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Fastest time you've completed a University research paper?

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nomoment

Member
Alright, so I've got a major 14 page research paper due on Thursday morning, and I've just started looking for sources.

The paper was assigned at the beginning of term, and I've basically put it off until now because I wasn't incredibly motivated, or interested by the subject matter. I'm pretty sure I can get this done, but I'll definitely have to get writing, soon.

My question to you folks is, what's the fastest time you've completed a 10+ page research paper? Anybody manage to finish a major paper in one night?
 

fennec fox

ferrets ferrets ferrets ferrets FERRETS!!!
Back in 1997 I wrote 12 pages on the debate over euthanasia in about 2 hours, using nothing but the Internet for source material.
 

LukeSmith

Member
For a class I had on Dickens in college our final paper was a research/survey course of the litany of Dickensian texts we'd "read" (I had not) over the course of the semester. I stayed up all night the night it was due, it ended up around 25 pages. Got an A.

God, school was tits.
 
I wrote a 14 page (two pages were actually graphs and one was a reference list) paper in the span of two hours once.

It was a research paper for Psych about some experiment we did. APA style and everything. I guess I knew exactly what I wanted to say and my bullshit meter was running on high that night, so I just burned right through it.
 

Boogie

Member
fennec fox said:
Back in 1997 I wrote 12 pages on the debate over euthanasia in about 2 hours, using nothing but the Internet for source material.

Nothing but internet sources? That shit don't fly at real universities, unfortunately.


For myself, "research paper" and "fast" don't go together :-/
 

Aruarian Reflection

Chauffeur de la gdlk
Yeah, I don't know what schools you guys go to, but nobody here can churn out a 10 page paper in a couple hours and say with a straight face that they expect a good grade.
 

909er

Member
I just turned in a 12 page research paper 2 weeks ago. I had the sources(books) that I was going to use, but I only read a little. Basically, I only used a 30 page section in one of the books for the real paper, but threw in some quotes from the other three books so the teacher wouldn't get too suspicious. I finished the paper in 6 hours, starting from when I started quote searching and laying out my argument to when it was due. It was due 15 minutes after I finished writing the paper. I got a B on it.
 

nomoment

Member
fennec fox said:
Back in 1997 I wrote 12 pages on the debate over euthanasia in about 2 hours, using nothing but the Internet for source material.
If I hand in a research paper with nothing but Internet sources, it'd be an easy fail. It's about the academic sources (paper & electronic journals), my friend!
 
SnowWolf said:
Yeah, I don't know what schools you guys go to, but nobody here can churn out a 10 page paper in a couple hours and say with a straight face that they expect a good grade.

I think it is definitely possible (because I've done it) with a Psychology paper. Especially if it is in APA format. If you have all your sources (which I already had), it is just a matter of typing out your abstract, intro (which basically just summarizes the sources), methods, results, and discussion. They really aren't that difficult.

I got an 87% on mine...then submitted it for revisions (which actually took close to an hour) and got a 100%.
 

AntoneM

Member
nomoment said:
If I hand in a research paper with nothing but Internet sources, it'd be an easy fail. It's about the academic sources (paper & electronic journals), my friend!

stop posting already, get to work.
 
I got a paper on teh genetic basis of huntingtons due 2mmrw, i hate these damn multifactorial diseases should have chosen a single gene disorder. Damn journals damn techniques.
 

bionic77

Member
SnowWolf said:
Yeah, I don't know what schools you guys go to, but nobody here can churn out a 10 page paper in a couple hours and say with a straight face that they expect a good grade.

I went to Oberlin which is a pretty good school and I saw my friend turn out English papers in a few hours and get some As on them (he got a lot of Bs as well). He never seemed to do that much research either for any of his English/History papers. Then again, this guy could be freakishly intelligent, but it is definitely possible from my experience.
 

3phemeral

Member
hrm.. I wrote a 10 page paper in 3 hours and got an A++ plus a request for permission to distribute it to future philosophy 415 classes.
 

FoneBone

Member
I'm too damn distractible... it takes me forever just to get going, even when the paper in question is only like 3 pages.
 

Socreges

Banned
15 pages and due wednesday morning. Haven't started researching.

PLUS another paper due on wednesday that I still have to complete (2 of 10 pages).

I write very, very well with my back against the wall, but this is going to be a huge challenge. The 15-page paper will require a LOT of research if I want to do well. I may have fucked myself this time.
 

Dyne

Member
I have a twenty-five pager due in 2 weeks, and I reckon I should start on that.

I completed a "History and Theory of Technology" paper on the shift from scriptures to printed press in one night. 14 pages, finished in 3 hours, got a B+.

I also crammed that course in one night, and got an A+ on the final. It was worth it.

Well, hell, if you know your material, you're going to be alright. Just make sure you get somebody to proofread it after, because nobody can admit to perfect grammatical tactfulness.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
A year ago I had a 10 page (written) midterm paper due on a wednesday at 4:00 for a Chinese art history class. I started it at 12:30 that day.....without having done any reading for it. I got a C on it.
 

Boogie

Member
Socreges said:
15 pages and due wednesday morning. Haven't started researching.

PLUS another paper due on wednesday that I still have to complete (2 of 10 pages).

I write very, very well with my back against the wall, but this is going to be a huge challenge. The 15-page paper will require a LOT of research if I want to do well. I may have fucked myself this time.

Wednesday morning, as in, due around 36 hours from now? 15 pages? And no research done yet?

Cue the Mission:Impossible theme. I could never manage that, but then, I suck at this crap. :-/
 

Hitman

Edmonton's milkshake attracts no boys.
Holy shit, you guys are crazy, it usually takes me atleast like 6 hours to do a six page essay. PLUS, I have to get it proofread before I hand it in because of all the grammatical errors.
 
~1,000 words an hour is my ohcrapduetoday?! pace. My fastest was a 3500 word essay in 2 hours though, albeit reusing half of a prior 1,500 word essay. Got a high distinction for it though.
 

LakeEarth

Member
I can get done a relatively easy chemistry lab (usually ~10 pages long with calculation section, theory section, etc) in 3-4 hours + whatever time it took me to look up stuff (15 minutes tops if I don't have to look into journals) and get near perfect. Unfortunetly this years 'instrumental chemistry' class's labs take me about triple that time, and usually get B's for all my hard work. Fricken sucks.
 

vangace

Member
I am a last minute person and it works for me. Last week i did a strategic mgmt paper in 2 hours, however it took a couple of hours of editing. There is no way anyone can do a paper in 2 hrs and say its complete. A paper churned in two hours is basically like laying down a set of ideas and those ideas need to be supported by facts and to get the facts you need to spent a lot of time gathering sources to back up your argument, so yeah there is no way one can write a complete paper in 2 hours unless you are mega brain or something. For me, doing in one take works because my ideas flow nicely and organized. I will say writing is the easy part and editing should take 80% of the time.
 
Socreges said:
No, that's different. Like I said...

"It is the shit" = good

"It is the shits" = bad
No one says 'it is the shits'. You can have the 'shits', for example, but you can't say 'it is the shits'.
 
You know...Just because they ask for 15 pages doesn't mean you have to actually WRITE 15 pages. From my experience, professors are more concerned with quality as opposed to the quantity of your work. If you can write an amazing 10 page paper, for example, you may get a better grade than a crappy half assed 18 page paper.

Oh yeah...I never start my paper until like the night or two nights before it's due because I'm a lazy procrastinator. Oh well. :D
 

Boogie

Member
CrystalGemini said:
You know...Just because they ask for 15 pages doesn't mean you have to actually WRITE 15 pages. From my experience, professors are more concerned with quality as opposed to the quantity of your work. If you can write an amazing 10 page paper, for example, you may get a better grade than a crappy half assed 18 page paper.

You must go to the same school that allows those internet sources :p
 

Socreges

Banned
buck naked said:
No one says 'it is the shits'. You can have the 'shits', for example, but you can't say 'it is the shits'.
What if I just pretend you don't exist? Yes, that will do nicely.
 

Dyne

Member
CrystalGemini said:
You know...Just because they ask for 15 pages doesn't mean you have to actually WRITE 15 pages. From my experience, professors are more concerned with quality as opposed to the quantity of your work. If you can write an amazing 10 page paper, for example, you may get a better grade than a crappy half assed 18 page paper.

Well, it depends how they word it. If it's a maximum, they're expecting at least 2 pages less than that. I keep getting told that over, and over..
 

Brannon

Member
I did procrastination only a couple of times in college before I slapped myself in the head and made it a point to just do the damn papers as soon as they gave them to us. No more procrastination for me. Exhilarating, yes but FUCKING HELL.
 

peedi

Banned
Once I get into a groove, it's very easy for me to write extensively in a brief period. I bullshitted in most of my college papers, all of which scored high. If you can sound informed, without knowing wtf you're talking about, professors hardly take notice of how insubstantial your opinions are.
 
Dyne said:
Well, it depends how they word it. If it's a maximum, they're expecting at least 2 pages less than that. I keep getting told that over, and over..
No, it was always the minimum page #. Professors have to read hundreds of papers every year. If yours stands out in a meaningful way, the fact that you did not make the minimum page requirement doesn't really matter.

Or maybe that's just my university? O_O
 
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