Laying the Groundwork
Review your assignment. You may have been given an assignment or prompt for your paper, or a description of it may be found in your syllabus. Review any information you’ve been given about the assignment so that you’re clear on the requirements and format. If you have any questions about your term paper, ask ahead of time. Instructors are usually happy to answer questions provided you’ve read the assignment or prompt first and give them enough time to answer. Do not wait until a day before the paper is due to email your instructor a question about the paper. S/he is likely very busy at that point and will probably not have time to respond. This delay also suggests to your instructor that you have not planned ahead or given the assignment the proper attention.
Decide on a topic. You may have been assigned a topic, or you may be free to choose your own. Even if you have been assigned a general paper topic, it’s likely that you will need to decide on your “angle” in approaching it. For example, “the American Civil War” is too big a topic for a term paper to discuss. You need an angle, such as “Roles of African-Americans in the military during the American Civil War.” You’ll also want to identify your purpose for the paper. Sometimes, this is given to you, such as “Write an analytical paper about ___” or “Discuss the history of ___”. If it isn’t, you may have some freedom to determine your own purpose. Is it to persuade, inform, argue, or analyze? It’s a good idea to check in with your instructor to make sure that your goal aligns with the assignment.
Do your research. Most term papers require research. You should begin to gather research materials before you outline and write your essay. As you write, you will likely discover gaps in your argument that require further research, but you won’t have a good idea about what you want to say until you do some preliminary research. If you have a library, consult with your librarian. Librarians are excellent resources who can guide you to credible and relevant research sources. Make sure your sources are reliable. It’s a good idea to look in published books, peer-reviewed journals, and government or university websites. Credible, mainstream journalism sources, like The New York Times or The Guardian, are also helpful, though make sure you do not rely on editorial or “opinion” pieces as sources of fact. Keep track of your sources. EndNote and RefWorks are very handy for keeping a record of sources you consult. You may have access to these through your school. You can also keep track by writing the bibliographic information (author’s name, title, publisher, place and date of publication) on an index card or in a word processing document. Make sure you record the page numbers and sources for any quotations you copy out.
Develop your topic. You should generate some ideas about your topic before you try to organize your paper. You may find that prewriting exercises can help you get started. Here are a few you can try: Try freewriting. Write for 5-10 minutes about whatever comes to mind about your topic. Don’t stop or edit yourself. Once you’ve written, review your material and highlight or underline things that seem useful starting points. You can repeat this exercise multiple times to generate ideas. Try clustering. Clustering is a type of mind-mapping that can help you see connections between ideas. Start by writing your topic on the center of a piece of paper and draw a box around it. Then, draw a few lines extending from the box. At the end of each of these lines, write down an idea that corresponds to this topic and circle each. Continue drawing lines outward and connecting ideas until you feel like you’ve thoroughly explored the connections between facets of your topic. Try questioning. The big questions, “Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?”, can help you determine what information you need in your paper. Write each question on a separate sheet of paper and respond to the question in as much detail as you can. When you hit places where you do not have answers to the question, make a note to yourself -- these are places where you’ll need to do some inquiry or research.
Write a working thesis. Your thesis statement will likely evolve as you write your term paper. This is very common in argumentative or analytical essays, where you will continue to think about your material as you write, and you may reach conclusions you didn’t expect. It’s important to have a working thesis to start out with so that you know your paper’s central goal or point. It is common in high school to write 3-prong thesis statements, which include three main points, each of which will have its own body paragraph. This type of thesis rarely works for term papers, as they are longer and more complex essays. Go with a statement that states the main focus or claim for your paper.
Start early. A term paper is usually longer than other types of essays, and it often counts for a significant portion of your grade. Additionally, a term paper usually requires research that takes time and work to produce. Don’t wait until the last minute to start working. Work on your paper in stages, if you can. Give yourself at least a day between each stage to allow you to come to the paper with fresh eyes.
Outlining a Term Paper
Begin with your introduction. This may involve explanatory remarks of what your field entails, what the purpose of your paper is, and contextual information that your reader needs in order to understand your argument. Don’t fully write the introduction yet. It’s generally best to wait to draft your introduction until you’ve written the essay. Your thesis and argument is likely to evolve as you write, so spending too much time on the introduction up front may be a waste of time. Write a placeholder outline for now. Introductions usually begin with a broad statement and narrow in until you present your thesis statement. Provide a few bullet points about where you will start and include your thesis statement.
Write topic sentences for each paragraph. Separate different topics into different sections or paragraphs, so that each paragraph deals with one main idea. This provides a visual/organizational clue to the reader that different pieces of information are being presented. Your topic sentences should set the direction for the paragraph. Make sure they act as a “road map” to let the reader know what the main topic will be. Avoid using facts or statements that don’t give an idea of what the rest of your paragraph will argue. A good topic sentence will be informative, directional, and interesting. For example, “Salt water is not suitable for drinking” is not a great topic sentence for a paragraph on water rights, because it does not communicate the main idea of the paragraph. “It is a human right to have clean water” is a better topic sentence, because it asserts your main argument for the paragraph.
Begin your outline’s first level. Once you have your topic sentences, you will have an idea of what your paragraphs will discuss. You can now decide how to organize these paragraphs in the first level of your outline. This level uses capital Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, etc.). I is your introduction. II is your first body paragraph, III is your second body paragraph, and so forth. Place each Roman numeral on a new line, followed by a topic sentence. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the paragraph order. You may find that as you develop your paragraphs further, they fit better in other sections of the paper.
Fill in subpoints on the second level of your outline. The second level of your outline uses English capital letters (A, B, C, D, etc.). This level incorporates subpoints of your main point. They will form the body of your body paragraphs. Place the capital letter on a new line beneath the first level. Indent the second level about 0.5” past the first level. Many word processing programs will do this automatically. List your subtopics beneath your topic sentence. Each subtopic should be related to the main goal or idea of the paragraph. Use your research and the material you generated during prewriting to help you fill in this level.
Expand on subpoints with a third outline level. If you need to, you can use a third outline level to expand on your subpoints. This level uses Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.). Use this level to provide evidence or further explanation for your subpoints.
Provide a conclusion in the last section. Your conclusion will wrap up your argument for your reader. It should return your thesis, but should not restate it exactly. You do not have to write a full conclusion while outlining. You may not have a clear idea of how you want to conclude until you’ve written more of the essay. Common ways to conclude an essay including returning to the theme you introduced in the introduction, extending the relevance of your argument to a broader context or concern, proposing a course of action or solution to a problem, or ending with a provocative question.
Choose a decimal outline structure if you prefer. Although it is less common than the standard alphanumeric organization, you can also organize your outline using only Arabic numbers and decimal points. This type of outline is sometimes used in the final term paper as well, to identify headings and subheadings in a longer work. Begin a decimal outline with “1.0” and each subsequent section with the next number (“2.0”, “3.0”, etc.). Change the number after the decimal point to reflect new information. For example, “2.1” might be your first subpoint, and “2.2” would be your second subpoint. You can continue adding subsections by adding another decimal point and number, such as “2.1.1” etc.
Outlining During Revision
Reverse-outline your first draft. After you have finished writing your first draft, let it sit for a day, if you can. Return to it with fresh eyes and read it through from start to finish. As you read, briefly summarize the main argument of each paragraph. You can do this off to the side of the paper, on a separate sheet of paper, or as a comment in a word processing document. Try to limit your summary to a sentence. You can also use a key phrase or a few keywords. If you’re having trouble summarizing the main idea, it could be a sign that your paragraph is wandering. Consider splitting your paragraph into two paragraphs so that you can devote one to each idea.
Examine this reverse outline. Once you have completed summarizing the main idea of each paragraph, look at what you’ve written. Do the ideas progress logically? Do they seem to build on one another to create momentum for your argument? Or do they wander around?! You may need to consider moving paragraphs around. In some cases, you’ll even need to delete -- yes, delete! -- and rewrite sentences or even whole paragraphs.
Cut your paper up by paragraph. If you’re having trouble envisioning how to organize your term paper after you’ve written the first draft, it could be because you’ve been looking at it too long on your computer screen. Print out the draft and cut it up into its separate paragraphs. Physically swap the paragraphs around. Do they make better sense in another order? In a strong term paper, each paragraph will build upon the previous one, so that there is only one ideal way to structure them for your argument. If you can swap the paragraphs around easily, you may need to hone your focus. Consider adding clearer transitions and topic sentences to help make stronger connections between your paragraphs.
Revise your outline. You’re probably dealing with a fairly long project, so it can help to revise your original outline to reflect the new order you’ve decided on. After you have done this, revise the term paper according to your new outline. After you’ve revised the term paper, double-check with the new outline to make sure that you have stuck with the structure you decided upon.
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