Term Paper Resources

Since this is an election year, students will be required to write biographical research papers on the candidates. Last week, we reviewed how to write an Obama Term Paper. This week, we will look at writing a biographical research paper, using the Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin as an example. A biographical research paper is a bit different than a simple essay or biographica sketch. Remember this: A biographical research paper must contain some element of unique research or reporting in order to fulfill the criteria of research. Learn more… Read more…

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If you think that your professors are going to let you get through this semester without writing at least one term paper on Barack Obama you are completely fooling yourself. In the year of a presidential election, professors love to assign term papers on the presidential candidates. Certainly any political science class will require a Barack Obama term paper, probably an English 101 course and then other professors will amazingly apply the candidates to their course material also! Your sociology prof will want to know in an Obama term paper how he stands on social issues such as health care and social security. Your history professor will assign you an Obama term paper on how he compare with other presidential candidates. And don’t be surprised if your anthropology professor works Obama into the course somehow also. As this blog has repeated emphasized, professor’s like term papers on hot, up-to-date topics so you need to know how to write an Obama term paper that stands out from the hundreds that your professors will read between now and November 4th. Learn how right here… Read more…

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Term paper writing services are all over the internet – thousands of them to choose from – many that promise everything from guaranteed “A’s” to Harvard Professors writing your paper. How do you tell which term paper service to use and what is the difference between them? We can give you the low-down on the best of them and the worst – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of term paper writing services.

There are two different kinds of term paper services – custom writing services and pre-written term paper services. We will look at the benefits and drawbacks of each and let you decide which is best for you.

The Good

Good Term Paper ServicesCustom writing services allow students to fill out an order form with exactly what they need. Meaning, you can paste the exact instructions from your professor in the order form and the company will write your paper according to every detail in your professor’s instructions. This ensures that your paper will be custom written because you can be as specific as you want to make certain the company doesn’t sell you something generic and already written.

The negative side of custom writing services is that they their research papers are more expensive than pre-written term papers. This is because a custom company has to hire a freelance writer to write your project. Freelance writers usually are paid anywhere from $10 to $17 per page for their services. So in order for a custom term paper company to turn a profit, they have to charge up-words $20 to $30 a page just to cover the writer and their operating costs!

The Bad

Bad Term Paper ServicesPre-written term paper services were the rage of the internet 7 or 8 years ago. Thousands of papers would be catalogued online and a student could browse through the short descriptions and download an entire paper for $10! Even better, some services allowed students to sign up with them and download hundreds of papers for a monthly free. However, if a student is unwise and hands the paper in as his/her own, professor’s soon got wise to seeing the same paper semester after semester and began looking for a way to combat these companies. Enter TurnItIn.com – TurnItIn.com put an end to buying pre-written term papers online, as the service catalogues all database term papers in their database full of literally billions of pages of term papers.

The Ugly

Ugly Term Paper ServicesWhat turns ugly is when students use term paper services that do not sell original material and then unwisely hand the paper in as their own. TurnItIn.com catches all plagiarized term papers, including ones that students buy from database companies. They’ve been sold hundreds of times and a student gets caught in a Mexican Standoff between the Student, the Professor and Term Paper Company. The student blames the term paper company, the professor blames the student and the term paper company is the one left standing, with money in its pocket.

You can decide for yourself how you wish to utilize term paper services. They are fantastic resources for research, as long as you know the pitfalls. Custom companies cost more but you are safe from plagiarism issues. Database term paper services or pre-written term paper services work fine if you don’t fall to the temptation of handing the paper in as your own and use it only as a reference because their papers have been sold hundreds of times. The choice is yours but be sure to weigh “The Good”, “The Bad” and “The Ugly”.

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Writing a book review is a bit more complex than writing just a book report. A book review must overview the book, include a critique of the book and conclude with your own personal insights as to the value of the book. Lets look at each individual element of a book review in depth, beginning with the overview of the book.

The overview of the book in a book review should be a brief one paragraph summary of the plot/topic of the book and the author’s goal in writing the book or the author’s thesis. This should include the title of the book, author’s name and any other important publication data. No personal opinion or critique of the book should be made. An example of the beginning of the overview section of a book review is this: Stephanie Meyer’s book Twilight was published in 2008 and is currently one of the hottest books in the New York Times List of Bestsellers. Keep in mind that the overview of the book section should only be approximately 1 paragraph long. Read more…

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We often talk about how difficult it is to choose a term paper topic. The reason we discuss this so much is that it is probably the most important aspect of any research paper, essay or term paper. Right now, a term paper topic that is absolutely foolproof for any class is China. With the Olympics in Beijing and the controversy that surrounds China’s politics, there isn’t a class you can take that you can’t apply a topic on China to. China is hot and we will show you how to impress your profressors by using this topic for a term paper.

Professor’s pride themselves on being literate, well-read and up-to-date on everything. There aren’t many professor’s that don’t think they know it all. With China being in the news every day due to the Olympics, use the hype to make yourself look savvy and well-informed on global issues. For example, your literature class – Examine a few popular Chinese authors; or how about the history of censored reading and literature in libraries or schools in China. Here’s some more great ideas: Read more…

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Summer session term papers can be very different from term papers that you are required to write during the year. Mainly, for term papers due during the summer session, professors do not give you as much time to write the term paper as during a regular semester due to the condensed course work of the shorter session. Therefore, there are several tips that are very helpful in completing summer session term papers. Read more…

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There is no question that most college students find themselves pressed for time when it comes to meeting the myriad demands of college life. Heavy course schedules, part-time employment and, of course, networking and socializing all place a significant demand on a college student’s time resources. Successful time management therefore is vital to reducing the academic stress that results when a student fails to balance academic demands with competing forces like work and play. Read more…

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If you’re a college student, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about when it comes to writing term papers and research papers. Isn’t it enough that you finish the required readings, pass quizzes and tests and keep absences at a minimum? Some students mistakenly think that the academic requirements associated with college are much the same as high school, only a bit more advanced. While this might be true in some cases, college almost also makes more demands on both your time and your intellect. Gone are the days of worrying only about what was discussed in class, completing some homework and studying for a quiz or two. In college, you will find that professors are more demanding. Unlike high school, where most academic obligations are relatively short-term, in college those obligations are often long and drawn-out , requiring you to spend a greater amount of your time preparing and completing them. Term papers and research papers are an ideal example. It is vital therefore that you make adequate room in your schedule for working on your term papers and research papers. Whether you’re preparing for your next one or only beginning to tackle your first, remember that quality term papers and research papers will help you make the grade.

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The task of writing a term paper, research paper, essay or book report can actually get easier over time, especially when you approach it from the perspective of following a simple formula:

Introduction + Body + Conclusion

Although the size of your term paper or research paper will dictate how simple or complex each of these three components of your paper will be, beginning with this simple formula in mind will make the task of writing much easier.

The Introduction

The introduction is one of the most important parts of any paper however it is often one of the most difficult to write. The primary purpose of the introduction is to get the attention of your readers. When formulating a term paper or research paper, begin with a sketch or rough draft of your introduction that tells the reader what your paper is about. You might be surprised to find out that you actually do the finalizing and polishing of your introduction after you’ve completed your paper. In “Shortcuts for the Student Writer”, Silverman, Hughes and Wienbroer suggest several approaches to creating your introduction such as:

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Today, students are no longer bound to the traditional library when it comes to finding sources for their term papers and research papers, thanks to the incredible growth of online or virtual libraries. Virtual libraries can be an invaluable source of research material when you are unable to get to your school or public library on a regular basis or when you do much of your research after hours. Students can find plenty of free electronic versions of classic texts in the public domain offered by these online libraries. The majority offer literature in html format, which makes for easy searching and bookmarking using a Web browser.

The following are some ideal examples of the free virtual libraries available on the web:

• The Online Medieval & Classical Library, where you can search for texts by author or title.
• The Online Books Page, which lists over 30,000 free books, essays and documents.
• The Project Gutenberg, which offers access to over 25,000 free books and a total of more than 100,000 titles through its partners and affiliates.

Virtual libraries like these are often associated with universities, literary associations or other groups interested in the distribution of texts in the public domain. When choosing to use one of these libraries, you should make every effort to establish its validity as a source of authentic, scholarly and public domain works.

Commercial virtual libraries like Questia and Ebrary offer students access to hundreds of thousands of books, journals, magazines and newspaper articles written on a wide array of subjects that can be used in research papers, term papers, essays as well as book reports. And these aren’t just texts in the public domain. On the contrary, students can find copyrighted material in a number of categories including religion, sociology, history, philosophy, economics, political science, psychology and more.

The most popular of these commercial online libraries is Questia. Although Questia offers different subscription rates, a $19.95 monthly fee gets students access to more than 1,500,000 books in all of the categories offered. Text is easily searchable and can be cut and pasted in a word processor for quoting sources in an essay or other type of research paper. Questia even generates citations and bibliographic information for users in APA, MLA and other referencing styles that are most frequently used in term papers and research papers.

Ebrary is another commercial online library, owned in part by the McGraw-Hill Companies. All of the published material provided by Ebrary can be viewed for a minimum $5 set-up fee. There is no charge to view the books, journals and magazines offered by Ebrary however there is a cost of $.25 each time text from any page is cut/copied, pasted and appropriately used and cited in a term paper. While a growing number of colleges and universities now offer their students free access to the Ebrary online library, the company presents its commercial site as an ideal alternative for students who do not have this free access.

Although they may never completely replace the traditional public or school library, free and commercial online libraries can definitely make your term paper and research paper tasks much easier as well as much faster…and who doesn’t like that?

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