Term paper how long

Writing a term paper is a process that requires a lot of time. Typically, themes are given to students. Make the right plan; it is usually standard: title page, content, introduction, main part, conclusion, attachments, list of literature. Select the right information on the Internet and library. Do not forget to put links to information more often, so the work will look more solid.

You can find some of the relevant term paper on the Internet and take information from there. Do not forget about the practical part of the paper. Pay special attention to the list of literature. You should describe as fully as possible, all the sources that you refer to in the course. Now you know the significant aspects concerning the length of the paper. Remember that the wordage should be equal to the quality.

Your task is to follow not only the requirement related to the words but to write the content that will inform and attract the readers. Skip to content. The definition of a term paper. How long does it take to write a term paper? As already explained, you should have found your sources in the literature research.

Again: Even with minor definitions, websites like Wikipedia are not a valid source! Instead, try to find a specialist dictionary or a textbook on the subject. It is then crucial to state the source correctly. In most cases, you can't just start writing and simply list all the sources used in the bibliography.

Instead, you should indicate where you got the facts and statements from for each individual statement or each content-related section of your work. Everything else would be a plagiarism and that is, if it is recognized, not only a clear reason to fail, but also legally punishable. Basically, you should be able to distinguish between paraphrases and quotations.

Paraphrases are the reproduction of texts by others in your own words. Corresponding sections are to be provided with the source reference. One speaks of quotations if you use more than three same words as the original one. These quotes must not only include the source, but also be enclosed in quotation marks. A good piece of work usually has a mixture of direct quotations and paraphrases. Generally, the shorter the work, the more likely it is to dispense with long quotations and better summarize the most important aspects yourself.

There are different systems for the way in which sources are cited. It is therefore crucial that you ask your teachers beforehand what kind of citation is required! In Germany, quoting with footnotes is generally the most common method. For this purpose, a footnote is placed behind the content sections or always directly behind! At the bottom of the page, you will find the corresponding information about the source including the page number you are referring to.

The university of Hamburg summed up the most important rules on the correct structure of your references. In English seminars, but also in some German disciplines such as linguistics, short references are more common. Here, the references are placed in brackets after the paraphrases or quotations instead of footnotes. As a rule, the author's surname and page number are given only briefly, while the complete source reference can be found in the bibliography. There are also different systems for this.

Still, the best known is the MLA system and its rules can be found on its own website. In case of uncertainty, don't be afraid to ask fellow students or professors! If you take care to list all the sources you have consulted both in the body of the text and in the bibliography and, above all, use a uniform style and structure for your references, nothing should go wrong.

With all these rules in mind and your concept established through rough structuring and literature research, you can start writing. Do not use colloquial phrases, but appropriate technical terms so that your text sounds scientific.

It is also important to keep the central theme throughout all chapters, i. Once you have finished writing all the chapters, it is time to review the paper for all its important aspects: Have you quoted everything correctly or could plagiarism be accused against you? Have the formal requirements been met margin, line spacing, font size, etc. Is your sentence formation understandable, are grammar and spelling correct?

You should revise everything now: Form, structure, choice of words and sentence structure. Writing also means writing over and over again. Have you already created a bibliography and added the signed declaration of independence to your term paper? If you are not sure what the formal requirements are, most universities have created their own guidelines for scientific work, which you can download and use for orientation. If all these points are fulfilled, you should have your work proofread again by some outsiders.

Even if you have already checked your own text many times, you usually lack the objective eye at the end to notice careless mistakes or misleading sentence positions. After all, you know exactly what is supposed to be written or said, but others do not. It is important to schedule enough time for proofreading so that you do not come under time pressure at the end of your work due to the corrections.

Give your term paper to people who know what is important in this kind of paper fellow students but also to acquaintances who are neither familiar with your studies nor with the topic brother, sister, father, girlfriend. This way, you should receive appropriate feedback and be able to correct spelling and grammar, as well as the coherence and comprehensibility of the text. Your paper should be ready for printing now! After your academic paper has survived all the checking measures, you can finally hand it in.

It is best to find out in advance whether the lecturer would like to receive the paper as a print version or in digital form or both. Printed copies usually require a simple stapler or a transparent film to hand in the work.

Use it on your final draft! Strunk and White's The Elements of Style is highly recommended for general help with basic grammar, composition, and style.

Copies of this little book are available in the library and most bookstores, and I recommend it to you very highly. If your general composition and grammar skills are weak or rusty, this little volume all by itself if you take its simple lessons to heart could raise your score by an entire letter grade for every term paper you do from here on out!

Most of us, including opinionated junior faculty members, lack the authority to back up our ideas on every subject.

That's why we need to research the topic, and pool together the expert opinions that are available, together with some hard data to support or refute those opinions. You must clearly reference all substantial information in your paper, whether fact or opinion. If you borrowed it from someone else, you need to reference the source, even if it's not a direct quote. Direct quotations, by the way, are not only allowed but encouraged, as long as they are referenced.

Write That Cite Right. Turabian's style manual will have several examples of how to reference or "cite" every conceivable type of material you could drag into your paper, including internet sources. And by the way, depending on your topic, quotations from a personal interview with a genuine authority on your topic, whether phone time or face time, will dazzle your basic professor to the point where all those minor errors scattered elsewhere through your paper will become all but invisible.

Edit, Edit, Edit. Did I remind you to edit? Well, do it again. Buff that mud puppy 'till it shines. Go over it until it positively glows with authority, logic, and information, until it shines so brightly I can grade it in the dark.

THEN hand it in. And don't take it personally when I hand it back all marked up and re-edited. You learn by trying. Plus, I always respect genuine effort, even if the delivery is a bit shaky. Plagiarism Is A Bad Idea. Remember, if you are tempted, that any prof can easily search the same paper mills, and as trained professionals can often smell a rat when a dead one is left in the stack Plagiarism Squad, ma'am, Division Six!

Plagiarism results in an automatic F, and is usually reported to the honor board. Plagiarism means stealing someone else's ideas and parading them as your own. It is not only dishonest, but it deprives you of the opportunity to develop a set of writing and research skills that will help you throughout your entire life, in school and on the job.

If you can express yourself well in writing, you have a real advantage over other prospective employees when you enter the job market. This is your big chance to develop these skills, in an environment where your future income is not on the line.

Good research always cites where the information came from, so the reader and professor will know which authorities were consulted, what they had to say on the subject, and when and where they said it. Back Up Your Work. Make at least two physical copies floppies or zip disks of your work, in addition to the copy on your hard drive. I usually keep two active copies on my hard drive: a working copy, which I save every few minutes, and a backup copy, which I update once an hour or so.

I also keep a floppy copy which I update every fifteen or twenty minutes. You should change the settings on your word processor to automatically save your work in a temporary file every minute or two usually under "Options" or Preferences" in the menu. This little trick has saved me hours and hours of lost work and time. I also keep an second floppy copy that I update update once or twice a week.

I keep the second copy in a separate building, so the entire city has to be destroyed by Godzilla and Rodan before I lose my work. Be paranoid. OK, Be Really Paranoid! Backup your backups. Assume that the hurricane will knock out the power and kill your only copy as you go to print up the final draft.

In the immortal words of Alfred E. Neumann, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't following you. Fortunately, I had a printout of the chapter, so I could type in the earlier version, and recovered most of my work. Print your draft as it nears completion. It's easier to edit, and it might save your bacon! Write From The Heart. Your paper for better or worse should be a reflection of yourself. If your topic is important enough to you to spend all that time researching and writing about, let your feelings show.

Anybody can throw together a pile of photocopied articles and piece a paper together from their spare parts. Make this a labor of love.

Well OK, sincere affection. Try to get into it, you have to endure the process in any event. Your opinions are important too surprise!