How to Plan a Course Paper
Before you begin, check the assignment requirements and choose a topic that fits them. Read relevant sources, outline the questions each section will answer, and record source details and page numbers so you can verify citations before submitting.
Check the requirements and narrow your topic
Ask your instructor or department about the required scope, format, deadline, and citation style. The TSUULL guide offers advice for a particular field, not a universal format for every university.
When choosing a topic, consider its relevance and how much it has already been studied, whether useful sources are available, and whether you can cover it within the assignment’s scope.
Set your research questions and outline
Write down the paper’s purpose and tasks, then identify the problem it will address. An approach suited to the topic helps clarify which questions the paper needs to answer.
After some initial reading, draft an outline. Decide what question each section will cover and how the ideas should progress. Revise the outline if new evidence emerges as you research.
Track sources and support your analysis
Start with sources that directly address your research question. Whenever you note a useful point, record the source and page number. Keep authors’ claims separate from your own observations.
Organize the main body around the outline, explain unfamiliar terms, and support analytical claims with relevant evidence. This keeps the argument clear and makes it easier to return to a source.
Check the structure and citations before submitting
Use the introduction to identify the topic and purpose and to state the tasks or questions the paper will address. The TSUULL guide recommends a general structure with a contents page, introduction, main body, conclusion, and references; appendices may be added when needed. Follow your course’s requirements if they differ.
In the conclusion, bring together what the analysis shows and offer recommendations that follow from it. List the sources you used with enough bibliographic detail to identify them, and apply one citation method consistently. The guide describes an alphabetical numbered list with source numbers and relevant page references in the text, but use the format required for your course.
Before submitting, check that the headings match the contents page. Make sure borrowed claims and quotations are cited, and that each in-text citation corresponds to a complete entry in the references list.
Sources
Try it with your own topic
Create a study project based on this article. You can change the topic and settings before starting.