Term papers and research papers are often seen as the same thing, which is unfortunate, because in truth, they are quite different entities. Research papers require more in-depth and analytical writing than term papers do. It would be reasonable to write a term paper which was the life story of a famous person, but not 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. It is easy to see the difference using an example. For psychology class, one could discuss, in a research paper, the way that play therapy has been used in various studies on children with histories of abuse. Such a paper would be an example of the first type 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. However, it is also possible for undergraduate students to base research papers upon primary research if they seek out opportunities to do so.

 

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. Studying model papers can assist you in your own writing of research papers and term papers.

 

 

 

 

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