Perhaps you, like many others, will be starting college soon. You will pack your bags and move into a dorm on campus. There, you will see your friends. You will get to spend some time together before classes start, and you will learn about your friends’ summer adventures.

Then, when classes start, you will learn whether you and your friends have any classes together. Having one or more classes together can make the school experience more enjoyable for you. If you can enjoy yourself, it will be easier to focus on the concepts that you are supposed to learn.

Shortly after the semester begins, your professor will announce the first research paper. If it is a paper for a psychology class, he will tell you that it needs to be written in APA style, and if it is for an English class, it will need to be done in MLA style. There are books available that explain the two styles. You can also find style guidelines online. Once you have this information, you can then begin thinking about what you might write on. Your professor will probably need to approve your topic. Once it has been approved, however, you can begin your work.

If you are writing a paper for an English class, you might write your paper on rhyme, for example. To add substance, you might write about the work of a well-known poet, such as Shel Silverstein, which features the element of rhyme.

On the other hand, you might instead be faced with the task of writing a paper for a psychology class. You might decide that you want to write your paper on a phobia. After getting this topic approved by your professor, you would then probably go online and begin researching the phobia that you chose to write on. You would want to learn possible causes of the fear and ways to treat it. Once you had your information, you could then begin writing your paper. In both cases, if you can focus on your work, the finished product will be a paper that you can be proud of—and one that should earn you a good grade.

Once you have turned in your paper, you will be able to relax. Switch gears and relieve stress by getting some exercise. A run or a brisk walk will help to release the tension that built up inside you while you were doing your work. To further relieve stress, you might return to the Internet—this time to research something that you like. You might look up the lyrics to a song that you like, for example. You might also pull up a tasty recipe.

After spending time online, join your friends for some social time. Perhaps there is an on-campus movie that you can see together. Spending time with friends will be fun, and it will help to make your college experience the happy, memorable experience that it should be.