You may be approaching this course with a certain amount of nervousness. After all, academic research writing can seem quite intimidating; you might assume it’s a specialized activity performed by professionals in a very specific context and environment. As we’ll see, however, academic research is just a new form of something you already know how to do: asking questions about the world around you.

The best way to write engaging, original academic research is to pay attention to your distinctive way of seeing the world. Your experiences, insights, and questions identify points of connection between your most pressing concerns and the kinds of questions posed by the courses you are taking in college.