How to Improve As a Writer of College Papers

Improving your paper writing skills in college is imperative.

Learning to write papers in college is critical, regardless of your chosen major course of study. Whether you are in fine arts, mathematics, sciences or business, you will need to find ways to express your ideas and your research findings while citing your sources. The skill isn't necessarily innate, and you can do many things to improve and ultimately fine-tune this craft so it's a natural part of your skill set.

Things You'll Need

• Research writer's handbook
• Dictionary
• Thesaurus

Instructions

1. Write as a scholar. According to the Dartmouth Writing Program, when you write in college, you become a scholar writing for other scholars. Once you understand this and accept this philosophy, it will help you to understand and approach your writing in a new way.

2. Research your potential topic before you begin the assignment to know how much reading you will need to do. This will help you consider the deadline and how to plan the timeline of your research, drafts and final draft of the paper.

3. Choose how you want to approach your topic. Choose a theme for your paper so your paper will flow and follow a logical progression and come to a strong conclusion. State your theme in the first paragraph of your paper, and you should find your way back to that theme in your conclusion.

4. Apply your personal intellect to the paper. Writing emptily and just using the researched facts can make for an uninteresting paper. You might technically hit all the points, but you lose out by not investing yourself and your perspective into the topic. Stand outside of the paper and look at it objectively to determine if you spoke to your theme effectively. Ask yourself if it will help your reader understand the topic.

5. Proofread to catch any typos and to ensure good grammatical structure. Make sure the final draft is clear and clean to the reader's eye.

Tips & Warnings

• Use all of the tools at your disposal, such as a writer's handbook, dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia.

• Typos and poor grammatical structure can distract the reader from the quality of your ideas, so be sure to read through the final draft carefully.

References

• Michael Harvey's The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing
• College Data: "Ten Tips to Improve Your Essay"
• Dartmouth Writing Program: "What is an Academic Paper?"
• Bates College: "Writing the Research Paper"
• College Board: "The Keys to Effective Writing"