How to Write a Term Paper

The keys to writing a research paper, or term paper as it is sometimes called, include:

mastering research strategies: defining and refining interesting questions, developing and refining search strategies
applying reading strategies: note-taking, questioning, summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, analyzing, and critiquing
using the writing process to develop and narrow the question (topic), draft, and revise the paper

The keys to good writing include:

proper grammar, spelling and punctuation
precise and accurate vocabulary
strong and active writing style

WhiteSmoke English Writing Software offers an all-in-one online writing solution that will check grammar, mechanics, and spelling; provide excellent definitions and synonyms with its powerful online dictionary and a thesaurus software; and enrich your writing style by suggesting strong and active words. This tool will help you while writing a great research paper. It will leave you free to do the research and think great ideas, while it checks to make sure your writing is at its best.

One way to define and refine a question is to look at parts of a phrase and ask questions about each word. For instance, the main point of this research writing web page is writing a term, or research paper. WhiteSmoke English Writing Software can help you define the words in a phrase with its powerful online dictionary. Let's look at the three words: paper, research, write (or writing). We could have done paper, term, write (or writing), as well.

You might ask why is it called a paper? The answer might be because it is written on a product called "paper." What is paper? What is its history? How does the history of paper relate to the history of writing? Of research writing? Such questions easily lead to an interesting topic for a research paper about writing research papers, say, the history of paper and the writing of research papers. Ok, maybe that's not the topic that interests you.

So, let's ask another question: what is meant by a paper? This leads to information about different types of papers with research paper as one type, and different types of research papers. For a Middle School or High School research paper a student might be expected to focus mostly on the topic, research strategies, and how to report information. This type of paper might also be called a research report, something often used in technical fields such as Engineering and the Sciences. At its best, it draws conclusions about "what is known" on a particular topic.

The more like a research report your own research paper is, the more important it is to focus narrowly. Few people can read, let alone write about, everything that is known about paper. However, a topic such as the rise of inexpensive commercial paper and its use in education likely has a more manageable amount of information available. Regardless of the topic, it will likely be necessary to find some sources that are more general--paper and how it is made, for our example--and some that are very specific--the influence of inexpensive commercial paper production on the number of research papers assigned, for what might be, to most, a silly subject.

Whether writing on a silly or a serious subject, WhiteSmoke's online writing software helps. It has tools for legal, business, medical, and creative writing. Its unique Natural Language approach and powerful artificial intelligence algorithms help your research writing jump to the front of the class; no matter which class you're in WhiteSmoke will have you writing like a pro.

College research papers, which are often called term papers, usually require more technical research from professional journals in the field and fewer books than Middle School or High School research papers. When writing a term paper, the students is expected to demonstrate a level of understanding both of material (facts, statistics, theories, controversies, etc.) within the field and methods for researching, analyzing, and discussing that material. The college student is typically expected, as well, to take a position on a debatable question on which reasonable people in the field disagree.

That is, the College Research or Term Paper is not just a report. Rather, the student takes the role of a knowledgeable person in the field, and using the research to provide supporting evidence and to develop thoughtful arguments, the college student is expected to argue persuasively using the tools and materials of the field. The more advanced the course, the more advanced the arguments and research will need to be.

College professors want papers that are free of errors. They want to read for content, and understand what they are reading. WhiteSmoke English Language Software assures that what you turn in is what they want--error-free writing. Use its large online dictionary to look up terminology. The writing enhancement tool will help you revise your drafts. The thesaurus also aids in revision. Use the grammar and spell check when editing. You don't have to buy these features separately. WhiteSmoke software is the only all-in-one writing solution.

In doing your research you could continue to ask questions about the word "paper" for some time. But before you get to blank paper, the steps in writing a research paper lead to research. For real help on writing a research paper, it might help to ask another basic question: What is research? Why "re" rather than "search"? Research, in the sense of writing a research paper, means finding information. However, a common mistake students make is stopping there. They don't go further to ask: what kind of information? Generally, it is not information limited to points of view with which you agree. Good research begins with uncertainty.

Often, for a report, the type of information is a broad question (or topic), such as what is the life-cycle of the octopus? However, a great college research paper will typically ask a focused question, such as: what is the effect of increased levels of mercury on the life-cycle of the octopus along New England Coasts? This question remains open, and the student writer therefore will have to take a position on the topic that not everyone in the field would agree with. Research answers a specific question, usually narrowly defined. The researcher allows for the fact that the answer might be something other than at first thought. This is the uncertainty necessary for good research.

In order to find a research topic, one could continue with inquiries about the word write (or writing). Writing involves a process. Within the general process, research writing has its own steps that are typically followed. Remember, though, as with many complex processes, often you will return to a step you already did and either re-do it because of changes along the way, or do it again from another point in the research. It is not really linear.

At whatever stage of your writing, WhiteSmoke can assist you. It works with any program you are using, and can help you get just the right word at any point in your writing. Use the thesaurus while taking notes or drafting. The dictionary will be of use throughout your research, while reading and writing. And once you start drafting, you will want WhiteSmoke to be with you all of the time to check your grammar and spelling or to enhance your writing with word suggestions. Like a good writing tutor, WhiteSmoke will leave you free to wrestle with the ideas.

Here are some steps to writing a research paper:

Find an interesting question to research. Don't think that research is about finding evidence for a position you've already taken. Rather, think about a question for which you don't know the answer. The research will be more interesting that way, especially if you want to know the answer. How? Look through notes, readings, a few articles, and find where you're confused (and don't want to be), curious, frustrated, or otherwise stopped for a moment to think. What question does this moment of stopping suggest to you? What would you like to know? Consider other areas of your life where you have passions--outside of school, other courses you've taken, politics, hobbies, etc. What questions do your other areas of interests suggest for the area of research? Start doing this the moment you have the assignment--don't wait until the last moment, or you won't have time for the research or the writing.
Start reading. At first, you will read background material to become familiar with the subject. If you were assigned a term paper at the beginning of the term, read ahead in some of the assigned readings, explore recommended readings, and go to the library to find books. In general, while using a search engine such as Google to find internet sites, Wikipedia and Encyclopedias are useful for background, many teachers and most college professors do not accept these as research sources, unless the internet source you found in Google is well-established as authoritative or provides a verifiable statistic. Use them sparingly, and only to get a general picture.
Read material more specifically related to your question. If you find too much material available, use this reading to narrow your topic. On the other hand, if it is difficult to find any material on your topic, you might do reading to open your question up a little. It is important to start this process early--both to refine your question, and to locate and obtain relevant source material before the last minute. The more time you have, the more likely you will be able to actually get that important article that, at the last minute, might be checked out and not available until after the due date.
Take notes. A research journal, note cards, a pda, any way that is comfortable for you, but keep notes. Make sure that you have a system for keeping your notes organized and for retrieving what source information in your notes came from. One method is to assign each new source a number that refers to its note card (often called a bibliography card) or its line on a spreadsheet. Every note that relates to that source also gets the number on it. That way, you can find the source. All of the bibliographic material should be on the numbered card or spreadsheet line. Some software programs help manage your sources and notes for you in a similar manner. It might be useful at this stage to determine which of the many citation styles will be required for the research paper, so the information on your cards or in your spreadsheet is formatted correctly to begin with. It is always useful to annotate your bibliographic cards (or spreadsheet, etc.) with a brief summary of the source and a couple of sentences that critique the source, noting its strengths, weaknesses, and relative usefulness to your topic.
As you proceed, write in a research journal. Summarize what you're learning, note what questions you still have, even keep track of your search strategies--where have you looked for information, how did you look, what questions did you ask? In the journal, keep trying to answer your research question. Keep in mind that you are "trying," and the attempts likely will change drastically as you learn more during the research.
When you feel that your research has suggested an answer to your question that is not changing dramatically anymore, write this down as a tentative thesis for your paper. Check with your teacher and get feedback on this tentative thesis. If you have to write a prospectus or proposal, this is usually a good point to do that. A research proposal provides background and significance of the question and the question. It often includes a tentative thesis, depending on the assignment. A prospectus is similar to a proposal in that it explains the question, why it is important, but it also usually includes what steps you will take to accomplish the research. A research prospectus may contain more background than a proposal, too. A research prospectus often, and a proposal sometimes, requires an annotated bibliography of resources.
After you've arrived at a tentative thesis, but while still researching (which might require you to modify or even change your thesis), begin going through your notes, annotations, and writing journal. Start brainstorming ways to communicate what you've learned enough so that readers will understand why you think the tentative thesis is the answer. You could use an outline here, if you wish, or concept maps or free-writing or any number of strategies to help you start organizing your material for writing. Some people talk about it to a friend. Others simply start writing.
Write a draft of your paper. Don't worry much yet about the introduction (your question and tentative thesis will do) or conclusion yet. Just try to get all of the necessary information into the paper that will help your audience understand the question and why you think the tentative thesis is the answer. While wrestling the information into your draft, let WhiteSmoke wrestle with the English language. This is when its powerful writing enhancement feature, its grammar checker, and its spell checker will serve you well.
Keep reading and researching, even re-reading as needed, while working on this draft. This can be a very rough draft that no one will see. After this draft is a good time to make an outline--of the draft. Review the outline, rearrange information, add items, take some out. Then re-write the draft using the outline as a guide (but not as a written-in-stone rule). Keep using WhiteSmoke to help you as you write and revise. It is easy to lose track of the sense of a sentence at this point. WhiteSmoke will continue to check the grammar and to offer new words to enhance your writing.
Create a working bibliography as you go. Anytime you use information from a note, add the source (from your system) to the bibliography (or works cited). Be sure to cite the sources as you use the information. All sorts of information from sources must be cited, not just quotes. This includes specific facts or data, claims or arguments unique to the source, dates, summaries, paraphrases, and quotes. A good guideline is that if you found the information in only one source, always cite it. If in 2-3 sources, usually cite it. More than that depends on the type of information or the context of the research--see a good writing handbook for more on citation. Always check with your instructor, editor, publisher about the preferred guidelines or manual for citation.
As you revise, continue your research. Now the research will take on a more narrow focus though--find material to fill gaps, to answer questions you still have about the topic or supporting evidence, to find ways to answer those who have written on the topic but taken a different position than yours.
Continue this process of revising, refining your thesis, researching to fill gaps and answer remaining questions until you feel that the paper really says something that you have learned in this process, and that it communicates it well enough so that someone who has not done the research (or even thought of the question) would understand and be interested. At the same time, keep the interest of those who have thought of the question or done the research (such as your college professor).
Write the introduction and conclusion. Invite the reader into the topic and show why it is interesting or important. Leave the reader satisfied that reading this paper provided useful and thoughtful ideas and that the paper is complete.
Carefully re-read your draft, using WhiteSmoke to help you correct all of your grammar and spelling errors. Check your paragraphs. WhiteSmoke's unique writing enhancement tool will suggest additional words that will add power to your writing, too. Use the WhiteSmoke dictionary to check the accuracy of your word choices, and to make certain new words to you mean what you think they do. Use the WhiteSmoke thesaurus to change words that you feel are used too often in your paper or are not quite right. Edit carefully, using WhiteSmoke to assist you.
Make sure that all information from other sources is properly cited using the appropriate citation style. Remember that citation styles are an arbitrary system, so check the rules carefully in an appropriate handbook.

Whether writing student research or scientific research, WhiteSmoke has the online solution for you. Its business, legal, medical, and creative writing contexts will help you get each word right. Write right. Write now. WhiteSmoke English writing software.

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