Dr Waggle's Website

Basics for writing a term paper.

There are 8 stages one should use in constructing a term paper. First thing is to identify the formatting requirements. For this paper, you should target between 8 to 10 pages, double spaced. Also, font size should be 10 to 12 point font. Acceptable fonts are ariel, times new roman, and currier. Any other font should be cleared with the professor prior to use. Margins should be no more than 1 inch top, bottom, left and right. You need a cover page, indicating the title of the paper, the author of the paper, and the course: name and number, professor, and date. You should number the pages of the text, excluding the title page. Preferably, the numbers should be in the lower right hand corner of the page. Use staples to bind the paper together. Also, you should have footnotes for all citations and a bibliography page using MLA format. The following is a web site with a comprehensive examination of MLA format with examples.

http://www.lib.usm.edu/~instruct/guides/mla.html (Please note that you will need to go to the Milner Library in order to get the proper formatting example for web addresses. These are still changing. You should consult your instructor also concerning what is meant by an internet source. In light of the development of on line article databases, some articles are now available under pdf format (scans). You should always ask whether retrieving these constitutes a web source or some other source.

Use that site if you have formatting questions.

The stages for constructing your paper are as follows:

1. Pick a topic.

This stage may take some time. Use on line catalogue to make sure that the topic is not too broad. You can always elaborate more if it is too narrow. Cutting it down to size is another matter.

2. Pick a working thesis.

This stage may take the most time. As with stage 1, use the on line catalogue to make sure that your thesis is not too broad. If you are finding more than 20 sources in the library on your topic, consider refining the topic so that it is manageable.

3. Do research.

There is no standard guide for doing good research. One strategy is to find everything you can on the topic, then focus on those portions of the written materials that directly pertain to what you are concerned with. With books, don’t get into the habit of reading the whole thing. Simply use the index to cover the relevant passages that deal directly on your topic. With other sources, make sure that they are current and timely.

4. Actively read the research materials.

Here the key is to take notes while you read. That way you cut down the time and make writing manageable. Summarize what you have read, and use the summaries in your paper. Also, DO NOT write in library books. Be respectful to others who will use these materials after you do. Take notes on your own paper. If you want to use a passage, photocopy it, and mark it up. With photocopies, write the source materials down (author, publisher, location of publication, date, etc) on the photocopy so that you will remember later when you write. One rule of thumb is that a photocopy is useless if it does not contain this information.

5. Write a draft using the working thesis, and the other standard formatting devices.

            A. Prepare the introduction

            B. Write the body paragraphs.

            C. Prepare and write the conclusion.

One way to actually get going on the paper is to write. You will be doing drafts of this paper, so what you are writing at this stage is not the finished polished product. Just start writing. You will have to organize this later, but revision is easier if you have something to start with. So, just sit down and start writing. Often, spending the time to hash out the introductory paragraph will give your other writing direction. Remember, as you write the body paragraphs, you need to go back and revisit the introduction to make sure that what you say you are doing is in fact what you are doing. Also, you will need to do this with the conclusion. Another rule of thumb is to overwrite the paper. Write more than you need to. You will edit it down to the essentials later. But if you overwrite, that is, write more than you need to, you will have the raw materials that you will later go back to and polish up. At this stage in the construction of the paper, all of the niceties need not be in place. You will address these in the next stage and clean up the paper as you go alone. Also, develop a naming strategy that will allow you to look over different drafts of the paper. One way of doing this is to include in the name of your file the date of the draft. E.g., Paper 10.21.03. This will enable you to compare these differences as you go along and not have to reinvent the wheel if you want to go back to something later.

6. Revise the draft, focusing on developing and elaborating the body paragraphs. Fine tune the thesis in light of what you have written. Also, revise the conclusion and the introduction so that what you say you have done and what you say you are going to do are in fact what you have done and what you will do.

7. Revise again, checking for continuity and conventions. Check the spelling of all names. Examine each sentence to make sure that standard English conventions (i.e., spelling, punctuation, possessive case usage, etc.) are being used throughout the paper.

8. Polish the draft for the final print. USE a printed version, and double check the conventions, reexamine the introduction and conclusion. Tighten the thesis, and the conclusion so that they are as clear and precise as possible. Check the body paragraphs to make sure that they work, are coherent, and the use of elaboration and other data, examples, etc. all fit and work. Don’t simply rely on the grammar checker and the spell checker to catch errors. VISUALLY check these on the printed page. You eye alone can capture the difference between two, too, and to. Your spell checker will not see that there is a difference in meaning between these words. If you are not sure about the meaning of the word, and if the word is spelled correctly, look it up in a standard English dictionary to make sure that the meaning is the one that you intend. There simply is no excuse for not getting these things correct.

If you follow this basic outline, your papers will be far better than anything you can do the night before the paper is due. The goal here is to investigate something you are interested in, in some depth, and take away something more from this class that just a pile of notes.

For questions or comments, e-mail me at ljwaggl@ilstu.edu