Writing a term paper is a rather complicated and time-consuming task for students. If you misunderstand the topic or forget about the important requirements for the research, you risk not passing the defense. How not make mistakes in the term paper? It is enough to understand what points you should pay attention to. Let us tell you about them in detail.
Plagiarizing the paper
The most common mistake in writing a term paper is plagiarism. That is, a student takes someone else’s work (from a senior student or on the Internet) and poses it as his own even without editing. The professor can easily detect this manipulation. Firstly, many universities use an anti-plagiarism system, which checks the uniqueness of the text. Secondly, the student who downloaded someone else’s work usually is not a pioneer. And the professor tentatively knows where the text is taken from.
How to avoid plagiarism? Write the work yourself. And if you use someone else’s material, then only to draw ideas for your research. Or take literature and individual quotations, but interpret them in your own way. Alternatively, you can decide you can pay someone to write your term paper. There a lot of such services on the Internet, but make sure that the service you chose can write you the paper you’re looking for. For example, at Writemyessay.nyc you can offer both essays and research papers, while other services can focus only on one of them.
Forgetting to revise your work before the defense
Some students think that all they have to do is write a term paper and you’ve got the mark in your report card. In fact, that’s only half the battle. A lot is decided by the defense of the term paper. This is a small event where students present their research, giving a short report and a presentation. The purpose of such a presentation is to familiarize those present with their work and answer questions from the committee regarding it.
Revising your paper is even more important if you paid someone to write it. Otherwise, you won’t be able to answer even some general questions about the research. Because of that professors can figure out that something wrong and become biased on your behalf. That’s why it’s important to prepare thoroughly before the defense. Review your paper, note important points, and practice speaking in front of a mirror. Think about the questions you may be asked by your professor, and what you should answer. Be diligent, and your work will be appreciated.
Forgetting to disclose the topic of the paper
Sometimes a student does not understand the topic of a term paper, so he or she may use the wrong sources or go astray. As a result, you get research that reveals only part of the topic or does not relate to it in any way. What to do to avoid such mistakes?
Attend consultations, which are appointed by the supervisor, and clarify incomprehensible points in advance. Offer your options for disclosing the topic, make a work plan and explain what you will write in each paragraph. Having such a framework, you won’t go astray and you’ll end up with a high-quality paper.
Ignoring the requirements for coursework design
The term paper must be formatted according to the appropriate requirements. Even assuming that the student coped with the writing of the term paper, but improperly formatted it, the professor will still return the work for revision, because there are certain requirements that they have to take into account.
They can be adjusted every year, so it is worth checking with the professor which guidelines you should use during writing. Your final mark also depends on how you will format the title page, the main text, and the list of references. So, before writing your term paper, make sure you clarify these points, so you don’t have to correct everything.
Writing disproportionate sections
It often happens that a student enjoys writing one section of a term paper because they have found enough information and literature on it. And for the other, they do not have enough time or enthusiasm. The result is a disproportionate paper, in which one section contains a lot of information and is divided into paragraphs, and the other section is barely one-pager, or a paper with theoretical or, on the contrary, practical bias. So keep in mind that the amount of text in each chapter should be about the same (unless standards require otherwise, of course).
If you notice that you have made this mistake, find the largest section and make it more proportionate. You can do this by removing unnecessary and lengthy arguments from the text. After that, add text to the shortest chapter. Where to get the information? If there is nothing else on specialized websites and textbooks, you will have to look in the library of your university. After that, all you have to do is to present the information correctly.
Using incorrect literature and references
It is not uncommon for students to try to cram references and sources into a term paper that they have not actually dealt with. Understandably, you want to show how diligently you researched academic materials. If you do so, you should carefully examine each source, to have some idea about it. If during the defense of the term paper the professor starts asking about the details of the paper and asks you to tell what sources you cited, you need to be prepared to explain this point. Try to use more recent sources, if possible. Such work will be highly appreciated.
To Summarize
Of course, it is not the full list of mistakes commonly made during the preparation and writing a term paper, because many factors also depend on the country in question, the particular university, and even a particular professor. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned aspects of writing a paper are the most common. And if you do not make these mistakes, the probability of a successful defense increases many times.
