A term paper or research paper is mainly a record of intellectual reading in several sources on a particular area under discussion. The procedure consists of several steps which can be categorized as: choosing a topic, looking for relevant sources of materials, acquiring the notes, outlining the paper, writing the first draft and finally editing the paper.

First choosing an area of study is very important. Good subjects are based around questions. The subject must be interesting to the writer so as to find questions to answer the paper. Writing a term paper revolves around trying to learn about new subjects or expound on a given issue. The paper is an attempt to write structured answers to whatever query one decides upon using facts for the intention of proving or supporting your argument.

Finding sources of materials to write the term paper will involve different techniques and will depend on the nature of paper you are examining. Sources can be either primary or secondary data. In primary data, first hand information is used in trying to achieve answers to questions raised and include field work. Secondary information is obtained through written data in physical form like books and magazine articles, news story or periodicals or in soft copies on the internet. Important issues to consider when looking for information include facts of publication, title and author.

When gathering the notes one should skim and locate the useful material including quotes and information for footnotes that should be made good use of. Care should be taken in note-taking so that it’s accurate, honest and does not distort the author’s meanings. Not only collecting things that will support your thesis but also paying attention to other facts and opinions by same or different authors. Getting the right kind of material is important to get facts not just opinions. Methods and procedures should be noticed in research studies and not afraid of criticizing them. When information is not quantitative in a study, the need for quantified, objective and well-controlled enquiries should be pointed out.

Outlining the paper should not be done in haste but put in mind the objectives and purposes in writing the term paper in comparison to the material gathered. Notes should be reviewed and sorted to find main sub-divisions in your subject. The organized data will look more coherent and taking on a definite structure and a general pattern will be visible.

The paper is written around the outline in the first draft indicating in the first part, the purpose of the paper. The article should inform the reader what you are going to say in the statement of purpose followed by more detailed information in the main body of the paper and finally in the statement of summary and conclusion. The word composition should include headings or sub-headings which are nouns but not verbs or phrases. The outline should be well organized to ensure that the topic does not change in the middle of the subject and that everything under one heading is about the same general study.

The paper is edited to polish up the first draft. This is done by checking for proper spelling, sentence construction and phrasing, proper form of footnotes, quotes and punctuation. Quotations should be checked to ensure that they show the evidences of what the author said to avoid misrepresentation through use of statements and save unnecessary ideas that were expressed by the original author. Proper form of tables should be observed and that any graph or table is self-explanatory. Reading the paper finally will help you to spot for awkwardness in the flow of the article and correcting where necessary.