I haven’t actually started drafting my paper yet, but I do have a really solid and detailed outline that I spent a lot of time building. Instead of drafting right away, I focused on organizing my ideas first because I wanted to be really clear on my argument and how all of my sources connect. My topic touches on both scientific articles and poetry, so I felt I needed a strong structure before jumping in to write.
The section I will PROBABLY start drafting first is my literature section (the one with the poems), because that’s the part I feel most confident about. It’s also the most interesting to me since it’s where I can actually analyze language, imagery, and tone instead of just summarizing research. I think starting there would make the drafting process easier and help me build momentum.
Because of outlining, I’ve learned more about my topic. At first, I thought this paper would mostly be about stigma around menstruation, but now I see that it’s more about the connection between knowledge and LIVED experience. The outline helped me realize that my argument isn’t just “menstruation is stigmatized,” but that science and literature work together to challenge that stigma in different ways. Science explains what’s happening in the body, while poetry shows what it actually feels like to live through it. That particular connection became way clearer as I organized my outline by sections.
What has been easy so far is making connections between sources. Once I grouped them into sections (like stigma, science, literature, and agency), everything started to fit together pretty naturally. What has been more difficult is actually starting the writing (lol). The outline feels very complete. I took a very long time on it, so that way it is a really good resource to use, and basically form my paper. But it’s a little intimidating to turn it into full paragraphs. I also haven’t decided exactly how to balance analysis vs. explanation in each section, especially in the science part.
Next, I’m planning to start drafting the literature section and then move into the science section after that. I think that order will help because the poems will ground the paper in real lived experiences, and then I can connect those experiences back to the scientific explanations. After that, I plan on working on the intro and conclusion once I have a better sense of how everything comes together.
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