Do you need some term paper tips for beginners to make sure your assignment will get you the grade you hope for?
Then you’re in the right place.
In this article, I will reveal 21 of my most helpful term paper tips that have helped me and my students to excel at this peculiar craft.
These tips will help you whether you’re just starting out and staring at a blank page on your laptop, or if you’re already in the final stages of your term paper.
I’ll put them in chronological order in terms of the writing process, so you can pick out the term paper tips that are appropriate for your current situation.
#1 Use a Project Management Technique
The first tip in this video deals with the preparation phase of your term paper, specifically with time management. The goal here is to develop a complete plan that provides you with all the milestones on the way to completing your work at a glance.
To do this, you can use a method related to the so-called GANTT chart. Such a diagram is based on a timeline. The X-axis represents the time until your deadline, and on the Y-axis, you divide the necessary steps for completing your work.
You don’t have to create a GANTT chart by hand, but you can use one of the many free tools available on the internet. Here are two free tools for creating a GANTT chart:
– Agantty (mega stylish)
– Free GANTT chart template in Excel (Link in the description)
You simply enter your individual work stages into the diagram and assign each task its own deadline (e.g., 3 days for literature research, completion on July 15th, etc.). This way, you can keep an overview at all times, celebrate your milestones, and stay motivated to complete your term paper according to schedule.
#2 Allocate your time in three thirds
How do you know when to set the deadlines? I you have never worked on a term paper before, it is difficult to estimate how long each stage will take to complete.
A good rule of thumb is to divide you project into three thirds.
The first third is dedicated to the literature search and writing the front end of your term paper. This includes the introduction and all literature and/or theory sections.
The second third is dedicated to the analytical part of your term paper. During this time, you can collect a small amount of interesting data and analyze it. Otherwise, you take a concrete sample of literature and go really deep. During this time, you write the middle part of your term. It is important that you go from being descriptive (i.e., reviewing literature) to becoming analytic (i.e., crafting your own findings and arguments).
In the last third of your project, you deal with your discussion and conclusion sections. Here, you refer your main findings back to the literature you reviewed in the front end and summarize your original contribution. You can spent the remaining time and proofreading and formatting.
#3 Specify your research question and outline before you start writing
If you were to ask me, “what are the most important things I should consider when writing a term paper?” I would advise you to decide on your research question and outline in the very beginning.
It should be your top priority to come up with a guiding question. You can then create the outline of your term paper around it.
You then take both under your arm and march into the next available consultation hour with your supervisor. There, you get feedback.
#4 Identify a problem not a gap
Before you formulate a research question, for example at the end of the introduction of your term paper, you must justify why it is relevant and important. But how can you do that?
Spotting a Research Gap
The approach that probably comes to mind first and is also often taught is to look for a research gap. This simply means that a particular topic, phenomenon, or theoretical relationship is either not clear or underrepresented in the existing literature.
To make such a statement, you need to do a lot of research and reading. This will give you a complete picture of the debate on this subject in the literature.
Finding a research gap is not a bad thing. But if you’re not careful, you can quickly fall into a trap. In term papers, I often read the following argument:
“…this shows that previous research has not yet thoroughly described or empirically researched this phenomenon. Therefore, my research question is…”
At this point, a red light 🚨 goes off, and the red pen comes out.
Just because a subject has not been researched before does not mean that it should be researched. You must argue why and for whom it is important.
Developing a Research Problem
To come up with a truly important research question, you need to identify a problem.
Or at least it will simplify things for you. It will help you easily develop the argument of your term paper from beginning to end.
Okay, so what is a research problem?
It’s simple: a research problem is a difficulty, contradiction, or shortcoming in existing knowledge. The problem can be either practical or theoretical.
#5 Look for relevance in a topic
A research problem can be highly theoretical, which makes it important for theorists. However, my advice for you would be to look for a problem that has also some practical relevance.
“Practical” means that it is connected to individuals, organizations, or groups that have nothing to do with academia.
Here are three examples of practically-motivated research problems:
#1 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, employees in many industries were forced to work from home for many months. This situation inevitably has an impact on corporate culture. However, everything we know about corporate culture was created 99% in the context of traditional on-site work. That’s a problem!
#2 Prior to the 2016 US presidential election, it was found that so-called social bots shared content with political opinions on platforms such as Twitter. Since many voters use social media as an important source of information, these bots may have an influence on the outcome of an election. That’s a problem!
#3 The care sector suffers from a shortage of personnel. The industry is working intensively on robots and mechanical pets that are supposed to provide social support. Patients with dementia actually react positively to the robot pets because they assume they are real. However, ethicists express concerns about this development. That’s a problem!
What is your practical research problem? 🙂
#6 Link your topic to your seminar
A term paper is an academic paper, but it is not random. You write it in the context of a specific seminar or lecture.
Consequently, what the lecturer wants you to do is to reflect upon the contents of the class in your term paper.
Additionally, you might go deeper into one of the topics that were presented in the class.
Do yourself a favour and do not deviate from the topic of the seminar too much, even if you are more interested in other topics.
Show the lecturer that you can critically deal with a topic and think independently about it. Use what you have discussed in the lecture as a starting point and expand on it.
#7 Get feedback along the way
Don’t be too proud to ask for feedback.
Get as much as you can, revise your research question and outline, and then have both finally approved.
This step is incredibly important because if the person who will later grade your term paper has given their approval to these two essential parts of your term paper, they cannot critique you for that.
If they were to criticize one of these two things in the evaluation of your term paper, they would be contradicting themselves, so you can only win here.
I was often stubborn and convinced that my outline and research questions made sense and, therefore, did not go to the consultation hour. Don’t make the same mistake, but always take advantage of your lecturers’ consultation time!
#8 Take notes whenever you speak about your term paper
There are actually students (my former-self included) who go to a consultation hour to get feedback on their term paper.
And what do they do?
They calmly and attentively listen to the advice of the lecturer, thank them, and leave.
And after the first five steps in the hallway, they have forgotten all the advice.
This is particularly annoying because if a lecturer gives you tips and hints on how to structure your term paper and you then disregard them, it will have an extremely negative effect on your grade.
So, remember the following from my term paper tips.
A meeting that was not documented never took place.
So if you are sitting like a little heap of misery (that’s how I always felt) in the strangely furnished office of your lecturer, don’t look at the curtains but write until your fingers cramp up by sinking the discussed words into your college notebook.
#9 Only use electronic sources
An outstanding term paper refers to approximately twice the number of literature references as the paper has pages.
For a 15-page term paper, that would be about 30 sources, of which 5 sources could also come from websites or other non-scientific sources as needed. Now imagine having to run to the library for the remaining 25 references and borrow 25 (!) books.
I already need twenty minutes to find a single book. Of course, it depends a bit on your field of study, because theologians, lawyers or other students who have to sift through dusty books for their term papers simply have no other choice.
However, if you don’t belong to this group, you should use exclusively electronic sources. There are two decisive advantages that electronic sources bring with them, which we will cover in the next two term paper tips.
#10 Be quick and systematic in your literature search
Go to the homepage of your university library and search the catalog with the setting “available online” and then open all relevant literature databases for your research discipline.
Type in your keywords and read the abstracts of research articles and assess whether they fit your term paper. In this way, you will have your 25 sources together in just a few hours.
#11 Create a list of relevant references and ditch the rest
It takes at many years for a textbook to be published. The insights described in there could be yesterday’s news.
Current research in your discipline can always be found in scientific journals and conference proceedings, which are published online.
The more current your literature sources, the greater the relevance of your term paper.
For some subject areas or definitions, you may need to go back a few years, but the more current sources you can cite from the past 4-5 years, the more fantastic your grade will be.
An exception to this are models or theories that are the theoretical basis of your paper and can only be found in books.
#12 Practice selective reading
Different sources can be useful in very different ways. You need to define the goal you have when reading a paper, news article, or book.
This is called selective reading.
You must allow yourself to skip large parts that do not contribute to you reaching your goal.
If your goal is to find a definition in a paper, you do not need to read the findings section.
Look for the parts that are most likely to contribute to your goal and skip the rest.
It is tempting to read everything from start to finish. Don’t do it. It is literally a waste of time.
#13 Use a literature management software
Literature management software is the best invention since bananas.
You can also use such a program when you kidnap basketfuls of books from the library. However, you then have to enter them into your program by hand.
With electronic sources, someone has already done this for you. So you upload your sources to your program and link it to Word.
Whenever you want to insert a reference, your program creates the properly formatted reference in the text and at the same time the entry in the bibliography.
Check out Endnote, Mendeley or Zotero and pick one.
#14 Make writing a habit
To complete your term paper on time, you must achieve your milestones step by step,
To prevent the project from appearing like an unconquerable mountain, divide your overall project into smaller chunks (as in the GANTT diagram from term paper tip #1)
Now, all you have to do is link your goals to your actions.
This works best with a habit. For the entire duration until the submission, determine on which days of the week and for how long you will write your term paper.
For example, block off 2 hours each day that are solely dedicated to your term paper. Additionally, measure your success within these 2 hours. If you are in the research phase, aim to look up references, read and make notes from 5 papers, for example.
If you are in an advanced stage, aim to write 500 words per two-hour unit. Of course, you are completely flexible, you can plan for 2 units per day or aim for 1000 words. The main thing is that you establish a habit and get into the flow of writing.
You can also find out how important habits are in learning and how to establish them in the absolutely brilliant book: Atomic Habits by James Clear.
#15 Tell a Story
Remember the research problem you defined in the beginning?
Once you reach the back end of your term paper, you need to close all the loops you opened in the front end.
This means that you answer the research question in a very concise way.
Moreover, you refer back to all the concepts and key papers you presented in you literature section.
Never introduce a concept or theory that you do not pick up again later. Your whole term paper should be like a nicely closed circle.
Go back and forth between back end and front end and align them with each other. By doing this, you will ensure that your term paper is a consistent piece of work.
#16 Get extra points with visual uniqueness
If you are new to this blog, here’s one of the most important tips for fantastic grades:
Originality.
The more original you are in setting yourself apart from the masses with your term paper, the better your academic performance and consequently your grade will be.
This principle applies to both the content and the visual appearance of your term paper. You create a positive first impression in your professor’s mind when the work is looks exciting.
Think about it: If there are 30 papers on your professor’s desk that all look the same, they all have the same chance of getting a good grade.
The homework assignment that visually and formally stands out from the rest has a head start and is more likely to be rated better.
You can achieve your original look by using a professionally looking cover, a title page, a quote with an illustration, or a magnetic title. Just be creative.
#17 Get even more extra points with counter-intuitive thinking
If you just tell a story of what everybody already knows, you will not impress anyone.
Challenge the existing literature. Second-guess assumptions that you found while reading.
What would be an interesting perspective to look at your topic that nobody has thought of before?
If you can show that you think outside of the box with your term paper, your feedback will be immensely positive.
Professors love if their students give them food for thought. If you can find a compelling counter-intuitive argument about a topic, you will be rewarded with an outstanding grade.
#18 Stick to the 80/20 principle
Perfectionism is the killer of every term paper. The solution is the 80/20 rule. Since 20 percent of the effort produce 80 percent of the results, do not stress out about every word.
Avoid careless mistakes by sending the draft to someone else and you will be fine.
You should also apply the 80/20 rule by not trying to re-invent the wheel. Look at academic papers you find fascinating and model their structure.
Take the headings from that paper and apply it to your own topic. This has nothing to do with plagiarism. Let yourself be inspired by what has been successful.
There are only so much ways to write a term paper, so you might as well build on what has worked in the past.
#19 Give yourself a time buffer
The second to last of the term paper tips for today has to do with the final phase of your term paper.
Your GANTT diagram, that is, your project management plan, must provide for a buffer of at least 2 days before submission, especially if you have to physically drop off your homework at the university mailbox.
If the submission of your term paper is only required as a PDF, you can keep the buffer a little shorter. Nevertheless, the last few meters before submission require a series of steps that can be quickly forgotten or dismissed as unimportant.
If you are inattentive at this point, you can ruin your success at the end because you have not planned for a buffer.
#20 Never forget proofreading
Between finalizing your term paper and your submission, you should undertake the following steps:
- Proofreading (by yourself + two other people)
- Carefully check sources and bibliography (to avoid grade deductions)
- Check illustrations (including captions) and appendix
- Create an abbreviation list (if there are more than 4-5 abbreviations)
- Carry out a test print, read again for correction (if a printed version is required)
- Carry out the final print, buy a folder/cover
- Drive to campus (don’t look inside on the way) and submit
#21 Celebrate
The advice of my term paper tips requires your full attention:
Put your study materials aside, call all your friends, and celebrate your submission with them!