A term paper is an academic assignment that students have to do at the end of every term. This paper exists to test students’ level of understanding of the course they have passed. Unlike research papers, term paper presents arguments to support a certain viewpoint. It is designed to persuade the reader to accept an idea. That’s why this academic work is also called an expanded essay, and it includes evidence and credible sources to back up the idea. The extent of the work varies from case to case, but on average it should be 5-7 pages long.
When a student thinks, I have to do my term paper, they should put special care into finding a suitable topic. Students usually have an array of topics to choose from, so there will always be something that fits you better than the rest of the subjects. The problems arise when a student does not understand why this paper is necessary, and how to write it. So, here is a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to do my term paper when I have no prior experience in writing academic assignments.
Work with a Topic that You Like the Most
In some cases, your instructors will provide you with a list of topics to choose from. Sometimes they simply give you stubs and expect you to expand them further. And yet in other cases, you’ll have to come up with a topic yourself. Choose your topic carefully, because this will be a direction of your thoughts for the entirety of the time you need to write your term paper. You should answer yourself: do my term paper subjects engage my interest? If not, consider changing the topic.
Conduct Research on the Topic
When you have the topic, develop a set of questions around it. These questions will be your guidelines in your research of the problem. After that, you have to find information on a given subject. It should be presented in the form of answers to your topic questions. Think: why do my term paper problems matter? And then use the internet or a local library to find answers to your thesis.
Everything you read should be evaluated and analyzed, whether it is suitable to use in your term paper. When you gather enough material, you need to organize it in a comfortable format, that could be later communicated in the relevant sections of your term paper.
A very important thing at this stage is to note all the sources the information comes from. If you don’t write the sources down immediately, you will have to do additional work of backtracking your research at the end of your term paper. It is much easier to note authors and texts you reference at this moment, rather than do it at the final stage of your work.
Make a Topic Proposal
After you gather enough research material, you have to defend your topic. This is usually done in the form of a short article that explains why your topic is a relevant problem. It presents the results of your research and conveys the major arguments of your future paper. Your instructor then validates your topic based on this article and allows you to proceed with writing the term paper.
Write an Outline of the Term Paper
An outline is a carcass of your work. Students, who skip outlines end up questioning themselves: how do I even do my term paper? Because an outline is the same for term paper writers as a blueprint for architects. It divides your work into special sections that will contain specific portions of your thought flow. The outline usually looks like this:
Introduction – this is where you present the subject of your term paper and explain why it is important to research it. This section is designed to motivate the reader to explore the rest of the paper and find answers to the questions presented here.
Heading 1 – the first paragraph is usually dedicated to the history of the problem. It presents how others explored the matter and what obstacles there are to the solution of the problem. The reader should understand the roots of your arguments by reading this section.
Heading 2 – this is where the subject is reviewed in detail. You explore its different aspects and how it came to be a problem. You can use the bulk of your gathered material to present the difficulties of the subject.
Heading 3 – in this paragraph, you should explore the effects of the problem. Depending on the subject, it may be an economic, humanitarian, societal, or any other issue that hampers the process and creates a threat. You can use charts and statistics to show the extent of the problem in different formats. The reader should see how it is relevant to their life.
Heading 4 – finally, this is the section to present possible solutions to the problem. You should use a combination of scientific research and your personal ideas on how to resolve the question. This is where the reader would be equipped with tools and directions to deal with the problem.
Conclusions – this section exists to sum up the points made above and give an answer to the main thesis. It helps the reader to revisit every major argument presented in the paper. And reminds them about the ways to solve the problem of the subject matter.
Remember to name your paragraphs accordingly, to make the navigation between the sections of your paper as clear as possible.
Create Your Paper
When you’ve got your outline, you can start filling the sections in. The content should come from your research notes. But you should put it in your own unique way. You may ask: can I do my term paper by copying texts from the internet directly? No, this form of academic writing is prohibited. Because it falls under the definition of plagiarism. The instructors will check your term paper with special software to find out any copy-pasted content. So, make sure everything is uniquely written. And if you need to use a direct citation, put it in quotes and make a reference to the author.
Format. The format and structure of your term paper depend on your course and other circumstances. But the most common formatting is as follows:
- Fonts: Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia, or Verdana 12 pt.
- Single column.
- One line spacing and one-inch margins.
- 5000 words.
Make a Draft. Some students tend to skip the draft as well, thinking: I’ll do my term paper in one go. But that approach would cost you in the long run. You need to first throw a rough version that would test your structure and arguments. You should also avoid chasing more than one idea in your text. And it is best to have three supportive arguments for any idea in your writing.
Polish Your Work. When you are done with the draft and you think you are ready to turn it into the final version of the paper, revise it on the subject of mistakes. Editing is a stage of crucial importance because grammar and punctuation mistakes will cost you grades. When you proofread your paper, mark any problematic spot and fix it after you’re done reading. Writing assistants, such as Grammarly, can also be of great help. They will automatically highlight most of the writing errors for you. But it is best to refresh your grammar knowledge to catch any mistakes that go unnoticed by the program.
Remaining Essentials You Need to Know to do My Term Paper
When the body of your paper is written, it is time to wrap up the work by creating some other essential elements. The following sections are usually one page long and are placed before and after the body of your paper.
Title Page. The cover page of your term paper should include the topic of your text, your name, the name of the course, your instructor’s name, and the date.
Table of Contents. Put every section’s name in a top-down order accompanied by the page number it is on. Do it after you finish the main body of your work. Otherwise, you may end up wondering: why do my term paper pages disagree with the numbers in the table of contents? This section usually goes before the introduction.
Sources. This is where you list every source you used in writing your term paper. Your instructor should give you a precise format for this section. But it is usually done in alphabetical order with the names of the text, its author, and the number of the page you took your information from. Sources are usually placed at the end of your paper.
An undermotivated student says: I have to do my term paper. But he ends up being only more demotivated. The anxiety mostly comes from the lack of understanding of how to format your work and present your ideas. But understanding these specifics should be no more difficult than reading this article. When you grasp the technical rules of writing a term paper, you will be left with the sole task of presenting your ideas on a given matter. Depending on your research, you will have plenty of arguments to support your idea and offer a solution to the problem of your work. And the more relevant the topic of your term paper will be, the more engaging it will be