走出困境，保持前进动能

如果我们卡住了，什么技巧能够让我们恢复，保持写作的动能？

在研究阶段和写作阶段，都有一些技巧，保持自己的动能。下面是哈佛历史和社会学写作指南中介绍的方法：

在研究阶段，卡是正常的。分析是被什么卡住了。下面的办法可以帮助你保持动能：

  1. 给阅读材料排优先级；

  2. 整理文件夹；

  3. 记笔记时，也写下自己的思考，对二手材料中的分析，记下你是否同意，为什么。对一手材料，记下你的初始分析。

  4. 对二手材料做注释书目（annotated bibliography），记下你的理解和它们的不同，或者你的理解基于其中哪些内容。在看一本新书之前，先这个书目，提醒自己为什么要看它，把精力集中在最相关的（pertinent）的方面。

  5. 维护一个要回答的问题列表和要查找的信息列表。平时带着它。在查找资料之前，先看这个列表，确保你的目标清晰；

  6. 遇到一个不能和其它证据不和的（countervailing）证据时，避免简单地忽略它，或者因为它而停止现在的研究思路，试着变换你的论证过程，把它包进来，这样你的论证会变得更加复杂、令人印象更加深刻。

  7. 每次从论文计划书中选一个领域，设置可以管理的目标，有了一些发现后，和大家讨论。

在写作阶段，保持动能的方法是：

  1. 制定计划，然后严格执行。即使你觉得自己没有准备好，也开始写。因为写作永远也没有准备好的时候：总有一本书还要读，一个实验还要做。不过分在意文笔。写下这一章、这一节的中心句，就此开始；

  2. 向周围的人，或者一棵树，用清晰、可以理解的语言，反复解释你研究的中心目标和你的分析，这会帮助你聚焦你写作；

  3. 猛写了几天之后，创建一个反向大纲，整理写的内容，理出论点，理顺论证过程。这会对后面的写作有利；

  4. 发现自己写乱了时候，新建一个文档，把这个文档里的内容，往新文档里复制粘贴，把过渡弄平滑；

  5. 告诉自己，别太在意，这只是一个草稿。

  6. 别破坏自己的节奏（rhythm）。不中途停止，去查参考文献、选择合适的单词，这些后面都可以再打磨。先把粗略的草稿写出来。

参考文献


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附录：哈佛历史和社会学写作指南中的原文

Maintaining Momentum while Researching

At some point—and more likely at numerous points—progress on your senior thesis will grind to a standstill. Simply put, you will feel stuck. If your peers seem to be cruising along while you are idling, do not start worrying about your thesis; they will surely go through the same experience, and may have already done so. It should come as no surprise that everyone’s fits and starts occur at different times during the year. After all, each thesis writer is balancing an individualized research agenda with various curricular and extracurricular commitments. If you find yourself in a thesis slump, you must determine what is holding you back so you know where to direct your efforts. Feelings of frustration and anxiety have many causes: too many unread books and articles littering your bedroom floor; too few leads that seem worth pursuing; or, a flood of papers, exams, job interviews, and LSAT courses to take care of first. While there is no magic solution to getting back on track, the following tricks of the trade might help.

Prioritize your readings.

If you feel overwhelmed by the mountain of books in your room, spend two hours sorting books into two piles: “To Return” and “To Read.” Start building the “To Return” pile with books that seemed interesting when you found them in the stacks but proved irrelevant when you started reading them at home. Having a lot of books in this category should not be disconcerting; it is a good indication that you have refined your topic and have grown more aware of what is useful for advancing your thesis. Next, flip through books you have not yet skimmed or read. Since you have only two hours, give each book 5-7 minutes of attention; this should be enough to determine if the book is worth more of your time in the days ahead. If a 30-page section of a 300-page book looks useful, mark the relevant pages so you know the size of the task when you include it on your to-do list.

Improve your filing system.

If you have photocopies scattered across the floor of your room, sort them by topic and put them into clearly-labeled (in pencil, since they may change) file folders. Do the same on your computer’s desktop: create folders and categorize notes by subject, source, or thesis chapter. All of the above can help you feel less overwhelmed and more in control of your project. In addition, you will be glancing at your sources again and may have fresh insights to make note of as you file.

Be an active note-taker.

As you take notes, keep a running commentary of your own thoughts. Mark these notes clearly as your own (e.g., bracket them, put an asterisk by them, highlight them) so you can later distinguish them from information taken from a source. For secondary literature, note whether you agree or disagree with the analysis and why (e.g., your primary sources contradict an author’s point). For primary sources, note your initial analysis of statements or facts. This will save you time later and keep you on task as you read: Is the information you are recording really useful to you? How does it connect to other information you have gathered?

Write concise summaries of the secondary literature.

Before you can situate your particular analysis within the larger historical literature, you need a clear idea of the arguments others have made, as well as the sources they used to make them. As you read key secondary works (i.e., books and articles useful less as a source of factual information and more as a representative piece of historiography), create an annotated bibliography. Be sure to note who is talking to whom within the literature. As you create your annotated bibliography, write a few sentences outlining how your developing interpretation differs from or builds on those of others. Continue to edit this paragraph as you add to the bibliography. This exercise will not only help organize your thoughts, but it will also help you prepare the historiographical essay due in October, and ultimately provide you with the basis for the historiographical section of your thesis. (See Preparing an Annotated Bibliography.)

Remember that sources can be used in multiple ways. In addition to helping you situate your analysis within a wider historiography, secondary sources might be useful for background information. Even if you are critical of an author’s interpretation in your historiography section, you can use the author’s research in making your own argument. Discursive footnotes will help you navigate between multiple uses of a source.

Make a list of questions to be answered.

While the early phase of researching involves reading widely as you attempt to pinpoint your topic, your strategy will change as you narrow in on a central argument. Keep your reading and research focused by maintaining a list of questions you still need to answer or information you still need to pin down. Update this list regularly, and keep a copy (e.g., printout in your backpack, attachment in your email inbox, or file on a USB memory stick) so it travels with you to the library and your adviser’s office. Before reading any new source, review the list so the ultimate purpose—advancing your thesis—is clear in your mind.

When you start reading a new book or article, you can also refer to your annotated bibliography. This will remind you of why you are including the source in your thesis in the first place, and it will help you focus on the most pertinent aspects of it.

Ponder the piece that does not fit.

When developing your argument, you will often find a piece of evidence that does not fit with the rest of the evidence you have gathered. There are two common reactions to this seemingly aberrant piece of evidence:

Resist both of these extreme inclinations. Consider the possibility that this awkward bit of evidence could transform your entire argument if you can figure out how to incorporate it into the whole. Historians often find that the piece that does not fit matters more in the end than all of the other pieces put together. Your argument may become more sophisticated and more impressive as you take into account countervailing pieces of evidence.

Tackle one area at a time.

Because the senior thesis is likely the longest paper you have ever written, it is easy to feel pulled in many research directions. If you do not know where to start, go back to your thesis proposal and select one area to focus on first. Then, set manageable goals in consultation with your adviser and schedule a meeting to report on your findings after a reasonable period of time. Know that as you check items off your to-do list, you will be building momentum toward accomplishing larger goals, such as completing a chapter outline or draft.

Maintaining Momentum while Writing

Never do more research as a means of avoiding writing.

No amount of planning will eliminate all obstacles from the writing process. Everyone struggles through passages that are complex, yet critical to the analysis. Also, when writing a lengthy chapter, it is easy to lose track of the central argument of that chapter or how it serves the overall thesis. This section offers strategies for staying productive throughout the writing stage—even if the actual technique involves taking a step back, leaving a task for a later date, or having a conversation.

Make a schedule and stick to it.

If you plan to start writing on Monday, then start writing on Monday, even if you do not think you are ready. In some respects, you are never ready to write: there is always one more book you could read, one more article you could download, one more microfilm reel you could scan. This will be true at the beginning of every section and every chapter. When you reach the brink of the writing phase, additional research—especially additional secondary research—can be more of a hindrance than a help. Never do more research as a means of avoiding writing. You will only compound your problems by gathering more information that must eventually be discussed in a chapter you cannot bear to start writing in the first place. Decide that you will spend a set number of hours each day writing your senior thesis. The following guidelines will help:

• Keep track of your hours at the computer. Even if those hours prove unproductive on some days, in the end they will add up to a completed draft.

• In tallying your hours, count only time spent in front of the keyboard actually composing. Do not count time spent getting books from the library or reading articles.

• Avoid being overly critical of your prose as you write because you will impede your progress. You will be able to refine your argument and polish your prose once you have a draft.

• Write the central argument of your section, chapter, or thesis in big letters at the top of your computer screen so it is waiting to confront you at the beginning of each writing session.

Perform the three thesis tricks.

Although you think you know precisely what your thesis is about, you may find that you have difficulty explaining it to someone else. You should be able to summarize your research project, along with the questions motivating you. Practice this whenever someone asks you about the topic of your thesis. Your answers have probably changed several times already; this likely reflects increasing awareness of your initial topic, but avoid hopping around from subject to subject in the writing stage. While talking to faculty, graduate students, and peers is imperative, you will also find it useful to explain the project to a friend or family member who has little knowledge of the subject. Continually repeating the central goal of your investigation and analysis in clear, understandable language will help focus your writing.

Create a reverse outline.

If you have been writing diligently for several days and feel like you are rapidly going nowhere, consider backing up and creating an outline of what you have already put on paper. Can you identify an argument? Is this argument supported by evidence? Do the various pieces of the argument flow together? Taking time to edit what you have written and clarifying its purpose can often propel you into the next five pages of writing.

Start on a fresh page.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by your own prose—20 pages of analysis that pull you under like a whirlpool—save what you have and open a blank document. Sometimes starting on a fresh page is incredibly freeing; you no longer have to worry if you are wandering off track. Start writing a new section or new chapter from the beginning. Later, you can cut and paste the pieces together and smooth out transitions.

Tell yourself, “This is just a draft.” (Repeat as needed.)

Any senior thesis writer will be overwhelmed if he or she stops to think, “This is supposed to be the masterpiece of my entire Harvard education.” It is more accurate (and fair to yourself) to think of the thesis as the capstone experience of your undergraduate training. All of the skills you have learned—from Expository Writing through History 97 and your reading and redearch seminars—will help you complete the process a rewarding one. Like any other paper, the senior thesis is written in rough drafts that are gradually polished by editing, additional research, and the helpful comments of advisers, writing tutors, roommates, and friends.

Do not break your rhythm.

Allow yourself to write a draft. If the prose is flowing, do not stop to look up a quotation, ponder the right word choice, or format a block quote. At most, type in “[insert quote here]” or “[look up page number later]” or “[add footnote].” You can polish, elaborate, refine, or trim another day. The important thing is to get a draft on paper sooner rather than later. Having a draft enables you to edit and fill in blanks when inspiration ebbs. Once you have a draft of a chapter or section, you can tinker with it, reflect upon it, and seek feedback. Nine times out of ten, you will be pleasantly surprised when reading a rough draft for the first time.

GETTING IT DONE

Pacing yourself and maintaining momentum

Successful writers at all levels employ a range of working styles. Although creative writers sometimes claim a scene or element comes to them “all at once,” or overnight in one rush of writing, this is not a recommended approach for a work of scholarship. The well-known formula of churning out a paper in two all-nighters during reading period simply cannot be successfully expanded into a passable senior thesis. Your thesis is a project that will benefit in many ways from steady work over an extended period of time. This will both help transform it into a manageable, not overwhelming, undertaking and allow your argument to become enriched by the extended grappling and multiple revisions that only a gradual writing process can allow for.

Most important in writing a thesis-length project is to avoid letting significant time pass between work sessions. The more consistent you are in keeping your thesis a part of your weekly, if not daily, life, the more likely you’ll be on the alert for serendipitous discoveries in unexpected places, and the better the chance that you’ll wake one morning to an unexpected revelation. Try scheduling writing sessions directly into your calendar, and treat them with the respect you would any other important appointment.

Some people research and then write chapter by chapter. Others prefer to do the bulk of their research before they begin writing. Neither approach is superior, but you would do well to do at least some of your writing early in the project. This will both give you a sense of how much time and effort a chapter takes, and give your advisor something to respond to early on. Sometimes the very act of writing reveals problems with research, or suggests a more sophisticated orientation the project might take. At the least, draft small sections as you go along and the research is fresh in your mind. Having something on paper may well jog your memory, force you to re-evaluate part of an argument, or simply make the process of “starting” a chapter later on less daunting

Often a good solution to writer’s block is to begin work on a different section. Some students find it freeing to give themselves permission to write badly, just to fill a page with words. Or, rather than badly, you might try writing informally, as if you were writing in a journal, or sending an email. You may well find yourself able to transition into more formal diction and complex formulations. After all, for most of us, it’s easier to work on making something better than to build something from scratch. If the words still won’t come, do some more research, or even work on your footnotes. This helps avoid compounding the problem of feeling stuck with the knowledge that one has been wasting time. And if you’re still stuck, get some fresh air and exercise, eat something, or drink water. Sometimes a change in body chemistry can jump-start the brain. The worst thing to do is to keep staring at the blank computer screen for hours on end, getting more and more frustrated. Some people advise that you never finish a day of writing at the end of a paragraph or section. That way you’ll never have to start up again in the most difficult place—the beginning.

How “good” does a first draft need to be?

For your first draft to be maximally useful to you, it should be intelligible to an outside reader, such as your advisor. It’s fine to omit sections you plan to write, but you should include outlines and notes for those parts as placeholders to guide your reader and to remind you and your reader of the flow of your argument and evidence when you return to writing. Your writing in a draft should be as straightforward and clear as possible, and you should concentrate your energies on your argument, the marshaling and ordering of your evidence, and the structure of your thesis. You may well find, having written a full draft of a chapter, or even of the thesis, that major re-structuring would benefit the clarity or persuasiveness of your project. It’s the nature of a thesis that it may need to change form quite radically at one or more points. Your first draft is an opportunity to make certain that you are on a sustainable path

What if you fall behind?

Consult with your advisor immediately. Never try to hide the state of things. The problem might be that the scope of your project has turned out to be too broad, and your advisor may be able to help you narrow it to good effect. Or you may have underestimated how much time it takes to write a good thesis. You must be honest with yourself about your extra-curricular commitments and general work habits. The important thing is to catch yourself early if you are falling behind. The sooner you acknowledge that you’re having a hard time meeting your deadlines, the more options you’ll have for addressing the problem.