Writing a good term paper requires that you consider the very things, you are learning in class. The objective of a term paper is to take the course learning materials – everything including textbooks, lectures, extended readings, and anything presented in class – and write a paper that demonstrates solid learning and application of the learning material. Most term papers will require a number of sources, and these sources should begin with the ones from your course. In addition to the sources from your course, you should collect sources from your library database that is supportive of the decisions and ideas you have developed from your coursework. You may even find materials that disagree with your coursework; however, these should be supported with a great deal of evidence or your term paper will lose focus.

In addition, your paper should show real-world application, possibly that you could use this information in your current work environment, or possibly in a volunteer position you held before. You may select to demonstrate learning by creating a proposal that will build upon your learning in a way that suggests how others may use this information to develop better programs, strategies, or even theories.

Finally, your good term paper must demonstrate what you have learned from the course and not simply repeat the information you have gathered. Support your information using in-text citations, but limit the use of quotations. You should be able to provide a number of sources that agree with your statement even without quoting the materials. When you are working on the best term paper, you should try to recall what your instructor felt were the key points to your coursework.