The academic paper is an integral part of college or university education. Writing essays, term paper, assignments or research papers is a crucial aspect academic education, one which serves as the deciding factor in your final grades. It is therefore extremely crucial to know and understand how to write essays, research papers and other academic assignments so that you obtain that winning A grade From it, you learn the basic research skills that you will need for gathering information and write papers on various courses, as well as the methods used for lifelong learning, on the job and beyond. Almost every job, you will be asked to write reports and document your work. The academic paper is an exercise, which helps to develop these skills.


Research is a hands-on experience in locating and processing new information, a process that is becoming more complicated and involved with the explosion of electronic sources in recent years. The purpose of research is to compile quotes that show how you can report what others have said but rather to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize the issues you research and take possession of newly discovered knowledge to inform and support their point of view. The latter mark the educated person (Hacker 51).

Research takes time and energy, so plan accordingly. The process begins with choosing an appropriate topic suitable for your purpose or course. The topic should lead to new ideas that will help you formulate a theory or to seek answers to questions. Your instructor will help in the topic selection and style of documents relating to given discipline, topic or field of study.

There are three basic documentation styles: the oldest, footnote or endnote; the parenthetical citation; and the scientific numbering system. Each of them requires the list of sources at the end of the researched work. This guide focuses on the parenthetical citation, as the most modern and generally use in the undergraduate level.

Except where the Guide is showing specific examples, it will use Modern Language Association (MLA) style for in-text citation.

In writing your academic paper, based largely on what you learned about writing essays. The paper must have a certain defined audience, clear purpose, and successfully developed with the support of the thesis. As with other essays, you will, write your first draft, which you will most likely revise more than once. Then you will proofread, edit and prepare a final version. . The academic paper is likely to be longer than your other essays. Should be fairly and properly documented, to show the reader the sources used to support it.