Sonic Boom

With the semester drawing to a close, a majority of my classes are starting to wrap and have laid out the guidelines for the final assignments. As a History major taking all History classes this semester, that means a metric ton of papers to write. Within the next three weeks, I have:

1) A 1,250 word paper on Hurricane Katrina due Thursday.
2) A 3 page paper on the Tale of Kieu due Friday.
3) A 2,000-2,500 word paper on the process of the United States Supreme Court functions in the 20th century due next Monday.
4) A 2,000-2,500 word paper on the general do's and don'ts of writing from a historical perspective due on the 15th.
5) A 2,500-3,000 word paper on international law and unilateralism due on the 15th.

Needless to say, this is A LOT of writing I need to get done in a short amount of time, around 35 pages worth overall. So it's apparent that I need to have a good grasp on what to write.



...the issue is that there are certain areas that I have conflicts with when I write a paper. I know the material and content I need to complete the paper requirements, for sure, but this often leads me to finishing the paper with ten minutes left on the clock, with a good quarter to a third of the paper being padding and filler. This is something I want to avoid this time, as time I spend on writing and cramming one paper could have been used to complete the next paper. I spend a good 90 minutes trying to figure out how to start and write the first paragraph of the damn paper, so it's imperative that I do something about it.

Does anyone have any particular writing techniques that they employ when writing? A specific style in starting a report? A certain style to prevent repeating words and adding in pointless filler? Any exercises that they use to help get focused on the paper, or a specific section? I'm all ears.