The most common writing requirement in upper-division courses
is the term paper. The importance of the term paper tends to be
neglected. Why is a term paper so important? The main reason is
that it will make up a big part of your final grade. You might
be deceived as to its importance because most teachers will not
give much class discussion time to these papers. When your
instructor does not give you detailed instructions for writing
your term paper, it is up to you to become informed on your
own.
The first step to writing the perfect term paper is analyzing
the materials you already have. This means that you need to
take a good look at all of the information you have on your
subject, including your text-book materials, lecture notes, and
course hand-outs . Your instructor will usually point out
exactly what is expected of you. Students tend to neglect this
and, as a consequence, their end product does not fulfill the
task assigned. It is very important to discuss anything that
you do not understand with your teacher as soon as possible.
Sometimes students do not do this because they are afraid of
appearing stupid in the eyes of the instructor or their fellow
students. This is a huge mistake! Not only will a good teacher
answer all of your questions but will also notice that you are
genuinely interested in writing a quality term paper.
After you have analyzed your materials, you must decide on a
thesis. Most often, a dissertation help is a question that you seek to
answer in your paper, but this is not a hard rule. If your
teacher does not tell you that your thesis must be a question,
you may feel free to experiment. Why not make it interesting
for yourself? Try searching for a topic that interests you -
this will not only make your term paper easier to write, it
will also make it more fun to write. Make sure your subject and
thesis fulfill the necessary requirements and then analyze how
long your paper will turn out. A term paper usually has page
limits. With this in mind, be careful not to choose a subject
that is likely to turn out too long or too short. For instance,
you can not write a 10 page term paper about the evolution of
music from Classical to Modern - the subject is much too broad
to cover in such a short space. If you are in this position,
you need to narrow your topic. Also, make sure that your chosen
topic will have enough bibliography available and be sure that
you understand your subject completely before starting your
paper.
The next step that you need to complete is research. In most
cases there is a specific bibliography assigned for your paper,
but often it is a general list of suggested reading, rather
than a precise list of references. In this case you, the
student, fist need to compile a list of appropriate sources.
Many students fail with the actual writing because of improper
researching during this phase. In some cases, this is because
they attempted to conduct their research solely on the Internet
at the expense of using the library. While it is true that the
World Wide Web is a trove of information on most subjects, when
writing a term paper, you also need to look for research
materials in the library. You will surely find someone to point
you in the right direction and aid you during your research in
the library. Gather anything you might want to use from
magazine articles to books written by specialists on your
chosen subject. While reading and gathering your materials, be
sure that you take notes. Including quotations is necessary,
but be careful to not put too many in one term paper. Many
students tend to include long quotes in order to finish more
quickly and fill up the space. In fact, this is not at all
productive and does not look good to your instructor. You
should include only quotes that are necessary and relevant to
your subject and, in your final paper, include only the
necessary parts of the quote, the parts that are useful and
directly link to your topic.
After gathering your notes, you need to outline your term
paper. Once again, analysis is very important. Look at the
research materials that you found and the notes that you took.
Create the main outline of your term paper by analyzing what
you want to discuss and keeping on your subject. Follow the
outline you have created and start writing the draft version of
your term paper. Unless your instructor has told you otherwise,
you should use the simple essay format of:
1. Introduction
2. Body
3. Conclusion
Use the Introduction to outline what you are going to
say, the Body to say it, and the Conclusion
to summarize your paper's points and the answer
to your online dissertation help question.
After the first draft is finished, you need to polish it before
it is a final paper. Proofreading is a must and should be done
aloud so that you can also hear the sense of your composition.
This makes it easier for you to change what does not sound
good. Analyze the grammar and spelling so that any mistakes
are avoided or corrected. Look at the quotes you have included
and check to see if they are used properly or not. The actual
polishing should be done at least two days after the first
draft was finished. This will help you stay objective about it.
If you know that you are biased, give your term paper to
someone else to read and be sure to ask for comments and
criticisms. Following these simple steps will help you to
create the perfect term paper, but it is up to you to follow
through. Take your assignment seriously and do not treat
it lightly. If you are mature and diligent, your term paper is
bound to be perfect.
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