Writing Your Paper
After you've chosen a thesis and have an outline, you're ready to get to the meat of writing a paper: the writing!
Now you're in really good shape to begin. All you need to do is shape the ideas into coherent sentences, flesh out those ideas that need more elaboration, and make sure you have good sentences that transition between thoughts and your proper paragraph format.
Without a thesis and outline, you will probably spend time at this stage rambling and faltering as you try to find your voice, cutting and then adding entire sentences or paragraphs as you realize they either don't make sense or wander off topic. This isn't necessarily bad, but in most cases it takes more overall time to write the paper, causes unnecessary stress, and results in less confidence in what you've written.
An Interesting Introduction
There are a few things to pay attention to at this stage, however. The first is the introduction. In short essays, this may only be a paragraph. In longer papers, you may use an entire page. The introduction should have some sort of hook. It need not be as gripping as the last novel you read, but it should at least bring up the general topic you want to discuss. Longer introductions should have information that explains the controversy prompting your paper, or they may mention the lack of knowledge that led to your research or experimentation. Another idea is to detail briefly the counter to the thesis you are about to present. The introduction should always either contain your thesis statement or at least summarize the thesis enough to make it clear to any reader what the rest of your paper will discuss.
The Body
The next portion of your paper should discuss all those ideas you wrote down in the outline. Whether you want to break your paper into artificial sections or simply transition between paragraphs is a personal decision (but one that may be tempered by the preferences of your professor or publisher).
When it comes to the style in which you write your paper, remember that some fields prefer formal writing while some like a more personal voice. This is why you should have read your textbook and the sources from which you got all of your quotes; they help you know what the expectations are in the field for which you're writing.
A Strong Conclusion
Make sure you have a strong conclusion to your paper. The conclusion should mention the thesis and may reiterate the primary arguments or idea of your paper, but this alone will be insufficient. You will also need to mention the implications of your discussion. If you made a new scientific discovery, extrapolate potential applications. If you made a new observation about the meaning of a philosopher's main thoughts, be sure to mention the potential ramifications for philosophers who came later and how the idea may change philosophical thought going forward. The best papers are ones that point out where further discovery or observations may come in the future. Make sure you bring closure to your discussion, but also remind the reader that other discussions are still waiting on the same subject.
