A term paper, also popularly referred to as a research paper, is a written study prepared by college and university students over the course of a semester. As it usually accounts for a large part of a student’s final grade in the course in question, its importance cannot be overstated. Their appreciation of the importance of term, or research papers, and the extent to which they can positively or negatively affect their final grade, has many students extremely anxious over the prospect of their researching and writing their term paper. In keeping with its goal of relieving the pressure which college and university students, The Essayist has composed this simple and straightforward guide to term paper researching and writing.
A prerequisite to successful term paper research and writing is adherence to an 8-point systematic procedure:
1) Selecting a topic relevant to the course but which you, yourself, find interesting
2) Analysing the selected topic and deciding upon a particular focus. For instance, if the term paper is being written for a political economy course and the topic selected is THE IMPACT OF WTO POLICIES ON DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, the focus could be, STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE ASIAN TIGERS TO COUNTER THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF WTO POLICIES.
3) Collecting the research sources needed from the university library and/or online academic databases;
4) Skimming through the research material gathered and setting aside those which are neither credible nor scholarly (newspaper, magazine and trade publication items)
5) Reading through the research material selected for inclusion in the term paper and making notations, either on the articles themselves or on note cards
6) Preparing your term paper outline, referring to the notes you have made
7) Writing the first draft of your term paper
8) Proofreading and editing your first draft and preparing your final term paper draft, ready for submission
Should you follow the steps outlined here, you can rest assured that you will produce a good term paper. Certainly, the work involved is great, requiring both time and effort but, do not forget that the percentage of the final grade allocated to your term paper is equally substantial. Hence, while you will never regret putting in the necessary effort, you will regret not doing so.
Remember, if you face any unexpected difficulties, you can always make your way over to http://www.thessayist.com for additional help. We offer a wide range of academic services, several of which are invaluable to students writing their term or research papers. A member of our Write Right team of professional researchers can either write you an entire, high quality, completely plagiarism-free model term or research paper, can help you in the collection of your research material or in proofreading, editing or evaluating a term paper you have already completed.
