To the commercial world, November means one thing: Christmas is on its way!

To the less ridiculous members of society, November may conjure up images of pumpkin pie, turkey, and the last bright days before final exams start taking over the Earth.

To the many participants in a certain write-a-book-in-a-month program, however, the eleventh month is actually Novelember, the four weeks during which storytellers everywhere participate in National Novel Writing Month. In honor of NaNoWriMo, then, and in an attempt to put off working on my own book (I’ve written myself into a corner at the moment), I thought I’d spend a post talking about one of college students’ most dangerous addictions: academic papers.

Oh, it starts off small, as most unhealthy habits do. Perhaps your freshman writing seminar has a six pager due at the end of the semester. Then a history class wants a full-on research thesis. Plus, there’s that write-up due for your psych class that you thought would be easier but…actually isn’t. And then, somehow, it’s the night before that one day in December when everything evilly happens to be due before 4PM, and you have 20+ pages that need writin’.

Or, like me, maybe you come up with awesome paper topics and are just dying to connect the portrayal of the “nerdy” heroine in medieval literature to today’s pop culture stereotypes–except you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. Trust me, you don’t want to be the kid who’s checked out every single book related to dragon iconography or mythology and then realizes two days before the deadline that she has to actually connect all this exciting knowledge back to Asian art history somehow.

Not that I would ever do something like that. Obviously.

Read on, then, for a few simple pointers on how to keep papers happy, healthy, and ready to bring you back some quality grades!

  1. A paper is a lifetime–er, monthlong commitment, so make sure you choose the one that best fits your personality. 

For example, guess who has to watch this movie as research for one of her three papers this semester (and hopefully for her honors thesis)?

To paraphrase one of my favorite professors, it’s best to “fall passionately in love with” your paper topic. And, hey, from what I’ve seen, papers here aren’t like in high school: you won’t get a little assignment saying “Please discuss the way in which Buffy and Angel’s love symbolizes the flaws in young marriages” unless you’re taking an essay exam. As long as your teacher approves of your subject, of course, it’s easy to take on nearly anything that appeals to you–and I swear that makes writing much more enjoyable. (Of course, I’m an English major and doing research is definitely on my Top 10 Fun Things list, so I’m probably not the most impartial source here…)

2. Adding a dash of fun to ordinary tasks can be rewarding for both paper and writer! 

Weird pre-CGI robin not necessary.

I’m not talking Mary Poppins here (although yes, a spoonful of sugar also makes paper-writing better): rather, I know how to spice up the #1 Way To Get A Good Paper Grade.

All right, it’s not that exciting. Your high school teachers probably all told you this, but I’ll say it again–read the dang thing out loud. 

Not just once, though. You’re never going to catch any ridiculous typos that way. No, you need to read it multiple times, and–I recommend–in multiple ways. Reading through something in that monotone “I have class in five minutes” voice might make you miss something obvious, while trying out your best sea captain accent or  Valley Girl vocal fry could actually help notice that place where you typed “heteronormative” twice in a row. For shame.

3. Nobody gets it perfect the first time. Or the second time. Or the third time, or the nth time…

No picture for this one. Instead, I encourage you to do a Google Image search of “first draft,” as some of the results are rather fascinating. I especially like the phony(?) op-ed by a young GWB.

On a similar note, I tend to avoid the first-draft/second-draft/done pattern often preferred by many ineffective writing manuals. Instead, I first write my zeroth draft (yes, that’s what I call it; you needn’t do the same) by just piling in all the information I can onto the page without caring much for style or format. Then, once the content’s there, it only takes a cycle of numerous read-throughs & edits before it’s in top form.

Also, as one final tip to any pre-frosh considering major options: if you like to write blog posts, you might love art history papers! We get to use pictures in our writing too, and sometimes you can talk in first person!

(I wouldn’t recommend tagging your final bibliography, though. (#likethis) (#papers4lyf) (#okayI’mdone))

(P.S. Speaking of hashtags, you can now find me on Twitter! I’ll tweet links to each post as I write ‘em, so if you’re into short infobites and weird avian iconography, give me a follow for updates & such.)