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I have had the privilege of being an instructor for almost thirty years, and involved in pedagogy for more than 3 decades. During that time I have taught elementary, teens, college preparatory and most recently college and university aged students. For me, it was a constant struggle keeping educational activities fun, interactive and rewarding for each learner. As my classes focused on older kids, making the gradual leap from young to older, I noticed a common concern that each generation of kids became overwhelmed by: how to write a research paper.

Initially, I thought nothing of the reaction I received when asking for research papers to be completed. At first, I simply defined the usual groaning as a student's distaste in my love for homework. But, what I was dismissing and defining as being disgruntled, actually had much more significance; these pupils were sometimes downright overwhelmed when they heard mention of a "research paper".

Worry about the something different, being buried in volumes of pages, and not having the necessary skills to brainstorm research paper ideas was frequent. college-age students envisioning a brick wall to climb, because they didn't know how to write a research paper, rarely truly believed me that in the expanse of time, completing an essay, even one that was very lengthy, was barely a grain of sand on a beach, compared to much more significant, life impacting events they'd eventually face as full fledged adults. Those consolations fell on a non-responsive audience much of the time.

Unable to look towards the whole essence or the long overall result, their immediate challenge was a looming turn-in date that could only be met by participating in something they weren't interested in, that conflicted with their social calendar or that made them uneasy facing the unknown: how to write a research paper, and do it right - not just to pass or fail, but measure up to the criteria that post-middle-school institutions, hold in high regard.

When I first began teaching at the higher education level I planned to give a full term assignment to write a research paper on a(n) subject of each student's most passionate pursuit.

The dean of our department warned me that this would cause me more trouble than it was worth. He said that even at a college level, simply hearing that you have to write a research paper usually sent many students into a downward spiral.

Determined, I ignored his best intentions and ventured into research paper neverland. The first day of the term I handed out the syllabus for the semester. This included the name of the course textbook, test dates and the assignment that everyone would write a research paper.

I explained that the quizzes as well as the participation in class confabs would be 66% of the grade and the research paper would be the other 33%. I handed out calendars and deadlines for the essay. I wanted the subject they chose as well as a rough draft completed in the first 14 days and then various progress reports throughout the term.

My agenda and execution of my set schedule "forced" things to be done in small steps, rather than the typical giant one, when many students, kids or adults, sit down the night before and try to accomplish a mammoth amount worth of work in one sitting. Unnecessary worry and anxiety in my opinion. And with the framework of how to effectively write a research paper tackled in small sections throughout the class, semester or year depending on course and / or institution, initial stress about even the most simple section, research paper ideas, seemed less and less a major undertaking .

Whether narrowing down a long catalog of passages formatted neat and succinctly summarizing research paper ideas, writing each necessary part, keeping each research paper properly formatted for an educator who was known to be a stickler about such details, or pacing themselves to guarantee assignment completion by the turn-in date, when deconstructed into smaller pieces, how to write a research paper fears slowly, but surely disappear. Stay tuned for the next article: Research Paper Ideas, the Easy Way.