TERM PAPER GUIDELINES
Adapted from Timothy Heaton's Term Paper Guidelines
SUBJECT
The topic of the paper will be of the student's choosing with consent of the instructor. It must be relevant to the content of the course, but it should be treated in greater depth than it is covered in class. Focus is of the utmost importance. Too broad a topic will either lead to superficial treatment or an unnecessarily long paper; too narrow a topic will lead to a lack of source material and redundancy. Make sure the subject focuses on one question or topic so that the paper has a definite purpose.
AUDIENCE
Although the paper is intended for the instructor, the target audience is to be an intelligent but uninformed reader. Because of this, fundamental concepts, like those taught in the course, do need to be treated briefly (if applicable) before delving into the details of the subject of the paper. A good test is to have a friend or roommate who is not in the class read your paper to see if it's understandable.
ORGANIZATION
There are many creative ways to organize a paper, so a rigid set of guidelines is not necessary. However, organization is such a common problem with term papers that a simple and effective scheme is outlined here as a suggestion. It involves partitioning the paper into discrete parts to insure that the topic is properly introduced, that relevant supporting material is treated in a logical fashion, and that the paper ends with everything tied together into a satisfying conclusion.
Starting and ending a paper are always the hardest parts of writing and can be done last. One good scheme for an introduction is to begin with something colorful or meaningful about the subject to catch the reader's attention (e.g., a problem statement that sets the stage for the rest of the paper) and to end with a thesis statement. A thesis statement explicitly tells what the paper will be about so that the reader isn't left guessing. The introduction should be short: a page is too long.
Dividing the paper into sections with headings forces the writer to group relevant facts into coherent units. Each section can have an introductory and concluding paragraph.
The paper should end with a conclusion or summary that ties together all the parts of the paper and leaves the reader with a feeling of resolution. The conclusion is not a place to bring up new information or to wander off the subject.
SOURCE MATERIAL AND REFERENCES
Presenting your own ideas in a term paper is acceptable and even encouraged. However, the paper must be based on facts and opinions from authoritative sources, and these sources must be given proper credit. A minimum of three published sources is required, and ten or more is typical. Direct quotes must be placed inside quotation marks or in indented sections and should be used sparingly. Paraphrasing is better in most cases.
There are two popular ways to cite references. One is to place superscripted numbers in the text with corresponding footnotes at the bottom of the page or endnotes at the end of the paper. More typical of scientific papers is to place the author and year in parentheses (Heaton, 1984). In either case you need a bibliography of all cited sources at the end of the paper with author(s), year, title, publication or publisher, volume, and pages. These should be in alphabetical order by name of the primary author.
Be sure to find source materials that are specific to your topic, either books or journal articles. Textbooks are usually too general and should be avoided. The library has published and computerized indexes that can be used to find relevant sources. See the instructor or a reference librarian if you are unfamiliar with these resources.
Plagiarism is the presenting of someone else's wording or ideas as one's own and is a violation of university policy. If you use someone else's words or ideas, you must give them proper credit. You must also obtain permission from the instructor before using your term paper for more than one course.
LENGTH AND FORMAT
Length is not important; 8 to 10 pages of double-spaced text is a good target. The title, author, course, and date should be typed onto a cover sheet. Please staple the paper in the upper left-hand corner and submit without a binding. Illustrations are not required but are often useful in explaining graphical concepts and in giving the paper character. Maps, when incorporated, should follow general cartographic guidelines to include elements such as a scale or a legend. The bibliography should be the last section of the paper.
GRADING
Grading is based on both research content and presentation. Your paper should demonstrate that you have gained a level of expertise in the subject by studying the relevant literature. Your presentation should be clean and convincing with proper use of paragraphs, complete sentences, and correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Make your term paper look and sound professional.
Suggested outline of the term paper
1. Cover page
2. Abstract (not exceeding 200 words + 5 keywords)
3. Introduction (including a purpose and a problem statement, objectives, and overview of the structure of the paper)
4. Background and literature review
5. Methods, data, and study area
6. Results and discussion
7. Conclusions
8. References