Writing a term paper requires research on a specific course of study. The subject is that studied for an entire term or college semester, and therefore is called a term paper. The key to a successful term paper is using notes, lectures, online sources and books and articles to gather your thoughts, opinions and facts about the subject. You'll analyze material to arrive at a conclusion based on your findings on the subject.
A thesis is usually written as part of a master's degree program or in pursuit of a Ph.D. in a field of study. When writing a thesis, you focus in on a specific topic in your field of study, and research and write about it in elaborate detail. You'll include findings and statistics that you derive from your research. Writing a thesis can take months or years. After a thesis is written, in the case of doctoral candidates, it's reviewed by a committee and presented orally to an examination board, where you'll be asked to present your findings and answer rigorous questions. Often, a student publishes his thesis as an article or in book form, after it has been accepted by the dissertation committee.
A term paper can usually be written fairly quickly, in anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. It usually ranges from ten to 15 pages long. After completion, it's handed in to a teacher for grading. It isn't presented orally and is not as lengthy as a thesis. A thesis can take years to write and requires more involvement on the part of the student. A thesis can range from 50 pages to 150 pages. For it, students study their topic and subject for a lengthy period of time and must demonstrate expertise on various aspects of their topic.
Teachers oftentimes assign a term paper subject to a student. On the hand, a student usually picks his thesis topic and completes research in his field of study. Most students in middle school, high school and college will be asked to write a term paper at some point in their academic career. Becoming acquainted with the requirements of a term paper is beneficial to the student. Only specialized graduate degree-seeking students will write a thesis. It is a requirement for master's and doctoral degrees and requires some research method training and preparation before writing begins. The student should start with a sound thesis statement, after which an outline page will be given to the student detailing the requirements of the thesis. The style of the thesis should be according to the style manual used in either the institution, department or class. The typical sections in a thesis are the title page, body, copyright page, signature page, and abstract.