Disclaimer: This has been the most traumatizing (and memorable) sem for me. Just when I started to believe in my invincibility, thinking I could apply the "DUE TOMORROW DO TOMORROW" mantra to all my school work, the lethal majors of the sophomore year has proved me wrong and ignorant on so many levels. These six stages may not be exclusive to pos papers, and at the same time may not be true for everyone (or anyone) else. Nevertheless, I've been moved, powerful enough to blog about the recurring cycle of my imprudence.
The SIX stages of writing a (pos) paper:
I. Post-trauma procrastination: Fresh from the last paper's submission. The challenge begins
when your ever so kind professor hands you a huge stack of readings in advance.
-At this point, you’re probably mentally exhausted but still overwhelmed by how you managed to survive that last paper you just crammed, You’re too dumbfounded to realize that the challenge begins NOW; you think you deserve a YOLO week break or however you’d like to call it--but this is where you’re mistaken, my dear friend.
-I used the words ever-so-kind and in advance to eradicate all misconceptions that may connote “our prof is evil” or “he
just wants to torture us” or any similar thoughts for that matter. Note that he gives you
adequate time to read every single page without having to cram. Yup. You are your greatest enemy.
II.
Back to normal. We resume the regular class
regimen: Read. Discuss. Recitation/Interrogation/Grilling/Torture.
-You try to read. This effort will last
about two to four sessions. And before you know it, your pea-sized attention
span will bail on you. From reading all that’s due for the day, your study
habits will deteriorate and you’ll eventually find yourself reading half.
And then one fourth. And then two pages. And then just one. Soon enough, you
wouldn’t even bother to read. And when worse comes to worst, you will enter
class with absolutely no readings at hand.
-Also take note that your lethargy isn’t your only
enemy. Put your guards up for the sneaky little secret assassin: the efficacy
of the professor in creating an engaging discussion. The fruitfulness of the
class discourse is inversely proportional to the reading efforts essential. Why
read when you can acquire better built cases and arguments in class?
III.
Fear
-
Benevolent professor (benevolent, he isn’t the enemy) reminds you about the paper. You freak out,
but just a little. You still have enough confidence to fool yourself into
thinking you can survive the paper minus the reading part.
IV. Passion
-
You credit yourself for attempting to read
during the first half of the time given. You’re proud and delighted by your
initial effort (you know, the few readings you endured before you fell into the
pit of indolence and found comfort in going to class without readings) and you
think these few pages of highlighted words will get you through a paper. You
brainstorm and eventually come up with an argument. You are proud of your
argument and you feel so strongly about it.
-
You begin to write. Everything is going great.
Your arguments are well articulated and you feel good about your paper.
V.
Death
-
You think you’re done with your paper. You start
fixing the format. You know, a little Garamond here, a little font 11 there, a
little single spacing, and maybe a little slimmer on the margins. You think it won’t do
much harm. It won't matter. You're still done with your paper. And before you know it, POOF—Your paper just shrunk and you’ve lost half of your required number of pages..
-
When you’ve
hit this point, need not you worry for this is the lowest you can ever get. I mean,what could be more drastic that the drop from the “I’m done with my paper” mindset to
suddenly realizing you’ve only filled half of the required number of pages
(minimum required pages, on worst cases) for your precious little paper.
- You’ve
exhausted every flowery word and professional sounding term you could possibly
use to stretch your elaboration. But it’s still inadequate. You’ve drained
every thought, argument and explanation in your head. Now all you want to do is
cry.
VI.
Resurrection
- You've finally surrendered.
- I am not sure what spirit, omnipotent being or drive of desperation will
enlighten you, but someway, somehow, you will end up sitting on a good chair,
with a nice table, some yellow light and a little bit of cinnamon scent in the
air (Hihi allusion is an inside joke) actually reading all those damn readings.
-You take in every ounce of cobra and espresso you could get your hands
on. You don’t sleep. You realize that the readings are beautiful and how efficient
you could have been, had you read much earlier.
-You
battle against your eyelids as you struggle to pull an all nighter off. You
succeed. You might even be desperate enough as to cut a class. You go to school in the worst mood. Everything
else is undermined by your irritable grouchy disposition for the day. But it doesn’t
matter, because you finished your paper on time.
