Often, a student’s biggest problem when writing a paper is figuring out what exactly to write about. Even with the clearest assignment given by the most comprehensible professor, students – freshman and upperclassmen alike – can still face problems with getting started.
A healthy approach to writing is perhaps the most important aspect in writing on any subject, and there’s no better way to approach a writing assignment than to see it as a problem solving activity. Writing functions as a problem solving tool in that it lets the writer see her thoughts spelled out, and also allows her to discover new ideas.
The simplest way to approach this (and also the most effective way) is to ask a question. In order to solve a problem, it must first be identified, and once it’s identified, a writer must first be sure that it’s a question she wants to answer. If not, interest in the subject will wane soon after beginning the project.
For instance, consider a biology student faced with a writing assignment on cell biology. The professor may provide different topics, such as cell packing, sister synapses, and cardiac regeneration in fish and amphibians. This hypothetical student may not have any interest in any of these subjects. What then?
Professors are often very receptive to topic suggestions, especially from students who show a clear passion for their proposed topics (assuming, of course, the suggestion applies to the original assignment). If not at all interested in any sample topics, a student should not hesitate to request another one. This ensures a student’s interest in a question will last through the assignment.
What to Ask
Sometimes when a writer tries to ask the right question, a wall appears in the form of confusion. What can be done with this happens?
Locate and identify the confusion, simply put. This is of course not as easy as it sounds, but rarely does writing come easily to anyone. If confused, for instance, about the lines of some complicated poetry, try to write down the specific nature of the confusion. In the occasion of poetry, this can be particularly helpful, but really works in all disciplines.
For a silly, simple example, consider the lines: Blue rains upon the fire glass sewers/clamoring and ravaging orphans mechanical. If assigned to analyze the poem these lines came from, a student may be confused. What questions could possibly be asked about something so seemingly incomprehensible?
Free Writing
This is where free writing to work out the confusion comes in great help. With the lines mentioned above, a confused student who is free writing about this poetry would write: “I have no idea what it means glass sewers and what blue raining has anything to do with anything. When I think of glass I think of transparent and if a sewer is transparent then the stuff in the sewer could be seen in the city…”
Notice in the example above that punctuation and form are unimportant in the act of free writing; the idea is to simply get thoughts out and in the open. The confused student above, after writing out his confusion for a while, comes to see that grotesque realism seems to play a big part in the poem he was assigned. So a question he comes to ask is: “How does grotesque realism manifest through imagery in this poem?” With a good question in need of only a little further development, he can now begin to write his assignment with a clear thesis statement and goal.
Taking the problem solving approach is always a great way to begin any writing project. In attempting to articulate confusion or questions, the answer often pops up unexpectedly; if not, at least a clear path to find that answer emerges.
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