VII. 1.
1
1 Methods and Techniques of Research
and Academic Writing
1.1 Preparing a Term Paper: Topic and Planning
1.2 Research
1.3 Writing a Term Paper: Structure and Rhetorical Strategies
1.4 Formatting a Term Paper: Stylistic Guidelines
1.5 Conclusion
An essential part of studying English is writing.
Students of English not only find themselves on
the receiving end of information about English lan-
guage and literature, but they also need to produce
various texts as part of course and exam require-
ments. A scholarly text in English studies has to
include several features to be accepted by profes-
sors and university teachers: clear statement of
topic and thesis, transparent structure, thorough
research, argumentative style, precise terminology,
clear language, and appropriate form. This chapter
will touch upon these standards in more detail
and give students important guidelines for their
1.1 | Preparing a Term Paper: Topic and Planning
1.1.1 | Finding a Topic
If the topic for your essay/term paper has not been
assigned by your teacher, it is important that you
find a suitable topic that is neither too broad nor too
narrow, neither unspecific nor overly specific for
the assignment. For example, “Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” or “Word Formation in
English” are topics that are not specific enough for
a term paper that is to be no longer than 10 to 20
pages of text. Instead, you ought to limit your topic
to a manageable aspect, e.g. “The Vagaries of Love
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream” or “Back-forma-
tion in Selected American Sitcoms of the 2000s.”
1.1.2 | Planning: Three Phases
Writing a longer paper (between 3,000 and 6,000
words or more) requires organization and good
time management. The teacher for who you have
M. Middeke et al. (eds.), English and American Studies
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2012
Study Aids
Preparing a Term Paper:
Topic and Planning
academic writing projects from start to finish. The
following sections will therefore introduce stu-
dents to (1) preparing and planning a longer essay
or term paper in English Studies, (2) conducting
efficient research (see also the “Study Aids” entry
VII.2), (3) writing a structurally sound and rhetor-
ically effective paper, as well as (4) formatting an
academic paper according to common stylistic
conventions. If you follow the principles presented
here, academic writing will not be the daunting
task it might appear to be at first, but a rewarding
intellectual activity of communicating knowledge
and insight.
to write the paper will give you a deadline by
which it has to be submitted. Depending on the
length of the assignment, you usually have at least
two to four weeks, if not more, between topic as-
signment and submission of the finished paper. As
soon as the clock starts ticking, you need to get
organized and plan ahead for the following weeks.
Reserve sufficient time for the three phases of a
term paper: (1) project phase: brainstorming, re-
search, structural planning; (2) writing phase:
first draft, refinement of thesis, further research
into specific points; (3) revision phase: format-
ting, proof-reading and potential rewriting of parts
that need improving, double-checking of formal
conventions.
You may start your time-planning by allotting
half of the available time to the project and revi-
sion phases (1 and 3), while reserving the other
half for writing (phase 2). However, different top-
ics require different approaches: if the topic calls
for lengthy, detailed research (e.g. a linguistic cor-
pus analysis), in which case the writing amounts
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 VII. 1.2
Study Aids
Methods and
Techniques of Research
and Academic Writing
primarily to a documentation of the results of that
research, you might want to plan accordingly and
take away, or add, time from the respective phases
as you see fit. Yet do not underestimate the revi-
sion phase: if you skip revisions because of run-
1.2 | Research
1.2.1 | The Importance of Research
A scholarly essay/paper requires research into sec-
ondary sources concerning your topic. Ideally, you
are supposed to reflect the current state of critical
discussion among the community of scholars on a
given subject. However, first and foremost, a good
essay/paper demonstrates proper (and, if possible,
original) research into the primary source or object
of study! If your subject is a literary text, then your
own original research should consist of close tex-
tual analysis, i.e. your own notes (ideas, observa-
tions, annotations, quotations, marked-up pas-
sages) concerning the topic after careful reading
and re-reading of the text. Correspondingly, for a
paper in linguistics, your own research may focus
on a careful studying and documenting of a lin-
guistic phenomenon in relevant contexts or media
(textual databases etc).
Definition
➔ Secondary sources are “secondary” to a
primary text or medium (i.e. the immediate
target or object of your study) and can range
from academic articles, books, compilations
etc. specifically written about your primary
source to theoretical, methodological or phil-
osophical sources generally relevant to your
approach.
While reading up on prior research in the field of
your topic is helpful if you are unsure about what
to focus on specifically in your essay, it may also
confuse you as there is often an overwhelming
number of sources and critical opinions available
on a given subject. It is therefore important that
you strike a fine balance between drowning in re-
search (to be at the height of critical discussion)
and largely ignoring it (to preserve your original
stance on a topic).
500
ning out of time, this will most certainly backfire,
since submitting an error-strewn, half-baked
draft will seriously hurt your chances of getting a
good grade.
1.2.2 | Research Tools
The first place to look for secondary sources
should be the catalogue of your local university
library, which records book titles. As virtually ev-
ery library catalogue comes in the form of an
OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) and can
be accessed via the Internet, you may start your
research conveniently in front of your own per-
sonal computer. To extend the scope of your search
for relevant books beyond the holdings of your lo-
cal library, you may use a union catalogue (Ver-
bundkatalog), which runs your search terms
through many connected OPACs. If you then find a
book that is not in your local library, you can order
it as an interlibrary loan (Fernleihe) to be delivered
to your library.
Writer’s Toolkit
Library catalogues o books
Library catalogues only list titles of books
(monographs, compilations, journals etc.), but
not articles!
Bibliographies o articles
To find titles of material published inside
of books, you need to look into bibliographies.
Typically, however, a library catalogue only lists
the titles of books and serial volumes, so relevant
articles printed within a bound volume cannot be
found there. This is where bibliographies come
in as indispensable tools that also record titles of
articles published within books, compilations and
periodicals. Bibliographies can be either retrospec-
tive or current (updated regularly). The most im-
portant current bibliography for literary studies is
the MLA database, which you should be able to
access via your university library (for further in-
formation and an overview of research tools see
section VII.2). It is the most comprehensive search
tool for secondary sources in English (literary)