For When You Get Stuck Midway Through a Paper

We have all experienced the dreaded reality where the latter half of our papers start creeping into terrible territory. And we certainly all know that feeling of getting halfway through a paper, then getting hit with the devastating realization that we’re quickly running out of things to write about. Perhaps you had less to say about a specific point than you thought you did. Or, as the clock in the corner of your computer screen lets you know it’s getting closer to early morning, you lose any inspiration to exhaustion. Maybe you’ve just been staring at the screen so long you feel like you’re just writing the same sentence over and over again. 

This special— sometimes even more stressful— kind of writer’s block can be really frustrating as you’ve proven to yourself that you can, in fact, write (you’ve just done it, after all), so getting stuck now can feel demoralizing as a writer. It can feel worse than not having an idea at all— you have an idea, and it’s still not quite working out in your favor. It might even make you feel like everything you’ve written up until that point doesn’t make any sense or that it will be impossible to continue without some radical change. But fear not! There are many ways to help combat this writer’s block— to overcome it and become productive once more! 

First and foremost, I recommend giving yourself some space from the paper— if you have the time. Save that document and minimize the tab. Get up and stretch; fetch a coffee and/or a snack; get some sleep! Giving yourself some distance from the paper will allow you to clear your mind enough that once you return to the document, you will have a fresher set of eyes and  (hopefully) less of the stress and frustration that was holding you back earlier. It also allows you to relax your muscles, feed your body, and give yourself a general reset. Often, writer’s block arises because your body is trying to tell you it needs something! Pushing through without any breaks, meals, rests, etc. will ultimately prevent you from writing— especially writing your best. As students, we often fall prey to this notion of productivity over health. Giving yourself that much needed space from your studies and writing is so important, and it will actually make you a better student!

Once you return to your paper, you should give that paper a read-through. Take your time and read aloud. Reading aloud will help you catch sentence-level mistakes and hear the logical progression of your language. Reading it over in general will refresh your mind and perhaps give you some new ideas of where you could build upon a certain point or go into depth on a certain topic later in the paper. After you’ve read what you have so far, I would recommend revisiting your outline to track what you’ve already written and what you still need to write. If you haven’t made an outline, make one now! It can actually be helpful to map out what each of your paragraphs are communicating in a more concise format, which can help you see if your argument makes logical sense. Maybe condensing your main points down into an outline or concept map can even spark ideas of where else you can build from! If your professor gave you an assignment sheet that details what they expect from the paper, perhaps compare the required components listed in the assignment sheet to your outline. You don’t have to follow the outline too closely, of course, but it’s good to at least get your ideas onto paper/screen— specifically in a place like an outline where you don’t have to fully commit to an idea and where you can move ideas around where needed. 

My final suggestion is to be kind to yourself. As a college student, you already have so many different pressures around you, demanding things of you. You don’t need to add any of your own pressure onto that just because you got stuck midway through a paper. Let the guilt or frustration or helplessness of getting stuck roll off your shoulders; forgive yourself for falling prey to writer’s block. Take a break, remind yourself of your progress, and then keep writing. You got this!