How to Write a College Paper: Practical Tips

Good verbal skills are essential in college. However, expressing one’s thoughts clearly in writing is equally important. You may have conducted great research and discovered something truly important and amazing, but if you cannot put your work into words on paper, you will not be very successful in writing even short college essays. The knowledge of how to write a good college paper is critically important for any student.

What do we mean by college paper?

Writing tasks for college students come in various forms. Some are easier and shorter, while others are more complex and may consist of hundreds of pages. Papers in college may include:

• Essay;
• Coursework;
• Term paper;
• Research paper;
• Book review;
• Case study;
• Lab report;
• Thesis;
• Dissertation.

College essays are everywhere, term papers and coursework accompany every academic discipline, while thesis and dissertations students need to write only once when they obtain their graduate degrees.

At the same time, all of the above papers share several things in common: they all follow a similar structure, require adhering to strict academic standards, and demand students to discover new knowledge, either practically or theoretically.   

How to write a paper for college: practical tips

Since all papers in college share a similar structure, following only a few universal tips will greatly improve the quality of your research and simplify the writing process. 

Preparations for writing college papers

This preliminary step stipulates finding a resourceful and researchable topic and coming up with an actionable outline. 

A resourceful and researchable topic enables you to conduct a thorough analysis and potentially arrive at useful and interesting results. Examples of good, resourceful topics can be:

Gender Pay Gap in the Workplace

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

The Short-Term Implications of the Air Pollution

On all of these topics, you can find plenty of materials to analyze. Also, the above college paper topics are concrete enough, and they are trendy, meaning that your research and its implications stand a good chance of bringing value to you, your immediate social group, and society as a whole.  

Key things to know about how to start a college paper

With a good outline, you will never have difficulties starting an academic paper. The outline has to have enough details, and contain at least the following key elements:

• Introduction with a defined problem and a clear thesis statement;
• The main body with key arguments to support the thesis;
• Conclusion with the key takeaways.

Preparing an introduction requires a maximum concentration of college students’ research skills and abilities. In a single paragraph, you’ll need to define the problem and state your position towards it (thesis statement). For example, let’s take one of the above-mentioned topics about air pollution, and formulate a problem, followed by a thesis statement:

Uncontrolled pollution of air in big cities is strongly linked to higher disease and mortality rates among susceptible populations. In this paper, I will argue that the impact of bad air quality on the health of young people is profound. By examining the latest research findings and case studies, I will emphasize the urgency of addressing air pollution in urban environments.

A few words about the main body

The main body serves as the central playground for your arguments. In the example above, you should provide results of particular case studies and research to build ground for the urgency of taking particular measures against air pollution.

Don’t forget about a paragraph or two with counterarguments, as they will add credibility and scientific value to your college paper. For example, you can mention the feasibility of particular preventive measures and state that at least some of them are not viable financially.

Why college students fail to write academic papers

Teachers tend to think that students always find millions of reasons for not completing their homework. They are both right and wrong since there are several objective things, indeed, that may go in the way of writing for even the most motivated and successful of students.

Practice shows that the first three reasons account for over 50% of all failures to write a college essay or any other academic paper. Poor writing skills, lack of motivation, and difficulty understanding the assignment push students to consider other options to complete writing tasks than doing so themselves.

The Bottom Line

“Writing papers in college is both a challenging and rewarding experience. It only takes some practice, and a few universal guidelines, such as the ones mentioned in this article, to step up your research and writing game. 

On the other hand, if you struggle to do so, it’s OK to search for help with writing a college paper. Some college students may find such help and support in libraries, while others prefer to consult with their peer students, professors, and even online writing agencies by posting “write my college paper” type requests in browsers. 

Either way, the experience and advice you can get from talking to other people will have a positive impact on your writing performance. However, it’s important to not overly rely on external help, using it only when you have no other viable options at hand.