What You Need to Know about Research Papers
Posted by admin | Under accredited online universities Wednesday Sep 23, 2009
Term papers and research papers are often seen as the same thing, which is unfortunate, because in truth, they are quite different entities. The requirements for term papers are much less rigorous than for research papers. While most professors would accept a term paper that was a biography, they would not accept that in a research paper. No: a research paper would need to go far beyond the biography level and move into areas such as interpreting the major works of the person highlighted in the paper, how those works relate to today’s society, and other such examples of higher-level analysis.
In short, term papers can be based upon not too many rigorous sources, and written without heavy-duty scholarship, but a research paper should not be so. This is why term papers are far more common in high school, whereas research papers really come into their own in college and university.
There are two main types of research papers: those based upon the scholarly work of others, and those which detail research done by the writer him or herself. The second kind of research paper is a lot less common than the first. This difference can be seen by examining an example. One could write a research paper that details the various ways psychologists have used play therapy to help children living with violent parents. This illustrates, through example, the first kind of research paper one could write. You could also write about the play therapy group you ran for a year and how that affected the children in it; that would be the second kind of research paper.
It is clear, then, why the first type of research paper is far more common among college students; such high-level research is typically far beyond the ability of most undergraduate students to conduct. Even so, undergraduate students can base research papers upon research they conduct, such as during internships or community service stints.
Either way, it is critical for students to know the difference between the two types of papers introduced in the beginning of this article; namely, term papers and research papers. Otherwise, you will be very disappointed with the grade on your college research paper. If this happens, consider purchasing an excellent model paper, one written by a reputable academic writing and research company. Model papers can be of great assistance in learning to write your own papers.
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