I remember that writing essays at University started with an outliine, and then a more or less free-association writing session where you wrote out,
by hand, basically everything you were hoping to include in the essay. Some people with money bought index cards, and wrote a paragraph per card. Others, like myself, wrote on a lined pad of paper and then ripped strips out - one paragraph per strip. All of your references were keyed to each paragraph, with a number, and written on separate sheet(s) of paper.
Then you arranged and rearranged the paragraphs - adding new ones, deleting redundant ones, by spreading all these pieces of paper on the floor or a big table. Once you were happy with the flow, you: A) if you were a keener, wrote out an almost final draft by hand, putting the footnotes into order, etc - and then typed it all out, or B) went straight to the typing bit and did your editing and footnoting on the fly. This used a lot more white-out. It might have saved some time.
At the end you had an original piece of writing. Some people used carbon paper to make a copy as they went. Others photocopied their essays for a backup. Most of us just trusted to the supreme powers that nothing bad would happen between the all night coffee shop the prof's mail box. It was always hilarious to watch someone else's essay blowing across the parking lot, sheet by sheet, when a backpack was not as closed as believed.
As yes.... the good old days. It's just not the same watching someone chase a CD across the parking lot.

