The semester has begun, and we all know what that means: Papers. Slaving until 2 am writing bogus 10 paged papers on why we have earth quakes, or a thesis paper on an artist we don't really care about. We all dread them, and we all get upset when we work until 5 am on a paper, only to get an 86%. But what if I told you that I can improve your paper, would you listen to me? We're about to find out, because here are five things you can do to improve your papers this semester.

1. Learn how to use comma's correctly.

There are four basic ways to use commas: When separating a list, to separate introductory words and phrases from the main clause, separating dependent clauses, and before conjunctions. Do not use a comma where you would take a break reading. That is wrong.

If you are making a list (like I did above), you separate each item on the list with a comma. Easy enough.

If you are using an introductory word, such as "therefore," or "however," you would put a comma after the word before the rest of the sentence. For example: Finally, the college student learned to use commas correctly.

The third way to use commas is separating nonessential pieces of the sentence from the main clause. If you take out the piece of the sentence between the commas, the rest of the sentence should still make since. For example: The college student, who was reading the article, finally understood how to use commas correctly.

Conjunctions are words such as "and," "but," "or," "yet," "so," and "for" that link independent clauses. For example: The college student realized he used commas wrong his entire life, so he cried.

2. Use strong words.

Don't use words like "good" or "bad" or "mean." There's this thing called a thesaurus that will give you words that mean the same thing, that just sound better. "He is a good person," sounds boring. Switch it up: "He is a fantastic person," "He is a phenomenal man," "His cheerfulness and kind heart make him a personable and friendly individual." Same message, different words, and way more exciting, right? Be descriptive. Pull up a thesaurus online and use it often while writing. You will see a difference in both your writing and your grade.

3. Read your paper out loud to yourself.

After you are done with your paper, go back through and read it out loud. This is honestly the best tip I could tell you for your paper. This is how you realize where your run on sentences are, where you forget a word, where you typed a word twice, where you left out a thought, or where you got completely off topic. THIS is how you will find 70% of your mistakes.

My mom used to tell me to read my papers backwards. Using this technique, your mind can not "predict" what word should come next in the sentence, so you can tell exactly where you made mistakes in the structure of your sentence. The way I write is different, and that doesn't exactly work for me specifically, but I recommend you try it on your own paper. I bet you will catch a mistake, or seven.

4. Stay on track.

The hardest part of writing a college paper is staying on track. If you're writing a piece where you have to take a stand on a subject and support your opinion, don't get on a tangent about your mom's best friend's dog. After you're done with your paper, go back to the prompt for your paper and check to see if your paper goes along with the guidelines.

5. Find somebody to read your work.

Find a friend who is a really good writer, a classmate who does really well, or somebody who is an editor (hi, I'm an editor), and ask them to read through your work. They can not only proofread, but will be able to tell you what points in your paper are strong and what parts you can improve on. Peer-editing is always a great, free way to get somebody to look at your work.

Papers are often worth a large percentage of your final grade, so it's important that you put enough time into creating a flawless final draft. There are plenty of other things you could do to make your paper even better, but start with these five.

Good luck this semester, and may the odds be ever in your favor.