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I have had the opportunity of being an instructor for almost three decades, and involved in teaching for more than 36 years. During that time I have taught younger students, high school, college prep and most recently at the college level. For me, it was a constant struggle keeping educational activities fun, interactive and rewarding for each student. As my classes focused on older students, making the gradual metamorphosis from young to older, I noticed a constant that each generation of kids became overwhelmed by: how to write a research paper.

Initially, I thought nothing of the reaction I received when asking for such assignments to be completed. At first, I simply defined the usual groaning as a student's distaste in my love for take home work. But, what I was dismissing and defining as being disgruntled, actually had much more depth; these students were sometimes downright overwhelmed when they heard of an assigned "research paper".

Worry about the unknown, being buried in heavy tomes, and not having the necessary skills to brainstorm research paper ideas was frequent. Young adults envisioning a barrier to climb, because they were clueless about how to write a research paper, rarely truly believed me that in the wider scope of things, completing a dissertation, even one that was very lengthy, was barely a zit on the face of history, compared to much more significant, life impacting decisions they'd eventually face as mature adults. Those words fell on a non-responsive audience much of the time.

Unable to look towards the bigger picture or the long view, their immediate challenge was a looming time limit that could only be met by participating in something they weren't interested in, that conflicted with their extracurricular activities or that made them uneasy facing new challenges: how to write a research paper, and do it right - not just to pass or fail, but earn the marks that post-middle-school institutions, hold in high importance.

When I first began teaching at the higher education level I planned to give a semester-long specification to write a research paper on a(n) subject of every individual's most passionate pursuit.

The dean of our department warned me that this would cause me more trouble than it was worth. He said that even at a post high-school level, simply hearing that you have to write a research paper usually sent many students into a counter-productive funk.

Determined, I ignored his wise words and ventured into research paper neverland. The first class of the term I handed out the syllabus for the course. This included the name of the course textbook, the dates of the tests and the expectation that everyone would write a research paper.

I explained that the reviews as well as the participation in classroom discussions would be a majority of the grade and the research paper would be the other 33%. I handed out schedules and deadlines for the essay. I wanted the subject they chose as well as a rough synopsis completed in the first two weeks and then various updates on progress throughout the term.

My outline and execution of my set calendar dates "forced" the paper to be done in small increments, rather than the typical giant one, when many students, kids or adults, sit down at the last minute and try to accomplish a semester's worth of work in one marathon of study. Unnecessary worry and anxiety in my way of thinking. And with the basics of how to effectively write a research paper tackled in small manageable pieces throughout the class, semester or year depending on curriculum and / or institution, initial stress about even the most simple part, research paper ideas, seemed less and less a major undertaking.

Whether narrowing down a long list of passages formatted neat and succinctly summarizing research paper ideas, writing each necessary ingredient, keeping each research paper properly formatted for an educator who was known to be a stickler about such particulars, or pacing themselves to guarantee paper completion by the due date, when deconstructed into smaller parts, how to write a research paper fears slowly, but surely disappear. Follow along for the up and coming article: Research Paper Ideas, the Easy Way - And avoiding the panic.