Save Early and Often When Writing your English Research Paper
Save Early and Often When Writing your English Research Paper
I Finally Wrote a Great English Research Paper to Bad I Didn’t Print it Out
I was an English major in college. An English literature major. It’s very important that you make that distinction. I don’t really like to write. I am not really good at it. But I love to read. I adore great writers: Faulkner, Shakespeare and Salinger. I just really enjoyed reading. It was my chance to transform. I was able to leave the existing world and move somewhere else. I was also very good at interpreting the readings. It was really very exciting. Although even though I was an English Literature major I still had to write many of English research papers. They were the bane of my existence.
These English research papers didn’t get very easy. I had such a difficult time putting together sentences that made sense. I was now a junior and every time I had to write a term paper I ended taking it over to the free English tutors so they could look it over. I was getting tired of having my paper returned to me marked up with red ink. At least it was by a tutor and not a by a professor topped off with a big fat F.
The English tutors were actually really helpful. They gave me some good English research paper tips.
1. Read your paper out loud to yourself. If it doesn’t make sense to you. It won’t make sense to anyone else.
2. Learn the differences in citation methods. Most professors will tell you what citation method they want (MLA, Chicago, APA)
3. When editing your paper take your time. Editing your paper may take almost as much time as it took to write you paper.
4. After you edit your paper walk away. Come back to it later and re-edit it. You will find additional mistakes.
5. Make sure you save your paper early and often.
I had an English research paper due the following week. I was so stressed out about it. Forget that it was a paper on Richard Wright one of my most favorite writers. I was just so nervous about writing it. I was in the library half the week doing research on it. I knew that the paper was to be cited with MLA style so I was one step ahead in that respect. Other than that I just couldn’t get my sentences to make any sense. It was like I knew exactly what I wanted to say in my head. I just couldn’t get it to translate on paper.
I put off siting down and writing the English research paper till the weekend. Every time I thought of it make my stomach hurt. I finally sat down Saturday morning and began to compose it. I had a pretty clear idea of the thesis statement and the strong points I wanted to make. I worked on it all day Saturday and Sunday. I was pretty happy with my English research paper.
On Sunday at eleven p.m. I finally decided that I was done with it. I was really excited. This would be the first paper I had not taken to the English tutors. I actually didn’t want to take it to them. There was huge thunderstorm and I really didn’t want to run out in it. I was pretty excited. I read through my English research paper one more time ,out loud, before I hit the print button and then the screen went blank. I looked around. The whole room was pitch black and my roommate was fast asleep in her bed oblivious to the absolute horror that was filling my mind. I quickly remembered the last tip I was given. “save early and often.” I had not saved my paper! I quickly ran out the door into the rain screaming all the way praying that the English tutors knew some way that I could retrieve my English research paper.
