The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can
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the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you. It may be an idea or a bit of information you
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across accidentally—or a sudden
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, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. Such personal
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are the "pay off" in education. A teacher may
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you to learning and even encourage you in it—but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That"s
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to you.
A research paper,
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in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor,
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you beyond classrooms, beyond the texts for classes and into a
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where the joy of discover and learning can come to you many times.
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the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure
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which you can make exciting discoveries, of knowledge and of self, that are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to
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a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others
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you can do. Waiting a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in
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out, understanding and synthesizing, which forms the basis of many skills
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to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly
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experience!
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages often more than ever produced
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, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work
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is threatening. But there is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to
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. Instead, consider it a goal to
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, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you.