<p>I'd suggest starting really early and doing a page or two a day. It really isn't bad if you take it piece by piece.</p>
<p>
[quote]
quotes take up a few of the pages.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A good way to start is while you're doing your research, write down all the quotes you might use... then start connecting them together with your thoughts when it gets to writing time.</p>
<p>However, you can't just quote like, huge paragraphs. Quotes longer than a certain length should be indented and single spaced... really long quotes can go into footnotes. I have written some papers where some of the pages were more than half in the footnote section, as opposed to the 'text of the paper' section.</p>
<p>When you write a 10+ page paper (it was a shocker for me during my freshman year too), it's similar to the 5-paragraph method but it is a much longer, detailed version. You may have to include 2-3 introductory and 2-3 concluding paragraphs. The body is where you shine, where you highlight examples and provide detailed analysis. They will become easier to write the more you do in college.</p>
<p>damn, the longest i've ever wrote is 3 pages...</p>
<p>If you make a detailed outline and then do some good research you may find that 20 pages is not enough, you need more.</p>
<p>they show u how to get it to 10 pages in the writing courses right...?
cuz the most ive ever written is like 5-6 pages -_-
and that was with A LOT of BSing</p>
<p>English Composition is something every school (as far as I know) requires for students. I'd suggest taking it 1st semester if you've never done papers longer than 5 pages, in full MLA format. Most professors use MLA, some like footnotes (mostly pesky history teachers), and for psychology you would have to get the APA style down well (and do it early if you are going to major in Psych, having to switch gears after having MLA down pat is hard.)</p>
<p>I've had the same problem as hikids... My second ten page paper ended up going 16 pages, after I clipped a lot (and that does not include any of the bibliography pages... just a hint teachers don't fall for tricks like counting cover and bibliography pages, messing with margins, using larger than 12 pt font, or adding extra spacing between paragraphs - ie. a 6 pt space between paragraphs added to the double spacing between all lines). If you do the work, you will have enough material, and you will write a good paper! I do still highly suggest checking out the guide books. I think Diana Hacker even has a site with guidelines to the styles. I own style books by other authors, but I keep going back to hers cause of the tabs, it makes it so easy to just flip to what I need as I'm writing if I need a reminder as to how to cite a certain something.</p>
<p>My daughter mentioned this problem to me on Tuesday. She's taking Comp I at the local community college (she's a high-school Junior) and her essay was too short. So I gave her one of our writing handbooks (St Martins) and had her read a chapter on argument essays and she was able to get the essay up to the proper length. She has to get it reviewed today. The St Martins book is pretty nice in that there are a lot of sample essays to make their point. We also have The Little, Brown Handbook which is nice for portability. It isn't as meaty/comprehensive as St Martins though.</p>