If you need to write a dissertation, or any other in-depth and comprehensive piece of academic work, then it may take far longer than 40 minutes to organize. However, 40 minutes is still plenty of time to organize most essays, even those that can be relatively long an in-depth.
The following will explain how to organize the work that you need to do.
It is a good idea to spend at least 10 to 15 minutes trying to think of a good title to write about. In fact, if you are in a hurry, then picking a good title to write about can have a significant impact on how long the work will take. For example, if you pick a really good topic to write about, including one that you are especially interested in, then you will probably find that you get the work done far quicker than if you pick a bad topic that you are not particularly interested in.
Ideally, you would have enough time to look at some prewritten papers, so as to give you some inspiration of what titles to use. However, if you do not have time for this, you should still allow enough time to carry out various brainstorming activities. This will enable you to get some good ideas down on paper, which you can then narrow down.
Your paper will almost certainly have an introduction, a body section, and a conclusion. It might be the case that these are the only three sections of your paper has or, alternatively, you may require a variety of other sections as well, such as a methodology, or a results page.
Ultimately, you will need to spend a few minutes to identify which of the different sections you need to write, and perhaps a few minutes further to create some very brief notes as to what each section should include. This will give you a better understanding of how long the work take, and what you will need to do.
Once you have outlined the various sections of your work, you can start to work out how long you think each section will take to complete. This will enable you to come up with a realistic timeframe for doing the work, which is an integral part of planning and organizing your work.