Coursework is a student’s qualification text, that is, the purpose of writing it is to demonstrate a certain level of qualification of a future specialist. This is a work of a certain genre. It should be written according to certain rules regarding both the content and the design. This article is devoted to how to do term paper so that the basic requirements for its content and design are met.
Novelty requirement
Students standardly make a number of gross errors in the approach to how to do term paper. Example: substitution of term paper for abstract. Some students are sure that this is one and the same, only coursework is slightly larger in volume. Despite the numerous explanations of teachers about how to do term paper, students incorrectly see the very purpose of their work and offer to check the compilation of other people's texts, that is, an abstract. What is its global difference from term paper?
An abstract is only a statement of the existing scientific information about a topic. No matter how soundly scientific literature has been mastered, any presentation of it is secondary. Refereeing is an obligatory part of any qualification work, one cannot limit it only to this.
Coursework is a research work using scientific tools and in the context of existing research. That is, this is an independent scientific work, the determining criterion of whose consistency is novelty. Moreover, for each science and for each university, the criteria for evaluating work are different. Therefore, before doing term paper, it is better to ask for samples of its implementation at your department. They will help you understand the genre, understand the specifics, set the stereotype of design. Below is a sample title page design.
The requirement of a scientific context and following a methodology
If you ask yourself the question of how to do the term paper correctly, then you can not help but say that the second mistake of students is the substitution of qualification work for an essay, reasoning or extended control work. What is the difference between term paper from these genres? It consists in the fact that they all do not imply scientific responsibility for what has been said. Conclusions may not be substantiated, not rely on scientific achievements and scientific tools.
Thus, the essay differs from the term paper in the absence of a creative, research part, an essay - in the absence of an abstract part.
Choosing a topic for term paper
When answering the question of how to do term paper, you should definitely mention the choice of topic. It should be chosen as a research topic. Since the term paper is not graduation (it is not written in the last year of study), the level of knowledge and research skills of the student is not quite high, so you should choose a narrow topic to which the scientific tools that have already been mastered by the student or can be potentially mastered in the course of work.
Correction of the topic, as well as its wording, can be carried out as the work progresses, however, you need to decide on the subject of the study (with what you will research and in what perspective) before starting all the work. The statement of the topic - this is the statement of the subject of research and of what, with the help of which (what tools, what methods) you will explore.
Search and accounting of materials
The search for materials for research and their correct design should also be considered when answering the question of how to do term paper (example: keeping a strict record of the sources of legislative acts, compiling a file cabinet, a database of links, etc.). This part of the design of the term paper cannot be left “for later”. Records should be kept immediately clean.
Research Search
Since term paper consists of two large substantive blocks - research and abstract, then it should be conducted simultaneously in two directions: research of materials and the development of scientific literature. The result of work in these areas should be their synthesis. In parallel with the search and primary processing of research materials, work should be done to compile and develop a bibliographic database.
The author should be well aware that the scientific literature for his work is divided into two large blocks: theoretical tools and research papers devoted to the study of the same or similar material that is the subject of research on term paper.
Scientific literature is divided into fundamental research (monographs) and private articles. Selecting material, it must immediately be properly designed. How to make references in the term paper (an example of design that is relevant for your university, you need to take at the department), you should take care in advance so as not to redo your work.
Reading scientific literature, writing ideas and quotes
One of the features of the design of the term paper is that any borrowed idea or quote should be adequately commented on and provided with a link to the publication indicating the page number. Most young researchers accumulate materials in the form of bookmarks in the browser, PDF files, etc., before doing term papers in Word. However, you need to start registration immediately, without waiting for the accumulation of materials.
When mastering scientific literature, it’s worth immediately creating a database of correctly formatted quotes. Before you do a term paper on the model, you can always have some draft text or even just a file with quotes and comments on them. This is very convenient for working with them, and for the last stage - writing the final text. To make quotes easy to use later (paste in a term paper), enclose each of them in quotation marks, and make a link next to it as it should (for example, in square brackets with the name of the author and page number). We offer a sample of how to draw up the contents of the course work.
When reading, it is also worth immediately reformulating the thoughts of the researchers, basic for your work, in your own words and filling them out appropriately (provide a link indicating the publication and page number). You will get a peculiar diary of the reader, you will not get confused in the materials, which by the end of the year will accumulate a lot. A huge part of the work will be done.
Keeping Research Records
Another mistake of the authors of educational qualification works is that students underestimate the volume of materials and overestimate their abilities to cope with these volumes. Even an experienced specialist needs regular recordings of his ideas, in fixing the wording that comes during the writing of the text. Therefore, when working with materials, any ideas and thoughts should be recorded.
Organizing notes and thinking up a work concept
When the bibliographic and heuristic records will accumulate, they should begin to be systematized and prescribed in more detail, combined with each other in sections, blocks. At this stage, the concept of scientific research is born. During this period, the topic of the work is specified (it can be narrowed or expanded to be able to attract new interesting material).
Course work plan
After the accumulation of materials, it is worth writing down the research plan in detail. The formal table of contents (titles of chapters and paragraphs) should correspond to the logic and semantic emphasis of the course. Think about what thoughts and ideas you can bring to the logical end, and which will be the prospects of the study (they can be stated in the conclusion, and not in the main part of the study).
It is wise to start drawing up a plan by writing down the main ideas that you would like to convey in the text of the work. They can be recorded first in the order in which they come to mind. Then it is worth highlighting among them the main and secondary. After that, you need to think about how they are all interconnected.
It is always worth remembering that the best is the enemy of the good. Usually, even the most experienced researchers are not able to express their ideas in all their depths. You need to write about the fact that you understand well what suits your qualifications. Ideas that you understand at the level of intuition should be left out of course.
Work with text
If regular notes were made during the school year and attempts were made to systematize them, then writing the correct text of the course work will not be difficult, since the main work has already been done. Quotations are already drawn up and systematized, it is enough just to clarify their logical place in the text, write comments on them, check the relevance of Internet addresses. The main ideas have already been formulated. You just need to clarify them, write in more detail, add some materials, illustrations, comments.
The introduction to the course work
The introductory part to a scientific work is usually written according to strict canons. This is your coursework business card. The introduction should clearly and clearly state what is being explored, from what perspective, which scientific school the researcher relies on, what traditions it follows, what methods and methodology it uses, what ideas in science are determining for it, what is its main goal It sets itself what tasks it solves in order to achieve this goal. It should also be noted how the results of the study can be applied, whether they have any prospects.
Each university and each department has its own traditions of designing an introduction. Somewhere, this is a formal, strictly structured part of the study, with obligatory points: the object and subject of the study, scientific base, novelty, etc. In other cases, you need to write an introduction in a more free form, but tell about all these aspects in more detail. An example of how to do the term paper and fill out the introduction should be provided by the supervisor or laboratory assistant of the department.
Work on content blocks of text
Almost never a scientific text is written immediately from the first to the last word. This happens only when a scientist for many years "hatched" a monograph, lived this research, and he had only to draw up his thoughts. Even in these cases, the work is carried out in blocks. Student work is almost impossible to write like that. Engage in those fragments that you are ready to work with. Logical transitions, introductions, comments, connectives are written later. If the main content blocks are already registered, working on introductory fragments, connectives, conclusions and composition is much easier.
How to make footnotes in a term paper: an example
Footnotes in the term paper are made out as in any other scientific study. Registration through footnotes at the bottom of the page is considered obsolete, you need to refer to the item in the bibliographic list indicating the name of the author, year of publication (only if there are several works of the author) and page number (s) through a colon. In any modern scientific work, familiarizing yourself with the samples, you can learn how to make references in the term paper. Example: "... (quote) ..." (Lotman, 2003: 245). The brackets can be square or round - this must be checked with the supervisor.
Design bibliography and applications
The correct design of the bibliographic list by many mistakenly refers to the optional, insignificant part of the work. However, the bibliography is an indicator of the degree of scientific work, and its design is an indicator of the degree of the author’s ability to work in the scientific genre and follow traditions and standards. How references are made in the course work to this list is also one of the main criteria for evaluating your work and you, as a specialist.
The list of references is one of the most important questions about how to do term paper. A sample of the correct decoration of the list fragment:
- Kruglyakova T. A. From the history of ontolinguistic research in Russia // Problems of Ontolinguistics - 2018. Materials of the annual international scientific conference. March 20-23, 2018, St. Petersburg. Ivanovo, 2018 .-- S. 3-11.
- Tseytlin S. N. Essays on word formation and morphogenesis in children's speech. M., 2009.
One of the most insidious mistakes in compiling a bibliographic list is the inclusion in it of works to which the researcher does not refer in the text. Any reviewer can quickly “scan” the text for its compliance with the presented list. If the number of items in the list is significantly exceeded, this is a signal that the student has mastered an insufficient number of scientific texts.
The second mistake, exceeding the first in the degree of “seditiousness,” is the inclusion of works not read by the author of the term paper. This jeopardizes the successful defense of the term paper, since it is enough for any specialist to ask one neat question to find out how familiar the student is with the literature indicated on the list.
How to make coursework applications
Applications are materials that are inaccessible to the auditor, tables, graphs, illustrations, which constitute a single whole with the term paper. They should be only if the topic requires it. In addition, they should be appropriate. It is desirable that their presence be motivated and commented on in the introduction. Of course, their volume is not taken into account when counting pages of work.
Applications are placed at the end of the work under the headings "Appendix No. ...". A subheading (title) is desirable but not required. Applications should be listed in the table of contents.
From the author of the course work is never required the depth of thoughts and a wide range of scientific contexts. The text of the course work is an indicator of how much a student is able to do regular work, correctly keep notes and master the material, arrange it. Now, examiners even pay attention to how term paper is done in Word, that is, does the student have sufficient knowledge of its functionality. You should not "take by storm" the annual qualification work. If you do this a little, but regularly, your work will not only be of high quality, but it will also bring pleasure.