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Writer’s block, the onset of an inability to write, is for most people a temporary thing, like being lost for words at a particular moment. Sometime it’s because of pressure—for instance, the pressure of a looming deadline for a paper, or writing under exam conditions. Sometimes writer’s block has an immediate practical cause in that you know you have to write, but you don’t know what to write about. That’s exceedingly common, and there are a number of things you can do to help break out of it.

Have you looked back at the reading assigned in the context of the paper topic? Go look at it again, with the paper assignment or prompt near at hand so you can look for ideas. Don’t look for the “one single perfect idea,” look for potential broad topics.

Once you have a potential topic, try some prewriting activities like brainstorming or free writing to see how you can effectively narrow your broad topic to something specific and manageable. Free writing, that is just writing everything that comes into your mind when you think about your topic without stopping to edit or correct, is often especially helpful to encourage your ideas and your writing to flow.

If you’re nervous about writing, before you are even trying to write, go do something else for an hour or so, like taking a walk, or listening to music. Consider contacting some of your classmates and suggest a writing session where you can brainstorm the paper assignment, talk about the readings, and help each other craft a list of topics for your individual papers.

If you start working on a writing assignment as soon as you get it, you’re far less likely to find yourself staring at a blank screen the night before the paper is due. Ask your instructor if she would be willing to talk about possible ideas, or look at an outline or rough draft. Think about proposing a writing group to your classmates. You can use peer review to read and comment on each others papers and improve your papers based on feedback from classmates.

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