6 steps to writing a perfect term paper…
Follow these six steps and you’ll have written a perfect term paper!
1) The first step is to choose the perfect subject to write about. Is there a subject that really interests you?
For example, if you’re studying Marketing, and your term paper is in the area of communication, you may find ‘product life cycles’ really interesting, and therefore it would make sense for you to write about the effect of the product life cycle on the type of communication you’re using.
2) Choose the perfect sources to include in your term paper. Some universities impose limitations on which sources you can and cannot use, for example Virginia Tech only ask for sources available on campus, and less then 20 years old. Check your university guidelines before getting started.
Next - you need to start sourcing the Internet, archives, databases and libraries for material. Articles, books and journal papers usually hold the best research for you to use. Scour through each relevant text, noting anything helpful onto a card, with a page number on for reference. Once you are ready to write your term paper, you can use these cards as a quick reference guide.
3) Create the perfect outline by thinking about what you want to talk about, and creating an outline for your essay - list in a hierarchical fashion what you want to talk about, and stick to that. For example:
- I - Intro
- II - Section one
- IIa - section one part a
- IIb - section one part b
- IIbi - section one part b part i
- IIbii - section one part b part ii
- IIc - section one part c
- II - Section two
- III - Section three
..etc!
4) Write the perfect first draft - follow the perfect outline (above) and get writing your first draft. Start off by telling the reader what you’re going to say, then say it in the body of the paper and then tell the reader what you’ve said again. So, introduce your argument/thought/research, tell them it, and summarize it up for them.
Tips: use subheadings, group ideas together and write short, flowing sentences.
5) Edit your first draft to perfection by leaving it a day or two and reading your paper again. Read it out loud, or get somebody to read it to you. Does it sound flow? Do your sentences sound OK out loud? If you’ve found some bits actually don’t make sense, edit them, and re-read them again. You’ll be surprised how many errors you’ll find when reading your draft out loud!
