Four Complete Term Paper Models Across Subjects

What a term paper is and how it differs from other papers

Your instructor usually assigns a term paper to test what you have learned across several weeks of a course. You are expected to answer a focused question, use course material and outside sources, and sustain one argument for longer than a standard class essay.

The boundaries are not fixed. An instructor may call a 1,500-word source-based assignment an essay, while another may call the same assignment a term paper. The brief carries more weight than the label.

Feature	Essay	Term paper	Research paper
Typical undergraduate length	800 to 1,500 words	1,500 to 4,000 words	3,000 to 8,000 words
Main purpose	Answer a limited question	Demonstrate learning from a course term	Report an extended investigation
Source use	May rely on assigned readings	Combines course readings with outside research	Usually requires a broader literature search
Structure	Introduction, body, conclusion	Several argument sections, often with headings	Literature review, method, findings, discussion, or another discipline-specific form
Research scope	Narrow	Moderate	Broad or original

A term paper is therefore more developed than a short essay but does not always require original data. A psychology term paper might compare two published experiments. A research paper in the same course could ask you to collect survey responses, explain your method, and analyze the results.

The four term paper examples below show different ways to divide the word count. Reference lists are excluded from the totals because that is common in university briefs. You should confirm your own course rule before planning.

History term paper example on the Berlin Blockade

A political history prompt needs more than a timeline. The writer must judge causes, effects, or significance while distinguishing evidence from interpretation.

Assignment brief

Assess how far the Berlin Airlift caused the Soviet Union to end the Berlin Blockade. Use at least six scholarly or official sources. Write 2,000 words in Chicago author-date style.

Outline and word count

• Introduction and thesis, 200 words
• Origins of the blockade, 300 words
• Organization of the airlift, 400 words
• Evidence of the airlift’s effectiveness, 450 words
• Diplomatic and economic explanations, 400 words
• Conclusion, 250 words
• Total, 2,000 words

This distribution gives 850 words to the central evidence and 400 words to competing explanations. That balance fits an assignment asking how far one factor caused an outcome.

Opening paragraph

The Soviet closure of road, rail, and canal access to West Berlin in June 1948 created an immediate test of the Western Allies’ commitment to the divided city. Britain and the United States answered with an air supply operation that continued through winter, delivering food, coal, and industrial materials to more than two million residents. The operation is often presented as a direct victory in which Western aircraft forced Joseph Stalin to retreat. Such an account identifies the central pressure on the Soviet position, but it risks treating the lifting of the blockade as an automatic result of increasing flight totals. Diplomatic bargaining, the failure to prevent a separate West German state, and the political damage caused by the blockade also shaped Soviet calculations. This paper argues that the airlift made the blockade materially ineffective, while diplomatic failure and reputational costs turned that practical defeat into a reason to end the policy.

The first two sentences establish the event and response. The final sentence gives a qualified thesis. It answers how far rather than claiming that the airlift was the sole cause.

Body paragraph with a source

The rising capacity of the airlift weakened the blockade because it showed that West Berlin could survive without restored land access. The United States Department of State’s Office of the Historian records that American and British aircraft completed more than 277,000 flights and delivered over 2.3 million tons of supplies during the operation (Office of the Historian, n.d.). These figures matter because the Soviet strategy depended on shortages making the Western position politically and materially unsustainable. Once the Allies could deliver fuel as well as food at a steady rate, waiting no longer promised an easy Soviet victory. The statistics do not prove by themselves that cargo volume caused the decision in Moscow. They do show that the blockade failed at its immediate task, which supports the narrower claim that the airlift removed the policy’s practical value. The end of the blockade in May 1949 should therefore be connected to the operation’s demonstrated sustainability, then considered alongside the diplomatic pressures examined in the next section.

The paragraph introduces an identifiable institutional source, presents checkable figures, and explains how they support the paragraph’s claim. It also limits the inference. That final move prevents a statistic from being treated as complete proof of causation.

Source used in the model paragraph

Office of the Historian. n.d. “The Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949.” United States Department of State.

What earned the grade

Model grade, 88 out of 100. The paper received high marks for answering how far throughout, using official data as evidence rather than decoration, and giving alternative causes 400 words of serious analysis. It lost marks because the diplomatic section depended heavily on English-language Western records and did not examine a translated Soviet source.

Psychology term paper example on obedience experiments

A psychology paper is judged through its handling of methods as well as its discussion of results. Percentages need context. Ethical limits and differences between studies also affect what you can claim.

Assignment brief

Evaluate whether Jerry Burger’s partial replication supports Stanley Milgram’s conclusions about obedience. Use APA 7 style and include methodological and ethical analysis. Write 2,500 words.

Outline and word count

• Introduction and thesis, 220 words
• Relevant theories of obedience, 350 words
• Milgram’s original procedure and findings, 400 words
• Burger’s replication and findings, 500 words
• Comparison of the two studies, 500 words
• Ethical and methodological limitations, 300 words
• Conclusion, 230 words
• Total, 2,500 words

Half of the paper is assigned to explaining and comparing the two studies. Ethical discussion has its own 300-word section rather than appearing as a brief comment in the conclusion.

Opening paragraph

Milgram’s obedience experiments are often remembered for the proportion of participants who continued administering apparent electric shocks after the learner protested. Their larger psychological claim concerned the power of an authority situation to override personal reluctance. Decades later, Burger designed a partial replication that stopped at 150 volts, used stronger participant screening, and adopted modern safeguards. The revised design made the study ethically possible, but it also changed what could be observed and compared. Similar rates of obedience up to the stopping point may indicate that situational pressure remains powerful, yet they cannot establish that present-day participants would behave identically at the highest voltage levels used by Milgram. This paper argues that Burger supports Milgram’s central situational account of initial obedience, while the shortened procedure, selective sample, and historical differences prevent the replication from confirming the full scale of Milgram’s findings.

The thesis names both the supported conclusion and the limit. That distinction gives the body a clear job. It must compare evidence up to 150 volts without pretending that later behavior was directly observed.

Body paragraph with a source

Burger’s results support continuity in obedience up to the point at which the modern procedure ended. In his 2009 peer-reviewed replication, Burger reported that 70 percent of participants in the base condition continued after the learner’s protest at 150 volts (Burger, 2009). He compared this result with the behavior of participants in Milgram’s comparable condition and found that the difference was not statistically significant. The result supports the claim that an authority figure can still induce many screened adult volunteers to act against visible personal discomfort. It does not establish complete replication. Burger ended the procedure immediately after the 150-volt decision, whereas Milgram observed whether participants continued through a series of higher settings. The study therefore supplies direct evidence about crossing the 150-volt threshold and indirect grounds for predicting later obedience. Treating those two forms of evidence as equal would make the conclusion stronger than the method permits.

The source is introduced by author, date, publication status, and study type. The numerical result is followed by interpretation, then by a methodological limit. The paragraph does not leave the percentage to explain itself.

Source used in the model paragraph

Burger, J. M. (2009). Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today? American Psychologist, 64(1), 1-11.

What earned the grade

Model grade, 91 out of 100. The comparison kept observed findings separate from predictions, used APA citations consistently, and connected each ethical safeguard to a methodological consequence. Four marks were lost because the theoretical section described agency theory at greater length than the later analysis required.

Literature term paper example on The Great Gatsby

Literary analysis still needs sources, but the primary text remains the main evidence. A critic should help you sharpen or challenge your reading rather than replace close analysis of Fitzgerald’s language and narrative choices.

Assignment brief

Analyze how Fitzgerald uses Nick Carraway’s narration to present the American Dream in The Great Gatsby. Engage with at least three scholarly critics. Write 1,800 words in MLA 9 style.

Outline and word count

• Introduction and thesis, 180 words
• Nick’s position as participant and observer, 250 words
• Gatsby as an object of Nick’s admiration, 400 words
• Wealth, performance, and moral judgment, 400 words
• The final retrospective and the American Dream, 370 words
• Conclusion, 200 words
• Total, 1,800 words

The paper is organized by parts of the argument rather than by plot order. Four hundred words is enough for one section to examine two or three short passages closely without retelling an entire chapter.

Opening paragraph

Nick Carraway begins The Great Gatsby by presenting himself as a tolerant observer, yet the novel quickly reveals how often he judges, excuses, and reshapes the people around him. His account of Jay Gatsby is especially unstable. Nick recognizes the criminal networks and theatrical displays behind Gatsby’s wealth, but he also preserves an image of unusual hope that separates Gatsby from the carelessness of East Egg. This tension affects the novel’s treatment of the American Dream. Readers do not encounter Gatsby’s aspiration directly. They receive it through a narrator who turns failed social ambition into a story of longing, corruption, and national decline. This paper argues that Fitzgerald uses the gap between Nick’s claimed impartiality and his emotional investment in Gatsby to expose the American Dream as both compromised by wealth and sustained through acts of selective storytelling.

The paragraph avoids beginning with a dictionary definition of the American Dream. It identifies a tension in the narration and converts that tension into an arguable claim about the novel.

Body paragraph with a source

Nick’s admiration turns Gatsby’s private failure into a wider judgment about American aspiration. Literary critic Marius Bewley argues that the novel examines the American Dream during a period in which its ideals have been corrupted by material success (Bewley 223). Nick’s narration performs this conflict rather than simply reporting it. He repeatedly acknowledges that Gatsby’s parties, clothes, and mansion are constructed displays, yet he treats the hope behind them as exceptional. Near the end, his attention shifts from Gatsby’s death to the earlier Dutch sailors who imagined the continent as a fresh beginning (Fitzgerald, ch. 9). The shift places Gatsby’s desire for Daisy within a national pattern of reaching for an ideal already distorted by possession. Bewley’s interpretation clarifies the historical scale of the ending, but Nick’s selective sympathy complicates it. The dream survives in his account because he separates Gatsby’s capacity for wonder from the money and deception used to pursue it.

Bewley is named and his argument is paraphrased before the paper returns to the novel. The critic provides a position for the writer to develop. Evidence from the primary text still occupies most of the paragraph.

Sources used in the model paragraph

Bewley, Marius. “Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 62, no. 2, 1954, pp. 223-246.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Use the edition assigned by your course and replace the chapter locator with a page number when the instructor requires one.

What earned the grade

Model grade, 86 out of 100. The argument remained focused on narration, the topic sentences made interpretive claims, and the secondary source was used to extend close reading. The marker deducted marks because one later paragraph quoted six lines from the novel when two carefully selected phrases would have supported the same point.

Economics term paper example on plastic bag charges

Policy analysis must connect a measurable result to an economic mechanism. A fall in bag use after a charge is evidence of behavior change, but the paper still needs to consider enforcement, substitution, external validity, and unintended effects.

Assignment brief

Evaluate whether small charges are effective at reducing disposable plastic bag use. Apply behavioral economics and assess evidence from at least two policies. Write 3,000 words in Harvard style.

Outline and word count

• Introduction and thesis, 250 words
• Environmental externalities and policy rationale, 350 words
• Standard price theory, 450 words
• Evidence from taxes and charges, 600 words
• Behavioral explanation for tax and bonus differences, 500 words
• Limitations, substitution effects, and policy design, 550 words
• Conclusion, 300 words
• Total, 3,000 words

The limitations section receives 550 words because an evaluation prompt requires more than evidence that a policy worked in one setting. The conclusion has room to give a conditional policy judgment without introducing a new case study.

Opening paragraph

Disposable shopping bags create costs that are rarely included in their retail price, including waste management, litter, and environmental damage. Governments have responded with bans, taxes, and retailer charges, some of which add only a few cents to each bag. From a standard price perspective, such a small increase may appear unlikely to produce a large change in demand. Behavioral economics suggests another possibility. Consumers may respond strongly when the payment is presented as a visible loss, even when an equivalent reward for bringing a reusable bag produces little change. This paper argues that small bag charges can reduce disposable bag use when they are immediate, clearly displayed, and consistently enforced. Their effectiveness cannot be judged from checkout behavior alone, however, because consumers may purchase substitute bags, reuse disposable bags for household waste, or respond differently once a policy becomes familiar.

The opening moves from the policy problem to competing explanations. Its thesis answers the question conditionally and identifies the measures that the paper will use to test effectiveness.

Body paragraph with a source

Evidence from the District of Columbia suggests that the framing of a small payment affects behavior more than its monetary size alone. Economist Tatiana Homonoff compared stores subject to a five-cent disposable bag tax with stores offering a five-cent bonus for customers who brought reusable bags. She found that the tax reduced disposable bag use by roughly 40 percentage points, while the equal-sized bonus produced almost no change (Homonoff, 2018). Since the financial difference between using and avoiding a bag was five cents in both cases, a simple response to price cannot fully explain the contrast. The result is consistent with loss aversion because customers treated a separate charge as more significant than a foregone reward. This evidence supports visible charges over optional bonuses, but it comes from a specific city and retail setting. A national policy assessment would still need evidence on enforcement, income effects, bag purchases, and behavior outside observed stores.

The author and research design appear before the result. The paper then links the finding to loss aversion without claiming that one field study proves the mechanism in every population.

Source used in the model paragraph

Homonoff, T. A. (2018) ‘Can small incentives have large effects? The impact of taxes versus bonuses on disposable bag use’, American Economic Journal Economic Policy, 10(4), pp. 177-210.

What earned the grade

Model grade, 89 out of 100. The paper compared taxes with bonuses, explained why the contrast mattered for economic theory, and separated immediate bag use from broader environmental outcomes. It lost marks for discussing income effects without providing household-level evidence on how the charge affected lower-income consumers.

Mistakes that show up in weak term papers

The examples expose several recurring problems. Most begin during planning, before the first full paragraph is drafted.

Treating the title as the thesis

A sentence such as “This paper discusses the Berlin Airlift” names a topic but makes no claim. The history example instead argues that the airlift made the blockade ineffective while diplomatic and reputational costs influenced the final decision. You should be able to disagree with a thesis. If disagreement is impossible, the sentence is probably a description.

Giving every section the same space

Equal sections rarely match the work required by the question. The economics example gives 600 words to policy evidence and 550 to limitations, but only 350 to background theory. A 3,000-word paper with a 900-word introduction will have too little room for evaluation.

Dropping a citation after an unsupported claim

A citation does not explain relevance. The psychology paragraph identifies Burger’s procedure, reports the 70 percent result, compares it with Milgram, and states what the shortened method cannot establish. Use the sequence of claim, evidence, interpretation, and limit when a source carries significant argumentative weight.

Turning the paper into a source-by-source report

One paragraph on Author A followed by one on Author B often produces a literature summary rather than an argument. Organize sections around your claims. The literature example combines Bewley’s interpretation with Nick’s narration because both pieces of evidence address the same point about the American Dream.

Making the evidence prove too much

Flights into Berlin show that the city could be supplied. They do not reveal every motive behind Soviet policy. A drop in disposable bag use at observed checkouts does not establish an equal drop in plastic consumption across an entire country. Match the strength of each verb to the evidence. “Suggests” and “supports” are often more accurate than “proves.”

Hiding limitations in the conclusion

A limitation needs analysis where the evidence appears. Burger’s 150-volt stopping point changes how his findings can be compared with Milgram’s full procedure, so the issue belongs in the comparison section. Mentioning it for the first time in the final paragraph would leave the main analysis overstated.

Mixing citation systems

APA uses author and year. MLA usually uses author and page. Chicago may use notes or author-date citations, depending on the brief. Choose the required system before drafting and record complete publication details when you first save a source.

Counting references without checking their role

Ten citations to the same general claim do not create ten pieces of analysis. Ask what each source contributes. It might supply data, define a concept, challenge another author, document context, or expose a limit in your argument.

Adding new evidence at the end

The conclusion should answer the question using evidence already analyzed. Do not introduce a new experiment, quotation, or case study in the final 200 words. If the evidence changes your answer, it belongs in the body.

A paper built to your assignment

If you need a longer model matched to your topic, sources, word count, and citation style, Assignment Masters can prepare a custom term paper for reference. Use any outside assistance according to your institution’s academic integrity rules.