7 easy steps of writing a great term paper

To some students the idea of writing a term paper is scary. When they look at the requirement, they are overwhelmed. So you think that you will never be able to pull off a ten page term paper? Don’t worry. It is easier than it seems. Check out these seven easy steps of writing a great term paper.

Step One: Choose a topic

The first step in the process is to choose a topic that is narrow enough so that you are not overwhelmed with a million sources to dig through but broad enough to explore at least three solid ideas behind it. It may help to jot down two or three different ideas for topics and then do a little research to make sure that you can give the topics three supporting ideas. If you find a lot of different paths to go, ditch the topic. If you find nothing on the topic, ditch the topic.

Step Two: Create your thesis

Most people are intimidated over their thesis. It is the heart of your paper but it doesn’t have to be as hard as a lot of people make it out to be. For example, your thesis can simple list the three supporting facts in the order that you are going to discuss them.

A thesis sentence is important because it is the heart of your paper, it let’s your reader know what you are going to talk about, and it helps the paper flow.

In this example thesis, I have told my reader what my paper is about and let them know the three main points I will prove in my term paper.

Step Three: Outline

The outline of the paper is one of the most important steps that a lot of individuals skip. Please don’t make this mistake. An outline is the skeleton of the paper. It will help you keep the paper from going off on tangents and it will cut down on the time it may take you to bridge from one topic to the next

Step Four: Research

One of the easiest ways to do research is to take notes on index cards. Make sure you do the research first before starting the writing portion of the paper. Make sure the write the citations on the back of the index card so that you know what source you got the information from. I say to use index cards because it makes it easy when you go to organize your notes before you write. You may have found a fact for one topic but it works best with another topic.

Step Five: Rough Draft

Organize your index cards so that they follow the flow of each of your paragraphs in your outline. General information could be used in the introduction. An interesting fact can be used to open the paper to draw your reader in. Read through your notes for that paragraph and start writing.

Step Six: Pull it all together

Read through your paper and create transitions that connect each body paragraph to the one before and the one after. Make sure that the paper flows

Step Seven: Proofread and Edit

Go through your paper and make any necessary grammatical changes. Fix the set up or format to match the required format. Enter your title page and reference page. Fix any citations that need to be fixed

And seven easy steps later, and you have yourself a great term paper. Hope these tips helped you out.