How To Write An Excellent Term Paper

Top Ten Tips

by Andrea Nostramo

Who among us has never sat behind a too-bright computer screen at three in the morning with writer’s block, flipping out over a paper due the next day?  It happens to the best of us, and the smartest of us.  And while there is no sure-fire recipe to get an ‘A’, I can share with you my top ten tips that got me through many a dark paper-writing night.

 10) Contiguity

             Once, as an undergrad, I had a professor tell me that, while my writing was good, my papers read like a series of moderately interesting paragraphs, completely lacking cohesion.  I was never good at forming paragraphs.  If it was up to me, term papers would just be one long never ending paragraph.  I came to find that the purpose of paragraphs is simply to separate ideas and make it easier for the reader to read, and the writer to write. 

 Here’s what I do to ensure a good writing flow:

 -Find a way for the last sentence of every paragraph to – in some way – “segway” into the next. 

-Think of a stand-up comedian telling jokes, “…And speaking of peanuts, that airline food is atrocious…am I right?”  Refer back to points previously made in your writing. 

  -Before writing out sentences, try making lists of ideas that go together, like an outline.

 All of this will help give your paragraphs cohesion, which in turn will give your paper a seamless flow.

  9) Tenses

              My first year as a college English major, I learned one of the most important rules I would ever learn when it comes to writing: always use the present tense when writing about another author’s words.  This rule does have some exceptions: if the author is extremely famous and dead, like say, Shakespeare, then it’s okay to refer to him in the past tense.  This is only done when writing about the author’s words, not his/her life, so it can be difficult.  However, with a little finesse, these tenses can be juggled.  Try writing something like this, “John Doe grew up in a quiet neighborhood much like the ones in his stories.  The author writes….”  I used “grew” when describing my made-up author’s childhood, but I used “writes” when I was going to quote him.  This creates a sense of timelessness for the work involved, as if to say that writing has no linear beginning or ending but rather hangs in time, always affecting and inspiring its readers.  Another important rule to remember regarding tenses is not to go back and forth with using the past and present tenses.  Choose one tense that makes sense for your paper, and don’t waver, otherwise you will confuse your reader.

 8) First and Last

             In my opinion, the first and last things you say in your paper are the most important.  Your first paragraph (sometimes called the “introduction”) is what reels the reader in and keeps them reading past the first sentence.  You may think that teachers, by definition, have to read your work, which is true, but wouldn’t you rather that they also want to?  Choose your first sentence carefully; know your audience and what will grip them.  Similarly, your last paragraph (sometimes called the “conclusion”) is the last thing your teacher/professor will read before giving you your grade, the writing that will stay with them after your paper is over.  It is your job to create a memorable experience in the mind of the reader.  I often like to open or close with a famous (or not so famous) quotation.  If you do use a quote to draw your idea to a fine point, make sure you cite the author.

 7) Less Is More

             If there is one thing I learned about writing throughout my time as an English major, it is that less is more.  Sometimes we get so hypnotized by our own words, so mesmerized by the tap-tap-tap of our fingers on the keyboard, typing away, or by our words as they go from our mind to the screen (or for some of you, from the pen to the paper), that we forget that being too wordy has consequences.  Shy away from phrases like, “What I want to say is…” or “The reason behind that was…” or “What the author means is…”.  Don’t tell the reader what he/she is getting, just give it to them.  It’s the difference between being at a restaurant and having the waitress say, “I’m going to give you your mashed potatoes now,” and having her just give them to you.  After your paper is done and you’re going through the editing process, slough off unnecessary words, or even whole sentences.  Sometimes we try to bulk up our papers so that we’re not left with less than what the assignment called for, but teachers can always spot filler.  It’s a trade secret. 

6) Thesis Statement

             Your thesis statement – even if you’re not in college – is a very important aspect of your paper.  It is usually in your first paragraph or page, and it contains the basic argument or claim that you are going to discuss throughout your paper.  A thesis statement doesn’t have to be difficult or long, but it should be clear and concise.  I like to let my first paragraph end with my main idea.  Like, “…And of all the Romantic poets, the one who stands out the most – for me - is Christina Rossetti.”  My whole first paragraph would have been something informative about Romantic poets, perhaps information regarding the Romantic era in general.  Then, in the last sentence I bring it all to a fine point – what it is I’m really going to discuss.  This lets the reader know what your framework is, and once you’ve laid the foundation you can continue building, like building a pyramid.

 5) Make Definitive Statements

             If there’s one word that can take a clear definitive statement and turn it into a hesitant unsure one, it’s “seem”.  Now there are times when the word “seem” is appropriate, but it’s never good to use it just because you don’t want to seem wrong.  I used to do this all the time.  You have a good solid claim, one you’re proud of, but you’re afraid of being wrong so you change your words around, so that you don’t sound like you think you know what you’re talking about…just in case you don’t.  It makes sense but it’s a bad idea.  Most of the time, it is better to write what you feel, and solidly back it up, than beat around the bush.  Think as a reader for a moment, not a writer.  Wouldn’t you rather read the words of an author who makes wild claims but backs them up with solid ideas than someone who keeps writing, “I guess” or “it seems”?  I know I would.

 4) Know the BASIC rules.

             Knowing some fundamental rules of grammar will set you apart from the rest of your class, because unfortunately not many people know them.  There are so many common errors made when writing papers that knowing just the basic rules can impress your teachers and make you a better writer.  One error that really grinds my gears is when people write “would of” – as in, “I would of gone to the store but I didn’t have time.”  The phrase is “would have”.  When we speak it out loud, we say “would’ve” and it sounds like “of” so that’s how we often write it.  A good way to remember it is to recall the contraction, “would’ve” and what it’s really short for. 

            Another important rule is to watch your modifiers.  Whatever you start your sentence with must match up, grammatically, to your subject.  For example, if you write, “As an avid golf enthusiast…” your next word MUST be whoever the avid golf enthusiast is, whether it’s “I” or “John Jones”.  It would be grammatically incorrect to continue that sentence with something like, “…it is hard to find a club with a good swing.”  Similarly, if you have a sentence that begins with a word ending in “ing” (such as “Running through the forest…”), you must continue it with whomever was doing the running.  “Running through the forest, I was cut by the tree branches,” is correct, but “Running through the forest, there were a lot of trees in my way,” is not.

The old rule never to end a sentence with a preposition has somewhat lost its meaning throughout the years, because in today’s language, in some instances it sounds downright silly, but it is still an important rule that should be followed to some extent.  A perfect example of when it sounds silly to obey this rule is in a funny quote by Winston Churchill, “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.”  This can be hard because when we speak we rarely utilize this style rule, but when writing (at least when writing formally) it is important because it separates your casual voice from what I call your “writerly” voice.  For example, “Mark Jones wanted to write an anthology but wasn’t sure who to write it with,” can be easily changed to, “Mark Jones wanted to write an anthology but wasn’t sure with whom to write it.”  The rule of when to use “whom” versus “who” is also simple: if you would use “him” rather than “he,” than use “whom” (both “him” and “whom” use the letter M).  In the example sentence I created, you would say “Jones decided to write it with him.”  Because “him” is used, and not “he,” we know that “whom” is the correct word.

 3) Paraphrasing

             If there is one thing I cannot stand about writing papers, it’s having to put things in my own words.  I constantly feel like I have to dumb down everything I want to say simply because someone smarter said it better, but I can’t use his/her words because that would be plagiarism.  Here is how I combat that problem.  If you come across something someone wrote which was put beautifully and perfectly sums up an argument you’ve already made, there is nothing wrong with quoting that person as long as you obey the following rules.  Always cite your sources; never claim a quote was yours because this is the Internet age and you’ll always get caught.  Always back up someone else’s words with your own, whether to elaborate or interpret.  For example, “Charles Smith had his own philosophy on Frankenstein, which was that the novel ‘was an exemplary portrayal of Victorian madness.’ This madness, stemming from a stifled society, would continue to show itself in female writing for years to come.”  Here I just quoted from an imaginary author, but then I added a sentence of my own, to elaborate on what he’d said.  This shows the reader that I am quoting other writers not because I am incapable of making my own claims, but rather to enhance them.

 2) Ten-dollar words – what are they good for?

             I once had a classmate who loved to use what I call “ten dollar words” – big words that don’t belong.  Sometimes we’ve come fresh off of a very beneficial vocabulary course and we’re feeling very hip to our own wordage abilities, but that doesn’t mean that we should show off, especially not in lieu of content.  If you don’t have a strong enough argument, pillaging your paper with “aggrandizing” and “portmanteau” won’t help, especially not if they’re used incorrectly.  A safe bet is to use words you know, look up ones you don’t, and keep a thesaurus on hand for when it gets tricky.

1)      Spell Check

             There is nothing worse than seeing a student’s paper with a bunch of misspelled words on it, ones that any word processor’s spell check could have easily caught.  That simply means that the student didn’t care enough about their paper to even check for simple carelessness.  Granted, spell-check can’t catch everything, but when paired with your own detective eye, the two of you should have no problem spotting mistakes.  Sometimes it gets tiring; you’ve been up all night, the paper’s due tomorrow, etc. and when you finally hit that last period, the last thing you want to do is read the whole thing all over again.  But they say the only thing better than writing is rewriting.  No one expects your first draft to be amazing, but if you hand in your first draft under the pretense that it’s your final product, it sends a message that that’s the best you can do.  My advice: hunker down, plan ahead, and always proofread everything once, if not twice.

And those are my Top Ten Tips for paper-writing.  Take my advice, or don’t, but always do your best.  And don’t be afraid to speak to your teacher if you feel you’ve been given an unfair grade. I once wrote a paper that I thought was excellent, but I got a B+ on it.  My professor had written only stellar comments on it so after class I politely asked him why I didn’t get an A, and he said that it was because I was too hard on the writer whose claims I was arguing against.  I disagreed with him, and argued – albeit respectfully – my way up to an A-.  The best teachers are the ones who can admit that they may not always be right.  Either way, happy writing!