We may have this common nightmare: just when you were enjoying the last bits of fun in your classes, assuming that everything is going well under control, just to find out that your final grade will be determined by a semester-long term paper.
You begin to panic, yet not to worry that you are alone because your classmates tell you the same stories about how they are burning mid-night oil just rewriting their paper.
Your palms begin to sweat. Then your professor asks, with the sweetest smile ever, “where is your paper?”
Before the above nightmare happens to you, you better off start working on any term papers you may have been assigned for the semester.
“But, how?” you asked. Having to jumpstart on any given task is always tough. Do not fear. Here are the some tips to tackle your killer term papers.
First, always remember that there is an objective in each paper assigned by your professor. Know the reason you are writing a paper, be it a research article, fiction, or non-fiction stories. All you need to do for a head start is to determine the focus of your paper. For example, if you are given a term paper on cultural botany, do not start writing until you have done your preparation: look for relevant subtopics to the assignment.
For example, you can ask yourself if you want to focus on writing the relationship between plants and the human society; or you might want to crack down on the types of botany in different geographical areas and their usage in different fields.
Once you have gotten that light bulb in your head, it is time to look around for sources. Many professors assign students with research papers because they want the students to find out more about certain topics on their own. The university’s library is always a great resource available to campus students. Spend some time in the library and you may be surprised how much these books – that have been sitting at a dark corner – could offer! Better off, head off to the professor’s office and ask him or her questions directly.
This lead into my next point – go to office hours. We do know that professors set aside time for their students to come in and discuss over issues and class topics. Some professors have even set aside the work and have coffee hours so they can socialize with their students, and blend into their perspectives.
Therefore, put your name on that sign-up sheet, or shoot an email to your class professors for an appointment to talk over your struggles with your paper. I personally think that it is also OK to meet with your professors even if you have not much of a trouble writing your paper. Know that it is through informal discussion that we may learn at a deeper level the material delivered in the course.
Next, write, revise, and rewrite your paper. We may not get it right at the first time but that is certainly human. Put yourself in the shoes of your professors and think how they would expect a paper to turn out to be. Also, allow yourself to free-write. That means not writing in a chronological order. For instance, you may think of the usage of certain plants before learning where they are grown. The computer word-processing programs have a very good function, which is to allow you to copy and paste your text anywhere you wish in a document. Hence, do not try to limit yourself and simply let your ideas grow.
Once you have your paper developed into a desired structure, it is time to collect feedback. Many of us, including myself, forget about this final yet the most critical part in the process of writing a paper. When I was interning as a copywriter, I often have my work double-checked by another set of eyes before sending out to production. This is because, again, we are human and no robots.
The more familiar we are with a text, the more we trust that it is written flawlessly. After spending lots of time researching your topic and drafting your paper, you might not notice small spelling or grammatical errors. Or, even worse, you might have a lot of great material, but fail to answer the professor’s question. So, do not hesitate to get your friends (trusted friends) to go through your papers, reading it aloud before you. You will be shocked by some silly mistakes that you might never have made.
Finally, turn in your paper on time. Some professors do accept early submission. Do not wait till the last minute to submit, only to find that your computer crashes or your printer decides to run out of ink. Those marks got deducted for late submissions due to these technical hiccups are not worth it at all.
My concluding advice: hang in there. The semester is almost done and we can look forward to a pretty decent winter break (isn’t it amazing that we still do not have snow at this time of the year?) But for now, start spending hours on your papers before this nightmare becomes awfully true.
