Your professor may provide a question, issue or list of topics for your paper to address. You will be responsible for organizing an argument or researching a topic to produce an educated response to your professor's prompt. If you have trouble selecting a topic or are unclear about what is expected, schedule an appointment with your professor. She can tell you if you are on the right track, answer any questions you have and possibly point you in the right direction for your research. Once you are clear on what the professor is looking for, you will need to build a strong topic. A strong topic will be able to be fully elaborated upon within the word count and interest your readers. You do not want to choose a topic that is too broad. A narrow topic allows you to fully support your topic with your research.
Expectations for college papers have changed from when you were in high school. You must support your paper with quality research. You will want to research what other scholars are saying about your topic or research that has been published. Electronic resources are a great starting place for your research. There are electronic resources specifically designed for academic writing that are composed of scholarly papers and compile academic journals for you to search. Consider searching LexisNexis Academic, ProQuest or JSTOR. Many of these sites require a subscription. However, your school may offer access to these resources through the library. When reading journals, papers or articles, don't forget to read the footnotes or bibliography, which can also be used as sources.
Do not plagiarize. In academic setting, plagiarism is a serious offense. "Merriam--Webster" defines the verb "plagiarize" as "to steal or pass off (the ideas or words of another) as your own." To avoid being accused of plagiarism, you must cite every source with the proper citation. If the ideas were not yours originally, they must be cited according to the style guide used by your professor or school. Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) are a common style guides followed in higher education and professional settings. Following the appropriate manual's system of referencing sources in an article will allow you to avoid plagiarism.
At the college level, your professor expects your writing to be clear and concise. Grammar and style issues can be detrimental to your grade. Grammar consists of issues with misplaced or missing commas, sentence fragments and subject-verb agreement among other things. If grammar is not your strong suite, schedule an appointment with a writing lab or tutor. They will be able to catch errors and teach you rules to keep in my for all of your college papers. Concerning style, you will want to write in the active voice, use complex sentence structure and be concise. Have a friend read your paper before turning it in. If they find it too difficult to read or get lost is the sentence structure, you probably have a style problem. Take your time to and go back through your paper. Have your buried the subject of the sentence? Is the subject of the sentence performing the action? Are your transitions clear? Are your sentences repetitive? A good paper will be clear and concise from beginning to end.