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Having had the opportunity of being an instructor for almost thirty years, and involved in pedagogy for more than 36 years. During those years I have taught elementary, grades 9-12, college preparatory and most recently at the college level. For me, it was a constant battle keeping learning fun, interactive and rewarding for each student. As my lessons focused on older learners, making the gradual metamorphosis from young to older, I noticed a consistent issue that each maturity level of kids became overwhelmed by: how to write a research paper.

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

Worry about the something outside their comfort zone, being buried in heavy tomes, and not having any idea how to brainstorm research paper ideas was frequent. college-age students envisioning a mountain to climb, because they didn't know how to write a research paper, rarely truly believed me that in life's big picture, completing a writing assignment, even one that was longer than they were accustomed to, was barely a zit on the face of history, compared to much more significant, life impacting decisions they'd eventually face as grownups. Those words fell on a non-responsive audience usually.

Unable to look towards the bigger picture or the long view, their immediate challenge was a looming time limit that could only be met by participating in an enterprise they weren't interested in, that conflicted with their social calendar or that made them uneasy facing new challenges: how to write a research paper, and do it right - not just to pass or fail, but score the grades that post-middle-school institutions, hold in high value.

When I first began teaching at the university level I planned to give a full term assignment to write a research paper on a(n) subject of that particular student's most passionate hobby.

The dean of our department warned me that this would cause me many headaches. He said that even at a college level, simply hearing that you have to write a research paper usually sent many students into a counter-productive funk.

Determined, I ignored his advice and ventured into research paper purgatory. The first class of the semester I handed out the outline for the semester. This included the name of the text book we would be using, the dates of the tests and the requirement that everyone would write a research paper.

I explained that the tests as well as the participation in group-think would be a majority of the grade and the research paper would be the other third. Also that learning the researching insight seriously would make it more likely to search and find a grant or scholarship. I handed out calendars and deadlines for the dissertation. I wanted the subject they chose as well as a rough outline completed in the first two weeks and then various progress reports throughout the semester.

My plan and execution of my set calendar dates "forced" things to be done in small increments, rather than the typical giant one, when many students, kids or adults, sit down at the last minute and try to accomplish weeks worth of work in one all-nighter. Unnecessary stress and anxiety in my mind. And with the basics of how to effectively write a research paper accomplished in small chunks throughout the class, semester or year depending on curriculum and / or school, initial panic about even the most simple part: research paper ideas, seemed less and less an issue of worry.

Whether narrowing down a long list of paragraphs formatted neat and succinctly summarizing research paper ideas, writing each necessary element, keeping each research paper properly formatted for a teacher who was known to be extremely precise about such fine points, or pacing themselves to guarantee assignment completion by the due date, when deconstructed into smaller parts, how to write a research paper woes slowly, but surely disappear. Look for the up and coming report in this series: Research Paper Ideas, the Easy Way - Picking A Scholarship Worthy Topic.