Craft an original thesis. Research your topic in academic journals, the library and also on the Internet to see what scholars have written about the subject. Choose a topic or angle that no one else has written about or explored yet.
Situate your paper within a current scholarly debate. While you do not want to repeat what scholars are already saying, challenging their ideas or expanding on them makes your paper relevant to contemporary research in your field.
Support your arguments and claims with extensive scholarly research from peer-reviewed journals and academic books, both online and offline. Read your sources thoroughly to ensure that you understand the subject. Summarize the arguments and major points. Avoid construing sources in your favor when their relation to your paper is vague.
Incorporate high-level vocabulary accurately. The broader your vocabulary, the more ideas you can express. Utilize a thesaurus and invest in some vocabulary books. Use advanced vocabulary sparingly, however; excessive intellectual jargon can come across as "mumbo jumbo," especially when simpler words are adequate.
Provide logically sound evidence for your claims. Logical fallacies, such as a straw man argument, not only distance your reader but weaken your paper's overall impression. Scrutinize your paper vigorously for hidden assumptions and presuppositions that readers might call out.
Craft sentences that are tight and to the point. While you want to maintain an intellectual tone for your paper, avoid rambling. Make your writing efficient --- that is, convey the most meaning in the fewest words.