In order to have freshman composition students review and strengthen their research and documentation skills, they are asked to write 700 to 1,000-word papers synthesizing from sources such as anthologies, journals, government documents, films, biographies, almanacs, and interviews. Three assignments require the students to gather information about an event, person, place, or thing of the past and then discover how that information is relevant to the present. This sort of research paper assignment prevents a remodeling of high school papers and motivates students to write because they can choose a topic relevant to their interests. (Detailed descriptions of the three assignments are provided.) (SRT)