To accompany a patter blog post. patthomson.net The slides address a common problem which people often have after a period of free writing or that they may find when they are reading a paper. These are strategies for the writer to try out.

1. Why am I reading this?
OR
Why am I writing this?
Four strategies for addressing the apparently purposeless paper
Pat Thomson

2. A problem with purpose
The reader (who might be you or
someone else) says:
• I’m already two pages in and I’m not
clear why I’m reading this paper. What
is the writer trying to do?
• There seem to be several papers here
and not just one – what is the writer
trying to say?
• The paper says its about one thing,
but the rest of it seems to be about
something else.
• I don’t see why this is important. Why
should I read on?
The writer, you, says
• I can’t get anywhere with this writing
• I keep writing the same thing
• I’ve been writing for some time and its
going nowhere
• I’m going round in circles
• This is a mess
• I feel like giving up

3. Photo credit: Kay Kim, Flickr Commons
Where am I going?
What can I do to
get out of this
place?

4. Strategy a: clarify purpose
The writer needs to sort out what they want to do in the paper:
Is it to:
• show
• explore
• evaluate
• extend
• reflect
• prove
• demonstrate
• test out an idea
• offer a new approach to thinking about…
Now write a crisp sentence beginning: The purpose of this paper is to…

5. Strategy b - revisit the original idea
Put the text to one side and write bullet points and/or sentences to the
following prompts – you might do this as a timed writing exercise.
• What I want to write about
• Why this. Why this is important and to whom
• What is already known about the topic
• What this paper adds –what is surprising, what is shocking, what is
contrary to the existing literatures, what is amusing, what causes you
to think etc…

6. Strategy c – ask a question
The topic I am writing about is x – I want to ask…. for example
• What should be done about the x problem?
• What does x mean to me/the field/ a particular group?
• What’s the relationship between x and y?
• What is important about x?
• How might we think about x differently?
• What more might be said about x?
• Is x true?
• Is x right/wrong?
• What are the implications of x for y?
Take a few minutes to brainstorm the question you might ask - and then decide on the one that is right
for you

7. Strategy d – identify the relationship
Academic papers often try to do one of two things:
• compare and contrast – identify the commonalities and differences
between two things – this might be different views, the differences
between policy and practice, the differences between ways of
theorising or interpreting, the differences between different
methods…
• cause and effect, or if not that, at least a deep and meaningful
relationship – thinking about the ways in which X and Y might be
connected, by what or whom, when and how.
If either of these are the case in the paper, then write a sentence or
two which starts – This paper sets out to ( compare and contrast,
establish the relationship between ) …. This is important because....

8. These four are worth a try…
better than giving up altogether 
Adapted from Ballenger, Bruce ( 2007) The curious writer. Boston Pearson.
Ballenger writes for undergraduate students, but he is my first point of call for revision
strategies beyond the ones I already know. His focus is on the essay assignment, however I
have adapted and added to his strategies so that they address the production of an
argument in a scholarly paper or thesis.