I always think about starting last. I put a goal in my calendar and work back from there. For example, If I have a paper due on the 20th I write that down first. Then schedule X hours on the 19th for polishing. X hours on each of the the 18th and 17th for writing. X hours for each of the previous X days for research. Then I know when to start. Writing it down is essential for me. When something is written down for a particular day, it simply has to be done. Even if I get no productive research accomplished on the first day at least I have sat down at my desk and started thinking about what I need to find out. I also try to write a "Table of Contents" as soon as possible. Break the large piece into small steps. Once you see small steps getting done the visible progress motivates me towards the finish line. Don't run a marathon all at once, run one mile after another. In school you have the benefit of having a knowable amount of deadlines that are established at the beginning of each term. That will give you a good basis to develop further in "real life" when things get more complicated with shifting deadlines/priorities. If you fail to plan; you plan to fail.
This is something I tried this year with the papers and essays I had to write: make headings or comments as to what should be there. Worked quite well: even as I was stressing out about them, I was able to make good progress every time. Thanks for sharing, either way.I also try to write a "Table of Contents" as soon as possible. Break the large piece into small steps.
One of the features of org-mode that keeps me coming back to it is how nice it makes working with documents that have been pre-planned as a tree of headings/subheadings. Is it worth learning emacs for? Probably not, but lots of the basic features of org-mode have found there way into plug-ins for other editors.