Writing College Papers: Helpful Tips for Desperate Students

What does your university professor want you to do when they ask you to 'Write a Paper?'

The words, "Write A Paper" really mean, "Become a Mini-Expert."

When your professor asks you to write a paper, they are wanting you to do a lot of reading and thinking. They want you to become familiar with the literature already out there. Usually, you'll find that your professor has already assigned the sources that you need through your class readings.

Then, they want you to bring the relevant points from those sources into your paper and discuss them.

Finally, they want you to use all of the information that you've discussed so far in your paper to create your own opinion, your 'analysis', of what you've learned. For this final part of your paper, you can agree or disagree with the sources or even with the professor, but only if your opinion logically follows through.

Your professor is looking to see if you can read and understand sources, present and explain them in writing, and then give an opinion that makes sense in the context of your paper.

Let's talk about how to improve your papers.

These are the things that I learned during my undergraduate from both writing papers and from working as a Teacher's Assistant for my last two semesters.

1. What Is the Grader Looking For?

When I was a freshman in a sociology class, my very first paper earned a C. I had worked hard on it all weekend long and was now crestfallen.

I looked from the corner of my eye at my neighbor's paper and saw a big red A above his title. I showed him my grade and asked if I could read his paper. He graciously agreed and I took a few minutes to skim it.

You know what I found?

He used a lot of big words and complicated sentences.

That was it. That was the big difference.

So, in the next paper, I used big words in complicated sentences and my next paper's grade was significantly better.

• My Advice: If your grades are not where you'd like them to be, ask your professor or TA if you can read what they considered an A paper from a previous class. If you can, read a few of them. This will give you an idea of the type of writing that they want to see.

2. Choose The Strongest Topic

Unfortunately, one of the only pieces of writing advice that I took from high school turned out to be bust.

"When brainstorming," the teacher had said. "Write down the first ten things that occur to you. Then, throw that list away and choose something totally different! If YOU immediately thought of it, then the rest of the class has, too. Pick something unique and your professor will shower you with praise!"

I thought that sounded pretty good, so I tried it.

And guess what? There's a big problem with throwing away the first ten ideas that occur to you. Those are usually the ideas that you know the most about.

If you know a lot about a topic, then you will find it easier to write a strong paper.

• My Advice: Choose the topic that will allow you to write the strongest paper. It doesn't matter if the rest of the 900-member class chooses that same topic. Your teacher would rather read a strong, well-researched and thoughtful paper on a boring subject than a poor paper on a unique subject.

3. Outline, Outline, Outline!

There is zero inspiration in a blank page. You a need a place from which to start writing, which is where the outline comes in.

In fact, a good outline does more than just get you started. If you outline thoroughly, you'll find that your outline becomes the skeleton of your first draft.

I always began my outlines by simply opening a word doc on my computer. I recommend that you write your thesis statement across the top of your outline and refer back to it frequently so you stay right on track.

As I read through my sources, I would keep that document open. Whenever I ran across a powerful line or an important point, I would type it, word-for-word, into the document, along with the relevant information for the bibliography.

As my document grew longer and longer with quotes and facts, I found that the ideas and arguments for my paper practically materialized by themselves. I could shuffle around these quotes so that similar ideas were grouped together.

Can you see how useful this would be? Once my ideas were grouped together, it was easy to see how my paper would be written.

• My advice: Start with an outline and your intended thesis statement. I use bullet points because they are versatile and easy to shuffle as I'm preparing to write. Write important facts and quotes directly into your outline.
• Keep yourself organized however makes sense to you.

4. Restate Your Ideas

One of my professors really knew what he was doing when assigning papers. He required us to work with a Writing Fellow (ie an excellent student writer) at least twice per paper.

My writing fellow pointed out that my papers kind of rambled on about ideas but never really drove them home. She recommended that I go paragraph by paragraph and think about what I'm really trying to say. I found to my surprise (and chagrin) that my paragraphs hinted at ideas but never really stated them. I was assuming that the reader would just somehow understand what I was trying to say.

As a TA, I really understood this advice and figured out the best way to apply it. I advised the students to end major paragraphs with a strong sentence restating the point of the paragraph. If necessary, I would tell them to pretend that the reader was ignorant and would only get the point if it was shoved in their faces. New or improving writers absolutely should use the last sentence in each paragraph to drive the particular point home.

Here's an example from something I wrote recently on Facebook:

"My mom sent me 'The Rent Collector' to read and I've finally made time for it. It's about a Cambodian family living in a community built out of the city's dump. They forage for plastic or metal- things they can sell for money to buy rice. Already the author has explored topics such as poverty, the Kmer Rouge genocide, and child prostitution.

Topics like this are hard on my heart and they remind me of that last year at BYU. By the end of my Political Science degree, I had left behind the happy countries with governments that more or less work-- the USA, Britain, Germany, Canada, China (with an asterisk) and instead began studying the countries that didn't work (or at least had a challenging history). Iraq. Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda. Cambodia.

So the question is-- do we ignore hard topics because they hurt hearts and feel poisonous to swallow, or do we grit teeth and plow through?

Or put another way, are we willing to become uncomfortable in order to really see and love our Cambodian friends, our Iraqi brothers, our Rwandan sisters?"

I really like this little blurb because the last sentence thoroughly sums up what I was trying to say in all of the previous sentences. It's hard to overstate the importance of this technique.

• My advice: Use each major paragraph's last sentence to drive your point home. That sentence doesn't have to be fancy or unique; you are basically restating the idea that you've just discussed so there is no way that your point can be misunderstood. This really amplifies the power of your essay.

5. Give Yourself Time

I mean, it's not like you're busy, right?

You're not working your way through college, studying until 2:00AM every night, and surviving off of Frosted Flakes and tuna.

Right?

Yeah okay I know, procrastination is something that all of us struggle with to one degree or another. But if your papers are struggling, start researching at least a week in advance. Two would be better, of course, but in your crazy-busy world, plan on at least one week.

• My advice: block out time to begin research no less than a week in advance.

6. Research and Writing-- a Further Explanation

Here's how I finally figured out this whole 'Research' thing.

I would start by reading all the material my professor had assigned on the topic and (as stated earlier) I would type or copy/paste relevant sentences into a word document, including the relevant info for a bibliography.

If that wasn't enough, I would go to the library and check out a few books on the topic. I usually didn't read the books cover to cover. Instead, I skimmed to look for relevant information. I would slow down and really read if I was encountering something new or important, but otherwise I'd just look for facts, helpful quotes, and to really just get a feel for what these authors were saying.

Then I would have this huge document crammed with quotes and information. I would shuffle those around (see: Cut/Paste) until they were in an order that made sense to me.

Then I'd use that as the skeleton for my paper and connect those ideas with sentences of my own (including those last sentences that drove my points home, right? Right).

The first paragraphs of my paper introduced ideas, one idea per paragraph. The end of my essay synthesized all of the ideas into an opinion or 'analysis' that tied it all together.

And then I'd have my first draft.

While writing that first draft, I would grimly repeat over and over that I can't edit something that doesn't exist, which would give me the oomph needed to get that dang first draft finished.

Once you have a first draft, the rest is easy.

And I'll just say this because we're all thinking it.

Turning in a first draft for a final grade is not the way to do this, folks. I've done it, you've done it, and we've all suffered for it. Give yourself time (at least a week) to get your research, outlining, writing, and editing done.

• My advice: become a mini-expert on the topic for each paper. Become familiar with what's out there and use an outline to create a flow of your ideas. If your outline is flush with quotes and facts taken directly from books and articles, you'll find that you basically have a skeleton of your paper.

Here is a link to some very helpful writing resources-- I highly recommend giving this a look.

-Jenna

**I want to thank my lovely and talented friend Madison Pearce for giving this a read-through and offering ideas and feedback. You're the best :)