Guys- I'm not quite sure how I've managed to do this, but I've got an article due in 8 weeks which I have not even scratched the surface of (research/writing-NOTHING). It's 20,000 words. I started trying to plan it today and I just can't do it (lack of research). I have some ideas and things (in terms of content), but nothing for a plan.
I'd love to hear from humanities people who are used to writing under pressure (and doing it well). Do you ever just let the plan unfold as you write? Research/write as you go along?
I have the massive problem of not really knowing where to position myself in terms of argument-I could go either way, but to confidently assert one idea-would be to ignore a wealth of other arguments (that I don't strictly disagree with).
Stream of Consciousness over.
xx

If you're undecided at the start I'd write the article and see which side convinces you - or neither if that's the case! That's what I've done before, not knowing where I'll end up when I start out.

20,000 is a massive length for a humanities article though. Most humanities journal papers are around 8,000 words. What type of article is it if it's going to be that much longer? Have you tried brainstorming by drawing spider diagrams / mind maps or similar to see how much content you have for that length?

I know- it's immense. This is to include all my notes and everything though. The longest I've done before is about 8,500. For this: I'm looking at around 15,000 for the main body. I'm such an idiot, I've known I had this to do but I've just managed to put it off-tricking myself into thinking I could do it in 2 months. Spider diagrams etc are actually a good idea. I'll get stuck in and see where it takes me.I think I'm just in that utterly useless frame of mind when you kind of freeze up in response to an overwhelming situation. Thanks for your help. xx

The other trick I've used when I have a lot of writing to do and am not sure where to begin is to record my ideas about it, using an audio program on my computer or on cassette or on a dictaphone etc. I find speaking the ideas more productive as an approach rather than typing blindly. I end up going off in all sorts of strange directions and think of things I wouldn't normally think of. Then I play it back and type it up, and am usually quite surprised by some of the things that came up in the process.

Good luck!

My hunch is that you'll tie yourself in knots if you try to do the research as you go along - what happens if you're 10,000 words in and come across something that changes the whole picture? What happens if you're 10,000 words in and realise you've been sidetracked for the last 4,000 words (easily done!) because you're not clear where you're going?

I once convinced myself that the thing to do with a 12,000 word essay I was writing was just to get a complete draft together - however messy - and then revise it till it was perfect. Big mistake! I was up to 14,000 words and nowhere near finished before I finally accepted I needed to go back to the drawing board and rethink exactly what ground I was going to cover. I probably wasted at least a week working on material that I ended up binning.

I'd resist the temptation to start writing/planning for now - I know it's nice to feel you're making progress ("1,000 words today - at that rate I'll be finished in 3 weeks!") but I suspect you'd be better off giving yourself a couple of weeks to do the research, mull things over, try to settle on a position you want to defend, start jotting some ideas down etc. Then when you DO sit down to start writing, hopefully you'll have a clearish picture of the finished article in your mind and be able to genuinely work your way through it from beginning to end rather than throwing words onto the page and seeing if anything sticks!

I don't think you've left it so late you need to panic. 2-3 weeks research, 4-5 weeks writing and a few days to revise it sounds doable. Hard work, but doable!

Okay, a number of thoughts spring to mind. Firstly, in what context did you agree to do this article? Were you approached by the journal? Did you submit a proposal and get accepted? Are you just trying to get an article in without a guarantee it will be accepted? Has your supervisor put you on to this? Is it part of a special issue journal or book? How much choice do you have as regards your topic?
Sorry for all the questions but I think they could help you both in terms of boosting your confidence (if you were asked to write this that shows that someone is interested in your work and thinks you are capable of writing something exciting and publishable - well done!), lowering your stress (if this is just something you are hoping to publish, then is the 2 month deadline really a hard deadline?), and helping you refine your topic (who are you writing for?).
On this latter point, I don't believe that you have nothing to work from. This article is coming out of your research, and even if it's not a topic you've written about before you do have a grounding in the other work you've done. You know some of the questions you need to be asking even if you don't know the answers, and this is a significant start! In fact I think you could write a draft paragraph right now if you wanted to saying 'these are the key issues in this area' - you can beef it up with more ideas and evidence later, but for now it will show you what you've already got. I realise that this might seem insignificant to you at the moment but, again, think about who you are writing for. My supervisor is always telling me 'this explanatory paragraph may sound banal to you, but that's because you spend everyday reading looking at these documents - your examiner doesn't!' What he means is even when someone is very senior and has done a lot of work in a similar area, your research is specific to you and you can (you should!) use words explaining clearly what seems obvious to you, but what no except you could be expected to know!
Is this making sense? So, my advice would be (1) work out specifically who and what this article is for (2) write down in sentences everything that you already know that is even slightly related to the topic of the article (3) write down a list of the key questions you would like to address (not necessarily completely answer) in the article (4) pick your favourite amongst those questions/the one you consider most important and start your research there.
As regards researching and writing at the same time I think you should start writing early, but that you also need to give yourself time to do some research so that your earliest drafts have some substance to them. You have to decide a timescale that is right for you. 2 weeks solid research and then some writing and then more research, and then more writing, with the research periods getting shorter and the writing periods getting longer would be my preference - but it may not suit you. Good luck!(up)