45
Interesting Ways To Write A Paper

1. Type every word in a different font. Alternate really
big fonts with really small fonts.
2. Support your thesis with quotes from your VCR manual.
3. Write the entire paper on Post-it notes and turn
it in by sticking them all over the professor's door.
4. Switch the names of prominent history figures with
the names of your friends, classmates, etc. Claim that
your roommate led the Spanish Armada.
5. Write a paper discussing why Michelangelo got to
be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but Van Gogh didn't.
Discuss whether Van Gogh would have used nunchakus or
katanas.
6. Write your paper by cutting out words from magazines
and sticking them on the page, ransom-note style.

7. End the paper with "This paper will self-destruct
in 10 seconds."
8. Perfume the paper with catnip. Explain that it was
to keep your dog from eating it.
9. If assigned a paper in philosophy class, explain
that you can't do the paper because you're not sure
if the class really exists, or if it and the professor
are just illusions created by your subconscious. If
you do end up writing the paper, write about that.
10. If assigned a 2000-word paper, draw two pictures
of what the paper was supposed to be about. After all,
a picture is worth 1000 words, right?
11. Type gibberish. When you hand it in, claim that
your computer crashed while you were printing it, and
you couldn't retrieve the original.
12. Cite issues of Spiderman and Batman as resources
in your bibliography.
13. Turn the paper in by making paper airplanes out
of the pages of the paper and attempting to fly them
onto the professor's desk.
14. The night before the paper is due, call the professor
and explain that you can't turn your paper in because
it contains sensitive military information and is only
available on a "need to know" basis. Insist that General
Schwarzkopf says you should get an "A."
15. Write your history paper on parchment, using a quill.
Say that you were trying to get the feel for the period.

16. Turn in a letter your wrote to your cousin. When
the teacher confronts you about it, say that you must
have gotten the letter and the paper mixed up. Say that
you'll turn the paper in as soon as you get it back,
but your cousin lives in Siberia, so it may be a little
late.
17. When writing an especially long paper, put a recipe
for chocolate cake in the middle and see if the professor
notices.
18. Tell the professor that you need an extension because
one of your primary sources is an old wise man in Tibet
and he won't see you until the next full moon.
19. Paint a large white stripe down the front of your
paper. Say that on the way to class, your dropped it
in the street and it got run over by one of those trucks
that paint lines on the road.
20. Make a footprint on the back of one of the pages.
When questioned by the professor, act like it's nothing
unusual. After all, he did tell you to include footnotes.
21. Bring candles and incense to class. Before handing
in the paper, perform an elaborate ceremony, entreating
the gods to bless the paper and correct all your typos.
22. Make a tape of you singing the contents of your
paper, opera-style, and hand that in.

23. Write your psychology paper on possible genetic
anomalies that might cause a person to prefer anchovies.
24. Hand your paper in a sealed envelope with postmarks
from several different countries on it. Say that you
wanted several different perspectives on your work.
25. TTyyppee eevveerryy lleetttteerr ttwwiiccee..
26. Get a large piece of paper or canvas. Smear paint
all over it and hand it in as your paper. Explain that
the topic was such an emotional one for you, and that
mere words couldn't possibly express what you had to
say.
27. Compare and contrast the characters of James T.
Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. Claim that one is actually
Hamlet, and the other is King Lear. Say that Worf is
Ophelia.
28. Carve your paper on the bathroom wall.
29. Refuse to do the paper on account of the fact that
you are a member of Greenpeace and strongly object to
the gratuitous slaughter of trees caused by the massive
amount of paper used in writing assignments.
30. Put nonsense words down as quotes. Say that you
are quoting the words of a well-known Zen master who
was speaking in tongues at the time.
31. Use a forklift to bring your paper to class, even
if it's only a few pages. Explain that it involved some
very heavy reading.
32. Poke several holes in the paper. Say that you were
mobbed by crows on the way to class.

33. Print all the pages on one sheet of paper, with
the text overlapping. Say that was all the paper you
had.
34. Write about whether Plato would have said that Miller
Light is "less filling" or that it "tastes great". Also
explain why Aristotle would have taken the opposite
view. Try to predict both philosophers' reactions to
Spuds Mackenzie.
35. Draw pictures of your professor in the margins.
36. Make your paper one long, never-ending sentence
that goes on for pages and pages and pages; use a lot
of semi-colons, commas, and other interesting, rarely-used
punctuation marks [(for example), an interesting one:
the colon_] but never ever end the sentence.
37. Staple a picture of an academic building to the
paper. Cite the picture as a resource.
38. On the day the paper is due, skip into class, waving
the paper and screaming, "I have a paper! I have a paper!"
Run around the class a few times, then joyfully throw
it out the window. Laugh and yell, "There's my paper,"
then run outside to get it.
39. Come to class leading a horse or camel. When asked
to turn in the paper, take it out of one of the saddlebags,
then shoot the horse/camel/whatever away. Refuse to
discuss it.
40. Draw obscure connections between totally unrelated
things. For example, claim that abnormal amounts of
neutrino activity in Germany caused Hitler to invade
France, or that the Roman empire collapsed because of
a shortage of qualified botanists.

41. Refer to all prominent historical figures by nicknames.
For example, call George Washington "Georgie". Call
Ben Franklin "Sparky".
42. Pwetend you have a speech impediment and awways
type w's whenevew you weawwy want to type r's ow l's.
43. Ol, switch alound arr the l's and r's in youl papel,
rike Monty Python did in Queen Erizabeth the Thild.
44. When your prof asks for an outline of your paper,
draw the outline of the piece of paper you typed it
on and hand it in.
45. Spill a martini on your sociology paper. Say that
you wrote it in a bar so that you could see "sociology
in action."