Writing Academic Papers is Like Gardening

No, I haven't lost my mind. I was gardening today, weeding around the seedlings and thinking about writing papers, and realizing the similarities. When you write a paper, the first steps are like tending a garden. You have to plant the seeds, which is analagous to doing research, not knowing exactly where you will end up but going in a particular direction. Then you have to tend the seeds, weed around them when they become seedlings, which is analagous to choosing the particular articles and books that relate to your paper and focusing in upon them. Next comes the tending which takes weeks and sometimes months in the garden, and of course less time in the actual writing of the paper. Next comes the harvest, which is the completed paper. And the final step is learning from what you did so you can apply it to your next garden or paper: what worked, what didn't work, and what might work better in the future.

As I write these words, I realize it is a bit of a stretch to make this metaphor, but it works for me. In the end, anything that is worth doing takes time and effort, and not everyone is clear in the beginning exactly where that effort will lead, and what particular tasks in the overall effort will bear fruit. It's all a learning process.

Just as I learned gardening from master gardeners who showed me examples of their own work so that I could do my own, the use of a model paper can be transformative to a student who isn't used to the specific steps entailed in writing a term paper, research paper, or other similar text. It takes time, and it's a lengthy, difficult process, one which requires quite a bit of a learning curve, again, just like gardening.

And just like gardening too, the rewards of learning to write a term paper are many! It's important to use every tool in your bag, from writing labs to friends to academic writing and research services, so as to become as expert as possible. If you become an expert gardener, you can feed yourself. If you become adept at writing term papers, you can get the most out of your education. Do what you need to do to become an expert; you'll never regret it.