There are a multitude of things that come to mind when you are trying to write a research paper. I stayed up until 4 o'clock in the morning every night this week, and have come to realize that writing each part of the paper brings a different struggle.
1. The Introduction
Writing the introduction is the only stress free part of the writing process. You give yourself a little pep talk before you start and then you are on your way to writing a solid thesis statement.
2. First Body Paragraph
The first body paragraph is the time when you feel like you know what you are trying to formulate your essay around. All of your creative ideas are flowing out of that genius brain of yours and you begin to think that your teacher should just give it an A already.
3. Second Body Paragraph
The second body paragraph is the part of the essay where the meltdown is most likely going to take place. You just wrote an amazing intro and first body paragraph, but it just hit you that you do not have a clue what you are writing anymore. Have no fear the anxiety of having to write another body paragraph and a conclusion will take your mind off of this paragraph for a few minutes.
4. Third Body Paragraph
The third body paragraph is where you start think that everything is stupid. Your teacher is stupid for assigning this paper, the topic is stupid, school is stupid, the parties you went to instead of staring to write this paper were stupid and you even tell yourself that you are stupid for waiting until the last minute. The finish line is in sight, but even the conclusion is stupid at this point.
5. Conclusion
It is four in the morning, you are tired and want to sleep so you just start throwing things together and pray that it sounds good. As you are summarizing your main points you think about how stupid the conclusion is. Let me summarize my main arguments when I just spent all night detailing them in those three body paragraphs. No worries, who needs sleep?
6. Turning It In
Yay!! You finished your paper and with whatever sanity you have left you go to class. Upon turning it in you have a moment where you celebrate the masterpiece you just created. That is until your teacher assigns another paper and you realize that you have to repeat the same process... Hang in there.
