How to Write a Paper Fast

Writing a paper doesn't have to take as long as you think it will.

Typically, your research paper or essay should be something you take your time with. You should have time to do plenty of research, make notes and write drafts of your paper to make sure you get the grade you are aiming for. Unfortunately, there is not always enough time to do so. Sometimes, you have to know how to write a paper quickly. This can still mean you write your paper well, get a good grade and move forward with your classes.

Instructions

1. Choose a topic that you already know a little bit about, if one has not been assigned to you. If you know something about the topic, it won't take you as long to research and begin your paper. At the very least, make sure that you are interested in your topic. You'll be more motivated to work on it quickly if you are.

2. Gather a few sources (check your assignment requirements to see how many are needed) that you know you can trust. Don't just do a general Internet search on your topic, because it takes time to sort through all of the potential sources. Choose a couple of books, an encyclopedia and some credible Internet sources that you know have the information you need.

3. Write down as much as you know about the topic already, in general statements that you can later turn into paragraphs. Don't go into detail, just write general statements such as "The Civil War claimed a lot of lives." Continue to write statements this way until you have written everything that you know.

4. Expand on each statement with a paragraph that supports that statement. This is where you might need to turn to research materials, because you'll need to find sources to support what you say and fact check yourself.

5. Check the length of your paper. If it isn't long enough, look through your sources for more information that you can add to the paper to make sure it is long enough.

6. Organize your paragraphs into an order that makes logical sense to you. If you are talking about something with a timeline (like the American Civil War), put things in the order they occurred. You can also order things by importance or by what seems to flow as you read the paper.

7. Develop an introduction that highlights the main points you talk about in the rest of the paper, and then write a conclusion that reiterates your main points. Your introduction and your conclusion should bookend the paper, so make them relate in some way. For instance, tell a story in your introduction and refer back to it in the conclusion. You could also give a snippet of an idea in the beginning and finish the idea in the end.

References

• A Research Guide: How to Write a Paper