Alyssa's Academic Writing Self-Assessment

It is extremely typical of me to begin an academic paper (or any paragraph within that paper) with one sentence, erase it, write another, erase it, and then write another, only to hit the backspace an inordinate amount of times in frustration. Even though I do very well in planning out my essays and noting down which quotes from sources will go in which paragraph and how each point of my argument will connect with the next, I struggle with starting to put the words on the page. At certain times (like a couple nights before the due date) inspiration will strike, and words will flow from me like water from a fountain. But then, of course, editing that deluge becomes something of a secondary priority. For example, the final paper in my English 291 class required me to do some research on a piece of medieval literature and then analyze the text through a formal lens. This paper boasted an incredibly detailed outline with gorgeous notes next to each quotation and citation. But it took me at least three days to come up with the sentences that would build something more solid from the framework for the paper.