Term Paper Help: 75 Tips for Passing without Too Much Effort

So you are assigned another term paper, right? Have you made your way through the five classic stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance? Here are 75 quick tips that can help to invigorate your writing and help you to earn a decent grade without too much effort.
These time-tested tactics may be the only term paper help you need:

Create the right conditions

1. Find a quiet place where nobody will disturb you.
2. Give yourself enough time, so avoid starting too late in the evening.
3. Bring a glass of clear water and make sure the room you’ll be working in has plenty of circulation.

Concentration is key

4. Remove any and all distractions – block the most distracting sites (such apps as FocusBooster, Anti-Social and Concentrate can come in handy).
5. Choose the right music – the best options are classical, jazz or some other genre that is unfamiliar to you.
6. Have brain-boosting snacks (nuts, seeds, fruits) on hand.

Understand the task

7. Be sure that you understand the main goal of the assignment; that is, determine at the outset whether you are being asked to discuss, argue, criticize or analyze.
8. Look up any unfamiliar words in the description of the assignment.
9. Contact your instructor if clarification is needed.

Collect all the essentials

10. Find your notes or borrow them from trustworthy classmates.
11. Have a laptop, pens, pencils and a notebook at the ready.
12. Make yourself comfortable in your chair, but not too comfortable (don’t try to work in bed).

Do the research

13. Start with basic Google searches (scholar.google.com, books.google.com are very useful here).
14. You can use a free essay database for your research, too.
15. Consider using crowd-sourcing platforms (SurveyMonkey, HelpaReporter or simply your social media contacts list can help a lot).

Speed reading skills can help with term paper writing

16. Use Ctrl+F to search documents instead of reading them in full.
17. Concentrate on abstracts, intros and conclusions.
18. If you have to read an article in full, consider special speed-reading apps, such as Boba, Acceleread and ReadQuick.

Begin citing sources at the outset

19. Make it a rule to cite sources as you research.
20. Know the rules of the recommended writing style (APA, MLA etc.).
21. Always save the links or full text documents to avoid losing them accidentally.

Avoid plagiarism

22. Use quotation marks for direct quotes.
23. Give credit to the authors you cite.
24. Always provide sources when you cite important data, such as stats and figures.

Make effective notes

25. Write down any important ideas you find.
26. Write down ideas as they cross your mind.
27. Draw mind maps that connect ideas with arrows instead of writing out full sentences.

Brainstorm

28. Set a timer and prepare to generate as many ideas as you can in a short period of time.
29. Start a timer and write down every idea that crosses your mind.
30. Select the best ideas.

Outline

31. Use classic structure (Introduction + literature review + methodology + results + discussion + limitations + conclusion).
32. Write one full sentence for every section.
33. Decide how many words you should write for each section.

Stay productive

34. If you feel tired, do some exercise to keep your blood running and feel refreshed.
35. Take small pauses regularly. For instance, 50 minutes working and 10 minutes rest is a proven success formula.
36. If you feel reluctant to write, try the idling method. Sit and do absolutely nothing for ten or fifteen minutes.

Write an introduction

37. Include an attention hook – some striking statistic, an interesting quote or a rhetorical question.
38. State your main goals.
39. Formulate your hypothesis or research questions.

Polish a thesis statement

40. Include a thesis statement at the end of the introduction section – a brief summary of your entire paper.
41. Make sure that your thesis statement makes sense, and answers the question, ‘so what?’
42. Include some controversy in your thesis statement to show that you are able to view the various sides of the issue.

Write a literature review

43. Divide sources into groups according to the point of view chosen by the authors.
44. Look for aspects of your topic that other authors have not addressed.
45. Make a realistic promise to fill that gap.

Choose methodology

46. Decide between quantitative or qualitative research and whether you will give more attention to primary or secondary sources.
47. Decide whether representative or convenience sampling is more suitable to your topic.
48. Consider how many sources you need in order to reach reasonable conclusions.

Describe your findings

49. Provide a detailed description of your findings.
50. Provide only figures.
51. Avoid expressing your opinion at this point.

Discuss your findings

52. Draw conclusions from your findings.
53. Discuss the main trends.
54. Describe any relationships among different aspects of your work.

Mention possible limitations

55. Discuss possible sources of bias in researchers or participants.
56. If you used convenience sampling, be sure to mention it as one of these limitations.
57. Discuss aspects that might be improved in your term paper.

Write a conclusion

58. Start with a brief summary of your research process and findings.
59. Avoid including any new information.
60. Offer suggestions for further research.

Take a deserved rest.

By this point, you’ll forget you wanted term paper help in the beginning.

61. Before proofreading, be sure to take a break.
62. Call a friend.
63. Watch some funny videos.

Use spell and grammar checkers

64. Check your grammar with Grammarly, Ginger or WhiteSmoke.
65. Check your style with Expresso or WordRate.
66. Check your punctuation with Spellcheckplus.com or Onlinecorrection.com.

Proofread

67. Check every suggestion from proofreading tools.
68. Proofread the whole thing once again without using any of these tools.
69. To have a fresh eye, try reading the sections in reverse order, or print your draft out rather than reading it from the screen.

Polish format

70. Double check font, margins and spacing.
71. Check the citations and bibliography page.
72. Make sure that every section is in the right place: title page, outline, bibliography and appendices.

Submit your paper

73. Submit your paper.
74. Forget about it for a while.
75. Relax. Smile.