Term paper is a student's qualification text, that is, the purpose of writing it is to demonstrate a certain level of qualification of a future specialist. This is a work of a certain genre. It must be written according to certain rules regarding both content and design. This article is devoted to how to do term paper so that the basic requirements for its content and design are met.
Demanding novelty
Students routinely make a number of gross mistakes in the very approach to how to do term paper correctly. Example: replacing a term paper with an abstract. Some students are sure that this is the same thing, only the coursework is slightly larger in volume. Despite the numerous explanations of teachers on how to do term paper, students incorrectly see the very purpose of their work and offer to checkcompilation of other people's texts, that is, an abstract. What is its global difference from course work?
Abstract is just a summary of already available scientific information about the topic. No matter how well the scientific literature is mastered, any presentation of it is secondary. Abstracting is an obligatory part of any qualifying work, it cannot be limited to only this.
Term paper is a research work using scientific tools and in the context of existing scientific research. That is, it is an independent scientific work, the defining criterion of the viability of which is novelty. At the same time, for each science and for each university, the criteria for evaluating work are different. Therefore, before doing term paper, it is better to ask for samples of its implementation at your department. They will help you understand the genre, understand the specifics, set the stereotype of design. Below is a sample title page design.
Requiring scientific context and following methodology
If you ask yourself how to do term paper correctly, then you can’t help saying that the second mistake of students is the substitution of a qualifying work for an essay, reasoning or an extended test. What is the difference between term paper and these genres? It consists in the fact that all of them do not imply scientific responsibility for what has been said. Conclusions may not be substantiated, not based on scientific achievements and scientific tools.
Thus, the abstract differs from the term paper by the absencecreative, research part, essay - the absence of an abstract part.
Choosing a topic for term paper
When answering the question of how to do term paper, be sure to mention the choice of topic. It should be chosen as a research topic. Since the term paper is not a graduation work (it is not written in the last year of study), the level of knowledge, research skills of the student is not yet quite high, so you should choose a narrow topic to which the scientific tools that the student has already mastered or can potentially be mastered are applicable in progress.
Correction of the topic, as well as its formulation, can be carried out as the work progresses, however, the subject of research (with what exactly you will study and from what angle) must be decided before all work begins. The statement of the topic is the statement of the subject of research and what (what tools, what methods) you will use to research.
Search and inventory of materials
The search for materials for research and their correct design should also be considered when answering the question of how to do term paper (example: keeping a strict record of sources of legislative acts, compiling a file cabinet, reference base, etc.). This part of the design of the course work cannot be left “for later”. Records must be kept clean immediately.
Scientific research search
Since the term paper consists of two large content blocks - research and abstract, thenand it should be carried out simultaneously in two directions: the study of materials and the development of scientific literature. The result of work in these areas should be their synthesis. In parallel with the search and primary processing of research materials, work should be carried out to compile and master the bibliographic database.
The author should be well aware that the scientific literature for his work is divided into two large blocks: theoretical tools and research papers devoted to the study of the same or similar material that is the subject of the course work.
Scientific literature is divided into fundamental research (monographs) and private articles. When choosing a material, it must be properly designed right away. You should take care of how to make references in term paper (an example of registration that is relevant for your university, you need to take at the department) in advance so that you do not redo your work later.
Reading scientific literature, writing ideas and quotes
One of the features of the design of the term paper is that any borrowed idea or quote must be appropriately commented and provided with a link to the edition with a page number. Most young researchers accumulate materials in the form of bookmarks in the browser, PDF files, etc. before doing term paper in Word. However, you need to start registration immediately, without waiting for the accumulation of materials.
When mastering scientific literature, you should immediately create the base correctlyframed quotations. Before doing a term paper according to the model, you can always have some draft text or even just a file with quotes and comments on them. This is very convenient both for working with them and for the last stage - writing the final text. To make quotes easy to use later (insert into a course paper), enclose each of them in quotes, and next make a link as it should be (for example, in square brackets indicating the author's last name and page number). We offer a sample of how to arrange the content of the term paper.
When reading, you should also immediately reformulate the thoughts of researchers that are basic for your work in your own words and format them appropriately (provide with a link indicating the edition and page number). You will get a kind of reader's diary, you will not get confused in the materials, which will accumulate a lot by the end of the year. A huge part of the work will be done.
Keeping research records
Another mistake of the authors of educational qualification works is that students underestimate the volume of materials and overestimate their ability to cope with these volumes. Even an experienced specialist needs to regularly write down his ideas, to fix the wording that comes while writing the text. Therefore, when working with materials, any ideas and thoughts should be written down.
Organizing records and thinking through the concept of work
When records - bibliographic and heuristic will accumulate, they should be startedsystematize and prescribe in more detail, combine with each other into sections, blocks. At this stage, the concept of scientific research is born. During this period, the theme of the work is specified (it can be narrowed or expanded to be able to attract new interesting material).
Term paper plan
After the accumulation of materials, it is worth writing down the research plan in detail. The formal table of contents (titles of chapters and paragraphs) should correspond to the logic and semantic accents of the course paper. Think about what thoughts and ideas you can take to their logical conclusion, and what will be research perspectives (these can be stated in the conclusion, and not in the main part of the research).
When drawing up a plan, it is wise to start by writing down the main ideas that you would like to convey in the text of the work. They can be written first in the order in which they come to mind. Then it is worth highlighting among them the main and secondary ones. After that, you need to think about how they are all connected.
One should always remember that the best is the enemy of the good. Usually even the most experienced researchers fail to express their ideas in all their depth. You need to write about what you understand well, which corresponds to your qualifications. Ideas that you understand at the level of intuition should be left out of the course.
Working with text
If regular records were kept during the academic year and attempts were made to systematize them, then writing a properly formatted text of a term paper will not be muchwork, since the main work has already been done. Quotations have already been arranged and systematized, it is enough just to clarify their logical place in the text, write comments on them, check the relevance of Internet addresses. The main ideas have already been formulated. You just need to clarify them, write in more detail, add some materials, illustrations, comments.
Formation of the introduction to the term paper
The introductory part to a scientific work is usually written according to strict canons. This is the business card of your term paper. The introduction should clearly and clearly state what is being researched, from what perspective, what scientific school the researcher relies on, what traditions he follows, what methods and within what methodology he uses, what ideas in science are decisive for him, what is the main goal he faces. sets itself what tasks it solves in order to achieve this goal. It should also be noted how the results of the study can be applied, whether they have any prospects.
Each university and each department has its own traditions of designing an introduction. Somewhere this is a formal, strictly structured part of the study, with obligatory points: the object and subject of research, the scientific basis, novelty, etc. In other cases, it is required to write an introduction in a freer form, but to talk about all these aspects in more detail. An example of how to do term paper and draw up an introduction should be provided by the supervisor or laboratory assistant of the department.
Working on meaningful blocks of text
Almost never a scientific text is written immediately from the first to the last word. This happens only when a scientist has been “nurturing” a monograph for many years, living this research, and all that remains for him is to formulate his thoughts. Even in these cases, the work is carried out in blocks. It is almost impossible to write student work like this. Focus on the parts that you are already ready to work with. Logical transitions, introductions, linking comments are written later. If the main content blocks are already written, it is much easier to work on introductory fragments, links, conclusions and composition.
How to make footnotes in term paper: example
Footnotes in term papers are drawn up the same way as in any other scientific research. Design through footnotes at the bottom of the page is considered obsolete, you need to refer to the item in the bibliographic list indicating the author's last name, year of publication (only if there are several works of the author in the list) and the page number (pages) separated by a colon. In any modern scientific work, after reading the samples, you can learn how to make references in term paper. Example: "…(quote)…" (Lotman, 2003: 245). Brackets can be square or round - this should be checked with the supervisor.
Formation of the bibliographic list and applications
The correct design of the bibliographic list by many mistakenly refers to an optional, insignificant part of the work. However, the bibliography is an indicator of the degree of scientific work, and its design is an indicator of the degree of the author's ability to work in a scientific genre and followtraditions and standards. The way the references to this list are made in the term paper is also one of the main criteria for evaluating your work and you as a specialist.
References - this is one of the most important questions about how to do term paper. An example of the correct design of a list fragment:
- Kruglyakova T. A. From the history of ontolinguistic research in Russia // Problems of ontolinguistics - 2018. Proceedings of the annual international scientific conference. March 20–23, 2018, St. Petersburg. Ivanovo, 2018. - P. 3-11.
- Tseitlin S. N. Essays on word formation and form formation in children's speech. M., 2009.
One of the most insidious mistakes in compiling a bibliographic list is the inclusion of works that the researcher does not refer to in the text. Any verifier can quickly "scan" the text for its compliance with the presented list. If the number of items in the list is significantly exceeded, this is a signal that the student has mastered an insufficient number of scientific texts.
The second mistake, exceeding the first in terms of "seditiousness", is the inclusion in the list of works not read by the author of the term paper. This jeopardizes the successful defense of a term paper, since it is enough for any specialist to ask one neat question to find out how familiar the student is with the literature indicated in the list.
How to make attachments to coursework
Appendices are materials, tables, graphs, illustrations that are inaccessible to the examiner, constituting a single whole with the course work. They should beonly if the topic requires it. In addition, they must be reasonable. It is desirable that their presence be motivated and commented on in the introduction. Of course, their volume is not taken into account when counting the pages of the work.
Appendices are placed at the end of the work under the headings "Appendix No….". A subheading (title) is desirable but not required. Applications must be accounted for in the table of contents.
The author of a term paper is never required to have depth of thought and a wide range of scientific contexts. The text of the term paper is an indicator of how well the student is able to engage in regular work, correctly keep notes and master the material, and arrange it. Now inspectors even pay attention to how the course work is done in Word, that is, whether the student knows enough of its functionality. You should not "take by storm" the annual qualifying work. If you do this little by little, but regularly, your work will not only be of high quality, but will also bring pleasure.
