Plato 2

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Term Paper Writing: Elements and documentation

Introduction Different courses may have different requirements for the writing of a term paper. You need to find them out and comply with them. This website introduces some common principles and elements for a proper term paper. Samples of standard format of English and Chinese documentation are provided for your reference. 1. Components of a Term Paper

2. Guidelines for Preliminaries 3. Guidelines for Text 4. Guidelines for Reference Materials

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1. Components of a Term Paper i. Preliminaries

a. Title Page b. Abstract (if required) c. Table of Contents (if required)

ii. Text

a. Introduction b. Main Body (Chapters or Sections) c. Conclusion

iii. Reference Materials

a. Parenthetical Documentation b. Notes (if any) c. Appendix (if any) d. English References e. Chinese References

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2. Guidelines for Preliminaries 2.1. Title Page

A title page contains: i. the title of your paper ii. your name and student number iii. the course name and code, iv. the instructor’s name v. the due date

2.2. Abstract

An abstract is a brief summary of the main ideas of your term paper usually in about 100 to 200 words. The main elements are as follows:

i. a short statement of your research nature or subject ii. a brief description of your general theoretical approach and

research methods iii. a short summary of your main arguments and research findings

2.3. Table of Contents

A table of contents provides an analytical outline of your paper with the sequence of your presentation. A table of contents should list out:

i. the heading of every division of the paper ii. the subheadings of every subsection within the divisions (if any) iii. page number for every division and subsection

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3. Guidelines for Text 3.1. Introduction

An introduction should be an interesting opening to show the main theme and specific topics of your paper. An introduction usually forms through:

i. a concise and complete statement of your research question or the general purpose of your term paper.

ii. a justification for your study (the significance) iii. a background to your research question and a review of the relevant

literatures on it (literature review) iv. a brief statement of the sources of data, the procedure or methods of

analysis (methodology) v. a preview of the organization of the paper

3.2. Main Body (Chapters or Sections)

Since the topics of term papers are so diverse, it is impossible to give specific indications of how to write the main body of a term paper. But, the general rule is that you must organize your presentation in a logical framework with a clear conceptual linkage among sections and give every point with substantial support from concrete source.

3.3. Conclusion

A conclusion should provide a firm ending of what you have discussed in the paper and, preferably, further to reach a judgment, to endorse one side of an issue, or to offer directives. A good conclusion usually contains:

i. a recapitulation of the main findings or main themes ii. statements about the specific values or alternative insights of your paper

for understanding the subject matter iii. indications of the important relevance to the current circumstance or

future possibility iv. suggestions for policy in points to your findings

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4. Guidelines for Reference Materials Different institutions have developed different styles of documentation. No matter which one you use for your paper, the principle is to be consistent. The format system provided. Here comes from the American Psychological Association (APA system).

4.1. Parenthetical Reference

A term paper must have a clear documentation of all reference materials used in the text. This requires that your paper must indicate from where you obtained:

i. direct quotations ii. borrowed ideas (including paraphrases and summaries) iii. data and cases (if they did not come through your own research)

Sample:

i. One work by one author If the author’s name appears in the text, Walker (2000) compared reaction times

If not, In a recent study of reaction times (Walker, 2000)

ii. One work by multiple authors First citation in the text: Wasserstein, Zappulla, Rosen, Gerstman, and Rock (1994) found

First next citation in the text: Wasserstien et al. (1994) found

iii. One work by group as author Use the name of the group as the author Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (1997) found

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iv. Authors with the same surname For one work by one author, show author’s initials in all text citation: R. D. Luce (1959) and P. A. Luce (1986) also found

For one work by multiple authors, show the first author’s initials in all text citation:

J. M. Goldberg and Neff (1961) and M. E. Goldberg and Wurtz (1972) studied

v. Two or more works within the same parenthese By different authors: Several studies (Balda, 1980; Kamil, 1988; Pepperberg & Funk, 1990)

By the same author: Past research (Gogel, 1984, 1990)

By the same author in the same year: Several studies (Johnson, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c)

vi. Specific parts of a source

One specific page: (Cheek & Buss, 1981, p.332)

More than one page: (Cheek & Buss, 1981, pp. 332-333)

A specific chapter: (Shimamura, 1989, chap.3)

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4.2. Notes The notes at the foot of each page are called as footnotes. The notes at the end of each chapter or at the end of the paper before other reference materials are called as endnotes. But, both formats and functions are the same.

i. Documentation notes Footnotes or endnotes for reference documentation is seldom used now. In APA system, it is replaced by the parenthetical documentation form. If you would like to know how to use footnotes or endnotes for reference documentation, see The research paper: Process, form, and content by Roth (1986, chap. 8) or Assignment and thesis writing by Anderson and Poole (2001, chap. 11).

ii. Content notes However, it remains common to use footnotes or endnotes for providing additional content in the text. Such footnotes or endnotes may:

a. include material which is not strictly relevant to the main argument while yet is too important to be omitted.

b. explain, supplement, amplify material that is included in the main text.

c. give cross-reference to other sections of a paper

4.3. Appendix The purpose of appendix is to provide reader with detailed information which would be distracting to read in the main body of the paper. Usually, the information in an appendix is a large table, a long cross-reference to the text, a sample of a questionnaire or other survey instrument used in the research.

If your paper has only one appendix, you should simply label it Appendix; if your paper has more than one appendix, you need to label each one with a capital letter (Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, etc.)

4.4. English References

At the end of your paper, you must provide a reference list in an alphabetical order by the surname of the author. If you use the title Bibliography, you can list out both references cited in the text and the relevant works which have been consulted. If you use the title Reference, you should only list out the

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references cited in the text. General forms:

i. Book reference Author’s name. (Year). Title of work. Location: Publisher

ii. A chapter or an article in an edited book

Author’s name. (Year). Title of chapter or article. In Editor’s name (Ed.), Title

of book (page numbers). Location: Publisher.

iii. Periodical (e.g., journal articles) Author’s name. (Year). Title of article. Title of periodical, Volume Number,

Page.

iv. Daily newspaper report or article

Heading of the report or the article. (year, month and date). Title of the

newspaper, page.

Sample: Book reference

i. A reference to an entire book Beck, C. A. J., & Sales, B. D. (2001). Family mediation: Facts, myths, and

further prospects. Washington, DC: American Psychological

Association.

ii. Book in new edition (second, third, etc.)

Mitchell, T. R., & Larson, J. R. (1987). People in orga nizations: An

introduction to organizational behavior (3rd ed.). New York: Mcgraw-Hill.

iii. Edited book

Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L.N. (Eds.). (1991). Children of color: Psychological

interviews with minority youth. San Francisco: Jossey-bass.

iv. Translated work

Laplave, P. -S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities (F. W. Truscott &

F. L. Emory, Trans.). New York: Dover. (Original work published 1814)

v. Book, group author as publisher

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American Bureau of Statistics. (1991). Estimated resident population by age

and sex in statistical area, New South Wales, June 1991 (No. 3209.1).

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Author

Note. When the author and publisher are identical, use Author as the same of the publisher.

Sample: A chapter or an article in an edited book

Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human

memory. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory

& consciousness (pp. 309-330). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Sample: Periodical

Mellers, B. A. (2000). Choice and the relative pleasure of consequences.

Psychological Bulletin, 126, 910-924.

Sample: Daily newspaper report or article

New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. (1993, July

15). The Washington Post, p. A12.

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4.5. Chinese References For paper written in Chinese, the format of reference documentation used by Chinese Social Science Quarterly (CSSQ System) is recommended. The details are as follows:

《中國社會科學季刊》 注釋體例說明

注釋體例建制是學術研究規範代的一項重要內容，一方面，它表明作者對他人學術著述的尊重，

以及自身從事研究的基點和依托；另一方面，亦有助於讀者查閱相關文獻，獲得比較全面的信息；

故完整而準確的引文注釋，在學術研究和交流活動中具有不可忽視的作用和意義。在國際學術交

流日趨頻繁之今日，建立一種規範化的注釋體例，對於中國社會科學的發展顯得尤為迫切。

本刊願與廣大讀者/ 作者一起從事這項建設性的活動。下面所述的格式，是本刊在參酌國內外有

關資料後擬釆用的注釋方式。自然，一種規範的形成，需要互動者的創造而非被動的接受。我們

真誠歡迎廣大作者/ 讀者的 “參與”，在實踐中確立和完善學術研究的注釋規範。

一、 著作引文注釋

統一規格：作者、書名、卷次、版本﹝出版社名、出版年份﹞、頁碼。

範例：

1. 徐民：《抗美援期的歷史回顧》，北京：中國廣播出版社 1990 年版，頁 5、7。

2. 柴成文、趙永田：《板門店談判》，上海：上海人民出版社 1989 年版，頁 5-9。

3. ﹝作者為三人以上﹞王永民等：《五筆字型輸入法》，石家莊：河北人民出版社1992年版，

頁 5、8、12。

4. ﹝集體作者﹞軍事科學院軍史研究室：《朝鮮戰爭史話》，北京：解放軍出版社1990年版，

頁 233。

5. 《魯迅全集》，卷 13﹝十以下用漢字表示，十以上用阿拉伯數字﹞，北京：人民文學出版

社 1991 年版，頁 9。

6. 《魯迅全集》，卷十，北京：人民文學出版社 1991 年版，頁 462、464。

編寫：

7. 陳忠龍主編：《論朝鮮戰爭》，南京：南京大學出版社 1991 年版，頁 2。

文選、選集：

8. 《毛澤東選集》卷二，北京：人民出版社 1970 年版，頁 2。

譯著：

9. 約瑟夫‧格登：《朝鮮戰爭》，於濱等譯，北京：解放軍出版社 1990 年版，頁 23。

原文著作：﹝書名排斜體﹞

10. Robert Gilpin, Economy of Internation Relations, Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1986, p. 5.

11. Max Singer and Aaron Wildavsky, The Red World Order, Chatham House

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Publishers, 1993, pp.5-10.

二、文章引文注釋

統一規格：作者、文章題目、引自何種出版物、出版時間、頁碼。

範例：

著作中的文章：

1. 王民：“市場經濟理論”，張歌主編：《市場經濟論集》，北京：經濟出版社 1992 年版，頁

33-44。

期刊中的文章：

2. 鄧正來、景躍進：“建構中國的市民社會”，《中國社會科學季刊》﹝香港﹞1992 年創刊

號，頁 18。

報紙上的文章：

3. 劉育寧：“克林頓政府經濟政策”，《人民日報》1993 年 3 月 23 日，第 6 版。

原文著作的文章：

4. Robert Arts, “Power”. J. Nye ed., Power, Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

1988, pp. 23-35.

原文期刊中的文章：

5. Robert Gilpin, “War and Change”, International Organization, Vol. 33, No. 4,

1993, pp. 45-55.

外國報紙上的文章：

6. Robert Knorr, “China: Third Economic Power”, New York Times, June 10, 1992.

注釋統一放在文章尾處。

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Selected bibliography American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Anderson, J., & Poole, M. (2001). Assignment and thesis writing (4th ed.). New York:

Jon Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. Lester, J. D. (1990). Writing research papers: A complete guide (6th ed.). New York:

Harper Collins. Roth, A. J. (1986). The research paper: Process, form, and content (5th ed.).

California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.