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I have had the privilege of being an instructor for almost thirty years, and involved in teaching for more than 3 decades. During those years I have taught the lower grades, grades 9-12, preparatory academy and most recently college and university aged students. For me, it was a constant challenge keeping learning fun, interactive and rewarding for each student. As my teaching focused on older students, making the gradual change from young to older, I noticed a constant that each generation of kids became overwhelmed by: how to write a research paper.

Initially, I thought nothing of the response I received when asking for nonfiction essays to be completed. At first, I simply defined the usual groaning as a student's dislike of 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 overwhelmed when they heard mention of a "research paper".

Worry about the something different, being buried in heavy tomes, and not having the necessary skills to brainstorm research paper ideas was frequent. college-age students envisioning a barrier 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 dissertation, even one that was very lengthy, was barely a grain of sand on a beach, compared to much more significant, life impacting decisions they'd eventually face as full fledged adults. Those consolations fell on deaf ears much of the time.

Unable to look towards the bigger picture or the long term, their immediate truth was a looming deadline 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 unexplored territory: how to write a research paper, and do it right - not just to pass or fail, but earn the marks that post-middle-school institutions, hold in high regard.

When I first began teaching at the higher education 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 interest.

Our department head warned me that this would cause me more trouble than it was worth. He said that even at a post high-school level, simply hearing that you have to write a research paper usually sent many students into a tail spin.

Determined, I ignored his best intentions and ventured into research paper territory. The first session of the term I handed out the outline for the class. This included the name of the selected text, test dates and the expectation that everyone would write a research paper.

I explained that the reviews as well as the participation in groupthink would be two thirds of the final score and the research paper would be the other third. I handed out time lines and deadlines for the dissertation. I wanted the focus they chose as well as a rough synopsis completed in the first 14 days and then various progress reports throughout the term.

My outline and execution of my set schedule "forced" things to be done in small steps, 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 worry and nervousness in my way of thinking. And with the basics of how to effectively write a research paper tackled in small chunks throughout the class, semester or year depending on subject and / or institution, initial panic about even the most simple undertaking, research paper ideas, seemed less and less a major undertaking .

Whether narrowing down a long list of passages formatted neat and succinctly summarizing research paper ideas, writing each necessary component, keeping each research paper properly formatted for a teacher who was known to be a stickler about such details, or pacing themselves to guarantee paper completion by the turn-in date, when deconstructed into smaller pieces, how to write a research paper woes slowly, but surely disappear. Stay tuned for the next article: Research Paper Ideas, the Easy Way.