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Experiencing writers block? Having trouble getting started on that last final essay? Loosing steam halfway through?

It can be easy to have writers burn-out this time of year when we’re juggling multiple writing assignments and cramming hours and hours of uninspiring library time into our days. To get that writers inspiration up, I though I’d reach out to the U of T community to find some tips to help us through the final paper writing season.

We were lucky to hear from the Academic Success Centre:This is a great tip if you’re feeling overwhelmed with an assignment and aren’t sure where to start.  Try free writing, or brainstorm with a mind-map.

Free writing is a great exercise if you aren’t sure where to start. If you have an idea in the back of your head but aren’t quite sure how to articulate it, or feel that you have too many ideas jumbled up, the free writing process can help you realize and understand your ideas more clearly.  Once the ideas are down on paper, you can begin refining them and structuring your paper.
How to use the free writing technique 

Mind maps can help for those who are visual learners and thinkers, and ideas may flow more naturally for you rather than making a list or just launching right into the writing process.
How to use mind mapping for essay brainstorming 

Here’s a mindmap about mindmaps!

Next tip:If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the looming page count of your paper, try breaking it down into manageable chunks.  If you want help breaking it up, check out this assignment calculator suggested by the Academic Success Centre.

Do you have any more writing tips? We’d love to hear them!