How To Write A Term Paper

Prof. Dr. Matthias Bauer / Prof. Dr.
Angelika Zirker
HOW TO WRITE A TERM PAPER / GENERAL REMARKS
Topics for term papers must be discussed with the instructor by mid-term. After this period, no papers will be ac-
cepted (see schedule as well as check on moodle for deadlines). Your own reading experience should be the starting
point of your search for a suitable subject. Is there anything that strikes you as curious, remarkable, and particularly
interesting in what you have read for the course? (e.g. a discussion in class on a particular passage may also give rise
to questions you wish to pursue)
Structure and content

Make sure that you develop a topic or question or thesis statement in your introduction: it should serve to explain
why you are doing what you are doing in your paper. This works best by making the topic/question etc. as concrete
as possible: work with an example from the text(s) your paper will be based on. Show that there is something that
ought to be found out/explained/explored with regard to the text(s). The introduction may be a page long (or even
longer) – it should proceed inductively, not deductively. For example, if you choose to explore a male-female rela-
tionship in the novel, the introduction should show in how far this is an issue – and not set out with the history of
male-female relationships (starting with Adam and Eve). The following chapters should have subsection headings.
Your conclusion is not meant to be a summary of what has been said but should point out what the overall result of
the analysis is and give an outlook regarding the further relevance of this topic.
A term paper is to show your analytical and interpretive skills: you may assume that your lecturer is familiar with the
author and the work, which means: no biography, no summary of the text. Your paper should contain close readings
of the text – begin by finding texts passages you deem relevant for your paper and structure them: are there any
aspects that they share and that could be the basic structure of your paper? then go on to identify those passages that
illustrate best what you mean to show. The purpose of the paper is not to give (or even list) as many passages from
the primary texts (for secondary sources, see below) as possible but to follow your line of argument on the basis of
evident passages that you analyse closely with regard to their language, rhetorical features etc.
Secondary sources and how to deal with them

There is no minimum or maximum number of secondary sources that should be used and referred to in a term paper.
The use of secondary literature will have to be selective. You should show that you can work academically, which
means: that you are familiar with the literature that exists 1. on your topic (author/text/specific aspect) and 2. on the
wider context (it may happen that you write a paper on male-female relationships in a rather obscure novel from the
eighteenth century, and you cannot find a lot or even no literature at all on the topic – spread out your search to: the
genre, the author, titles that appeared in the context of this novel etc.).
The purpose of secondary literature in a term paper is not to quote as many passages as you can: you are strongly
discouraged from simply applying a cut-and-paste technique of quotations (“As XYZ says, ‘….’”). In the main body
of the text, secondary sources should only figure if you discuss them (which is allowed! everything that is printed
black on white is not necessarily correct). If you use these resources to support your line of argument: this is what
footnotes are there for!
You should make ample use of reference tools (such as the Oxford English Dictionary, the OED, when it comes to
the meaning of words; or, for example, a work on Renaissance meteorology when you write about clouds in a poem
of the time, etc.). Only reliable sources can be used for term papers. It is not sufficient to search the OPAC of Tü-
bingen university – as students of English literature you are supposed to search the MLA bibliography. If you are
unsure as to its use, there are seminars offered by the UB.
Style
Write clearly and succinctly. A good rule of thumb is to make the logical subject of what you want to say the gram-
matical subject of the sentence you write, and keep the register in mind (you are writing a research paper in the
context of a university class, not a blog post or a tweet).
Formal requirements/guidelines
Please hand in your paper in WORD and PDF formats (no paper copy required!). Do not forget to sign the plagiarism
declaration form and include a scan in the PDF version. Papers not including this form will not be read nor marked.
Please also adhere to the formal requirements: title page, table of contents, text (1.5 line spacing, Blocksatz), MLA
standard. The title page must contain information about the course, your name, the title of your paper, and information
about you (address, Matrikelnummer, date of submission). You will get an acknowledgement of receipt. Make sure
you save this and are able to show it to us should a paper get lost (to avoid misunderstandings).

How To Write A Term Paper

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

How To Write A Term Paper

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

How To Write A Term Paper

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Prof. Dr. Matthias Bauer / Prof. Dr.

Structure and content

Secondary sources and how to deal with them

You might also like