We are sometimes led to believe that research and writing proceed in four clearly-demarcated stages. First, we define a topic, focusing on a particular question and perhaps identifying a working thesis. Second, we search for sources, collecting bibliographical citations and determining their availability. Third, we read, analyze and interpret our sources, gradually impose order on the material. Finally, we write the paper.
In real life, it doesn't work that way. It would be more accurate to say that we engage in all of the tasks--defining, searching, analyzing, and writing--in nearly every stage of the project, with some tasks playing a proportionately larger role in the earlier phases and others in the later phases. We are, for example, constantly defining and redefining our topic. As we read and understand more, our interpretation changes, sometimes dramatically so. Indeed our exact thesis sometimes does not become clear until we are almost finished writing. So too, we search for sources and analyze them throughout the entire process. In the later stages of writing, for example, we often learn of new sources or of new subject areas that need to be explored; this kind of last-minute research is typically very focused because we know exactly what we need. Finally, because writing forces us to clarify our thinking, we should make it a part of our research almost from the beginning. The wry comment that it is best to write our papers first and then do the research contains within it an element of truth.
Beginning to write early in the process is ultimately more efficient. In research and writing, as in many other things, efficiency matters. Accuracy matters even more. But it is possible to be careful, to be thorough, even to be scrupulous, and, at the same time, to be efficient. Few college students or professors have time to waste. There is an art to developing time-saving techniques, an art that can only be acquired through experience, but that is well worth learning.
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