Composing the Paper

Brainstorm!

Brainstorming entails any number of various activities used to generate creative ideas that have no right or wrong answers and are accepted without criticism. It's a way of taking advantage of your thoughts before they overwhelm you; harnessing your brain's "storm" of ideas on paper. Such techniques include:

Free-writing
Put your pen on paper-and write! Don't stop to question, don't stop to revise, you'll always be writing something (not nothing!). Doing this frees you from your internal critic; when you aren't worrying about style, spelling, grammar, and the like, you can focus on other things. Pages later, there will be a lot of filter and fluff-but also some gemstones of thought-provoking ideas.
Breaking down the topic into levels
Progress from a general to a specific idea. Start as broad as you like, then try to narrow down to your central idea or claim.
Bullets/lists
Jot down lists of words or phrases that pertain to your topic. Note comparisons and contracts, or analogies (part-to-whole, etc).
Cubing
Like a cube, this approach is 6-sided. Consider the topic and then: Describe, Compare, Associate, Analyze, Apply, Argue (for/against). Think about any correlations, patterns, or new ideas.
Clustering/mapping/webbing
This is perhaps the most helpful technique visually. Jot down as many terms or phrases as come to mind when you think about the topic. Then circle or connect the ideas, forming a web or map. Look for logical relations, patterns, or flows of ideas that emerge when you note the connections.
Relationship between the parts
Does one idea bridge into many sub-ideas? Do those sub-ideas lead to further ideas?
Journalistic questions
Ask: Who, What, When, Why, Where, How?
Speaking and recording
Turn to your friend, your roommate, or your mirror, and say what you're trying to write. Don't even pick up the pen-don't even worry about writing. Most people freeze up at the idea of just a waiting, blinking cursor. Just turn on the cassette and record your voice. Rewinding it back, you may be amazed at capturing the ideas that were once so frustratingly forever lost once you'd uttered them into the empty air.
Dictionaries / thesauruses / encyclopedias
When all else fails, visit the writing center, library, or internet to look up your terms. Obscure, archaic definitions might be exactly what you need in order to clear up a term's ambiguity or present a dynamic meaning. Likewise, an encyclopedia may help to clarify facts, get quick background, or discover a thorough context.