Writing a good term paper can be as hard or as easy as we make it on ourselves. Practicing good preparation and writing will lead to an easier essay in the end. There are many different techniques in writing one, depending on the person’s own unique style of writing. However, there are a few common steps that we should all take to ensure a better, smoother essay.
First of all, after receiving the assignment make sure you understand the assignment and the instructions fully. If you do not understand them, don’t hesitate to ask the teacher or your boss to clarify these instructions. It is better to swallow your pride and ask for clarification rather than risk doing the paper incorrectly which could be costly in the end. Once you have understood the instructions to your assignment, it’s time to plan out your timetable. A common mistake among people with assignments due is they tend to overestimate their time or procrastinate till the last minute. However, the quality of the paper is often positively correlated with the effort and amount of time put into the paper (i.e. quick unmotivated papers tend to receive lower grades or lower remarks compared to papers that would thought out and analyzed). Plan a time table of the following steps and ensure time to finish the draft and editing steps before the paper is due. Now that you have your time table planned out it is time to move onto understanding the question at hand.
It is better first to ponder the subject upon which you are writing. Try to figure out the purpose you want to convey in your writing as well as whom your audience is going to be. Defining the purpose of the essay is key to writing a good term paper, because if we do not know what we are writing for, our points and overall essay may go astray. Additionally, assess the length of the paper and narrow your topic idea down to something reasonable for the length of your essay (i.e. not too long and not too short). We should avoid choosing long broad topics as our main topic for a paper that is to be less than what the idea would require. For instance having a 10 page paper on the affects of global warming over the past decade may be too broad of an idea for what your paper is limited too.
Next we move on to research, one of the most important steps. Here we must find as much information as we can on our topic to use for support of our ideas. This will also help refine your ideas to clearer and more concise points. Do not do the research after writing your paper. Researching after writing the paper will often times lead to quotes that do not support your point, or even plagiarism if you feel you needed to add something to make your paragraph flow better. Doing research before writing will better prepare you mentally define your topic to a more narrow topic that you can support clearly and easily. When researching, whether in books in the library, magazine articles, or even online sources, you should always keep track of where the information is coming from. You can do this in many ways, but always try to keep track of your information you have found in the best manner that works for you. Also make sure you consider which sources are more reliable or backed by scholars rather than some average joe spouting his opinion on some website.
Now that we have our research complete, we can move onto prewriting and brainstorming. Here it may differ from person to person, so find the method that works best for you. However, in some way, whether in freewriting, brainstorming with randomly jotted ideas, making outlines, making mind maps, etc, you should already be thinking about the construction of your essay and what you’re going to say. You should start defining a plan for yourself for your paper. Often times its best to write this down especially when you get long papers that may span more than 20 pages. Once you have assessed your research, have a plan for your essay, and feel confident about your topic, its time to write.
Start writing and don’t look back. Try not to make the essay perfect the first time around, because this will often lead to difficulty in finishing the paper, or you may get distracted from other points. Not a single person can write a flawless paper the first time around. Feel free to let yourself make mistakes, because the best thing to do is to let your creativity flow and just run with the paper. Writer’s block, as many writer’s know, is a terrible hump to get over. If you are able flow, than just keep going and finish the paper. Once you finish, set it aside for the time being and go back to it later. It’s best to give it a day or two so the paper seems fresh to you and you are more able to catch your own mistakes rather than reading it quickly glossing over it because “you knew what you wanted to say.” With this mindset it’s easy to miss simple mistakes that could possibly confuse your reader. Following the same idea of giving yourself time off before rereading your paper, it also helps asking an outside source you can trust to constructively criticize your paper. This will bring another person’s viewpoint into the mix and they will be able to see things you may not be able to do. Once you have done one or both of these steps, reedit as many times as you deem necessary till you feel confident in your paper.
With practice and a good work ethic, you can turn the fear of essay papers into the thing of the past. Writing paper’s are not wholly different than any other activity we choose to participate in. Humans are naturally inquisitive and insightful by nature. We are highly opinionated on many varieties of issues. We can use this in formulating our ideas of papers, because a paper is merely an expression of our opinion with support. Likewise, practice makes perfect. People make mistakes in everything and nothing is ever perfect the first time around. If we dedicate ourselves to our tasks at hand, there is no telling what we can accomplish.
-Kevin-
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