Imagine, if you will, you have a paper due tomorrow. The paper will not only decide whether you pass the class; the class is contingent upon your graduation. To make matters worse, despite your desperate situation, the paper’s subject only encourages you to procrastinate, and you have convinced yourself that the increasing pressure to finish will help you focus in the two hours before the paper needs to be submitted. Maybe your situation is not this dire, but it may feel that way. Here are some tips to make starting or finishing a little less panic inducing.

1. As long as it is within the boundaries of your assignment, write the paper that would capture your attention. Keep it academic, but take liberties; tell a story with your thesis; get creative. Think about why you are not connecting to the subject and use your perspective as a way to critically analyze the topic.
2. Collect your sources ahead of time. Even if you have yet to write anything else, add all the references you intend to include in your paper. Think about how each reference supports your thesis and organize them accordingly throughout what will be your introduction, body, and conclusion. All you would need to do is then combine and support each with your own ideas.
3. Remember how relieved you were when you last finished a paper? The final product might have even impressed you. It was not a fluke. The same prospects apply this time. Don’t let pressure cloud your impression. You wrote that paper, and you will do it again.

If preparation is less of a problem for you, but you would like to improve your writing, the following titles might interest you. Thanks to the library’s collection of eBooks, you do not even need to leave the comfort of your home to benefit from our selection.

10 Steps to Successful Business Writing, 2nd Edition
The Student Guide to Writing
Seven Steps to Confident Writing
Writing Fantastic Fiction

Find those and other books on any academic subject you need through Ivy Tech Library’s catalog database, IvyCat!