It is Sunday evening, and you've got a huge paper due first thing Monday morning. The problem is, you haven't started it, and you have hardly any research on the topic. You can't just not turn the paper in; it is after all worth 15% of your final grade. After much contemplation, you decide that you will try to write the paper without any research; it couldn't be that hard, could it?.
Before you begin doing anything on the paper, you have to wonder about the reason of it. The tone of the paper is often set by the type of paper it is, such as a compare and contrast, would have more of a formal tone, where as a narrative could be more personal. Also, part of the tone could be whether the paper is important, or just busy work for the teacher. Another thing to wonder, is should your paper contain dialogue, or quotes, or perchance it will have neither. These things are all needed when writing a paper without research.
The first step is to figure out what the topic is, and what question it wants you to answer. Once you figure this out, you will have a much easier time making the rest of it up. Your first paragraph should be re-writing the question, and putting it into your own words. Say your question is "What cold medicine really works?" You could start out by saying "There are many cold medicines on the market, although many of them do not work." This will be your thesis statement.
In your next paragraph you will analyze the question. Perhaps you could think of when you have taken cold medicine, and how your system reacted to it. Use a dictionary to find the meanings of "cold" and "medicine", this way you can be sure you are not answering the wrong question. Write what they mean, and what you think they mean on scratch paper to remember for when you are writing your paper.
It is now time that you begin writing the first draft of your paper. You should remember to include what you think the reason of it is, the definition of it, your idea of it, and your drawn out reply to the question.
