How to Write a College Paper

Posted: November 14, 2018
How to Write a College Paper

Strong writing and communication skills are the desirable abilities any college student is expected to have. In college, there happens a lot of writing, and the required intricacy is different from the one of high school writing. How to write a college paper? Unlike essays, you wrote in high school, that stress creativity, college papers make the student formulate a problem, argue it, and defend it using information from credible sources. The role of the primary or secondary sources is to allow the professor to verify the claims. The source includes books, journals, newspapers, and other publications.

How to Write a College Level Paper

College papers include case studies essays, field reports, and other traditional student papers. The piece of college writing can be two pages or as long as 20 pages if you are to write a college-level research paper. Nevertheless, the criteria set for writing college essays are the same. There is the introduction that contains the thesis and introductory message, the body, and the conclusion.

To come up with great academic articles, you have to read widely to increase your vocabulary and broaden your thinking capacity. For example, read extensively on the topics the tutor expects you to d. Before the actual writing, you will have a rough idea and examples ready in your head.

A step-by-step guide on writing a college paper.

The Topic

The college professor will provide the topic, and your first challenge is to understand the topic and decipher what is expected.  The topic is the core of the paper, and you should create your ideas based on the subject. If the student is required to come up with their topic, brainstorm about an issue you are familiar with then choose a topic that is not too narrow so you are free to create ideas. Let the issue be unique and precise making the article exciting to read.

The Outline

The blueprint or the framework dictates what to be included in the story and how to explain the details. The structure aims to help you in organizing your thoughts making the actual penning easy and fast. The professor is likely to ask you to write a college-level paper in APA format. APA format is an outline that has the following form:

  • The font style in use is Times New Roman
  • The size of the font is 12pt
  • There is a one-inch margin around the corners of the A4 paper
  • The paragraphs are double-spaced. Double-spacing helps the paper not look cramped.
  • It contains a cover page, the abstract, body, and the reference page

The cover page is the first page and includes the name of the author, the name of the tutor/professor, the title of the essay, the name of the course and the submission date.

Headings

Headings can make your text stand out as they allow the readers to skim through the composition. The titles should be relevant and how you format the heading depends on the style of the article. How to write a college paper heading in APA requires a running head. The heading should be written correctly in capital letters and not longer than fifty words including spaces and the punctuations.

If the article contains one long section, it will have a level one heading centered in the middle of the paper using a mix of capital and lowercase letters. Level one headings usually do not end with any punctuation and the words ought to be boldface and left-aligned.

If you will have subsections in the article, use level two heading which follows the same formatting rules as header level one. In research papers or very long essays, there will be level three heading that is written in sentence format, and only the first letter is capitalized. Unlike other titles, it ends with punctuation like a period and space.

How to Begin Writing the Topic

On further reading on how to write an outline for a college-level paper, browse through our blog page and find an article titled “APA research paper outline.” The article has an in-depth analysis and includes an example of how to use the APA style.

After settling on the topic, how do we start the student paperwork? There are four simple ways of starting the essay:

  • Start by telling us a story related to the topic
  • Make use of quotes from famous individuals who argue positively about your interest
  • Make use of known facts. Facts from research centers or popular newspapers trigger the reader’s curiosity. Also, include statistics and thought-provoking questions.
  • Describe the problem. There is a reason you chose the topic if it seeks to bring out the problems in the society, expound more about the issue and to what extent is it affecting the people.

Need Professional Help?

Several online writing websites can help you to write a college paper in APA format so do not fret when you have no idea of what to talk about or you feel the time is pressing. However, be cautious of the site you chose, the internet has no rules, and you will meet fraudulent writers. Do not choose a website because you can buy college essays cheaply at the expense of the quality of the paper.

Studicus.com is a popular online writing service known due to its excellent quality content, originality and ability to deliver before deadlines. At Studicus.com you can pay someone to do your homework and be guaranteed they will do a great job.

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