| Term
paper guidelines
Length of paper Proseminar: The
paper should be type-written (1.5 spaced) and between 10 and 15 pages in length.
Hauptseminar: Papers should be type-written (1.5 spaced) and
between 20 to 25 pages long. 
Structure
Term papers should be composed of the following sections: Title
page Table of contents Introduction
Literature review Methodology
Results Discussion Conclusion
Bibliography Appendix
Generally, the introduction and theoretical part should account for a third
of the paper and the remaining sections (methododology, results, discussion, conclusion)
two thirds of the paper. Each of these parts are addressed in the following.

Title
page The title page is the first page of a term paper. It is not numbered.
It contains details of: - the title of the paper
- the title
of the seminar and of the course leader's/ leaders' name(s)
- the author's/
authors' name(s) and email address(es) or other contact details
- the date
of submission
A good title is - focused (tells
the reader what to expect of the paper)
- awakens interest
Sometimes
the use of a sub-title is necessary in order to fulfill both criteria. Avoid
reference to particular researchers in the title. For example, a sub-title such
as "(following the study Discourse functions and pragmatics of mixing: Advertising
across cultures by T.K. Bhatia (1992))" is inappropriate.

Table
of contents Let's have a look at a "good" and a "bad" table of contents
to start our discussion of this section of the term paper. Inappropriate
table of contents Appropriate
table of contents Table
of contents in brief Inappropriate
table of contents Contents 1. Introduction 2. Categorisation
3. Results 3.1 The German data 3.2 The British data
4. Evaluation 5. Literature Now let's think what's less than satisfactory
about this table of contents taken from an empirical term paper. The first
question you should ask yourself is whether all the necessary parts of a table
of contents are present. The answer is, of course, no. There is no conclusion,
nor is there a review of previous literature. A section on method is also missing.
The section entitled "categorisation" should rather be a sub-point of a chapter
on methodology. Finally, there is no appendix which would include the data collected
in the empirical study. Next question: Do you know what the term paper
is about? Well, it appears to be empirical and contrastive, doesn't it? However,
you will admit that this table of contents could have been taken from a number
of contrastive empirical studies from one on speech act realisations to the use
of language in the media across cultures. In other words, it is too vague and,
therefore, does not serve as a good guide for the reader. What else can
we say? Well, let us put ourselves in the reader's position again. Do you think
this table of contents will be useful in helping your readers navigate text. To
a certain extent yes: The results come after the introduction, etc., but there
are no sub-points included to make the reader's job easier except those which
differentiate between the presentation of the German and British data. Even here,
however, the structuring is not ideal. Indeed, it appears rather simplistic and
less than reader-friendly to structure an empirical study around the German and
British data rather than around a specific linguistic strategy or feature of the
data at hand. Finally, of course, no page numbers have been included -
the reader has to flick through the text to search for some orientation.
Now, let us turn to a more suitable Table of Contents. 
Appropriate
table of contents Table of contents 1 Introduction.........................................................................................................
1 2 Apologies............................................................................................................
2 2.1 What is an apology?.....................................................................................
3 2.2 Apology strategies........................................................................................
4 3 Method...............................................................................................................
6 3.1 Instrument....................................................................................................
6 3.2 Informants....................................................................................................
7 3.3 Data collection procedure.............................................................................
7 4 Findings..............................................................................................................
8 4.1 Frequency of apology strategies....................................................................
8 4.2 Realisations of illocutionary force indicating devices.....................................
10 5 Discussion........................................................................................................
12 6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................
15 Bibliography........................................................................................................
16 Appendices.........................................................................................................
18 Appendix 1 Apology speech act set .....................................................................
18 Appendix 2 Production questionnaire...................................................................
19 Appendix 3 Production questionnaires collected...................................................
20 
Table
of contents - in brief Include all pertinent sections
in the table of contents (i.e. Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Results,
Discussion, Conclusion, Bibliography, Appendix) Number your table of
contents Include page numbers Use sub-points and indent these
Use explicit but brief titles and sub-titles Structure your paper according
to your focus of interest  Introduction
The introduction follows the table of contents and is the first page of the
project which is numbered. The aspects to be addressed in the introduction
include: - Question posed in paper
Tell
your reader what the paper is about - i.e. what is the research area?, what is
the question posed in the paper? - Motivation for research
(e.g. research gap, desire for replication of results, ...)
Motivations,
such as "During the seminar on "Language in the Media" we investigated the use
of proverbs in the media and I found this interesting ... " are sometimes mentioned
in term papers. These are not appropriate and should not be included
in a term paper. Remember you are writing a scholarly piece of research not a
story-book. Instead you should provide a justification for your research developed
out of the readings you have read together with your own personal experience,
if relevant. You should also address the theorietical or practidal importance
of the research. In other words, tell the reader why you decided on this research
project - why is it interesting and worthwhile: why should it be read? This section
should be kept brief in the introduction - the literature review provides a futher
opportunity to argue for what you want to do. - Brief details
of research conducted
What research method was employed in the paper?
Who were the informants? Only brief details should be given at this point.
- Paper structure
The point of detailing the structure
of the paper is to guide the reader. You know what is coming next but the reader
does not. Tell him/ her what to expect.  Literature
review - An academic paper should reflect a wide reading of the
subject area and a good understanding of key concepts and findings. The use of
examples is one of the best ways of exhibiting your familiarity with important
concepts and it also enhances the reader-friendliness of the paper.
- You
are expected to be critical in your reading of academic papers. In other words,
you should demonstrate that you are aware of previous research findings but also
that you do not believe everything you read but rather look critically at each
study, especially those of primary interest to your research task. Such a critical
awareness may be demonstrated, for example, by referring to contradictory findings
from different researchers, by highlighting the failings of previous studies (e.g.
limited analysis/ less than ideal methodology, etc.) and also by showing an awareness
of questions which remain unanswered.
- You should organise your literature
review as clearly as possible. Make sure to select only those studies most directly
related to the question at hand. You should not simply provide a summary of each
studybut rather tie together the results of the studies so that their relevance
is clear. When conflicting findings are reported in different studies, suggest
possible explanations.
- Finally, in line with the introduction,
make the case that the research area reviewed is incomplete or requires extension.
This establishes the need for research in the area.

Methodology
The method employed in the empirical project conducted should be explicitly
detailed. If the project involves an analysis of a particular corpus, relevant
information may include: - what genre and sub-genre (e.g. advertisements
(display/ classified advertisements?; ...), editorial (service info copy/ opinion
copy/ news copy [hard news/ feature article/ special topic news/ headlines?])
broadcast news (hard news (news bulletins)/ current or public affairs programs/
special-topic news/ ...?), ...)?
- which media outlets (e.g.
publications (newspapers [daily/ weekly?], magazines), TV channels, radio stations)?
- reason for choice of outlet (e.g. researcher's interest, geographical
area, audience type or size, time of day, quality vs. popular press, interest
in production or reception, ...)
- detail on outputs (i.e.
what time period was covered?, specific issues or bulletins to be sampled within
this period?)
Alternatively/ additionally, if elicited data forms
the empirical basis of your study, relevant details include those concerning:
- informants chosen (how many?, average age?, male/ female
ratio?, mother tongue?, foreign/ second languages ...? Usually the more homogeneous
the informants, the better the research design).
- research
instrument employed (choice of instruments?, reasons for choice of particular
instrument?, design of instrument?, etc. A copy of the materials used (e.g. questionnaire,
roleplay cards, ...) should be included in an appendix).
- data
collection procedure (when was the research conducted?, in what setting?,
...).
- the strengths and limitations of the methodology
employed.
In either case, it is also important to give details
of:
- the strengths and limitations of the research design
employed.
- the scheme employed for the categorisation/ coding
of data (if relevant) (e.g. in a study on the use of proverbs in advertising,
you should detail the different categories of proverbs found (e.g. fully lexicalised/
contextualised/ non-lexicalised/ ...).
 Results
Results should be presented in a reader-friendly manner. The use of tables
and graphs is recommended (the use of colour is by no means obligatory). Tables
and graphs should be either included in the main text, or alternatively (if they
are large in number) included in an appendix. In the latter case, however, the
appendix must be referenced (i.e. cf. Appendix 1) otherwise the reader will not
know to look there). As well as presenting the results, it is also your task
to guide the reader through the results in a clear and logical manner. This by
no means means that every detail included in the table/ graph should be commented
on, but it does mean that the most interesting results should be highlighted for
the reader.  Discussion
The discussion section either follows the results or may alternatively be
integrated in the results section. This is a matter of style although the former
style tends to be easier for the writer and clearer for the reader and is, thus,
recommended. The section should consist of a discussion of the results of the
study focusing on the question posed in the research paper. In addition, it should
serve to compare your results to previous research findings (i.e. do the present
findings reflect/ refute previous findings?). You should also demonstrate an awareness
of the limitations of your study in this section. 
Conclusion
The conclusion is often thought of as the easiest part of the paper but should
by no means be disregarded. There are a number of key components which should
not be omitted. These include: - summary of question posed
-
summary of findings
- summary of main limitations of the study at hand
-
details of possibilities for related future research
You should note
that the conclusion is not the place to introduce new insights into the question
at hand. All ideas and thoughts should have been already mentioned at this stage.
New thoughts should refer to future research questions. 
Bibliography
Monographs Crystal,
D. (2001), Language and the internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Edited volumes Gass, S./Neu, J. (eds.) (1996), Speech
acts across cultures. Challenges to communication in a second language. Berlin/
NY: Mouton de Gruyter. [(eds.) is used when there is more than
one editor; and (ed.) where there is only one editor.
Edited
articles Schmidt, R./Shimura, A./Wang, Z./Jeong, H. (1996), Suggestions
to buy: Television commercials from the U.S., Japan, China, and Korea. In: Gass,
S./Neu, J. (eds.) (1996), Speech acts across cultures. Challenges to communication
in a second language. Berlin/ NY: Mouton de Gruyter: 285-316. * If
a number of articles from a particular edited volume are included in the bibliography,
there is no need to list the edited volume each time. Instead the edited volume
itself should be listed once and each reference from the volume in the following
short format: Schmidt, R./Shimura, A./Wang, Z./Jeong, H. (1996), Suggestions
to buy: Television commercials from the U.S., Japan, China, and Korea. In: Gass,
S./Neu, J. (eds.) (1996): 285-316. i.e. it is not necessary to give the
name of the edited volume, the place of publication or the publisher each time.
Journal articles: McQuarrie, E.F./Mick, D.G. (1992),
On resonance: A critical pluralistic inquiry into advertising rhetoric. Journal
of consumer research 19, 180-197. Staczek, J.J. (1993), The English language
and the Gulf War: Corpus linguistics, variation, and word-formation. World
Englishes 12, 1, 15-24. Electronic book: Chandler,
D. (1994), Semiotics for beginners [HTML document]. Retrieved [5.10.'01]
from the World Wide Web, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/.
Electronic journal articles: Watts, S. (2000) Teaching
talk: Should students learn 'real German'? [HTML document]. German as a Foreign
Language Journal [online] 1. Retrieved [12.09.'00] from the World Wide Web,
http://www.gfl-journal.com/.
Other websites: Verterhus, S.A. (n.y.), Anglicisms in German
car advertising. The problem of gender assignment [HTML document]. Retrieved [13.10.'01]
from the World Wide Web, http://olaf.hiof.no/~sverrev/eng.html.
Unpublished papers: Takahashi, S./DuFon, M.A. (1989),
Cross-linguistic influence in indirectness: The case of English directives performed
by native Japanese speakers. Unpublished paper, Department of English as a Second
Language, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu. Unpublished
theses/ dissertations: Möhl, S. (1996), Alltagssituationen im interkulturellen
Vergleich: Realisierung von Kritik und Ablehnung im Deutschen und Englischen.
Unpublished MA thesis, University of Hamburg. Walsh, R. (1995), Language
development and the year abroad: A study of oral grammatical accuracy amongst
adult learners of German as a foreign language. Unpublished PhD dissertation,
University College Dublin. Also note:
- Remember to follow linguistic rather than literature conventions
(i.e. the year of publication should be placed after researchers' names rather
than at the end of the reference).
- The bibliography or works
cited should be arranged in alphabetical order.
- If you
are referencing an internet article with no date given, include the abbreviation
n.d. where the year of publication would normally be included (in brackets, if
the above formating conventions are adopted).
- Page numbers
are not usually given for internet sources since the number of pages differs
with different computers/ printers.
- a, b, c, ...: If
a number of articles in your bibliography were published by the same author in
one particular year, these must be differentiated by the use of letters after
the relevant year.
e.g.
Crystal, D. (1999a), The point of this convention is to make clear to the reader which
article is of importance at a particular point in the text. - Reference
to original publication dates can be given in square brackets following
the reference.
- Abbreviations may be given for places
of publication. If used, they should be used consistently,
e.g. Use
"N.Y." for "New York" and "N.J." for "New Jersey", or just "New York" and "New
Jersey" but do not use "N.Y." and "New Jersey".

Appendix
The appendix should be used for data collected (e.g. questionnaires, transcripts,
...) and for tables and graphs not included in the main text due to their subsidiary
nature or to space constraints in the main text. Although the appendices should
be listed in the table of contents, it should
be remembered that the appendices should be read parallel to the main text, not
following it. The reader cannot, however, be expected to know exactly when each
appendix is relevant and must, therefore, be told when to refer to which appendix.
To do this a simple (cf. Appendix 1) should be included at the relevant place
in the text and all appendices should be clearly numbered. For
example: "This research instrument essentially requires respondents to write
both sides of an open roleplay or dialogue for a series of situations (cf. Appendix
6 for an example) ..."

Citation
guidelines (i.e. referring to particular passages, books or authors in the text)
If you knowingly do not acknowledge other authors' thoughts, ideas or research,
you can be accused of plagerism. Here
we deal with the following issues: Quotations
Referencing
Second-hand quoting/ referencing It
should be noted here that it is suggested here to only include minimal citation
details in the text (i.e. authors' names, year of publication and page number(s),
if relevant). For complete details, the reader is expected to consult the bibliography.
Quotations Incorporating
quotations into the text: a) Quotations of less than three
lines in length should be placed in quotation marks and incorporated into
the main text. The quotation details may or may not be included in the main text.
An example where the reference details are included in the text is the following:
b) Quotations
of three lines or more should be indented left and, if desired, also right.
A new line should be used for the quotation and the quotation given in single
spacing. These quotations do not require quotations marks. The reference details
may or may not be included in the main text. Example: For
the purpose of the present study, I will take as a working definition of pragmatics
that proposed by Crystal (1985:240). He defines pragmatics as: the
study of LANGUAGE from the point of view of the users, especially of the choices
they make, the CONSTRAINTS they encounter in using language in social interaction,
and the effects their use of language has on the other participants in an act
of communication (original emphasis).The reference to 'choices' and 'constraints'
in this definition reflects ... Alternatively, the reference may
be given directly after the quotation, as in the following case:
Grice argues that because speakers are rational individuals and share common
goals, conversations are governed by a co-operative principle, which reads:
Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at
the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk
exchange in which you are engaged (Grice 1975:45). Associated with
this principle are four maxims – the maxims of quantity, quality, relation
and manner – which are observed in effective conversation....
Referencing
quotations: One author: (Chandler 2001:23)
Two authors:
McQuarrie/Mick (1992:196) More than two authors: Schmidt
et al. (1996:286) Other conventions applying to quotations:
f = the page given plus that following; e.g. 3f = pages 3 + 4 a,
b, c, ...: If a number of articles are included in the bibliography which
were published by the same author in one particular year, these must be differentiated
by the use of letters. e.g. Schneider 1999a
Schneider 1999b The point of this convention is to make clear to the reader
which article is of importance at a particular point in the text. Online
sources: Page numbers should not be given where reference is to an on-line
source as page breaks differ for many users. 
Referencing
Referencing quotations: The same conventions occur here as for
quotation sources. One author: (Chandler
2001:23) Two authors: McQuarrie/Mick (1992:196) More
than two authors: Schmidt et al. (1996:286) Integrating
references into the main text: There are a number of possibilities here.
Examples include: Crystal (2001:23) reports that .... or As
McQuarrie/Mick (1992:195f) state ... or ... A further reason relating
to the lack of concern with pragmatic issues in the foreign language classroom
is that research on the teaching of L2 pragmatic competence is still in its infancy
(cf. Tateyama et al. 1997:163, Kasper 2000c:383). or In the past years,
many researchers (e.g. Crystal 2001:23) have commented on ... Other
citation conventions applying to references: f = the page given
plus that following; e.g. 3f = pages 3 + 4 ff = the page given plus
those following e.g. 3ff = pages 3 and those following passim
= the page given plus elsewhere in the text e.g. 3 passim = page 3 and also
other places in the text a, b, c, ...: If a number of articles are
included in the bibliography which were published by the same author in one particular
year, these must be differentiated by the use of letters. e.g. Barron 1999a
Barron 1999b The point of this convention
is to make clear to the reader which article is of importance at a particular
point in the text. Online sources: Page numbers should not be given
where reference is to an on-line source as page breaks differ for many users.

Second-hand
quoting/ referencing On no account should you include any quotations
which you have not read yourself nor should you strictly speaking refer to other
research which you have not consulted yourself. If the latter case cannot be avoided,
you should note this in the text and include both this reference and the original
reference in your bibliography. 
Style/
accuracy Term papers should not be written in a casual conversational
style. They are academic papers and should therefore be written in an academic
style. Some points to note: - Academic English or indeed German
involves use of a broad, appropriately used vocabulary and a wide variety
of relatively complex sentence structures - i.e. avoid overuse of high frequency
vocabulary, repetitiveness and the use of short, simple sentences. Your task is
to communicate your ideas and results to your reader in a clear, explicit, straightforward
manner. Your use of language should facilitate this aim.
- Consistent
orthography: When writing in English, use the orthography of one variety consistently
- i.e. do not switch between British English and American English orthography.
If
writing in German, choose the old or the new orthography conventions and
do not switch from one to the other. - When referring to yourself
in the paper, you should try to avoid the use of "I" (although this convention
appears to be changing somewhat recently). Alternatives to "I" include the use
of the passive (e.g. "The questionnaire was distributed to 30 informants") or
constructions, such as "the researcher" (e.g. "The researcher was present at all
times during the data collection").
- Do not start a new paragraph
unless you wish to introduce a new point or idea.
- Never include
vague statements such as "Many researchers ...." without mentioning the
researchers in question.
- When including numbers in your
paper, note that the numbers up to ten should be written out (e.g. five magazines).
Over ten, the figure itself may be included (e.g. 20 newspapers).
- All abbreviations used should be introduced in the first instance
with the word written out in full. Also, if a number of abbreviations are used,
a list of these should be included on a separate page following the table of contents.
- Ensure you have no spelling mistakes or typing errors in the paper.
The spell check included with word processing packages is advisable in this regard.
However, do not rely exclusively on spell checks. Instead, read through your paper
yourself or preferably ask someone else to read it through for you. Ensure in
particular that all key words and researchers' names are spellt correctly.
A
search for blank spaces is also worthwhile as these prove quite annoying
to readers. This is easily done with a simple search (rather than searching for
a word, search for two blank spaces). - Punctuation errors
are also common. If unsure, consult a reference book.
- If writing
in a foreign language, you should have your paper read by a native speaker
before submission.

Presentation/
formating Attending to the formal appearance of your paper is also
an important aspect of writing term papers. The following are some general guidelines:
- Papers should be submitted in a neat manner. Pages should
be bound together in some manner - the use of a folder is recommended for this
purpose. Use of a word processor and a good quality printer also adds to the quality
of presentation.
- One and a half spacing is recommended. Times
New Roman 12 is a suitable font size. Wide margins are necessary for comments
by the person correcting. A top margin of 2.5 cm, a bottom margin of 2 cm, a left-hand
margin of 4 cm and a right-hand margin of 2 cm is recommended.
-
Occasional use of lists set apart from the main text is also a welcome
relief to the reader. They are clearer and are also quicker to read than the same
list included as part of the main text.
- Main headings and
sub-headings should be given in different sizes in the main text.
- Bold print, italics and bulleting can also be employed to enhance
the clarity of organisation and structure of the paper. However, avoid overuse.
In the main text, generally speaking,
- bold print should be
used for headings and sub-headings (and for titles of graphs/ tables included).
-
bulleting can be used for lists.
- Italics can be
used for examples but see the section on the inclusion
of examples.
- Underlining can be used for emphasis.
- All tables and graphs should be clearly numbered and given
an appropriate title.
e.g. Figure 1: Frequency of the politeness
marker 'bitte' ('please') with conventionally direct request strategies e.g.
Table 1: Terms used by Irish learners to describe the German people prior to the
year abroad. - All sections should be numbered as in
the table of contents.
- Inverted commas should be used
consistently. In German, use the following inverted commas: „ “. In
English, choose between the use of double (" ") or single (' ') quotation marks.
Generally speaking, double quotation marks are associated with American English
and single with British English. However, such conventions are not as either/or
as they once were and the reader may become confused by the use of ' for both
single quotation marks and apostrophees (e.g. the researcher's).
 Inclusion
of examples It is recommended to include some of the data gathered
in your investigation in the text of your paper for illustratory purposes. Examples
taking the form of sentences should start on a new line and be indented, as in
the following example: An example of the present learners'
use of the politeness marker 'bitte' ('please') include:
(1) A2F:
Judith, kann ich bitte deine Aufzeichnungen ausleihen, weil ...
(A2F (translation): Judith, can I borrow your notes, please because ... ) *
(1) refers to the number of the example. This is recommended where a number of
examples are given and examples are referred to on a number of occasions. A2F
refers to the informant who gave this response on the questionnaire employed.
Shorter examples (e.g. words or phrases) do not need to be set
apart from the main text but they should be formated in some consistent way -
e.g. italicised throughout the text. Whether long or short,
where necessary, examples given should also be translated. The translated version
should be marked as such. 
Footnotes/
endnotes Footnotes should not generally be used for references
as this is very space-consuming and not reader-friendly. Instead, incorporate
your references into the main text (cf. citation/
referencing guidelines). Of course, if a number of researchers' findings are
of relevance at a particular point in the text, including these in a footnote
may be more reader-friendly than including a long list in the main text. Use your
intuition on this point. Footnotes are designed to enhance the reader-friendly
nature of the text. They are used to give further information which is not directly
relevant to the text and which the reader does not have to read to understand
the argument/ discussion at hand. 
Comments
on plagerism What is plagerism? Plagerism is when
you knowingly use the intellectual work of others without acknowledgement. It
can take the form of direct copying from the writings of others or the presentation
of the ideas of others in a paraphrased form - without acknowledgement. If
you like the ideas of a researcher, you should of course refer to these ideas
or indeed quote from the writings of this person as long as you formally acknowledge
their work but you may not simply adopt his/ her ideas as your own. This also
applies to works written in a different language. Translation of ideas or writings
is also plagerism if the original author is not acknowledged. What about
internet materials? Internet materials used should be cited just as all
other sources used. What are the reprecussions, if I plagerise in a
paper? Term papers may in certain instances be failed on the grounds of
plagerism alone. Want to read more on plagerism? Have a look
at Laura MacGregor's (2001) article "A
student guide to plagerism" 
Major
pitfalls of writing term papers - Lack of focus
- Before
writing a term paper, you should ensure you have a question which you attempt
to answer in your paper.
- This question should be kept in mind throughout
the paper.
- Answer this question and only this question.
- Include
only information/ details/ analyses of relevance to the question at hand.
- Waffle
and irrelevancies only serve to annoy your readers - remember they have many more
papers to read besides yours. Keep them interested and don't waste their time.
- Sometimes, the relevance of a particular section may be clear to you
but not to your readers. To avoid this, ensure you briefly explain the relevance
of every section.
- Badly structured
- Your
text should flow from one sentence to the next, from one paragraph to the next,
and from one section to the next. In other words, you should attempt to hold your
reader's attention at all times, from the beginning to the end of the paper.
- Generally
speaking, you should not introduce a new paragraph unless you are addressing a
new point - and if you are, ensure you do use a new paragraph.
- Put yourself
in the reader's position or better still, ask someone else to read your text before
you submit it (preferably someone not familar with the area) - can they follow
your line of argument?; do the different sections link well?
-
Assuming expert knowledge of the reader
- Do not assume that
your readers are experts in your area of research. Instead, imagine them to be
familiar with the area but not with the specific details of your specific question/
topic.
- Make your paper reader-friendly. Guide your readers, tell them
why you are giving details of a particular aspect.
- Give examples of concepts
of importance.
- Interpret your data for the readers and discuss it in
a reader-friendly manner.
- Carelessness (spelling,
formating, ...)
- Before submitting, you should spell-check your
document for typing errors. If you are writing your text in a foreign language,
you should have it checked by a native speaker.
- Ensure your paper is
formatted in a consistent manner:
- Have you used the same spacing
throughout the main text?
- Are all headings/ sub-headings formatted consistently
(size/ italics/ bold/ font/ ..)?
- Have you consistently either left a
space between paragraphs or not left a space?
- Are all your bibliographical
details complete? From the beginning of your research efforts, you should ensure
that you take exact notes of researchers' names, titles of articles, edited editions
and monographs, place of publication details, details of the relevant publishing
house, and also page number for articles. In the bibliography
section above, I referred to the use of ,
a free program designed specifically for keeping track of references.
This is one of many possibilities.
- Are your bibliographical details formated
in a consistent manner? The bibliography is the easiest part of a term paper to
write but also that part which is often the most careless part of students' term
papers and that which causes the most annoyance to lecturers correcting papers
so it is well worth putting some effort into (check the guidelines).
 Assessment
sheet The following is the assessment sheet used in to evaluate
research papers. As you will note, all points detailed above are taken into account
in the final grading. Names: Title: Seminar:
| Length
of paper: | | | Appearance
of paper: | | | Typing
errors, etc.: | | | Language/
style: | |
| Title: | |
| Focus of paper: | |
| Table of contents/ structure: | |
| Introduction: | |
| Conclusion: | |
| Bibliography: | |
| Choice of literature: | |
| Method of citation: | | | Integration
of literature: | | | Ilustration of points: | |
| Method: | |
| Analysis/ discussion: | |
Date:
Grade: 
Links
to term paper guidelines

Further
readings Alley, M. (1987), The craft of scientific
writing. Englewood Cliffs/ N.J.: Prentice. Buenting, K.-D./Bitterlich,
A./Pospiech, U. (2000), Schreiben im Studium mit Erfolg: ein Leitfaden.
2nd revised ed. Berlin: Cornelsen Scriptor. Gibaldi, J. (ed.) (1992), Introduction
to scholarship in modern languages and literatures. 2nd ed. N.Y.: MLA Publications.
Greenbaum, S./ Whitcut, J. (1988), Guide to English usage. London:
Longman. Peck, J. (1999), The student's guide to writing. Grammar, punctuation
and spelling. Basingstoke, etc.: Macmillan. Poenicke, K. (1988),
Duden: Wie verfaßt man wissenschaftliche Arbeiten? Ein Leitfaden vom 1. Studiensemester
bis zur Promotion. 2nd revised ed. Mannheim, etc.: Dudenverlag. Poenicke,
K. (1989), Die schriftliche Arbeit: Materialsammlung und Manuskriptgestaltung
für Fach-, Seminar- und Abschlußarbeiten an Schule und Universität. 2nd ed.
Mannheim, etc.: Dudenverlag. Standop, E. (1990), Die Form der wissenschaftlichen
Arbeit. 13th ed. Heidelberg: Quelle & Myer. Wilkinson, A.M. (1991),
The scientist's handbook for writing papers and dissertations. Englewood
Cliffs/ N.J.: Prentice Hall.  References
to possible ideas for projects in linguistics Wray,
A./ Trott, K./ Bloomer, A. (1998), Projects in linguistics. A practical guide
to researching language. London, etc.: Arnold.  |