Attention Students: How To Write A Research Paper
I have had the chance of being an educator for almost thirty years, and involved in pedagogy for more than 36 years. During those years I have taught grades K-5, grades 9-12, college prep and most recently at the college level. For me, it was a constant battle keeping educational activities fun, interactive and rewarding for each learner. As my classes focused on older kids, making the gradual change from young to older, I noticed a common concern that each generation of kids became overwhelmed by: how to write a research paper.
Initially, I thought nothing of the answer I received when asking for such assignments to be completed. At first, I simply defined the usual groaning as a student’s dislike of my love for homework. But, what I was dismissing and defining as being disgruntled, actually had much more depth; these students were sometimes downright panic stricken when they heard mention of a “research paper”.
Worry about the something outside their comfort zone, being buried in volumes of pages, and not having a clue how to brainstorm research paper ideas was frequent. older teens envisioning a barrier to climb, because they didn’t know how to write a research paper, rarely truly believed me that in the expanse of time, completing a dissertation, even one that was very lengthy, was barely a zit on the face of history, compared to much more significant, life impacting challenges they’d eventually face as full fledged adults. Those consolations fell on a non-responsive audience most of the time.
Unable to look towards the bigger picture or the long view, their immediate reality was a looming deadline that could only be met by participating in an activity they weren’t interested in, that conflicted with their social calendar or that made them uneasy facing unexplored territory: how to write a research paper, and do it right - not just to pass or fail, but score the grades that high schools, universities, colleges and graduate schools, both public and private, hold in high value.
When I first began teaching at the college level I planned to give a semester-long specification to write a research paper on a(n) issue of every individual’s most passionate pursuit.
A wise colleague warned me that this would cause me many headaches. He said that even at a post high-school level, simply hearing that you have to write a research paper usually sent many students into a tail spin.
Determined, I ignored his advice and ventured into research paper territory. The first class of the semester I handed out the outline for the course. This included the title of the course textbook, the dates of the tests and the requirement that everyone would write a research paper.
I explained that the quizzes as well as the participation in class confabs would be 66% of the final score and the research paper would be the other third. I handed out schedules and deadlines for the paper. I wanted the subject they chose as well as a rough outline completed in the first two weeks and then various progress reports throughout the semester.
My outline and execution of my set calendar dates “forced” the paper to be done in small increments, rather than the typical giant one, when many students, kids or adults, sit down at the last minute and try to accomplish a mammoth amount worth of work in one sitting. Unnecessary worry and anxiety in my opinion. And with the fundamentals of how to effectively write a research paper tackled in small chunks throughout the class, semester or year depending on curriculum and / or school, initial panic about even the most simple undertaking, research paper ideas, seemed less and less a major undertaking .
Whether narrowing down a long catalog of paragraphs formatted neat and succinctly summarizing research paper ideas, writing each necessary part, keeping each research paper properly formatted for an educator who was known to be extremely precise about such fine points, or pacing themselves to guarantee assignment completion by the due date, when deconstructed into smaller sections, how to write a research paper fears slowly, but surely disappear. Stay tuned for the next article: Research Paper Ideas, the Easy Way.
Thanks to a new series relating to how to write a research paper without the usual worry and anxieties, Professor Ronald S. Smithers provides the first realization he harvested from his instructional days. Next , Research Paper Ideas- The Easy Way, on the the student website students have taken advantage of and that gives free stuff to college students, and helps you uncover more funds with federal education loan consolidation.
- Ron Smithers