Paper processing

Research, research, research. This is all I think about when I’m told I have to write a research paper but it is the step I dread the most. The first thing I do when I have to write a research paper is sit for a long time staring at the computer with the assignment on the screen or stare at the paper sitting in front of me. After I have sulked for a long enough time to where I have forced myself into work mode, I make a list of the things I want to include in my thesis. Once I have made my thesis, I make another sloppy list of my ideas I plan to include.
After I have made a few rough ideas on my list, I look for my outside sources. I think that research papers are my weakness. I have a lot of trouble finding sources that will adequately support my paper. After writing the paper this semester on Jonathan Kozol’s “Savage Inequalities” my search for sources improved. My first copy, my outside source weakened my argument. When I was making my revisions, I found a better outside source and it completely changed the layout of my paper. I think that after out trip to the library, I will be able to find more sources as well. I learned about EBSCO and search engines like that in high school but I never knew how to find a book.
After I try and find the best possible resources, I just start to write. I write my introduction and this takes me the longest. I rewrite my introduction about three times and I stare at each sentence after I write it, then read what I have done out loud to myself until I think it says everything I am trying to include. Once I have written my introduction, I can usually get a role and bust out a few paragraphs at a time and then I have to stop, go back to reread what I have written and try my best to edit it. Once I have taken some time to finish my body paragraphs, I write my conclusion, which always changes after someone else has peer edited it, which is my next step.
I have the same people edit my papers. These are people I feel comfortable around to judge my work and who have good grammar skills, which is my weakness. When I write my papers, I tend to write what I am thinking, not which thoughts will go together to create flowing sentences. Once someone else has edited my paper, I go back and usually need to make a lot of changes. I always tend to fix my transitions.
I would say that grammar and in cooperating my outside source or sources are the most difficult part of writing. I always take the advice from my peer editing seriously and it has always improved my papers in the past so this is one thing in my process I will never change.