What You Need to Know about Research Papers
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 research papers are far more rigorous than they are for term papers. While it would be acceptable to write a biographical term paper, it is not acceptable to write a research paper in this fashion. 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 former is the more common by far. The difference can easily be seen by simply looking at an example. For psychology class, one could talk about the current theories about play therapy and how those theories have been tested in the field. That would be the first kind of research paper. You could also conduct a play therapy group for a few children over the course of a six-month period and then write up the results; this would be the second kind of resarch 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. Nevertheless, it is still possible to base research papers upon primary research, such as that conducted in the course of an internship, a summer apprenticeship, and so forth.
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. If you don’t, you will be very unhappy when you receive your first graded research paper back from your professor. If this happens, consider purchasing an excellent model paper, one written by a reputable academic writing and research company. A model paper will help you learn how to write your own research papers and term papers, and understand the difference between the two.
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