GS 108: INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION LITERACY

LECTURE 6
Overview of academic writing process

LECTURER: Rosa M. Kinaka

Bishop McCauley Memorial Library
Email: mrosa@cuea.edu

Putting Research Information at the Centre of Scholarship 1

 Expected Learning outcomes

By the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

Understand what is a term paper
 Discuss the reasons for writing a term paper,
Explain the procedure of writing a term paper
Discuss the qualities of an effective term paper

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 WRITING A TERM PAPER
WHAT IS A TERM PAPER? DEFINITIONS:
i. It is a type of research paper written by students in
universities and colleges on a given topic and which relies on other
sources for clarification and verification of evidence of various
arguments.
ii. It is a concept paper that seeks to demonstrate understanding
in a particular body of knowledge of interest to the researcher
whereby the author is expected to critique a body of knowledge by
providing contrasting views and arguments.
iii. It is the end product of a research process which involves
gathering relevant information or data on a topic by using techniques
such as library research, questionnaire administration, interviews and
observation.
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 KEY PRINCIPLES

 They are submitted to subject instructors at least once for each course
and usually form a significant part of final grade in that course.
 In some universities the term paper goes under names such as,
documented paper, extended essay, library paper, semester paper,
seminar paper, or simply research paper.
 In writing term papers, you may use primary or secondary sources of
information. Primary sources include original works by authors, face-to-
face interview notes, questionnaires or firsthand reports of observation.
 Other examples of primary sources are letters, literary works (e.g. poems,
drama, and prose fiction), the bible, speeches, memoirs, manuscripts and
newspaper articles.
 Secondary sources are those that report on works of others such as journal
articles, commentaries, books, essays, reference works, and television
recordings.

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 After reviewing and evaluating the available body of
knowledge on a subject, you are expected to incorporate your
personal insights on the topic, and support that position with
findings and conclusions of others in the field.
The paper should end by mentioning areas that would be
important for further empirical and/or conceptual research.

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 REASONS FOR WRITING A TERM PAPER
So why do instructors assign term papers? The purpose of
term papers is three-fold:
(a) To deepen the students’ understanding of a topic:
Writing a term presents an opportunity for you to delve into a
topic beyond what is possible in the lecture your instructor
presents in the class.
The amount you learn about an area will expand significantly
as you do research and write the paper.

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 (b) To orientate the students into professional and scholarly
academic research and writing:
In most career options such as law practice, journalism,
management and teaching one is required to find information,
analyze it, draw conclusions and convey the same to others.
Term paper writing in class sharpens your analytic and
communication skills in preparation for the professional career
you may wish to pursue after graduating.

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 (c) To demonstrate students capacity to carry out independent
research:
Term papers are often a course requirement and contribute
towards the final course mark that seeks to assess the student’s
ability to carry out independent academic research work on a
selected topic.
You will be evaluated on your capacity to define a topic for
research, articulate a coherent scheme for examining this topic,
gather and evaluate the necessary information, and finally,
analyze and present it in a manner that effectively addresses the
topic.

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 OUTLINE OF THE PROCEDURE OF WRITING A TERM
PAPER

Whether in your institution the term paper is referred to as

documented paper, extended essay, library paper, semester
paper, or simply research paper, to accomplish an assignment
in this genre you are required to use the following procedure:
I. Determine, narrow and refine the topic on which you will
write a paper,
II. Familiarize yourself with the works of experts on that
particular topic in the form of printed books, journal articles,
and Internet articles or through personal contact in form of
interviews, questionnaires, and observation, Identify, read
and relevant notes of ideas and perspectives

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 III. Analyze and interpret the ideas of experts you have
collected by summarizing them and discussing their meaning
and application (Parish, 1981),
IV. Integrate your personal insights into your analysis and
interpretation of the ideas of others (Gibaldi, 2003)
V. Present the final product in form of a critical essay of
moderate length (10 – 20 typed pages) in unambiguous and
easily understood style.

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 QUALITIES OF AN EFFECTIVE TERM PAPER

(a) Wide reading and varied ideas: You have to show evidence
that you have examined many sources of information.
(b) Critical thinking, analysis and interpretation: This implies
that in the process of doing research do not take the views of
others as the ‘gospel’ truth simply because they have been
published or are presented as expert opinion.
(c) Originality: Your purpose in writing is to create new
knowledge while recognizing other peoples’ ideas that you have
used in your paper.

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 (d) Objectivity: You are expected to present your paper
from an objective point of view
(e) Organization and coherence: You are expected to
present your ideas in a logical structure, appropriate to the
paper’s subject, purpose, audience, thesis and disciplinary field.
(f) Use of appropriate style: You need to use correct grammar,
punctuations, and spelling. Choose words that have precise
meaning and are specific to what you intend to say. Your
sentence style should be varied, clearly structured, and focused
and at the same time fit the audience (Langan, 2003).

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 GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE TERM
PAPER
(a) General form of the term paper
General style
i. Print or type using a 12 point standard font, such as
Times New Roman, Geneva, Bookman, Helvetica, etc.
ii. Text should be 1.5 spaced on standard A4 paper with
2.5cm margins, single sided
iii. Number pages consecutively – about 10 pages

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 Mistakes to avoid
i. Placing a heading at the bottom of a page with the
following text on the next page (insert a page break!)
ii. Dividing a table or figure across pages – confine each
figure/table to a single page
iii. Submitting a paper with pages out of order

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 i. Stay focused on the research topic

ii. Use paragraphs to separate each important point (except for the
abstract). Do not use bullets, numbers, bold or underlining within the
text. Use the bold typeface only for headings.

iii. Present your points in logical order

iv. Avoid first and second person references – i.e., avoid “I conducted
the research, or we…”

v. Use third person references – i.e. “the research was conducted…”

vi. Avoid addressing the reader directly, i.e., do not say “if you talk to
the insurance companies you will find …”

vii. Avoid jargon or slang terms

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 viii. Do not abbreviate words – i.e., say “the study did not
find….” and not “the study didn’t find …”

ix. If you use any figures and/or tables, refer to each figure and
table as "Figure 1…," "Table 2…," etc, and not “the figure
above…”. ;

x. Place figures and tables, properly numbered, within your

paper. Do not group your figures and tables at the end of your paper.

xi. Each figure must be numbered consecutively and complete

with caption at the bottom of the figure.

xii. Each table must be numbered consecutively and complete

with heading at the top of table.

xiii. Each figure and table must be sufficiently complete that it

could stand on its own, separate from text.

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 SECTIONS OF YOUR TERM PAPER

1. Title page
Select an informative title that clearly tells the reader what
the paper is about. It should be concise. Include a sub-heading
if necessary. Include your institution, faculty, Department, Your
name and Student Number name of the course, the Title of the
assignment, and date submitted.

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 2. Abstract
An abstract is a concise single paragraph summary of completed
work.
This is a summary of the paper: the purpose and objectives,
methodology where applicable, arguments or findings, conclusions
and recommendations
The abstract should be one paragraph of two hundred words or
less.
From the abstract, the reader can learn the rationale behind the
study, general approach to the problem, pertinent results, and
important conclusions or new questions.

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 Writing an abstract
Write your abstract after the rest of the paper is completed.
After all, how can you summarize something that is not yet
written?
Economy of words is important in an abstract.
However, use complete sentences and do not sacrifice
readability for brevity.
You can keep it concise by wording sentences so that they
serve more than one purpose.

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 Single paragraph and concise
An abstract should stand on its own, and not refer to any
other part of the paper such as a figure or table, or cite
references.
Focus on summarizing results – limit background
information to a sentence or two, if absolutely necessary.
What you write in an abstract must be consistent with what
you have written in the paper.
Correct spelling, clarity of sentences and phrases, and proper
use of language are just as important in an abstract as they
are anywhere else.

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 3. Introduction
Your introduction should be approximately three pages (1.5
spacing).
General intent
The purpose of an introduction is to acquaint the reader with
the rationale behind the work, with the intention of defending it.
It places your work in a theoretical context, and enables the
reader to understand and appreciate your objectives.

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 Writing an introduction
Here is the minimum information that should be included in
a successful introduction.
i. Describe the importance (significance) of the study – why
was this worth doing in the first place? Provide a broad context.
ii. Defend the model you are using – What are its advantages?
You might comment on its suitability from a theoretical point of
view as well as indicate practical reasons for using it.
iii. Provide a rationale. State your specific objective(s), and
describe the reasoning that led you to select them.

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 Style
Organize your ideas, making one major point with each
paragraph.
Present background information only as needed in order to
support a position. The reader does not want to read everything
you know about a subject.
State the objectives precisely.
As always, pay attention to spelling, clarity and
appropriateness of sentences and phrases.

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 4. Body of the paper (you may have several sub-sections
here depending on what is appropriate for your topic)
The body of the paper represents the literature reviewed to
present both the contemporary concepts in the area of study and
previous studies that have used those concepts, how they have
used them and what conclusions they have arrived at.
This helps to link your research to what has been done before
and if possible, develop your conceptual framework.

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 In developing the body of your paper consider the following:
i. Compare and contrast different authors’ views on an
issue
ii. Group authors who draw similar conclusions,
iii. Note areas in which authors are in disagreement,
iv. Show how your arguments relate to previous studies,
v. Outline any gaps in previous research,

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 5. Conclusion
Conclude by summarising what the literature says, and
highlight knowledge gaps that could benefit from further
empirical and/or conceptual research.
Remember the objective(s) you had when you started writing
the paper. Your conclusion should tie in the key arguments to
support or address the objectives.

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 Literature cited and referenced
Within the text, cite all references used using author’s
surname and year of publication.
Please refer to the Referencing Guide for details on
appropriate citation and referencing.
The use of footnotes and endnotes for referencing is not
acceptable.
In your list of references include ALL and ONLY that
literature which you have cited within your text.
Referencing of cited works should consistently follow a
recognised format e.g. APA, MLA, Turabian method, etc
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 IMPORTANT – Proofread!
Avoid incomplete sentences, redundant phrases, obvious
misspellings, and other symptoms of a hurriedly written
paper.
Spelling and grammatical errors can be embarrassing.
For example, the words “the” and “them” are both correct
in spelling, so your spell-checker will not pick them out,
but could be grammatically wrong in the context used.
When you print off your paper, please make sure that
tables are not split over more than one page that headings
are not "orphaned", or pages submitted out of sequence,
etc. Remember, someone has to read this paper. Please
make it pleasant for them to do so!
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