by Lanae Celeste

Created on: June 10, 2008

Has the end of term dash to write papers got you blue? Don't fret! Read on for tips on how to write a great term paper every time while keeping your sanity.

Take your time. Don't wait until the night before your paper is due to start writing it. Whether your professor assigns the final paper at the beginning or in the middle of the term, immediately set up a schedule for yourself. Set aside blocks of time throughout the semester that are dedicated to the specific phases of work that will need to be done in order to produce a good term paper.

Research. Most courses, no matter what their focus, will require you to do some research for the final paper. When setting up your schedule, make sure that you devote a large portion of your time to research. Start with a general question related to the topic of your paper and look for information that answers it.

As your research progresses, you should be able to keep narrowing the focus of your research question until you have a specific question that you will be answering with the thesis, or main topic, of your paper. Don't forget: good information is the foundation upon which good term papers are constructed.

Organize. Once you feel confident that you have enough research done, start looking through your notes for common themes directly related to your research question (i.e., your thesis). Depending on the required length of your term paper, select between 3 and 6 main themes, or sub-topics, that will support the thesis of your paper. Make sure that each sub-topic has enough supporting evidence that it can be written about for at least two paragraphs.

Once you have selected strong sub-topics that support your term paper's thesis, try to look for connection points between them. These will be natural transition points to move from one sub-topic to the next and make your paper flow smoothly. When creating a standard outline, be sure to include a brief summary of these transitions between sub-topics. This will allow you to look at the entire skeleton of your term paper and make it easier to detect and fix weak points. Are the topics organized in a logical way that progresses your thesis? Do all of the sub-topics stay on point?

Write. By this point, more than two-thirds of your term paper is already done! All that you have left to do is take the organized outline and transform it into sentences. If you get stuck on any particular sentence or paragraph, just skip it for the time being and try to complete an entire first draft of your term paper. Ideally, you want to get this done at least two weeks before the term paper is actually due. That way you have plenty of time to get a friend, writing tutor, or professor to look it over and offer constructive criticism.

Revise. Once you have revised the term paper into a second (or third!) draft, give yourself a day or two before attempting to proof-read it. Giving yourself a short break will allow you to approach the paper with fresh eyes, minimizing the chance of skipping over grammatical or spelling errors. A great way of checking the grammar is to actually read your entire term paper out loud; your ears will probably be much more adept at picking out awkward sentence structures than your eyeballs.

You might feel as though this process is quite lengthy the first time you follow these steps for writing a great term paper. But as with all things, the more you practice the easier it becomes. These steps will soon feel natural and come to you automatically. Before you know it you will be writing quality term papers every time!

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