No matter what major you decide to pursue, you will likely be writing papers when you get to college. Some majors, like English, require more writing than others, but even mathematicians will have to write a paper or two to get through college. Here are a few writing tips to get you started:

Pick a topic

Although this may seem like a no-brainer, picking a topic for a paper can be the most difficult step. Sometimes your professor will give you a topic, but, more often than not, you have some choice in the matter. Think about aspects of the subject that interest you. If all else fails, thumb through the textbook and find something that appeals to you. An important tip on your topic: keep it broad enough so that you can find plenty of information but narrow enough so that you can do justice to the aspects of the topic that you focus on.

Brainstorm

You can brainstorm topics, but you can also brainstorm aspects of the topic that you want to buy essay about. Have a pen or pencil and a piece of paper handy when you are brainstorming. Don't judge or label your ideas at this point, just try to come up with as many ideas as you can. For example, if your topic is "electric circuits," write down everything that you can think of that has anything to do with electric circuits. Free-writing, listing, and concept maps are just three methods that can help immensely with this process.

Research

Read as much as you can about your subject. When you first start reading, keep track of your references. You may find it helpful to jot down notes at this point, or you may find that you prefer to skim the information before you go back to take notes. When you do get ready for notes, you may find it handy to take notes on notecards, using one notecard for each topic area in each reference.

Organize your thoughts

Once you know what you are going to write about, you need to organize your thoughts. Outlining your paper is a nice way to organize both your thoughts and your paper. You start with an introduction, move on to the body of the paper, and end with a conclusion. If you don't like outlining, you can also draw concept maps or just arrange your notecards into groups that make sense.

Rough draft

Always start with a rough draft. Just sit down and write. Follow along with your road map as much as possible (whether it is an outline or a concept map or something else altogether), but just write. Sometimes the hardest part of writing is actually putting words down on paper. Once you start writing (or typing), however, words begin to flow. Don't worry about your spelling at this point, and don't be a perfectionist if it means that you won't start writing. Just write!

Revise and edit

Once you have words down on paper, you can begin revising and editing your work. Read and re-read your paper, looking for misspelled words, grammatical errors, passages with unclear meanings, and the like. Have someone else read over your paper for you, too. Since all of your friends will likely be writing papers as well, offer to proofread their paper if they will proofread yours. Make use of the spelling and grammar checks on your computer, but remember that they can only help you to a point. Sometimes it takes a human to find the errors or to see why something was written the way it was. 

Writing papers is a part of college life, no matter what your major. By following these tips, it doesn't have to be a dreaded part. Find a topic and let your voice be heard!