by Jered Slusher

Created on: July 10, 2008   Last Updated: October 26, 2010

It's the first day of class, and you're already sweating because you don't know who will be there or what to expect. The professor shows up and hands out the syllabus. After a lengthy description of the course, the professor lays it on you. "12 page paper worth fifty percent of your grade." The anxiety and fear grab you so hard that your immediate reaction is to drop the course. "A 12 page paper? I don't think so." But writing a paper for college can be simple and rewarding.

Writing is a craft, and good writing can be very time consuming and difficult to learn. In college writing, there are so many rules, complicated formatting issues, and confusion that it's easy to see why students dread writing so much. The best thing to remember is the old saying, "preparation plus opportunity equals success."

The first thing you must do is prepare. Writers at all levels of skill and ability will tell you that any good paper they've written started with some preparation. Read the assignment and think about it. Ask yourself questions such as "what is the professor looking for" or "what am I going to need for this project." Then put the assignment sheet away and let it sit for a day.

Putting the assignment away for a day allows the ideas of the assignment to soak into your brain. Give your subconscious some time to let the formalities of the assignment incubate. If you cannot answer the questions in your mind, perhaps you should ask your professor or someone knowledgeable about the assignment guidelines to clarify. Then come back to the assignment sheet and read it over again the next day.

Now you need to develop a plan. Using the assignment guidelines you should begin researching for the assignment. You may find that the assignment requires resources you don't have, such as books or journal articles. Start early and look for quality articles and books that will assist you in your research and development process. Scan the research and make notes on it, highlighting areas you think would be important to address in your paper. Sketch an outline if you feel it will help. Then, set the research aside.

I can see your professor jumping up and down screaming, "Is he insane? You want to work on it as soon as possible!" However, just because you are not generating any of the paper does not mean that you aren't working on the paper. By setting the research aside for a few days and working on the project in small doses, you allow yourself many advantages. For one, the research will

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