what is the best way to start a paper?

Question

i can't seem to be able to start my essay, even though its a personal experience essay....i've been trying for hours, but i can't seem to start it....please help

Answer 1

The first thing to do is to just put words on paper. It doesn't matter if they are good or make sense or are spelled correctly. This is the brainstorming stage. Write down anything that interests you, how you are feeling, where you want to go when you finish the essay, what you did yesterday--it doesn't matter, just put down thoughts. Be outrageous, be silly, be philosophical, be anything.

Now that you have a bunch of "stuff" to look at, see if any of it interests you. Come at it from different directions. Ask questions, turn the ideas on their heads and see where it leads. What would I do is x happened, etc. List everything you can think of when you think about that idea. Even, why you picked it over the other things.

There is a part of everyone's brain that plays editor. This is the part that helps you decide if something is correct, or good. However, the editor hates almost everything at first and can keep you from trying anything out. Right now you don't need the editor, so mentally picture locking the editor in the closet (with duct tape over his/her mouth).

Write a draft. I usually make a file in my computer that says "crap" on it for first drafts. If I tell myself that it doesn't matter if it's crap right now, it's easier to write. No expectations.
Mostly you need the first draft to see what you think about what you're writing. Also, you can't make it better until you actually have something down.

A professional author (award-winning) once told me---write crap, edit brilliantly. No one has to see your first draft. No one has to know that you weren't brilliant the first time you put the words on paper.

Now go back and try to organize the "crap." Add, subtract, restructure, embellish, etc. Now you can let the editor back out of the closet to help you make the piece better.

After the second draft is done, read it out loud to yourself. Where you stumble, where you falter, where you bore yourself is where the paper needs work. Correct, polish, make sure all the mechanics are right (grammar, spelling, punctuation).

Et voila, you have a paper. (It works the same way whether it's a paper, a graduate thesis, a story or any other piece of writing).

Answer 2

The best way to start a personal experience essay is by throwing your reader directly in to a dramatic narrative scene. Be very descriptive.

I'll give you some examples. If you are writing about the time you scored the winning goal in a soccer game, start with:

"Beads of sweat poured from my forhead into my eyes, blurring my vision. The hot midday sun beat down on my shoulders. I wiped my eyes and peered at the soccer net, far off across the field."

Say you're writing about the death of your grandfather:

"I couldn't help but flinch as the needly pierced my grandfather's pale skin. I looked away and listened to the steady beeping sound of the heart monitor..."

Get the idea? Try to start with something very dramatic, even if it's not the beginning of the personal experience. Then you can go back and explain what you're writing about and why.

Answer 3

Ok, here is a simple way to start.
First, in your mind organize what is it you are going to say. Put it down on paper point by point. You are not starting an essay. Just jot down every item that comes to your mind. No particular order.

Then, start a paragraph narrating what you are going to say.

Next 2 or 3 para should say what you are saying (your personal experience). Bring those points you wrote down when you started. This where you will plug them.

Finally, sum up with what you said in para 1, that is, what you were going to say but this time it will bring important points in paras 2 and 3.

There, you are done. Proof read, correct spelling and grammer. Print, submit. It should take all of 1 hour. No more.
Is it two page essay?

Just start typing on your favorite Wordprocessor, and it will flow. But you have start. That's the magic.

Answer 4

the outlet is often the toughest area for me too so i merely dont initiate on the initiating sick initiate contained in the midsection you comprehend merely dig in with elbows and knees and write the midsection of the paper and then summarize the midsection for the initiating and end paragraphs. you additionally can evaluate some element from television or a line from a action picture or some sort of many times occurring and rather recognizable assertion approximately slavery and then use that as a thread on your paper like "I also have a dream......"~ Dr. Martin Luther King (merely those 4 words and the .....) then go into something like "at one time the assumption of a international the place race isn't a controversy became incredibly purely a dream as contained in the e book.........blah blah blah" desire this helped a touch good success

Answer 5

Just start writing whatever comes to mind. It can be irrelevant. Eventually you'll fall into the mood and ideas will start forming in words instead of raw emotions and you'll be writing the paper.

If your mind is totally dead, describe something you see.

If you see a tree, write: There's a tree over there. I don't know what kind, but the bark is brown and the leaves are a slightly reddish shade of yellow. They don't seem to blow in this breeze which keeps blowing my hair out of place so my bangs fall into my eyes. It's a good thing I've got this pen- It's thinner than my fingers, and combs my hair back faster and nicer. The breeze is nice.

Freewrite.

Answer 6

Hey, well, the best way to start is to be really personal, and to express yourself and how you feel. Try to work some humour or a certain mood into it. Don't start off with something typical and boring, such as, "It was October when my dad got cancer." Instead, try something like, "Sometimes, in the middle of the night, memories flash through my mind like scenes from a black and white movie. Scenes of my father in pain, agonizing screams paired with visions of white hospital sheets." o_0;;; Okayy, so I apologize for the really bad example, but you get my point, right? =^^=

Answer 7

Start your essay by using a saying or an expression. Then, compare your personal experiences to that saying or expression and elaborate further.

Answer 8

Start at the end. Think about what you are trying to say or where you want to end up. Then work backwards from there until you have your answer and the beginning. Good luck.

Answer 9

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

Answer 10

deeeeeeeep breath..............then think about what u r gonna write...customize it in ur brain & then start writing..all da best!!!