A Few Rules for Writing Term Papers

It’s the end of the semester and what does a writer have? Term papers that is due in two weeks or less. Panic strikes and everything you ever learned about term papers goes out the window.

Here are a few rules for writing term papers:

Choose a topic:

Choosing a topic to write for a term paper is difficult with all the type of subjects that are out there to write about. Pre writing helps with this as it helps get all the ideas out of the writers head to help them decide on what they may want to write about. After that, pick a topic that really grabs your interest and stick with it.

Getting organized:

After pre writing and choosing the topic, then it is time to start researching. After all the research is done, be sure to compile a final list of what sources you are going to use and then put them into an outline so you are not scrambling around looking for what notes to use ina particular section of the paper.

Writing the paper:

When it comes to writing the paper, make sure you re read the requirements for the paper before starting to write it as to not waste your time. After you have read the requirements, read back over the outline and pre-writing exercises, then write the rough draft. It needs to have a beginning, middle, and end, as well as possibly a title page and bibliography. Once the writer has done that, then the revising and editing process starts. Go through each sentence, line by line, in order to make there are no grammatical errors as well as making sure that sources are cited and in the bibliography page. After that stage is completed then have a friend read the paper to not only have a fresh pair of eyes look at it, but to also see if there anything you may have missed in the process of editing. Make sure you have a clean final draft to be able to give to your instructor.

Don’t plagiarize:

One of the biggest obstacles that is encountered when writing term papers is plagiarism. Plagiarism is when a writer uses someone else’s work as their own instead of giving credit to the source they used it from. This can be avoided by making sure that your sources in the paper are cited. If it is required to have footnotes, and then make sure you have those. As a rule of thumb, as soon as a writer writes down a source, go to the bibliography page and write out the citation for that source and make sure the references are in alphabetical order.