The Four Rules of Writing Term Papers - It's Like a Game

Term Paper Writing Rules

Just like competitive sport has rules that are pretty much the same everywhere, so do academic papers whether the subject is Nuclear Physics or American literature. The difficulty of churning out a paper is not in the subject but in catching on to the peculiarities of academic writing.

What goes for tennis goes for term papers: start by learning the rules.

The First Rule

Academic papers are deductive or start with a general idea and then look at specifics. Warning: This is not how the human mind usually works. We usually think the opposite from specific (My stomach is gurgling) to general (I'm hungry). To write academically, you need to flip normal thinking. Zero in first on a generalization or "thesis" (I'm hungry) and then trot out all the specific reasons or evidence to support it (My stomach gurgles, I have a headache, I feel weak).

The Second Rule

This logical twist in academic writing drives rule two: Academic papers always have four parts just like American football or a basketball game:

1) Introduction
2) Body
3) Conclusion and
4) References

Think of The Introduction as the paper's pregame show. Like a fan, you shout out your general slogan or thesis. Like a cheerleader, you convince the reader it's important and, like a sports commentator, you give an overview of game strategy or what you plan to cover.

The Body is game time. This is where you make your specific points, literally, through paragraphs of evidence supporting your thesis. (Since you never quite know what you will write until you write it, you always want to rework the Introduction after you finish the body.) Remember, "Replays: Good in a football game; Bad in the body of an academic paper." Never repeat yourself in the body.

The Conclusion is the post-game rehash. Here you need to replay a bit. Restate your thesis and main points made in the body.

It's easy coming up with specific evidence to pad the body of a paper on "I'm hungry." We all have personal experience with hunger. But, academic papers usually start in unknown territory or with black-hole topics assigned by your professor like: "Satire in Mark Twain," "Causes of the Russian Revolution," or "Business Models." Usually, you need to nail down a start-up generalization or thesis as well as evidence to back it up. This requires a library card, high-speed Internet, and going beyond the confines of your own head.

The Third Rule

Rule three: Academic writing requires research. Talking to your friends, your grandmother, or your hairdresser about your paper is not research. Reading a published book or article, or an on-line electronic source with a clear author, recent date and identifiable publisher are. Doing research helps you come up with a thesis and the evidence to support it. Make sure you mark your tracks or where ideas and evidence come from by taking notes. Not only do you have to do research for an academic paper, you need prove you did. You do this by tacking on a list of the References consulted at the end of your paper. You also need to cite in parenthesis in the body (the author and page) of any statistics, quotes, or ideas you write about that are not your own.

The Fourth Rule

The fourth and final rule is: Academic papers have style. This doesn't mean printing the paper on coloured paper. Just as every team has its own uniform, academic papers also look different. You can tell an English paper from a Psychology one just like you tell the Mets and Orioles apart. Every academic subject uses a particular set of format guidelines for pagination and referencing which are known by their own alphabet soup initials. MLA and APA are two of the most common ones.

Don't worry about what they stand for. Worry about which one you need to use for your paper and religiously follow a guide for that style as you type-up.