How to learn about and write about subjects you don’t understand

First of all, don’t be afraid to talk to your grader in advance and let them that you are struggling to understand the material. They may have suggestions for other readings or Web sites that might help you get a handle on things.

After that step, the most important thing to do is to choose appropriate resources. “Appropriate resources” have two important qualities: they provide accurate information and they do so at a level that you can understand. Sometimes, this can mean Wikipedia. For all of "The don’t use Wikipedia!!!!" you hear, it’s not actually a terrible Web site. It isn’t appropriate to use for college level homework, but that is no reason for you not to use it to read up on subjects that you are struggling to understand.

As an example, consider Syria. The Wikipedia article for Syria is not appropriate for a paper on the current political conflicts, but reading the entry can help you understand a little about the country. Currently, the entry has about 140 references for you to choose from for further reading, many of which are appropriate for a college level paper (for example, newspapers like The New York Times and The Guardian.) You might be cringing at the thought of 140 references, but you don’t have to read them all and you should be willing to extra work if that is what it takes for you to keep up with your classmates.

It’s difficult to hear that when you are struggling, you should be doing more work, but work is the only thing that will get you up to speed. Sometimes, a service like PowerPapers.com works better not in a subject where you are struggling, but the one where you have the material down pat. We can take on your “easy” work in order to give you more time to focus on studying the tough stuff.