“I actually wrote a paper on this in college.”

English Lesson: I actually wrote a paper on this in college.

You're watching a documentary on TV about a war in ancient Rome. You remember studying this and writing about it when you were a student. You tell your girlfriend about it.

I actually wrote a paper on this in college.

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(something) actually (is / does something)

"Actually" is a word that you use when you're saying something that you think will be surprising or new information to the listeners. For example:

Wow, this is actually pretty good.

I actually did it myself.

You can use "actually" in several places in a sentence. One place is before a verb, like this:

We've actually had to turn away business.

write a paper on (a topic)

When you're in school, you have to "write papers" on different topics. A "paper" is something that you write about a certain topic. It's usually between 2-20 pages long.

You also write essays in school. An "essay" is shorter than a "paper".

(someone)(did something) in college

When Americans say that they did something "in college", they mean that they did it while they were a university student.

Here's a full explanation of the difference between "college" and "university".