Term paper - right approach matters
If you approach it correctly and with enough enthusiasm, term paper writing can be not only painless, but fun. Term papers serve as a practical way of implementing everything you’ve learned so far in your studies. It also serves as a way of enabling the student to independently conduct research and form his or her point of view on a certain topic. However, many students go into term paper writing unknowing of what’s waiting for them.
There are a lot of ways to prepare for writing your first term paper and one of them is looking at places like Ghost professors in order to get an extensive look at how a term paper can be written. Luckily for you, we’re here to take a look at a few tips and pointers as to how you can be more prepared when your term paper assignment comes up.
Doing research
While sometimes the professor will come to you with a prepared topic to work on, often times this decision is left to the student. The professor will provide you with general outlines of the topic you should think about and the rest is up to you. It’s important to settle on a topic that is both relevant to your assignment and advances the discussion of a certain topic further. Don’t settle on retelling a known thesis in order to get a passing grade; think bigger and be original about it. If you’re having trouble finding ideas for your term paper, you can always look for help online or ask for more pointers from your professor.
Term paper writing is all about research, and a lot of it. Whatever your topic and field of study, be prepared to dig deep to find sources and literature that will serve as a backdrop for your future paper. Not only will you have to dig deep, but smart as well, since many students make the mistake of raking up a dozen books and research papers that only partially or in no way whatsoever cover the topic you are working on. Be smart about your research, since the more literature and sources you gather, the more risk of losing focus on your topic. Make sure that you take your time in doing research.
Personal time management
The usual trap that students fall into is lack of time-management. Writing your term paper will require dedication and hard work. It’s easy to put it off at the beginning just because you think you can handle it even if you wait a week or two longer. While that might be the case, the deadline will come sooner than you think, and by then it will be too late to plan anything. At this point, many students resort to finding a term paper writing service to help them out with writing their papers. While these services are professional and cooperative, it’s often possible to write your own paper if you just put your mind into planning ahead.
Planning your time is exactly what you need to do as soon as you receive your assignment. You may need weeks just to gather and go through all the sources you deem relevant. You’re given the time to write your term paper for a reason and it’s not to procrastinate and then panic when the deadline is near. Clear your schedule of any unnecessary activities for now and make sure that you have a clear time-table set. Make a schedule of your daily and weekly actions; what is it that needs to happen in order to write the paper properly? How many days do you need to gather the sources on your topic and go through them? How many hours a day will you read and take notes in order to make your writing process that much faster? When your assignment arrives, think ahead and everything should be okay. Don’t rush just because you have a deadline to uphold. Remember that you started writing your paper on time and that you’ll manage to finish it ahead of schedule.
Proper use of citations and references
When you start writing your paper, you will also start quoting and copying a lot of content from different sources. It’s important to mark and reference each one of them. There are many reasons for citing your sources in term paper writing, and the most important one is that by doing so, you’re acknowledging that you wrote your paper based on previously done research. This gives your term paper credibility and shows that you respect the reading material that you used in your writing. You should plan out how you will cite your sources even while you’re working on your term paper outline, because otherwise, you might be looking at a lot of revisions and editing.
Another reason for proper citation and referencing is plagiarism. More often than not, a lack of citation will be an honest mistake of a student who is new to paper writing. Plagiarism is a word used to describe the process of taking someone else’s work and writing your name on it. If you don’t cite your source in your paper, this is exactly how it looks like to your professor. Don’t take it the wrong way; you didn’t do anything wrong if you made a mistake. You will simply correct it and move on with your writing. Using proper citation and reference format will help you avoid any uncomfortable situations where you have to justify yourself and explain why a paragraph in your paper looks so familiar to your professor. It makes you look unprofessional, so take note and do it right.
Following up on feedback
Writing your first term paper will be overwhelming and you’ll often find yourself in a position where you don’t know how to proceed further. Make sure to always ask your professor for assistance on anything and everything that you need. Writing paper is a learning process and you probably won’t get it right on the first try, so keep checking in with your professor about your progress. Even though it’s easy to ask your colleagues to help out with formatting and writing your paper, try to avoid it. They could be unsure about how to proceed, so asking them might not bear fruit. Instead, form a list of questions and present it to your professor. You’ll get clear and direct answers instead of guessing what to do.
After you’ve written the first draft of your term paper, you will want to get feedback from your professor. Be ready for criticism and don’t take it personally. Rarely does it happen that the first draft of your paper will be perfect. It’s possible, but it’s more likely that your professor will give you a lot of objective suggestions as to how to edit your paper and make it more presentable. This happens all the time, so make sure that you don’t somehow think that you’re not good enough or that you are wasting your time. You’re not, because feedback and rewrites are a part of the process. They are for your own good, since term paper writing is delicate work.
