Guilford College Writing Manual

The sample calendar that follows illustrates one way of tackling a 10-page research paper where there is a period of just over three weeks between the paper's being assigned and the due date. You might ask yourself how you might integrate the 15-minute-work-unit strategy discussed above.

The schedule allows ample time for both prewriting and rewriting, the two areas which students slight the most.

Contrary to the way professionals compose, students tend to write one-shot exploratory drafts and turn them in as final papers. These papers usually open with a tentative thesis and end with a confident conclusion--confident because by the time the writers get to the end, they have discovered what they should have known before the start of a final draft. In these all-too-common cases, the professor often recommends--if a rewrite is allowed--that the student move the conclusion to the beginning and move on from there.

Why not use this knowledge to your benefit? Write at least two drafts. In the first, find out what you have to say. In the second, after you've revisited what you said and looked at it critically, say it well.