Thesis statements. Outlines. Plagiarism. Oh My.

We might not be dealing with lions, tigers, and bears, but that doesn’t mean that people in the research paper process aren’t just as scared to get their paper in on due date.

Although research papers may be stressful throughout high school, it seems to have an extra amount of stress on the seniors. As senior trip approaches, and senioritis kicks in, the students are fairly lethargic this time of the year.

For me, my journey was one of procrastination.

It wasn’t like my English teacher didn’t map things out. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have my topic, thesis, and outline already submitted. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have time to research.

I just put if off.

Needless to say, this past week was stressful. It was two days before the paper was due. With a minimum requirement of 10 pages, I had to write all ten pages in these two days. I was running scared: I didn’t know what to do, and I was running out of time.

Calling out of work on Wednesday night for the paper due on Friday, I figured I would work for hours into the night. When the night was done I finished 3/4 of a page and went out to wing night with my friends. At this point, I knew a day off on Thursday was necessary. I slept until 8 on Thursday morning, and worked from 9 AM until 3:30 PM.

When it was all said and done, I was ecstatic t finally finish this paper, that was such an aggravation to my every day life for the past 3 months.

Today is due date. The day we all have been waiting for, for about 3.5 months.

When we hand in that research paper, we will feel like a new human being. The process may have been painful, but the final product was worth it.