Hone your research and reading skills. The more you read advanced reading materials the better your writing skills will be; you will be exposed to proper spelling, vocabulary, and word usage. By studying the kinds of papers you plan on writing you will begin to absorb the knowledge before you have to apply it.
Create a graphic organizer. Begin by putting your ideas for your paper in picture format, this will make it easier to organize and properly write your paper. Put the main idea in the center and have the remaining ideas from your paper branch off from that idea.
Create an outline. No matter what kind of paper you are writing, by creating an outline, and then detailing your different steps, you are creating the skeleton for a college level paper. This is where you find out what information you need and what information you can leave out.
Write a rough draft. This will be your story or research paper in the first go round. It will help you to get your outline ideas down, use your sources, and other materials to flesh out your story. Ask a friend to read it to you aloud, so you can hear any mistakes or breaks in the flow of the writing.
Do a final draft on a computer. Make sure you cite any sources you have used from books, use spell check, proofread, and look carefully for errors. Your final draft needs to be perfect. If possible, have a professor or your writing mentor review your final draft before you print it.