Writing a Term Paper

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Writing a Term Paper

• EDU 110 Educational Psychology
• Brandi Simonsen, Ph.D.
• Winter 2003

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Plan before you write

• Take notes as you read.
• Develop a framework for reviewing the literature
• Use a matrix (i.e., table) to organize the
  studies according to your framework.
• Develop an outline before you start writing.
• Example

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How do you organize your paper?

• Take a mental trip back to High School English
• Tell them what you are going to tell them.
• Tell them.
• Tell them what you told them.
• In other words, use a basic structure
• Introductionestablish importance and end with a
  blueprint paragraph that defines your critical
  points.
• Body of paperuse headings to organize topics
  around major sections and supporting subsections.
  
• Conclusion

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Begin the Writing Process

• Write a draft.
• Put it down for a day or so.
• Read it to yourself and self-edit.
• Give it to a friend.
• Make changes and repeat steps 1-4.
• In other words, writing is a long process (when
  you do it correctly).
• Professors never submit a first draft.

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My Writing Process
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Some suggestions from our friends at APA

• Smoothly present ideas in an orderly fashion
  using
• Punctuation,
• Transition words,
• Varied sentence length
• Eliminate jargon, wordiness, and redundancy
• Write precisely and clearly by carefully choosing
  words, expressions, pronouns, comparisons, and
  attributions.
• Use active voice (i.e., beware of using was/were
  verb).
• See other helpful hints in Chapter 2 of the
  Publication Manual (5th Edition).