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The most common writing requirement in upper-division courses

is the term paper. The importance of the term paper tends to be

neglected. Why is a term paper so important? The main reason is

that it will make up a big part of your final grade. You might

be deceived as to its importance because most teachers will not

give much class discussion time to these papers. When your

instructor does not give you detailed instructions for writing

your term paper, it is up to you to become informed on your

own.

The first step to writing the perfect term paper is analyzing

the materials you already have. This means that you need to

take a good look at all of the information you have on your

subject, including your text-book materials, lecture notes, and

course hand-outs . Your instructor will usually point out

exactly what is expected of you. Students tend to neglect this

and, as a consequence, their end product does not fulfill the

task assigned. It is very important to discuss anything that

you do not understand with your teacher as soon as possible.

Sometimes students do not do this because they are afraid of

appearing stupid in the eyes of the instructor or their fellow

students. This is a huge mistake! Not only will a good teacher

answer all of your questions but will also notice that you are

genuinely interested in writing a quality term paper.

After you have analyzed your materials, you must decide on a

thesis. Most often, a thesis is a question that you seek to

answer in your paper, but this is not a hard rule. If your

teacher does not tell you that your thesis must be a question,

you may feel free to experiment. Why not make it interesting

for yourself? Try searching for a topic that interests you -

this will not only make your term paper easier to write, it

will also make it more fun to write. Make sure your subject and

thesis fulfill the necessary requirements and then analyze how

long your paper will turn out. A term paper usually has page

limits. With this in mind, be careful not to choose a subject

that is likely to turn out too long or too short. For instance,

you can not write a 10 page term paper about the evolution of

music from Classical to Modern - the subject is much too broad

to cover in such a short space. If you are in this position,

you need to narrow your topic. Also, make sure that your chosen

topic will have enough bibliography available and be sure that

you understand your subject completely before starting your

paper.

The next step that you need to complete is research. In most

cases there is a specific bibliography assigned for your paper,

but often it is a general list of suggested reading, rather

than a precise list of references. In this case you, the

student, fist need to compile a list of appropriate sources.

Many students fail with the actual writing because of improper

researching during this phase. In some cases, this is because

they attempted to conduct their research solely on the Internet

at the expense of using the library. While it is true that the

World Wide Web is a trove of information on most subjects, when

writing a term paper, you also need to look for research

materials in the library. You will surely find someone to point

you in the right direction and aid you during your research in

the library. Gather anything you might want to use from

magazine articles to books written by specialists on your

chosen subject. While reading and gathering your materials, be

sure that you take notes. Including quotations is necessary,

but be careful to not put too many in one term paper. Many

students tend to include long quotes in order to finish more

quickly and fill up the space. In fact, this is not at all

productive and does not look good to your instructor. You

should include only quotes that are necessary and relevant to

your subject and, in your final paper, include only the

necessary parts of the quote, the parts that are useful and

directly link to your topic.

After gathering your notes, you need to outline your term

paper. Once again, analysis is very important. Look at the

research materials that you found and the notes that you took.

Create the main outline of your college term paper by analyzing what

you want to discuss and keeping on your subject. Follow the

outline you have created and start writing the draft version of

your term paper. Unless your instructor has told you otherwise,

you should use the simple essay format of:

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Use the Introduction to outline what you are going to

say, the Body to say it, and the Conclusion

to summarize your paper's points and the answer

to your thesis question.

After the first draft is finished, you need to polish it before

it is a final paper. Proofreading is a must and should be done

aloud so that you can also hear the sense of your composition.

This makes it easier for you to change what does not sound

good. Analyze the grammar and spelling so that any mistakes

are avoided or corrected. Look at the quotes you have included

and check to see if they are used properly or not. The actual

polishing should be done at least two days after the first

draft was finished. This will help you stay objective about it.

If you know that you are biased, give your college term paper sample to

someone else to read and be sure to ask for comments and

criticisms. Following these simple steps will help you to

create the perfect term paper, but it is up to you to follow

through. Take your assignment seriously and do not treat

it lightly. If you are mature and diligent, your term paper is

bound to be perfect.