posted on Sep, 15 2004 @ 01:46 PM
Is there a point to this thread?
Odd,
Why not do some serious research, you live on campus, and write papers you can actually learn from by having written?
There are a lot of minor papers that can be wriiten in a short period based upon regurgitated study, spiced with references to your professor's
favorite issues and general PC BS. I think that's fair game, if you can get by with it.
The term paper however was, to me, a challenge to be taken very seriously and I would begin work as soon as I got my syllabus. It would take a while
to formulate a topic, but using the text and research into the popular literature I would find a large topic of study. I would then make a decision
and then go to the professional literature to fine tune my topic even more.
Computer searches make this process even more effective and a lot less time consuming than it was for me in the late eighties, when I was doing my
undergraduate work.
I think that the best strategy I developed was, once I decided what my topic would be, was to make copies of every article I could find on the
subject. Take those articles home and put them in a stack and go through them at every opportunity and highlight the pertinent information in one
color. By the time you have read all the articles, a thread of continuity should have become evident to you. That thread will become your paper.
Go back and read the papers and use another color marker to mark those areas that are pertinent given your new enlightend view--blue and yellow are
good colors for this task.
By this time, you should have read all your material at least twice and you should have a good idea of what it is you want to say. You can then sit
down and begin to write your paper using the highlighted areas of your artilces to support your positon.
As for living in the dorm. Get a job and rent an apartment. It worked for me.
[edit on 04/9/15 by GradyPhilpott]