<p>I got assigned a 12-15+ paper last Friday, and I'm just in my freshman year of college... it's just the basic writing requirement class too. What's up with that?! The longest paper I've written has been about 4 or 5 pages!!!! I'm panicking! The topic is so weird and arbitrary too!</p>
<p>What did you do for your first REALLY long paper? I don't want to use tons of block quotes, as my professor is onto that and she'd probably fail me just for trying to take up space. hahahaha</p>
<p>Rule number 1... in college, NEVER go with any of the 'make papers look longer' tricks. Some teachers measure margins, spacing, font size, and the spacing between paragraphs (because many people try the _pt extra spacing between paragraphs thinking nobody will notice). It may only be one out of every 4 or 5 teachers you have that bother to check all that, but if you are unlucky enough to pull that with the one teacher who does, you get an F on a paper thats worth a large amount of your grade.</p>
<p>Now, my first research paper in college was 20 pages required (I went over) and I had only ever written papers in elementary and middleschool... if I could do it (and got an A on it) you can definitely use your highschool paper writing methods to your advantage. Mostly, its about going into way more detail than you would in a 4-5 page paper. The intro, instead of being 1 paragraph long becomes a page or two long. The meat of the paper includes throwing out the old rule of a paragraph being 4 or 5 sentences, and each paragraph becomes longer. Research papers, if thats what you're doing, can usually be one page or more on one source, even if your topic is very narrowed down. Chances are your school has a writing lab that can help you also- they usually look over your paper and help with any construction issues (they usually refuse to check grammar and spelling though).</p>
<p>All in all, don't stress about it, and don't just write useless stuff to fill up space - that makes for a worse paper than if it were a page or two too short.
Good Luck!</p>
<p>I assume a paper this long is some kind of research paper. If so, start by doing your research and taking notes (make sure you enter citations accurately as you take your notes). Once you have done your research, usually some themes and major points as well as quotations to use will start to jump out and will help you organize the whole thing.</p>
<p>I did this for my first research paper, and I ended up with 40 pages instead of 20!</p>
<p>I think research is the biggest step. Find works on your topic and go through them focusing on the themes/details that you want to talk about, then gather supporting evidence around these themes.</p>
<p>The more relevant information you gather, the more you'll have to talk about. I've found that once I've done the research properly, the length is easy.</p>
<p>"i have to say im very surprised that the longest paper that youve ever written was 4-5 pages..."</p>
<p>Easy teachers.</p>
<p>Anyway, no, it isn't a research paper, which is what is driving me insane; it's just an analysis of frigging Plato's crap. I mean, how can you write a paper that is longer than the work that you're writing it about?!!?!?</p>
<p>Well if it's a book analysis, read through Plato again. Yes, I'm telling you to read it again, even after the class discussion. Read his discussions actively and closely, meaning mark up the pages, make comments, ask questions, etc. "Talk" to Palto. Eventually, those mark-ups and underlines/highlights will be your notes for the paper. Pick several intersecting points that you want to riase and discuss them. It should be enough to fill 12-15 pages.</p>
<p>And you haven't seen the worse of it in terms of paper lengths.</p>
<p>12-15 should be nothing by the time you graduate!
For now, reread the book, take some notes and do some analysis. If it were thorough an analysis of a work SHOULD be longer than the work it's analyzing! (Otherwise, it's likely more of a summary.)</p>
<p>once u start writing, the pages will come, so dont worry bout the length. one trick that someone told me is that you could change the size of only the periods. it makes a big difference but takes a lot of time. pointless in my opinion, but just throwing it out there</p>
<p>12-15 should be pretty standard. Just find something really specific to talk about, and go into lots of depth about it (if that lies within the scope of the paper).</p>
<p>As for the period thing, I doubt it adds much. You'd be better off just writing more.</p>
<p>Wow, just wow on the period thing! Serioualy, its about HOW you write not the length of the paper. Play by the system for now but it's ultimately better to write SHORTER papers in the end and be efficient with your use of space (that is, brief but thorough).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well if it's a book analysis, read through Plato again. Yes, I'm telling you to read it again, even after the class discussion. Read his discussions actively and closely, meaning mark up the pages, make comments, ask questions, etc. "Talk" to Palto. Eventually, those mark-ups and underlines/highlights will be your notes for the paper. Pick several intersecting points that you want to riase and discuss them. It should be enough to fill 12-15 pages.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Agreed. With Philosphy, you should normally a) be explicating the writers argument and b) making some futher point about it (whether that be arguing against it, or discussing its implications, etc). Once you figure out what you're trying to say, it shouldn't be too hard.</p>
<p>I agree with those who are amazed that 4-5 is the longest paper you did in HS. Unfortunately, you HS teachers did not prepare you properly 12 to 15 is not that long. Use the hints about outlining etc. given above to help you. Go to the College writing center for help.</p>
<p>Our longest expos paper is 9-10 pages. I think a 4-5 page essay is too short (but I like to write more, and page limits are a real problem for me).</p>