| It is important to know which you are expected to write. It is crucial that you and your teacher agree on what you are expected to do. If you turn in a report when you are expected to write a term paper, you will receive a bad grade. If you write a term paper when a report is all that is required, you will have wasted a lot of energy. Your teacher may use different words for what you are required to write, so be sure that you understand exactly what is expected of you. Most teachers will give you a clear, concise description of how you should present your ideas. |
| A report focuses on a single aspect of a topic. A term paper is, in a sense, made up of many short reports. The thought process and the development of a conclusion are common to both reports and term papers. |
| 4. A Research Paper Presents Your Ideas. |
| In research papers (whether reports or term papers), you present ideas. This is one of the major skills learned in school. Teaching you how to do this is one of the responsibilities of your teachers. Learning how to do this is one of your responsibilities. |
| 5. Use Information, Do Not Just Repeat It. |
| To present ideas, you must paraphrase and line up various bits of repeatable and respectable information, not claiming it as your own, rather, demonstrating that you understand it and can use it. Your teachers want you to learn more about an area of your studies and understand it well enough to make an original point about it; an original point for you, original for this class at this school at this time, not a point that is fresh for Western civilization. But your ideas should be new and different for you and the students in your class. |
| 6. If Possible, Choose a Topic that is Attractive to You. |
| To start, your teacher will give you a couple of words, a few choices, perhaps a list of people, dates, a social movement, topics related to your class workall in all, a variety of subjects, one of which you must write about intelligently. After going over the possibilities, choose a topic that is appealing to you for some reason. If you can choose one that is genuinely pleasing and interesting, you are way ahead. If you cannot, you will have to pretend, and you will have to pretend so well that you will convince yourself and your teacher that you genuinely care about your choice. |
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