If a college professor wants to strike fear in the hearts of his/her students, only two words are necessary: "research paper".

The adult returning to college is thinking, "I haven't done a term paper since high school and I remember that as a nightmare."

Having taught college English courses, I can give you quick rules of the game that (I hope) will dissolve your fears.

• First, understand the role of the "research paper" or "term paper" in the college system. Many professors do not want to test your knowledge of the course through multiple quizzes. Quizzes require grading but one lengthy research paper can also show the student's learning and grasp of the subject.
• When the professor makes the initial assignment, be clear on the deadline for turning in the paper, on the desired format (such as MLA rules) for research paper components such as footnotes and bibliography, and on whether you can select your own topic or will be required to select from a topic list provided by the professor.
• Purchase a package or two of 3 x 5 note cards. These will be used for writing down the bibliography information (one book, one card).
  
• Purchase several packages of 4 x 6 note cards. These will be used for making notes as you do research.
• Select your topic. Choose the one you like best or that you think you can handle with the least grief.
• Visit your college/university library. Get to know the reference librarians. These are people who literally love to help people find information within the library.
  
• Do a preliminary search on the Internet for materials related to your topic. Your professor will probably allow you to use Internet sources but will also want you to do research in magazines, journals, books,etc.
  
• For each source you use, write a bibliography card. If you put the information in the correct format (check your professor's preferences), you will be able to copy that information directly onto your bibliography page when you get to that point in writing your paper.
• A "bib" card will probably contain information such as the author, the name of the article, the name of the magazine, the date the magazine was published, the pages the article appeared on. For a book, you will need to write down the author's name, title of the book. city where the book was published, name of the publishing company, and the date the book was published.
• Always pay attention to the dates of publication. If you're writing a paper on brain surgery, an article written in 1958 has historical value but no up-to-date relevance. However, if you're writing a paper on Plato's philosophy, the date the book was written is not as important, as long as the information is valid and credible.
• Take note cards and a book or two with you wherever you go. As an adult student, with many other off-campus responsibilities (spouse, children, job, etc.) you won't have five or six hours in a day to devote to research. So when you wait for your car to get its oil changed, make a few notes on your paper. These "little bits of time" will add up to progress on the research paper writing.
• When you have created what you sense are "enough" note cards, write a rough draft. "Rough" is the correct word. In this early version, you don't worry about how fancy or smooth the writing is. In this version, you can move paragraphs around, perhaps from page 2 to page 6. This version is yours to work with.
• The major sections of your research paper will be the introduction, the body of the paper, and the conclusion.
• Depending on what your professor requires, you will place footnotes at the bottom of your pages or on a sequence of pages following your body text. Check a guidebook for determining the format for writing a footnote.
• The bibliography (list of resources used in the paper) will appear either after the "Footnotes" page at the end of the paper or after the body text (if footnotes were placed at the bottom of the body text pages).
  
• Be sure to proofread carefully or ask a friend (who makes good grades in English) to help you with this. Although your professor may be teaching a subject other than English, he/she will still expect correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
• Turn the paper in on time. (Warning: If after a week or two of working on your topic, you decide that you want to change topics, tell your professor  immediately so that you can get clearance. Don't make a sudden change when the deadline is only two weeks away. You won't have time to do an acceptable job on the research and the writing.)
• One last word: Research papers are a fact of life in colleges and universities. If you go on for a graduate degree (master's or doctor of philosophy), you'll have to write a much longer version. For a master's, it's called a thesis. For a doctoral degree, it's called a dissertation. Getting a grip on the "rules of the game" early so that you create a workable process for writing those papers will take some of the sting out of the words "research paper". It's a bit like paying taxes on April 15 each year: we're not thrilled about it but we know there are penalties to pay if we don't. Consider those papers one more example of a "learning experience" in college.