English is more like math than you think

An English paper ought to be treated like math homework, a daily chore, but somehow many folk think an English paper happens all in one go, the marathon event that starts with a gun shot at noon and runs through research, swims through paragraphs, and cycles to the finish, leaving you exhausted and usually late. These papers lack planning, organization, creativity, and polish. They are also loaded with plagiarism. A much better approach to a paper is to think of it as daily homework, divided into stages of development. Find and read your research for two days, picking out favorite quotes and statistics and summarizing interesting ideas. The next day, make a plan for your paper, put your ideas into a logical order, and choose which pieces of research will go where. Next day after that, write a couple of paragraphs from your plan, and these could be any two paragraphs because you don't have to start at the beginning. Two more paragraphs per day in the days that follow will build a rough draft. Once that is complete, go get feedback from someone who is good at writing. Then spend a day revising what you have done. Polish your grammar and spelling the day before you turn in your paper. Print a nice new copy and walk into class after a good night's sleep.