4termpap

Writing consists of a two stage process: the 'think-writing' stage which involves putting down your thoughts on paper as you think, and the dissemination stage which involves reorganizing and ordering those thoughts for presentation or dissemination to those you are writing for.

Depending upon the work environment, writing for dissemination will take different forms. In the academic environment all writing for dissemination (with the exception of creative writing) takes the form of scholarly writing, of which the term paper is a common example. There are four principal types of term papers one can write, depending upon which one or more of the following tasks is to be the main objective: 'description,' 'argumentation,' 'explanation,' and 'analysis.'

This type of paper is concerned mainly with providing the reader with factual information about a person, or a place or a thing or an idea by means of description. Description is principally concerned with providing answers to questions that begin with words like 'What is...?' or 'How does...?' (rather than words like 'Why do...?'). Therefore, in a descriptive term paper you do not explicitly present to the reader a specific point of view or a position (termed a 'thesis'). An example of a descriptive term paper would be one that describes the life cycle of, say, the okapi.

However, depending upon the topic you are dealing with, the way in which you provide the information and the facts you select to describe can allow you to implicitly present a particular point of view. For example, a factual paper describing Johannesburg can be easily written to lead the reader to think that this particular city is either an awful place that tourists must stay away from at all cost, or that it is a wonderful and exciting place that no tourist can afford to avoid.

A term paper in which you are asked to explicitly adopt and present a particular position or point of view (usually referred to as a 'position' term paper) involves mainly argumentation. The purpose here is to persuade or convince the reader to accept a particular point of view, or a particular idea, by means of logical reasoning. In such a paper the main issues revolve around the question of what ought to be (rather than what is). A term paper on the topic of 'gun control' or 'smoking in public places' or 'anti-abortion' would be an example of an argumentative (or position) term paper. In other words, a position term paper always adopts a clearly stated position from the very beginning on whatever subject or topic the paper is about, and then proceeds to develop arguments in support of the position.

It is important to remember, however, that in carrying out this task the writer always begins by presenting both sides (with rare exception) of an argument, before going on to marshall all the relevant information that will support one side of the argument, while attacking the other side. A position paper, therefore, is not just an unsupported statement of opinion.

The purpose of the explanatory term paper is to explain to the reader how and/or why of something by describing it. And the something is usually some form of natural or human action or process. Term papers in science subjects, such as biology and physics, tend to be explanatory term papers. A term paper on the the law of gravity, would, for instance be an explanatory term paper. Note, however, that the explanatory term paper must also incorporate elements of the descriptive term paper; for, in order to explain, say, how something works, you must begin by first describing it.

An analytical term paper is one that incorporates elements from all the other three types of papers described above. That is, while it seeks to advance a particular position or point of view, it will do so in an indirect way: through the process of description and analysis. Analysis is a form of reasoning targeted at making a specific point or advancing a thesis. Analysis involves separating a complex issue into its different logical parts in order to understand it by seeking answers to questions of the type that begin with the word: Why...? Analysis is concerned with explaining facts by examining the causes of these facts.

The analytical term paper does not simply provide information, it provides the information in order to advance a point of view (a thesis). For example: a term paper that goes beyond simply describing the events of the American Civil War, by addressing the question of why this war occurred would be an analytical term paper.

An important point to note about analytical term papers is that they are usually constructed on the basis of logically related layers of questions. Taking the example just mentioned: in asking the question why the Civil War took place, the paper's objective would not be simply to provide an answer to this immediate question. Rather, in answering this question the paper may be attempting to answer another underlying question: namely, was the Civil War fought in order to free African Americans from slavery? Yet the answer to even this question may not necessarily be the principal objective of the paper. Behind this question may lie another question, the real question; which is, why did the abolition of slavery not lead to the ending of legalized racist discrimination against African Americans.

Now, in providing the answers to these interrelated questions that build on each other, the paper would be advancing a thesis that could go like this: the War was ultimately about conflict between the interests of the Northern industrial and Southern agrarian capitalists, that arose within the context of the preservation of the Union at a time when the resolution of a major conflict often involved war rather than the democratic process (such as a referendum). Consequently, the Civil War had little to do directly with freeing African Americans from slavery; therefore, not surprisingly, racist discrimination did not end with the ending of slavery.

Although the analytical term paper is similar to a position term paper in that the objective of both types of papers is the same, which is to persuade the reader to accept the authors' positions or theses, it differs from a position term paper in at least two ways. First, an analytical term paper, as just noted, raises a question (or a set of questions) regarding a particular topic, and proceeds to answer the question(s). It raises the question(s) in order to support a particular thesis--which itself will be concerned with explaining something or solving a 'problem.' Second, the reader does not have to be told explicitly at the beginning of the paper what the position of the writer is, regarding the subject or topic of the paper. Therefore, while an analytical term paper does take up a position (even if it may be written to appear as if it does not), usually it is not as explicit as in a typical 'position' (argumentative) term paper.

The majority of term papers in colleges and universities, especially in the Arts and Social Sciences, tend to be papers of the analytical type. For example: an analytical term paper on a topic such as the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. would invariably involve description, explanation and the adoption of a 'position.' In this course, unless I tell you otherwise in class, you are expected to write an analytical term paper--regardless of what topic you are assigned by me or asked to choose for yourself.

<Footnote> Even in the case of those term papers that require you to review a book(s) or a film(s) (or some other work of art) or write a biography, you are expected to adhere to the methodology of the analytical term paper. For example, if you are asked to write a biography, you would ensure that all the information you present would be in support of some thesis. At the very minimum, the thesis in a biographical term paper would be, what may be called the generic biographical thesis.

This thesis is that the validity of writing a biography of a given person is that he/she made some significant contribution (or conversely wrought significant destruction) to one's life, or one's community, or one's country, or even the world; and that this contribution (or destruction) was possible as a consequence of a dialectical interaction between specific elements in the personal history of the person and specific factors in the political, social, cultural, economic, etc., environment in which the person lived. Your biographical term paper must be written in such a way as to support this thesis, which in this particular instance need not be spelled out (since it is to be assumed that that is what any biographical term paper would do, at the very minimum). The implication of this, then, is that even in the case of a biographical term paper, you must use such devices as references, quotations, footnotes, etc. that one would use in analytical term papers.

As scholarly writing, the term paper comprises, on one hand, the final written product of the interaction between the two activities of researching and thinking, and on the other, the dissemination of this product in a special style (or format). (This style involves the use and presentation of such things as citations, bibliographies, footnotes, etc. according to specific rules that are universally understood and accepted [see below]). Therefore, regardless of whether the topic of your paper has been assigned by me or you have chosen it yourself, in producing the term paper you will have to go through four principal stages: (1) preliminary thinking, (2) researching, (3) 'think-writing' and (4) dissemination.

Before you even begin your research determine exactly what your term paper is to be about, and what you are expected to do with the topic or subject--that is, what type of term paper you are being asked to write. Once you have determined the topic of your paper and the type of paper you have to produce, you must begin to generate ideas about your topic that can help you to begin your research. I call this process preliminary thinking. How does one generate ideas about a topic before research has begun? The following strategies can help:

1. Write down on a sheet of paper your topic and carry it with you everywhere you go. Whenever you have free moments (such as when you are on a bus or a train; or when waiting in a particularly long queue) take the paper out and think about the topic. The idea here is that when you are at the preliminary thinking stage, your entire mind, as far as is possible, must be consumed with thoughts concerning nothing else, but only the topic of your term paper.

2. Talk about the topic to friends on campus. This technique is especially useful if there are several friends gathered together, say at a table in the cafeteria.

3. Talk about the topic to other teachers. Most teachers, depending upon what they teach, will have some ideas, even if they are only in the form of questions, about almost any topic you present before them that you are assigned in this course.

4. Depending upon what your topic is, apply one word questions of the following type to your topic: why, where, how, what, when, etc.

The research stage permits you to collect the information you will need to carry out the task(s) of your term paper. The research stage is absolutely essential because even if you feel you already have all the information you may need to do your term paper, you will still need evidence (in the form of references) to back up what you say in your paper. When you are at the research stage the following tips may prove helpful:

1. Your research must begin by determining what the key or main words of your topic are. How does one arrive at these words? Through preliminary thinking and reading about the topic as you begin your research. After the research is well underway, you will be able to find additional key words. You acquire new key words through what I call the 'snowball effect' as you do the literature search. ('Literature' here refers to all the material that has been written on the topic you are concerned with.)

In other words, as you find more material on your topic, you will be able to identify more key words (which in turn will permit you access to more material). The key words are absolutely essential to locate information through subject catalogs, indexes, etc. If you imagine the different subject catalogs, indexes and so on to be 'knowledge buildings' that contain different 'information rooms,' then the key words are the 'keys' that will open for you only those rooms that have in them information potentially useful for your term paper.

2. If you are using an electronic library catalog (such as the computer catalog called BISON at U.B.), make a habit of noting the subject headings and key words that appear with the relevant item you have found to help you find more material in the catalogue.

3. If you have absolutely no idea where to begin to look for information on a topic, start by first reading everything about it that may be in your course readings. Thereafter, look for information in the general encyclopedias (such as Encyclopedia Britannica) and if available, subject encyclopedias and dictionaries (such as an encyclopedia of social sciences, or history, a biographical dictionary, etc., etc.). If you do find relevant information, check also to see if the encyclopedia provides you with a list of suggested readings or a bibliography to help you get additional information.

After you have consulted the encyclopedias, compile a preliminary list of reading material on your topic (that is, a bibliography), by consulting the general periodical indexes, (such as the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, GENI and Infotrac); and if available, subject periodical indexes (such as the Current Index to Journals in Education).

If you are still unable to generate enough bibliographic material from these sources then consider using, if available, one of the appropriate citation indexes; there are three: Social Science Citation Index; Arts and Humanities Citation Index; and Science Citation Index.

4. Whenever you find a journal article or a book that is relevant to your topic, find additional material by following up on the bibliography (or reference citations) in it.

5. When looking up periodical articles, avoid as much as possible sources that are not refereed (peer reviewed before publication). Examples of sources that are not refereed are magazines that you buy on newsstands. Such sources should be used only as a last resort and primarily for topics that are only currently in the news. Examples of sources that are refereed are usually journals that are published for the most part six or less times per year, and which are available mostly in academic libraries. More significantly, they are edited by an editorial board whose members are primarily university or college teachers and/or researchers.

6. Take notes as you do your research. Make a habit of summarizing in your own words relevant information you locate in journal articles and books.

7. Always make sure that you write down the full citation information of the source of a journal article or a book chapter. (See below for examples of how reference citations should be written.)

8. Learn how to effectively extract relevant information from an article (or book) by quickly figuring out its style and structure through the process of skimming. Depending upon the article or book you are examining, skimming will permit you to rapidly answer questions of the following type:

--Is it possible to get an accurate summary of the material by simply reading the introduction and conclusion?

--In exactly which paragraph(s) does the author state what he/she is intending to show or prove?

--Who is the publisher of the material? (A commercial press? A university press? An organization? A government agency? etc.)

--Who is the author? (A university professor?--if so, at which university? A journalist? A government employee? etc.)

9. Depending upon the type of term paper you have been assigned, guide your research by asking yourself questions such as the following when you have found a particular article or book that you feel is or may be relevant to your topic:

--Is the author's position explicitly stated, or does the reader have to figure it out on the basis of the information the author chooses to present and the style in which the information is presented?

--Do you agree with the author's position (and if yes, why? and if not, why not?)

--Does knowing the name of the publisher (or sponsor) of the journal (or book) provide a clue as to why the author has adopted a particular thesis? (If so, how much credence should one place on the thesis?)

--Does knowing the key references the author uses provide a clue as to why the author has adopted a particular thesis? (If so, how much credence should one place on the thesis?)

10. Do not waste the time of librarians by asking them to find information on your topic for you--especially before you have made every effort to do your own preliminary research. Remember, although reference librarians are trained professionals they are not your professors, and second they cannot be expected to know everything. You should ask for help from librarians either when you are unable to locate specific material in that library, or when you already know what specific information you are looking for, but you have failed to determine if there are sources available that provide the information you need.

You should beware that excessive reliance on librarians can sometimes be fatal to your research; you may run across one who stops you from pursuing your research further by telling you, falsely, that the information you seek is not available (either because of ignorance, or because he/she does not want to help you because of overwork or laziness or prejudice--or a combination of all three).

<Footnote> Librarians are like any group of human beings in any profession. There will be many among them who are dedicated and wonderfully helpful (especially--in the case of librarians--in light of the fact that they are grossly underpaid), and then there will be some among them who are plain 'jerks' who should be banished from the profession.

11. If you are using a library that you are unfamiliar with, check to see if there is an information rack (usually found near the reference desk) containing library maps and other information guides.

12. If you are lucky enough to find an article or a book that covers your topic exactly, then note this: the research stage is probably still not over. You must continue to look for more material to allow you to provide additional information. In any case, you will need more than one reference in order to meet the minimum reference requirements (see below).

13. Get to know the difference between primary sources and secondary sources. Depending upon the term paper you are writing, you may be asked to include among your sources, primary sources. A primary source is an information source with information that has not been 'recycled,' meaning it is the original record of events or original description of events or other data. Examples of primary information sources include: newspapers; government records, government documents and reports; business reports and documents; statistical data; census data; marketing research data; historical documents, such as diaries, letters, etc.; legal records and documents; business records; laws; court proceedings and decisions; speeches by prominent persons; opinion polls; autobiographies; and so on.

When a researcher writes a journal article or a book based on primary sources, the article or book then becomes a secondary source for anyone else (such as yourself) who consults the article or book. Note that all articles, with rare exception, in traditional academic journals can be considered as secondary sources.

14. Learn to use the interlibrary loan system. Almost all libraries have a system of obtaining materials for you, at little or even no cost, if they don't have them and are available at some other library--this may include libraries in other countries! Of course, considerable lead time is required to be able to use the interlibrary loan system; this in turn implies that the earlier you begin your research the better.

15. You must learn to use the following research tools for accessing information produced by or for all branches of the U.S. government. (a) Monthly Catalog; (b) Congressional Record; (c) C.I.S. Index; (d) United States Code; (e) CIS Federal Register Index; (f) Supreme Court Reporter.

16. Learn to do research through the internet, such as the World Wide Web. Almost all computer rooms and libraries on campus now have computers with access to the World Wide Web. (At U.B. one site you must visit for research purposes is Bison II--see the guide on how to access Bison II, available in campus libraries.)

17. The more information you collect, the less difficult it will be to meet your minimum page requirements. Term papers will always appear to be too long to write when you have insufficient information because you did not bother to do adequate research.

18. Keep a detailed log of all your research activities, especially taking care to note down even those information sources you looked at, but did not find useful. Such a log may prove helpful, should it be necessary, to convince me that although you pursued your research diligently you were unable to find adequate information on your topic.

The purpose of this stage is to write in order to think. Here you will be writing for yourself and not for anyone else. At this stage you will be writing down your thoughts about your topic on the basis of information you have collected. Through this process you will determine what material is useful and what needs to be discarded, generate ideas, and generally get a feel for what shape your term paper will take at the dissemination stage. When you are at this stage the following tips may prove helpful:

1. At this stage your thoughts do not need to be organized in any particular way and nor does the writing have to be grammatically correct. This is not the stage for producing the final draft of the term paper. This is the stage for digesting the information you have collected and for developing ideas on how to use this information.

2. If you took notes during the research stage then these can form part of this 'think-writing' process.

3. Use a lot of paper to do your writing so that if you need to add material to a particular point or idea you are developing, it will be easy to do so. Here is a suggestion: longitudinally fold the sheets of paper you will be working on into half and use the left half as a margin for additional notes when necessary. (You can obtain paper for free by looking in recycling bins located next to printers in computer rooms.)

4. Do not be too concerned at this point with how you will logically bring together the different themes, points or ideas you develop on paper. Your principal concern here ought to be to work on developing the different but relevant themes, points, ideas, etc.--separately from each other if necessary. For example: suppose you have been asked to write a term paper on student violence in high schools, it is quite likely that your term paper will have the following parts to it: (i) description of the nature and extent of the problem of violence. (ii) The effect of this violence on the educational process in schools. (iii) Analysis of the school factors contributing to the violence. (iv) Analysis of the societal factors contributing to the violence. (v) Possible short-term strategies that can be adopted to solve the problem. (vi) Possible long-term strategies to solve the problem. Now, when you are at the think-writing stage it is quite possible that the first thoughts that you write down may concern one of the factors (e.g. the media) in item 'iv' and the last thoughts before you move on to the next stage may be on item 'ii.'

5. Do not be too concerned if you find that the quantity of written material you are producing appears to exceed the total number of pages required for the term paper. When you proceed to the next stage you will find that some of the material you have written at this stage can be discarded.

6. Wherever possible create appropriate short headings for the different pieces of material you write.

7. As you digest information and write down your thoughts, aim to separate out on paper the following three basic types of information: factual information (tells us what is happening), explanatory information (tells us why it is happening), and prescriptive information (prescribes what ought to be happening).

8. Depending upon what kind of term paper you are writing, you may have to use some or all of the following 'devices' in the course of writing your paper:

(a) Performing thought experiments. (Experiments one performs with thoughts about the material one is analyzing by creating different scenarios and seeking answers to questions of the type that begin with the words What if this...?.)

(c) Using analogies. An analogy is similar to an example, but it is not the same as an example because it works a little differently: while it does not possess similarities in all respects (as in the case of a true example), an analogy shares a sufficiently large number of similarities to permit you to legitimately conclude that it must also be similar in respect to the point you wish to illustrate. Consider the following:

Let us assume that I want to make the point that 'there is a sucker born everyday.' To illustrate this point I can direct you to the following example: scam artists earn millions of dollars from people who fall for those junk mail offers that say you have won a vacation trip to Florida (even though you have not entered any contest with such a prize) and to get the tickets for the trip you must send them $19.95. Now, I can use this same example to make a completely different point, but this time I will use it as an analogy. Consider the following:

Let us assume that I want to make the point that over the many years I have been teaching, I have increasingly come to witness the fact that larger and larger numbers of students are doing everything they can to dodge the required course work, but while still expecting to get an 'A' at the end of the semester for the course. And one possible reason, among others, for this behavior is that we are living in a culture where 'get-rich-quick' schemes are extremely popular (which suggests that people want to become rich quickly without any work effort on their part). Consequently, students growing up in such a culture may think that they can do the same in their education: get 'A's without doing the necessary course work.

Now, in making these two interrelated points I can use the above 'example' (of the vacation con game) and use it to serve as an example in the case of one point (about the popularity of get-rich-quick schemes), and as an analogy with respect to the other point, the main point (about student belief in gain without effort). In other words, the con game example becomes an analogy if I were to say the following: just as there are suckers who believe that they can go for a vacation to Florida for $19.95, there are students who believe that they can get an 'A' in a course without doing the required course work.

(e) Using deductive reasoning. This is a type of reasoning where the truth of a conclusion is established on the basis of the truth of its premises. Consider the following very simple example of deductive reasoning: all trees require water to survive and grow. On the basis of this premise we can conclude that trees cannot grow in deserts. In other words, one does not have to obtain any direct evidence, for example by visiting all the deserts in the world, to arrive at this conclusion.

(f) Looking for and answering all the key counter-arguments that may be presented to your thesis. Ignoring potential counter-arguments does not strengthen your paper, it merely weakens it. (This, in a sense, involves playing the 'devil's advocate.')

(g) Taking into consideration all the key counter-facts, and if your thesis cannot accommodate the counter-facts then to modify or even abandon the thesis and replace it with another. You must never ignore counter-facts in the hope that no one reading your paper will be alert to them. To do otherwise is to engage in intellectual dishonesty by negating the primary goal of all research: the search for truth. Moreover, you run the very high risk of getting a poor grade on your paper. (Counter-facts are facts that run counter to, that is do not support, your thesis or argument.)

9. When composing your paragraphs, make sure that the statements that make a point or a thesis and statements that provide information supporting that point or thesis are logically ordered (sequenced).

10. When assembling the paragraphs in each section of your paper, make sure that the paragraphs that make a point or a thesis and paragraphs that provide information supporting that point or thesis are logically ordered (sequenced).

11. Term papers are not based on personal opinions; even if these opinions are based on personal experience. Personal experience is not a substitute for research. In fact, in the academic arena (an educational environment such as the one in a college or university) there is no place for personal opinions that are unsupported by research. The academic arena is not a democracy in the sense that you are entitled to hold just any opinion you like. No matter how much you may believe that the earth is flat or the moon is a big ball of cheese, for example, you are not entitled to that opinion--at least you are not allowed to express it. (Of course, outside the academic arena, you can hold any opinion you like, no matter how outrageous or asinine.) All opinions must be based on evidence and logical reasoning; in which case they cease to be opinions and become ideas, arguments, and theses.

Most importantly: since it can be logically assumed that a student is someone who is in the process of becoming an educated person, and has not yet become an educated person, no key idea or argument or thesis or fact presented by a student in his/her term paper is acceptable, unless it is backed by references.

At the same time, it should also be stressed that an unwillingness to accept an idea, argument, thesis or facts that the student comes across in class lectures or in text books is itself not permissible, unless he/she can present competent (scholarly) counter evidence. (Interestingly, in the absence of evidence, such unwillingness usually surfaces because the idea, or argument or thesis interferes with one's prejudices or insecurities.) In other words, when a person is in the status of 'student' he/she is logically assumed to lack the 'scholarly authority' to either present or negate ideas, arguments, theses or key facts without recourse, by means of references, etc., to supportive evidence provided by those who have this 'authority.'

<Footnote> 'Scholarly authority,' here, refers to the authority of the scholar who has travelled the road of scholarship and research far, far beyond that of the student; and equally importantly, has had this scholarship and research evaluated for authenticity and validity through formal and informal processes of peer review. Peer review refers to a system where material that is about to be published or has been published is subjected to a review (to determine authenticity, validity, etc.) by one's research/ scholarship peers.

Usually, the formal peer review process takes place prior to publication of one's research/scholarship and the informal one occurs after publication via, both, published and unpublished reviews of the publication. (In one one sense, the informal peer review process never ends as long as the publication is available to the public through one means or another: libraries, bookstores, etc.)

The dissemination stage is the stage where you use the extensive notes you have generated during the 'think-writing' stage to produce your term paper for 'public' release, that is for dissemination (even if the 'public' in this instance may be only myself). In this final stage the objective is to organize and structure the written material you have already produced at the think-writing stage into a well-written, coherent term paper. Whereas in the preceding stage you were writing for yourself, now you are writing for others (such as myself).

The dissemination stage is just as important as the other preceding stages, even though in this stage you are less concerned with the content of your paper than with the structure and format of the paper.

The following tips may prove helpful when you are at this final stage of the writing process:

1. A term paper always, I must emphasize always, has a three-part structure: introduction, body, and conclusion, with the body taking up most of the pages. (For example in a ten-page term paper, the introduction may take up half a page to one full page, while the conclusion may take up to anywhere from one to three pages. The remaining pages would be devoted to the body of the paper).

2. The introduction is where you introduce to the reader the objective or purpose of your term paper. It is in the introduction that the reader must be given the 'map' of the 'journey of information' s(he) is about to make by reading your paper. In other words, by the time the reader has reached the point where the body of your paper begins, s(he) must be clearly aware of what your paper is aiming to do.

3. In general, a well written introduction will begin with at least two critical paragraphs: the opening paragraph and the synoptic paragraph. The opening paragraph is the first paragraph and its purpose is to introduce the topic (or subject or theme) of the paper. The synoptic paragraph follows the first paragraph, and in it you summarize very briefly the principal points you intend to make in your paper. (Depending on the length of the paper and the complexity of the topic, the synoptic paragraph can be split into two or more paragraphs.)

4. The body does what the introduction said the paper will do. Specifically it elaborates on the principal points outlined in the synoptic paragraphs of the introduction. That is, it is in the body of the paper that you provide the reader with the relevant information in support of your points--information ranging from facts and examples to references and 'thought-experiments' The body is usually divided into sections, made up of one or more paragraphs, with each section corresponding to a single point or idea.

5. The conclusion does three things: briefly restates what you said your paper was going to do, summarizes what you have done in the body of the paper and ends by making a general statement about the relevance, implications, etc. of what you have said in your paper. If the reader of your paper decides to read only your conclusion, then s(he) must come away with a fairly accurate idea of what your whole paper is about.

6. Determine the organization of the body of your paper by grouping together in a logical order the headings you generated in the preceding stage. (For example, depending upon your topic, the grouping can be on the basis of type of information: factual, explanatory, or prescriptive.)

7. When writing the term paper always imagine that the paper will be read by someone who is not familiar with the topic of your paper. Do not write it with the idea that the only person who will read it is myself (even if that may be true). You must always have an imaginary audience before you when you write, besides the teacher. One implication of this point is that you must back up the information you present with relevant references.

8. Term papers are always written in a particular style or format (e.g. the APA style [the style developed by the American Psychological Association], the MLA style [the style developed by the Modern Languages Association], the Chicago style [the style developed by the University of Chicago Press, etc.) which I will specify--see below. Much in the same way that the format of a letter you write to a friend or a relative is very different from the format of a letter you write to a prospective employer, the format of a term paper is very different from, say, a set of notes you prepare for yourself on a topic. The format determines how you structure the following basic elements of scholarly writing: reference citations, headings, footnotes, endnotes, references, bibliographies, quotations, tables and figures, and page numbering.

It is not up to you (or even me) to decided how you format your paper; you have to follow established conventions that have been developed over the centuries by scholars, printers and publishers. These conventions are referred to as 'style.' For example: whether a quotation should be single spaced or double-spaced, whether it should be indented, and so on; these are all questions of format that are resolved by a given style. In the U.S., there are three popular styles that scholars in the arts and social sciences use: the MLA style; the APA style and the Chicago style. For all term papers you do for me you will be using the APA style, but with a slight modification. (See below for exact instructions concerning the style or conventions you will use to format your paper.)

9. When you have reached this stage, use a computer to write the term paper. A computer not only permits you to do such chores easily as rearrange paragraphs, cut paragraphs, add paragraphs, delete sentences and words, etc., but it will also assist you in correcting your spelling with absolutely no difficulty. If you do not own a computer then use the computers in the computer labs on campus.

10. Your term paper must be completely free of language that is racist, sexist, etc. A scholarly paper has no place in it for venting prejudice.

11. Learn to use transitional (connecting) devices to help you to link together statements, paragraphs and groups of paragraphs into a coherent whole. The following are some examples of these writing devices:

Transitions that restate: 'that is,' 'in other words,' 'to restate,' 'to recapitulate,' etc.

Transitions that establish a result or effect: 'consequently,' 'therefore,' 'thus,' 'so,' 'then,' etc.

Transitions that establish contrast: 'even though,' 'even so,' 'on the other hand nevertheless,' 'but,' 'yet,' 'still,' 'in contrast,' 'however,' etc.

Transitions that add information: 'finally,' 'furthermore,' 'also,' 'again,' 'moreover,' 'in addition,' 'above all,' 'in the first place,' etc.

Transitions that establish time: 'next,' 'meanwhile,' 'as soon as,' 'during that time,' 'before,' etc.

The best way to learn how to use transitional devices is by carefully studying them in actual use, by examining journal articles and books by scholarly writers.

12. Learn to break up your term paper into paragraphs that are not too long and not too short. (In general, a paragraph made up of less than two or three sentences is too short, while a paragraph that exceeds two thirds of a page is too long.) Remember that the paragraph contains sentences that together, usually, concern no more than one main idea or point.

13. Learn to break up your term paper into sections by using appropriate headings. (A section is made of a number of paragraphs concerned with a common theme.) Two headings, besides other headings, that should always be present in a term paper are 'introduction' and 'conclusion.'

14. Usually term papers should be written in the third person (she, he, they, etc.) and NOT first person (I, myself, we, etc.).

15. Learn how to use punctuation appropriately by consulting a grammar book--such as Shertzer (1986). You should be able to use, at the very minimum, the following punctuation devices with no difficulty: period, comma, semicolon, colon, apostrophe, question mark, dash, parentheses, ellipsis dots, and quotation marks.

16. Learn how to use explanatory footnotes--though sparingly. Explanatory footnotes contain information that is relevant to the paper, but the information is considered not absolutely essential. (Footnotes are notes that appear at the bottom of a page; and they are usually referenced in the text by means of a number.)

18. Do not express general opinions without providing evidence (in the form of reference citations) to back up your opinions. For example, a general statement such as the following would not be acceptable (even if you know it to be true) in a term paper on student violence in schools, without a reference citation to support it: "The reason why there is too much student violence in our schools today is the easy availability of guns." In a statement like this one you need a reference citation to support your claim that guns are readily available to high school students in the U.S.

19. When you have finished writing the entire paper do not assume that it is ready for dissemination. The paper is your first draft, that is it will require further attention (in the form of revisions). Your paper will be ready for dissemination only after you have revised the paper(by correcting spelling and grammatical errors, and where necessary adding new ideas, deleting information, moving paragraphs around, changing headings, etc.). Remember, it is humanly impossible to write the first draft of anything for communication (e.g. the term paper) that will not require some form of revision. In fact, no piece of writing can ever be perfect; all writing is 'work in progress.'

20. To assist you with improving the technical aspects of your term paper (spelling, grammar, style, etc.) learn to use effectively writing tools such as the following: the dictionary (e.g Webster's College Dictionary, by Random House), the synonym dictionary (e.g. The Synonym Finder, by Rodale), the thesaurus (e.g. Roget's International Thesaurus), the word menu dictionary (e.g. Random House Word Menu), the English usage dictionary (e.g. Fowler's Modern English Usage), and the dictionary of sayings and phrases (e.g. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable). If you do not know what these writing tools do, go and examine them in the reference section of the library.

21. ALWAYS leave time (at least three days) after you have finished the first draft of your term paper before making final revisions. Trying to produce a term paper at the last minute is not the best strategy for writing an 'A' grade term paper.

22. If you would like more information on writing term papers you will find the following books helpful: Mulkerne and Mulkerne (1988); Howard and Barton (1986); and Strunk and White (1979). This last book should be used together with the book on grammar mentioned above. See also the 'Short Guide to Writing' series published by Harper Collins (e.g., A Short Guide to Writing about History, by Richard Marius). If you are willing to devote time, perhaps during the summer break, to learning the skills necessary for effective writing, there is an excellent book I highly recommend to you: Cavina (1995).

Cavina, Kristan. Critical Thinking and Writing: A Developing Writer's Guide with Readings. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1995.

Howard, V. A. and Barton, J. H. Thinking on Paper. New York: William Morrow, 1986.

Mulkerne, Donald J. D. and Mulkerne, Donald J. D., Jr. The Perfect Term Paper. New York: Doubleday, 1988.

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