How to Write
a Strong Term Paper
Prof. Michael Gershowitz
Rutgers University
February 2013
First steps (already taken)
• Select a topic that interests you. (You will
enjoy working on it much more.)
• Define the topic so that it is manageable.
– The tendency is to make the topic too broad. The
result is a shallow survey.
– Narrow it down!
Narrow it down!
Instead of
1. The cost of cleaning up
after Hurricane Sandy.
2. Corruption in New Jersey
trial courts.
3. How to improve
graduation rates in urban
NJ school districts: an
administrative approach.
Do this
1. The cost of dune restoration
in Ocean County after
Hurricane Sandy.
2. The conviction of Municipal
Judge Joe Blow for bribetaking: lessons learned.
3. From 32% to 64%: can the
graduation rate from XYZ HS
be doubled with more
effective administration?
Develop a logic model for your paper.
Here is a good one:
1. What is your topic? Why is it important?
2. What has already been written about the
topic? How does this paper build upon
existing knowledge?
3. What new information or new data do you
have to report?
4. What is the meaning or significance of these
data?
5. What else is worth finding out?
1. What is your topic?
Why is it important?
• Give a brief overview of your paper.
Since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act became law in 1965, the
federal government has awarded $N billion dollars of discretionary grant money
to America’s K-12 school districts. The operating assumption has been that this
money has led to an improvement in the quality of education.
• Explain its importance to knowledge of PA.
For decades, this assumption has been unchallenged. That status has changed.
Some presidential candidates want to end federal funding of schools. To make
the discussion useful, we need to know the extent to which discretionary grants
have improved local K-12 education.
2. What has already been written
about the topic?
How does this paper build upon
existing knowledge?
• Review the relevant literature.
Much has been written about the amount of grant money awarded to local
school districts by the U.S. Department of Education. For instance, Smith (2009)
found that xmxmxm xmxmx xmxmxmx xmxmx xmxmx. (More citations.)
Since passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, student achievement has
been more rigorously examined than previously. Testing has become more
standardized, enabling comparisons between states, districts and individual
schools. Johnson (2010b) reported that wkwkw wkw wkwkwkwkw wkwkw.
(More citations.)
2. What has already been written about the topic?
How does this paper build upon existing knowledge?
• Show how your paper builds on work already
done.
Curiously, there appear to be no links between inputs (federal grants) and outcomes
(student achievement). This paper attempts to connect these inputs and outcomes.
In doing so, it provides data that can better inform the ongoing discussion about the
federal government’s proper role in K-12 education.
• Explain your methodology.
To make the scope of work manageable, this study was limited to urban school
districts in one state, New Jersey. Urban districts were defined as those coterminous
with cities of 25,000 or more population. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request was submitted to the Department of Education requesting the following data:
for each discretionary grant awarded in New Jersey: (a) the name of the school and
district; (b) the amount of the grant; (c) the grades to receive services; (d) the
disciplines (e.g., math); and the amount of the grant. Information on student
achievement in all of New Jersey’s urban districts was obtained from the
department’s “Report Card”, which is public information. Data were entered into a
database, and coefficients of correlation were calculated using SPSS software.
3. What new information or new data
do you have to report?
• Present your findings.
When we correlated grants with achievement, we found that the federal
government’s spending was most productive in English language arts and social
sciences, and less so in math and science. Correlations could not be obtained in
English language learning because standardized tests are not given in that
subject. Our findings are presented in the following table:
(Use tables, charts, etc., to present data compactly.)
• Explain any anomalies or problems with the data.
The data for Messtown are reported but their accuracy is suspect. After the data
had been analyzed, the New Jersey Commissioner of Education reported that 22
teachers had admitted changing student test responses in order to raise their
class’ scores.
4. What is the meaning
or significance of these data?
• Explain why your findings are important.
In New Jersey, the large, urban school districts are among the lowest achieving
districts in the state. In fact, eight of the ten districts with the lowest student
achievement are large urban ones. Federal grant funding enabled students in
urban district to close the achievement gap with suburban districts by N%. This
supports the position of those who seek to continue the competitive grants
process in its present form….
5. What else is worth finding out?
• Show how additional research (to be
conducted by you or others) can add to your
contribution.
This paper showed that federal grants were more effective in improving
achievement in English language arts and in social sciences than in math and
science. It did not explore the reasons for this disparity. There are several
possible explanations:
(1) sjsjsjsj sjsjsjs sjs jsjsjsjsjs.
(2) roror ororor ororo rororororor oror ororo.
(3) qyqyq qyq yqy qy qyqyqyqyqyq yqyqyq.
These hypotheses are worthy of study because the findings have the potential to
make the federal investment in math and science education more effective.
Do your research
• Primary research: original field work.
– Interviews.
– Surveys.
– Empirical observations.
• Secondary research: reporting field work by other
scholars.
–
–
–
–
Books.
Journals.
Online sources.
Selected periodicals.
• As you gather material, carefully note its source.
• You should have more data than you can use – best
safeguard against padding.
Be on guard against plagiarism –
credit your sources!
• All secondary sources must be cited whether
quoted or paraphrased.
• Your own research (primary) does not need
citations.
• There are several different styles for citing
sources (footnotes). The convention in PA is to
use the APA style. (American Psychological
Association).
• Note: The Turabian style (superscripted
numbering) is considered obsolete.
Guides to APA style
(thanks to Roberta Tipton, Dana Library)
• The stylebook itself:
http://www.apastyle.org/
• Explanations and discussions:
– http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560
/01//
– http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_o
.html
– http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/worksho
p/citapa.htm
Write a draft
• Don’t get writer’s block – just get your thoughts
down in writing in any form whatsoever.
• Let it sit for a day or two so when you pick it up
again it’s fresh.
• Revise, revise, revise.
• Have a classmate, friend or family member read
and critique it as a “friendly critic.”
• Revise again.
• Make sure all necessary source citations are
there.
A suggestion for keeping organized:
use the same document for notes and
text of the paper.
• Create subheads.
• Fill in the spaces between the subheads with
your notes.
• Later on, refer to the notes as you write the
paper. Delete the notes as you go.
• Use different fonts/styles for notes and paper.
E.g., left-justified italics for notes, and fullyjustified Roman for the paper.
Sample unfinished page
ESEA became law in 1965. No overall eval. Assumption has
always been -- spending money improves achievement. Not a
performance based approach. No data. What data are available?
What do data show? Gov’t spending on ed under attack –
Santorum.
Since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act became law in 1965, the federal
government has awarded $N billion dollars of discretionary grant money to America’s K-12
school districts. The operating assumption has been that this money has led to an
improvement in the quality of education. This assumption has never been tested. All ESEAfunded programs have been evaluated, but there has never been a comprehensive
assessment.
Until recently, there has been a consensus that federal spending on education is at
least acceptable if not desirable. This consensus is diminishing. In the 2012 presidential
campaign, Rick Santorum, one of the Republican frontrunners, has argued for an end to all
federal involvement in K-12 education. This idea has received significant support from
conservatives. The extent to which such a proposal should be taken seriously ought to
depend on the effectiveness of federal funding.
Give your paper a descriptive title
• Not too long, but not too glib. Make it sound
serious.
• Many papers have a title and a subtitle.
General title, more specific subtitle.
• E.g., “Education Grants and Student
Achievement: Does Federal Money Lead to
More Learning?”
• Longer papers (25 pages and up) should also
have an abstract or executive summary.
Can it all fit in 10 pages? YES!*
1. What is your topic? Why is it important?
2. What has already been written about the
topic? How does this paper build upon
existing knowledge?
3. What new information or new data do
you have to report?
4. What is the meaning or significance of
these data?
5. What else is worth finding out?
_______________
* Plus footnotes and bibliography.
Pages
1
1
5
2
1
The Tone of Writing
• Do you want to engage the reader or put him to
sleep?
– Tons of data are tedious.
– Stories about people (“human interest”) are more
interesting.
– Use active voice (“we studied traffic….”),
not passive voice (“traffic was studied….”).
• Good academic writing need not be “academic”. (See:
“Performance, Corporate Style.”)
• Present both sides of an argument. You can support
or favor one side, but be fair. You’re not a blogger,
newspaper columnist or radio talk show host.
The writing style
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Short words.
Short sentences.
Short paragraphs.
No filler words.
Conversational style.
No slang.
No email shortcuts (lol, ttyl, imho, lmao, etc.)
Avoid plagiarism
• Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words
or ideas without giving credit in text or note.
• Research papers build on other people’s
work; do not try to avoid the need for citing
sources.
• Credit must be given not only for quotations
but for paraphrases and discussions.
• APA style is the norm in public administration.
• No citations needed for original research.