Writing a paper is like raising a child. It won't grow right unless you tend to it, and a lot of the time it's annoying and you feel like it's taking over your life. You might not have any idea what you're doing, but when it's time you have to let it go anyway. And once you're finally through with it, you have loads of free time that you don't know what to do with, amirite?

Except I don't think many people miss writing their papers.

And if you mess up, you can rip it into tiny little pieces!
Holy shit O.O

deep.

Am I supposed to believe you're old enough to have raised a child and let him/her go?

Anyways, I think it's more like sniping. You have to pick just the right spot to begin, it can't be too broad (so you won't be seen from a mile away) and it can't be too narrow (so you still have room to move around). Your movements and shifts have to be seamless, so you can't have anything happening abruptly. This is something that takes a long time and actually needs planning on your part. You have no idea how the target (teacher) will move (grade), but you have to have faith in yourself that you essentially know what you're doing. If you did everything correctly, then it should have a killer ending ;]

So what have we learned here today, class? You can compare anything to anything.

Except you're more likely to half ass a paper than raising a child.

My teacher told me when I write an essay "it's like a skirt,long enough to cover everything.but short enough to keep me interested(;"

If I tried to raise a child the way I write my papers, it would involve so much time travel that Doctor Who would be jealous.