Paper Writing Challenges

Many challenges may arise when writing a paper and they may be different for each individual. One of the challenges that I face when writing a paper is choosing my own topic. There are a lot of topics out there that can be written about and when an instructor does not specify one for you, it can become a bit overwhelming. Even after you have a general idea of what you want to write about, you may want to narrow down that broad topic and talk about something specific. Another challenge for me is writing a good thesis statement or topic sentence. I believe that the thesis statement is the most influential part of the essay; it will either make the paper or break it. You want the thesis statement to be effective and somehow suck the reader in. Lastly, another challenge of the writing process is finding enough substantial
evidence and support to back up your thesis statement.
I tend to sometimes have a difficult time eliminating unnecessary facts or statements which can either confuse the reader or turn out to be simply an overload of insignificant information. When writing many of us will face challenges, but the important part is to know your weaknesses as a writer and find good strategies to get over those challenges and ultimately write a great paper.
Writing a paper can appear as a challenge to many people, but it’s about finding the right strategies to help you overcome those bumps in the road. One of the challenges that I face is picking my own topic to write about. In order to overcome this challenge, I try to focus on a topic that interests me or one that I can personally relate to. I have found that prewriting techniques such as brainstorming and free-writing have proved to be effective when facing this challenge. Free writing is something I was always encouraged to do in high school in order to let your thoughts flow down on a piece of paper, these thoughts and ideas could later be
reviewed to create a topic or inspire other ideas. Brainstorming works in a similar way but rather than writing full sentences, the writer lists ideas down and builds off of them. Writing a thesis statement can be a difficult task as well. The University of Phoenix Library offers a Thesis Generator which helps gather information about your paper to help form a thesis statement. It is a great strategy to use when you are stuck and can’t get your thoughts together. I have also taken a workshop online which provided me with a checklist for writing a thesis statement; I have found it to be very useful. Lastly, the biggest part of the paper which includes your evidence and support may throw curve balls at you while writing. When choosing evidence, I always ask myself if it answers the questions “why” in relation to my thesis statement. Going over the evidence and support you choose for your essay is also important so that you can eliminate any information that may confuse the reader or just simply doesn’t fit. Taking the writing process as a step by step procedure will aid you in writing a better paper. Following the writing process will diminish any challenges because it is a combination of strategies that help you get rid of the issues you may have while writing.