When you sit down to write an academic paper, ask yourself these questions:
What do I know about my topic?
Can I answer the questions who, what, when, where, why, how?
What do I know about the context of my topic?
What historical or cultural influences do I know about that might be important to my topic?
Does my topic belong to any particular genre or category of topics?
What do I know about this genre?
What seems important to me about this topic?
If I were to summarize what I know about this topic, what points would I focus on?
What points seem less important?
Why do I think so?
How does this topic relate to other things that I know?
What do I know about the topic that might help my reader to understand it in new ways?
What DON'T I know about my topic?
What do I need to know?
How can I find out more?