How to write term papers: a guide for beginners

Writing a term paper is a challenging task for a skilled writer. It can be a nightmare for beginning writers, but it does not have to be. Beginning writers can relax because term papers have a special format. Once a beginning writer learns the format for writing a term paper, it becomes quite simple to write the paper and actually complete it.

Many educational websites, like college writing labs, have the instructions for writing a term paper. These college websites are usually free, even if you are not a student at the college. The basic layout for a term paper is much like writing a common essay:

Introduction

The first section of the term paper is the introduction. The writer needs to develop an interesting attention-getter at the beginning so the reader wants to know more. The introduction also needs to create interest by presenting more information about the topic. The thesis statement also needs to be present in the term paper. Depending on the length requirement, the introductory section of the term paper could be anywhere between one paragraph to five or more.

Body Paragraphs

The body of the paper is the next step. This is the place where the writer needs to develop the thesis. Body paragraphs should be developed in a particular style. The first sentence should refer back to the thesis. After that the sentences should provide some explanation and examples from supporting documents. Then, the paragraphs should link to othe real information supports the paragraph’s topic sentence. Each body paragraph should have a specific focus. Like the introductory section, the number of body paragraphs will be determined on the instructions from your teacher.

Conclusion

Finally, you will write the conclusion. This will be at least one full paragraph. In the conclusion, you will restate the thesis statement from the introduction. Then you will restate the main points from the body of the paper. The last part of the conclusion could be written in a few different ways. Some people like to write a “call to action” where they encourage the reader to do sometheing. Some writers prefer to return to the attention getter and some will close with a wise statement or quote about the term paper topic.

Body Paragraphs

What sets a term paper apart from a traditional essay is that the term paper requires a bibliography at the very end of the paper. The style of the bibliography will be determined by your professor. The bibliography is simply a formatted list of all of the sources you used to craft your term paper.