I want to write? What point, or argument, will I make? What idea do I propose? What story do I want to tell? What “core message” will I deliver, directly to their heart, or to their mind? What’s the one thing they MUST remember from what I write?

3) WHY EXACTLY do I want to make this point, or argument? Why exactly do I want to deliver this message? Why exactly would my audience find this point/argument/idea interesting? Or important? Or, ideally, both interesting AND important? Why should they read this story? Why exactly must they remember this or that “core message”?

To answer this essential question, here's a one-sentence, critical-thinking filter: “My reader/our audience should find this piece of writing interesting, at least, because …” WHY exactly should they? Finish this sentence! This even helps us make the case for why we should even write this!

4) HOW exactly do I want to make this point or argument? How exactly do I want to propose this idea, or deliver my message? Supported by which facts, evidence, details, examples, anecdotes, insights, etc.? Likewise, how exactly do I want to tell this story? Why that way?