In a land far, far away, at a magical place called college, there once lived a student named Anna. Anna had spent many tiresome hours researching and writing a term paper for one of her freshman college classes (hours she’d rather have spent hanging out with her friends!).
Later, when Anna was a sophomore, she was assigned a term paper that covered the same topics that she had researched and written about in her freshman term paper.
“Yes!” Anna thought to herself. “I already have most of the sources—this won’t take long to write!”
If Anna could re-use some of the sources she had compiled freshman year, then she would save herself valuable research time. So, about two weeks before the due date, when it was time for Anna to begin writing her paper (OK, it was more like a few days before the due date), she opened her bedroom’s closet door to pull out the plastic container where she stored papers from previous classes. She carefully opened this chest of information and began sifting through its academic treasures: the program for an interpretive dance performance she had watched for her “Beginning Tap Dance” class, notes for an essay on The Phantom of the Opera, articles about Mariah Carey for her “Stars and Star Makers” class . . . there were dozens of class papers. Unfortunately, none of the sources for that freshman paper were in the container.
“This is OK,” Anna told herself. “It’s just a minor setback. I can use the paper’s works cited page to find the sources’ publication information, which will still save me time. This is still better than researching from scratch.”
Anna quickly hopped over to her computer. She logged in and began searching through the folders on her desktop. After searching through the folders, she performed a search through the entire harddrive. She typed in dozens of variations of the title and subject of the paper—she even typed in the instructor’s name and date. Nothing.
“Aaahh,” cried Anna. “Where’s my wonderful (stupid!) paper?” And then (like suddenly remembering something embarrassing you did the night before) Anna regretfully realized she had deleted the paper before the school year had started.
“Woe is me (WTF!),” Anna sighed (shouted) to herself. “If I had saved my sources and the paper, then I wouldn’t have to go to the library this weekend (I’m a stupid idiot!).
The moral of this story: It’s worth saving your papers and their sources, because they could save you valuable time when you have to write papers in the future.
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Class Handouts: Jewels or Junk?
If you've recently finished writing a research paper, then it might be difficult to think about writing another research paper next term—the words research and paper might even bring back a few nightmares for you if you had to pull an all-nighter (or a few all-nighters) trying to meet a deadline. However, as a new term approaches, it's important to discuss the importance of in-class handouts when writing research papers. In-class handouts include scholarly articles, essays, and random periodical excerpts that your instructor passes out throughout the semester. Even if your instructor doesn't require you to store these items in a class binder, it's still important to hold on to all of the handouts you receive throughout the semester, as they can significantly help you when it comes time to research and write a paper. Class handouts are important when writing research papers for two reasons: they save time and they show your instructor that you're an awesome student.
Class Handouts Can Save You Time
Class handouts can save you valuable time as you look for sources to include in your paper. One of these handouts might be perfect for your research paper, which eliminates a source that you have to search for at the library or in the research databases. If the instructor describes your research assignment(s) at the beginning of the term, you can place those handouts that you think will be of interest to your paper(s) in a special folder.
Referencing a Class Handout in a Paper Will Impress Your Instructor
Also, incorporating a class handout into your paper shows your instructor that, not only were you in class that day, you read the material and reflected on its meaning, which enabled you to incorporate it into your paper. You have to be a super smart student if you were able to weave into your paper an important class handout, right? (Wink wink) The important point to note about using class handouts for your research papers is that it has to be done in moderation. A paper that incorporates one or two class handouts is great. On the other hand, a paper that only uses class handouts as sources is not so good. Just be mindful of the types of sources you use and you'll do fine. (And don't forget to recycle those class handouts at the end of the term!)
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