What is term paper?
A compulsory test of knowledge that is conducted for students at the last courses of higher education is research work or term paper. It is a piece of academic writing based on an independent scientific study and research of a student on a particular topic. Thanks to the term paper, it is easier for a teacher to check the quality of the student’s knowledge and the ability to apply this knowledge to the solution of professional tasks.
Writing the term paper involves developing skills of independent work with scientific sources and mastering the methodology of research, as well as the ability to select and analyze the scientific or practical problem of work, to summarize the elaborated material and substantiate the conclusions.
Writing the term paper is a useful and necessary task, but sometimes it becomes a real problem for students. Thus, we are going to give some helpful tips on how to organize your term paper carefully.
Logical steps to organizing a term paper.
Before beginning an academic assignment, the student must familiarize with the basic requirements for writing term papers. Once the techniques are understood, students can attempt to do their academic writing work efficiently and effectively.
In order to organize the writing process, it is recommended to proceed with the following stages:
- The first stage of scientific research is the choice of the topic of scientific research, and it is one of the crucial stages. The topic chosen by a student to be studied should be related to the basic directions of the industry’s development and scientific research. The choice of the topic of research is carried out by the researchers independently on the basis of the following criteria: relevance of the topic, the novelty of the theme, perspective, profile matching, etc. In this case, brainstorming takes place as it stirs up several ideas before narrowing them down to one specific idea. It is a vital step in creating an organized term paper. It may take many forms, such as list, free write, mapping, etc.
- At the second stage, the researcher, according to the chosen theme, independently selects relevant literary sources, monographs, articles in magazines, foreign publications and works with them.
- The third stage – refining the problem (topic) and compiling the outline of the research. When compiling the content of the work, first of all, it is necessary to make a substantiation of the topic, to determine its relevance, novelty, and the main tasks.
- The fourth stage is the formulation of a hypothesis or a scientific assumption, that is put forward to explain any phenomena, processes, causes that led to a certain consequence.
- The fifth stage. The formulated goal and hypothesis of the research logically determine the tasks that need to be addressed during the process.
- The sixth stage is the definition of the research methodology. In research work methods of observation, analysis, and generalization, modeling is mainly used.
- The seventh stage is working on systematization and accumulated material in accordance with the plan of work, analysis of scientific works, practical experience.
- Eighth stage. At this stage, the materials collected during the experimental study are statistically processed. The main task of analyzing the obtained data is to compare them with the formulated hypothesis and refine it.
- The ninth stage. It is a creation of an extended plan of a term paper, in accordance with the content of the produced material.
- The tenth stage is the literary registration of the research results of a term paper.
The main components of term paper organization.
When you are writing the term paper, the third stage is refining the topic and compiling the outline of the research. The outline will help you to understand how to organize a term paper and which components are obligatory to use. It works as the blueprint of your paper and will keep the paper thoroughly organized from the start. It also helps to organize your thoughts and lay the groundwork for the first draft. Outlines can be useful for any paper to help you see the overall picture.
So, there are the following components of term paper organization:
I. Introduction
The introduction reveals what you are going to tell the reader. The conclusion indicates in summary form what you have told the reader. The supporting paragraphs tell all the rest.
The introduction can be one paragraph but can be three or four paragraphs long, depending on the length of the writing assignment. The purpose of the introduction is to catch the reader’s attention. There some background information about a topic should be added. Also, it is important to indicate the thesis statement in the introduction, to discuss the purpose of the paper and the promise of what is to come.
II. Main body
The main part of term paper consists of two sections, subdivisions, points, and sub-items. Each section begins with a new page. At the end of each section and subsection, there are short conclusions.
This section of the term paper clearly present the main points of the paper as listed in the thesis, give strong examples, details, and explanations to support each main points. This section is divided into two parts: theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part of the paper, the analysis of the literature on the problem, which is being investigated is presented. In the practical part the empirical studies conducted by the author work, and their results are described.
III. Conclusion
Just as the introduction captures the reader’s attention, the conclusion should leave the reader thinking about the issues presented while bringing the paper to a logical end. It is a section of research work which briefly summarizes each main point found in the body of the paper. The findings should inform about the achievement of the purpose of the study and the implementation of specific tasks.
All other parts of the term paper (chapters of the main body, appendices, list of literature) are written simply: here each subsequent section follows from the previous one.
Some students face difficulties when they are going to write the term paper. However, if you know how to organize your term paper and correctly arrange your work process, writing a paper will bring you pleasure.
