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7 Methods To Crush Your First Draft
So, you have a great idea for a research paper. Now all you have to do is write it. If only that were as easily done as it was for you to say you’re going to do. Theses can spend years marinating in the brains of writers and researchers who are almost ready to testify to their knowledge. Working on a first draft can be painful, but remember that your research should be more afraid of you than you are of it. After all, who’s the one with the power of a delete button?
Next time you have an idea in mind, remember one of the following 7 methods. We’re sure you’ll find the right one to get you started and keep you going through to the closing statement.
7 Methods To Crush Your First Draft
1. Make sure the horse is in front of the cart
Go directly to the resources. Choose 10 credited sources that discuss your thesis, just like when you were doing your undergrad. Read them thoroughly before you detail your thesis. Not only will this give you a broad idea of the topics you’ll need to discuss in the paper, but it’ll help you define the thin line between proving a point and doing research.
2. Outline that paper like a detailed drawing
If you already know the points that you need to include in your paper, make them visual. Zig-zagging lines between topics are much more useful when you can see them, as opposed to keeping them cluttered up your brain. Having a map of where your research is going, and how your thesis will be proven is a useful tool. It’ll keep you from thinking later “now where was I going with that”. Outlining also helps prevent the pesky realization that you need to reorganize paragraphs and pages to keep the paper flowing clearly.
3. Wordsmith the whole draft
Ever feel like your research is sitting inside of you and you just need to let it out? As long as you’re prepared to kill your darlings later, this can be a useful method. Put everything that you already know into the doc, and write out the evidence that makes you so enthusiastic about your thesis. Maybe you’ll end up with 20 pages, maybe only 2, but in the end, you will certainly see where there are holes in your thesis, which supporting points are missing, and where you need more research to back up your claims.
4. Start where you disagree
Have you ever read a paper with which you fundamentally disagreed? I know you have. Start by thoroughly investigating the research which opposes your own thesis. Counter the points you disagree with by applying stronger research. You’ll feel that your research is “battling” the opposing ideas, but after the first draft, once it has been edited for fluidity, you’ll have an intelligible piece of original work which thoroughly proves your point. On the other hand, you may learn enough about the opposing view that you change your position. Then, you can write another paper about that!
5. Point Per Page
Maybe you’re not ready to write a whole paper right now, but surely you can write a page. If you were only going to write one page of your paper what would you say to prove your thesis? Write your supporting point at the top of one page, or, if you have several points in mind, give them each a designated, single page. Fill the page with outside research that supports the point, your own words on the topic, and how this point is important to your thesis. Take your time threading all your points together, trim the edges, and voila you’ll have your first draft.
6. Let the Skeleton Out of the Closet
Main point. Bullet point. Bullet point. Bullet point. Skeleton drafts are direct, lean, and anything but fancy. Yet, they get the job done, and if you’re trying to figure out how to tame 10,000 thoughts before they overtake your brain, this will keep them ordered, clear, and ready for stitching into full sentences.
7. Got Original Research?
Original can be a buzz word. While it is an astounding thing to stand on the shoulders of giants and prove a new thesis, it can also be useful to bring in fresh research. If you have a thesis in mind, ask yourself if exclusively using pre-published research will make your paper strong enough. Bring in original evidence where you can, and realize that maybe your little thesis needs to be a big research study first.
There’s no wrong way to etch your first draft. It’s hard to find a better place to start than at the beginning. Before you know it, your scrappy first draft will be ready for (gulp) peer review. Ultimately, you’ll never know how important that first idea for a paper is until it’s ready to be shared.
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SSRN Top Papers of 2016
1. A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory by Matthew O. Jackson (Stanford University – Department of Economics)
2. A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation by Meb Faber (Cambria Investment Management)
3. Explaining Nationalist Political Views: The Case of Donald Trump by Jonathan Rothwell (Gallup) and Pablo Diego-Rosell (Gallup)
4. 101 Formulaic Alphas by Zura Kakushadze (Quantigic Solutions LLC; Free University of Tbilisi)
5. Measuring Distances in Space by Manahel Thabet (Independent)
6. Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction by Cullen Roche (Orcam Financial Group)
7. Trump University and Presidential Impeachment by Christopher Peterson (University of Utah – S.J. Quinney College of Law)
8. Equity Risk Premiums (ERP): Determinants, Estimation and Implications – The 2015 Edition by Aswath Damodaran (New York University – Stern School of Business)
9. Understanding the Modern Monetary System by Cullen O. Roche (Orcam Financial Group, LLC)
10. Country Risk: Determinants, Measures and Implications – The 2015 Edition by Aswath Damodaran (New York University – Stern School of Business)
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Weekly Top 5 Papers – December 19, 2016
1. Sensation Seeking, Sports Cars, and Hedge Funds by Stephen Brown (New York University (NYU) – Leonard N. Stern School of Business) and Yan Lu (University of Central Florida-Department of Finance) and Sugata Ray (University of Florida – Warrington College of Business Administration) and Melvyn Teo (Singapore Management University – Lee Kong Chian School of Business)
2. A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory by Matthew O. Jackson (Stanford University – Department of Economics)
3. The Evolution of the Bitcoin Economy: Extracting and Analyzing the Network of Payment Relationships by Paolo Tasca (UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies) and Shaowen Liu (Deutsche Bundesbank) and Adam Hayes (University of Wisconsin – Madison – Department of Sociology)
4. The Algorithm as a Human Artifact: Implications for Legal {Re}Search by Susan Mart (University of Colorado Law School)
5. Optimal Trade Sizing in a Game with Favourable Odds: The Stock Market by Victor Haghani (Elm Partners) and Andrew Morton (Citigroup, Inc. – Citigroup Global Markets)
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5 Tools to Organize Your Research in 2017
When I’m researching my desk looks like a tornado of pdfs hit my computer desktop and blew them clear onto my actual desktop. It’s a mess, but I can’t touch anything or else I won’t know where anything is. You know the feeling? It’s whirlwind of citations and highlighted quotes to use later. After all, a messy desk is supposedly the sign of a creative mind, right?
However, there’s also something to be said for minimalism. Who doesn’t want to start the new year out more organized than they were 12 months before? These tools can help keep your desk and your mind free from clutter. Less clutter blocking your way to the keyboard will help keep your stress levels in check, something that isn’t always easy for a researcher editing her 6th draft, but will surely help you focus and be more productive in the time you are given. Not to mention, these tools are pretty much guaranteed to reduce paper-cuts.
Tools to Organize Your Research in 2017
Sometimes we get a little click happy when we’re looking up relevant sources that help support our latest research. It’s easy to click the download button, and then forget that it is in your downloads folder altogether, or else lose the file after opening it. Adding it to your virtual briefcase will make it easy to access the paper again. It makes it easier to share the paper, check citations, and keep yourself from saying “what was that paper again?”
We are big fans of Mendeley at SSRN. Save your documents and references right in your Mendeley Feed. Highlighting and annotating features help you keep track of your own thoughts while you are researching. Plus, they help you create your bibliography as your go.
Not specifically for research, but when it comes to organizing things, this is a nifty tool. You can save any document and access it anywhere electronically, including on the plane to your next conference! You can also create shortcuts and notebooks that save all your ideas. Your complex research project will be categorized into nice, easy-to-find folders, and you’ll never lose a critical post-it with all your ideas on it again!
I was first attracted to Grammarly for its clever spellcheck function. Once I added it to my desktop, though, I started to really get excited. Not only do they do a great job of checking for grammar and spelling errors, but you can write your paper and host it in Grammarly until you’re ready to share it. This makes your paper very accessible and editable white you are working on it. Unlike other write-here-edit-here tools that feel clunky, this feels natural. With their Premium account Grammary will also keep an eye out for plagiarism and provide a proofreading service.
Making the citations page is personally one of my least favorite parts of writing. There! I said it. EasyBib makes tracking your sources simple, and you can be sure that they are done correctly and that collaborators get the credit they deserve. EasyBib has a website you can refer to, and an app that will help you build that citations page on the go.With all these tools, you can ensure that whatever happens to your computer you can always log in to your papers later, no matter where you left off, your resources will still be mostly dry when you inevitably spill your coffee, and even if someone dare tidy up your workstation you’ll know exactly where to find everything.
Which tools do you use to organize your research? Have you tried any of these tools before? Join the conversation on Twitter with #SSRN.
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SSRN’s 2016 Year End Update Letter
2016 has been an exciting year of development at SSRN. Since joining Elsevier earlier this year, we have devoted significant resources to full-text search, SSRN’s mobile experience, and redesigning our homepage and all 306,000 author pages. The new abstract page is currently being tested and will be released in early January. Many new features that the SSRN community has requested will be released throughout 2017.
This year has also marked SSRN’s 100 millionth download. We are very proud to share this milestone with the SSRN’s global community. SSRN eLibrary currently hosts nearly 708,000 papers and we look forward to expanding the eLibrary in several important ways during 2017. Our year-end distribution break is scheduled for 24 December 2016 through 1 January 2017. During the break, SSRN’s eJournals will not be distributed so that we can improve the performance of our servers and give our team some well deserved rest. We will continue to provide support for downloads, submissions, and subscriptions.
For any requests during the break, please contact customer support at Support@SSRN.com or call toll free 877-SSRNHelp (877-777-6435). Outside of the United States, call +1 585 442 8170. We are available Monday through Friday between 8:30AM and 6:00PM, United States Eastern time.
Please share your feedback and experiences about SSRN with me directly at Gregg@SSRN.com or use our “Feedback to SSRN” link available on most SSRN web pages. Our team is always interested to hear how SSRN affects you personally, and I am always happy to connect and talk about scholarly communication.
Thank you for your continued support and happy holidays to you and your family!
Gregg Gordon
Managing Director
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Weekly Top 5 Papers – December 12, 2016
1. How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions? by Paul Gompers (Harvard Business School – Finance Unit) and Will Gornall (University of British Columbia (UBC) – Division of Finance)
and Steven Kaplan (University of Chicago – Booth School of Business) and Ilya Strebulaev (Stanford University – Graduate School of Business)2. The Dividend Disconnect by Samuel Hartzmark (University of Chicago – Booth School of Business) and David Solomon (University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business)
3. Shiller’s CAPE: Market Timing and Risk by Valentin Dimitrov (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Accounting & Information Systems) and Prem Jain (Georgetown University – Department of Accounting and Business Law)
4. A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory by Matthew O. Jackson (Stanford University – Department of Economics)
5. Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain by Christian Catalini (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Sloan School of Management) and Joshua Gans (University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management)
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Tips Novices Know That Veteran Researchers Forget
It’s a daunting moment we’ve all experienced: you’re writing a research paper, probably between drafts, and emerge from the flow of your writing only to come to the realization that you no longer know what you are writing about. You know your topic and, of course, you prepared before writing, but you realize that the topic is much bigger than you initially planned, and now you’re lost in the maze of data and information. You have to choose which facts, figures, and articles are relevant to the point you are trying to make, and, well, it all seems relevant!
Researchers who have been through this before may forget what they knew when they wrote their first research paper that will help them keep up with the pace of their own minds. It’s overwhelming, but it means you are being thorough and are likely passionate about your topic. Below are some of our favorite choices to keep even complex topics on-track and to-the-point. Students know them. Do you still practice these steps?
Carve your Thesis into your Desk. And … your Brain.
Your thesis is more significant than your title. Literally, write it out and separate it from your Word doc. Use big letters and tape it to your desk, make it the background of your computer, frame it and hang it on your wall; do whatever you have to do to keep your eye on the prize. Any factoids (even the interesting ones) that don’t help support those few lines of what exactly your paper will accomplish are not relevant to you right now. Save them for your next research paper.
Save Branch-Out Topics for Future Papers
Researching means learning, so your mind is alert and actively firing off ideas. Don’t let those ideas go! Keep them in a journal, spreadsheet of topics that branch off of your initial thesis. You’ll be able to stick to your specialized topic, and bottle up some of that ingenuity for later.
Tighten-Up Those Lines
The more you know, the more details matter. Reviewers tend to favor the granular topic. If you find your planned topic is simply too broad cinch it in. Example: one time I set out to write a paper on love symbols in Western culture and it turned into 23 pages of semiotics on chocolate as a social metaphor. It happens. It’s easier to admit it early on than have an inconclusive paper later.
Edit. Then Edit Some More.
If history has taught writers anything it is that writing is so much harder than it sounds … but right after that, it taught us that editing is critical to success. Sometimes you need to reread your paper several times to realize that some paragraphs are carrying dead weight, or aren’t supporting your topic. Editing, and the rereading that comes with it, will give you the insight you need to ensure your paper has that informative kick that readers and colleagues look for.
Remember, when you’re writing the research paper you become the expert. Know your topic and know what you are setting out to achieve. The rest is a matter of how you go about doing that.
Grab your keyboards and repeat after me: “I got this!” Then #SSRN on Twitter to share your own tips on keeping your research on track.
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Weekly Top 5 Papers – December 5, 2016
1. Searching for Justice Scalia: Measuring the “Scalia-ness” of the Next Potential Member of the U.S. Supreme Court by Jeremy Kidd (Mercer University – Walter F. George School of Law) and Riddhi Dasgupta (University of California, Berkeley) and Ryan Walters (Independent) and James Phillips (University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Students)
2. Inventor Sued for Infringing His Own Patent. You Won’t Believe What Happened Next by Mark Lemley (Stanford Law School)
3. Learning from History: Volatility and Financial Crises by Jon Danielsson (London School of Economics – Systemic Risk Centre) and Marcela Valenzuela (University of Chile) and Ilknur Zer (Federal Reserve Board)
4. A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory by Matthew O. Jackson (Stanford University – Department of Economics)
5. The Decline of Violent Conflicts: What Do the Data Really Say?The Decline of Violent Conflicts: What Do the Data Really Say? by Pasquale Cirillo (Delft University of Technology) and Nassim Taleb (NYU-Tandon School of Engineering)
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Weekly Top 5 Papers – November 28, 2016
1. Do White Police Officers Unfairly Target Black Suspects? by John Lott (Crime Prevention Research Center) and Carlisle Moody (College of William and Mary – Department of Economics)
2. Families Facing Tax Increases Under Trump’s Latest Tax Plan by Lily Batchelder (New York University School of Law)
3. Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash by Ronald Inglehart (University of Michigan at Ann Arbor – Institute for Social Research (ISR)) and Pippa Norris (Harvard University – Harvard Kennedy School (HKS))
4. Searching for Justice Scalia: Measuring the “Scalia-ness” of the Next Potential Member of the U.S. Supreme Court by Jeremy Kidd (Mercer University – Walter F. George School of Law) and Riddhi Dasgupta (University of California, Berkeley) and Ryan Walters (Independent) and James Phillips (University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Students)
5. Explaining Nationalist Political Views: The Case of Donald Trump by Jonathan Rothwell (Gallup) and Pablo Diego-Rosell (Gallup)
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Fantastic Research and Where to Find It
Our SSRN headquarters in Rochester, NY is just as nerdy as you might hope an office full of adults who dedicate their whole working day to scholarly research would be. A lot of times this simply means we know more about the downloading habits of researchers better than they know them themselves. However, it also means a fair amount of fandom talk around the water cooler, and we can’t deny 2016 has been a good year for Harry Potter fans, like some of us.
Between Cursed Child, new ebooks, and the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them we’re pretty close to achieving fandom Nirvana. Yet, something is missing… Ah, of course, we need the research!
If we haven’t already sent you running to do a QuickSearch for “Harry Potter” in the eLibrary then perhaps we can interest you with some choice titles we found there. Without further ado:
Our Favorite Harry Potter Themed Titles Available on SSRN
Examining the wizarding government, one step at a time. – By Benjamin H. Barton 
The ultimate lawyer perspective on Harry Potter. – By Aaron Schwabach 
If you write fan fiction, you might want to read this. – By Aaron Schwabach 
Turns out the missing factor from most papers on Tort Theory is actual magic. – By Scott Hershovitz 
Even the best professors can benefit from some advice from Dumbledore. – By Darby Dickerson 
How Harry Potter affects politics. Especially with young people. – By Anthony Gierzynski and Julie Seger 
So much inspiration! So much copyright! – By Megan Richardson and David Tan 
Muggles or Goblins? I’d love to find out! – By Gary Pulsinelli 
Putting a spell on us, right from the title. – By Stephen Brown and Anthony Patterson 
I’ve only read the title and I’m already on the edge of my seat. – By Shlomi Parizat and Ron Shachar 
An intriguing proposition, but also very true. – By Anthony Patterson and Stephen Brown 
Marketing, Muggles, and Magic, oh my! By Stephen Brown Luckily for us, they don’t stop there! There are dozens more titles to keep us intrigued. Not to mention many of them have full texts available and make compelling arguments you find relevant, even to us in the Muggle world. Do you have a favorite fandom themed paper, or research title? Share with us via Twitter with #SSRN.