The most common types of papers required in college courses include the essay, the literature evaluation, and the researched theme paper or term paper. Additionally, students with certain majors or minors may encounter professors who assign a fourth type of paper known as the case study. All four of these types of college papers require different levels of preparation, yet all share certain fundamentals.
The first technique in producing successful college papers involves understanding two levels of fundamentals: those common to all college papers, and those specific to each assignment. You develop college papers of all types around a roadmap for the reader called a thesis statement. The thesis statement incorporates information on the material you intend to cover, on the significance of that material, and the sort of support or proof you propose to use to make the case for your conclusion. The second technique in developing a successful college paper involves reading the directions and getting any necessary clarifications, whenever possible, from the professor before beginning the assignment.
Planning can be a fairly simple process. For instance, an in-class essay question on a test has a time limitation. In this situation, you most likely select the most comfortable or most interesting from two to four suggested questions, get a rough idea of what you want to say and write your essay in a beginning-to-end order. Most research papers, however, require you to develop your own project through several stages. First, plan your research, such as only books or books plus interviews. Then conduct the research, and make notes. With notes in hand, organize the research, and devise a direction for the paper. Once you have a focus for the paper, you will need to write the paper. In the middle in terms of planning complexity, you will find case studies and some literature reviews. In these situations, the foundational material may come entirely from a course textbook, or from a data handout the professor provides; although some literature reviews do involve research of critical writings on the material. For any college papers you need to develop outside of class, you must evaluate how best to complete all the required stages of developing the paper in time to submit it by the due date for the assignment.
When it comes time to compose your college paper, with the exception of those under the time constraints of an in-class test, you can apply a business writer's technique. This technique involves delaying composition of introductory material until body text is developed. Typically, you will find your introduction emerges as your research and ideas direct the paper's theme.