What Makes a Good Chemistry Term Paper: Simple Chemistry Term Paper Tips for Beginners

When it’s time to start writing your chemistry term paper, chances are you’ll find yourself in the middle of new questions or asking yourself, ‘OK, what am I supposed to do next?’ You can get some fresh ideas based on thinking about actions you’re supposed to complete before actual writing that may be useful later when you work on the rough draft. Getting started is the most difficult part. It’s obvious that you have to conduct in-depth research on the topic and take notes. However, there are some other aspects that busy students usually forget about when they begin their writing journey. The following chemistry term paper tips are important to take as they won’t let you deviate from the chosen path.

• Know your audience. You need to know who your target reader is and what kind of content he/she will expect to receive from you. Knowing who is on the other side will impact your research, the experiments you’ll perform and the data you’ll make use of.
• Understand your starting point. You can choose to provide a list of recourses you’ re going to use later; to craft an outline that will become the ‘skeleton’ of your project or to research your topic if you’ve got one. Proper planning is a perfect start for a chemistry term paper.
• Choose the topic. The field of chemistry has a bunch of hot topics, which means it’s highly important to know your interests and passions in the subject to choose the issue you’ll be able to research effectively.

Topics

If you want to craft a unique project in the area of chemistry, it’s all about the topic. Actually, about picking one. Most chemistry term papers are completed in a formulaic style, so whether you choose to write about the most recent advances in battery science or Mary Curie and the way she influenced modern Chemistry, it’ll be written in the same way.
Since chemical processes and interactions can be seen in everything that occurs day to day, chances are you’ll end up with a bunch of term paper topics (usually very similar to each other!) just waiting for you to explore them. Choosing an attractive topic should come down to the following:

• Your main idea is your passion. Chemistry can get boring faster than you think if you’re dealing with the wrong concepts of it. If you’re particularly interested in something, it’s time to look closely into it! The point here is that your passion may lead you to the brand-new discoveries.
• Your lab tools and other resources. If you’re lucky enough to have direct access to the chemistry equipment and the lab itself, you’ll face more term paper options to stick to.

Feel free to set yourself apart from your classmates by using one of the topics offered below:

• Theory and Computation in Catalysts;
• Explaining the Reasons Why the Matter Exists i Three Distinct States;
• The Links Between the Synthetic And Biological Worlds;
• Atomic Structure: The Electronic Structure and the Nuclear Structure of Atoms;
• Similarities in the Sildenafil and Amitriptyline Compositions;
• How Inorganic and Organic Molecules Differ under the Microscope;
• Acid Rain and Its Human Body Implications;
• The Bond Between the Noble Gasses and Fluorine;
• Vitamin Deficiencies in Humans;
• The Difference Between Distilled And Deionized Water;
• Svante Arrhenius – Father of Physical Chemistry.

There are great topics to research and discuss, as the academics do not cease to debate these issues within the field. Plus, this also means that you’ll find a plethora of sources to turn into the ingredients of your term paper, which is a must for this type of assignment.

Drafting a Thesis Statement: A Sample by Our Top Writers

At this point, you’re required to sketch up a solid thesis statement that is a single sentence including your topic and your viewpoint. In other words, the thesis statement serves as the author’s answer to the central question or issue of your research. With this element at hand, you’ll be able to see where you’re going and to remain on the right track as you write.
Before getting started, decide on what you want to write about and make your thesis statement both precise and appealing. If you’ve decided to know more about the personal life of Madam Curie, the thesis statement that will definitely work out is out there:

‘In 1891, Marie Curie finally made her way to Paris, where she became a part of a professional community of Sorbonne. The lady scientist threw herself into chemistry studies, but she had to pay the price for such a dangerous dedication. With little budget, she survived on a poor diet, which made her organism suffer.’

Introduction

The key function of the intro is to introduce the readers to the chemistry topic and to outline the structure of the term paper. It includes a specific set of information and is composed in accordance with some formal rules.

• The introduction of the chemistry term paper makes up nearly one-tenth of the whole project. For a typical term paper, this part is usually entitled “Introduction” without any quotation marks.
• Provide a paragraph that includes a quick overview of the key argument within the criticism related to the paper topic. The main questions that you may address in this sections indirectly are ‘To what extent can this focus enrich the experiments conducted previously?’ or ‘Why do the results of the analysis/experiment matter in the context of the chosen topic?’. It is crucial to remain clear in the way you go on with conceptualizing your own findings.
• Elaborate on your thesis statement. How exactly are you going to perform your research? Provide a short outline of how you’re going to approach the topic and in which order the issues will be dealt with. Plus, mention the theories that you use and the aspects that you analyze: ‘A remarkable method for the organic compounds’ synthesis is the addition reaction of nucleophiles to the activated alkynes. The results of the addition mentioned before lie in zwitterionic species that can be trapped with a range of electrophiles or proton donors.’
• The best way to structure your introduction is to follow the three-move approach shown below:

Step 1. Set a Research Territory

(e.g. Radioactive Isotopes)
a. Show that the general research area is interesting, crucial and problematic in some way (‘Radioactive isotopes have many useful applications. In medicine, for instance, cobalt-60 is widely employed as a source of radiation to arrest the development of cancer’).
b. Present and review elements of prior research in the area of chemistry (‘Frederick Soddy, English radiochemist, did much of his research on the basis of the products of radioactive decay. In the early 1900s, he had learned that radioactive substances such as thorium and radium transmuted into other elements as they decayed’).

Step 2. Choose a Niche (Isolation of Deuterium; Application of Tritium in Nuclear Fusion, etc.)

a. Introduce a gap in the previous research, or extend previous knowledge by some means.

Step 3. Occupy the Niche

a. Outline purposes or state the nature of the present research.
b. List the research questions or hypotheses.
c. Announce principle findings.
d. State the value of the present research (‘Without a doubt, Isotopes will find even more uses in this century. For although the periodic table comprises 118 elements at the moment, there are up to 3300 known nuclides (the isotopes together with their various nuclear energy states). The biggest part of science happens on that wider playing field, which can later bring dozens of benefits to society’).
e. Indicate the structure of the research paper.

Main Part

The body of the chemistry term paper is the place, where you have to provide the actual implementation of your argumentation. It must be logically comprehensible and clear. Here, you include the arguments that prove the thesis statement you’ve inserted in your introduction by going into details related to those aspects you’d like to concentrate on.
The structure of the main part will depend on the objective of the paper. For that reason, there are no strict rules on how many chapters your Chemistry term paper must comprise and which aspects must be considered. To cut a long story short:
Divide the body of the term paper into sections and subsections. Each element should comprise a key
point in the argument or any relevant data.

Develop your arguments in a comprehensive manner, step-by-step. Feel free to quote certain positions/viewpoints and then disprove them or contrast them with your own (‘Contrary to the Global Chemistry Experiment conducted by UNESCO, it is reasonable to…, because …’).

All literature that you make use of in the process of work requires a reference. This applies to the quotation of the data, ideas, and text.

Predict and address the alternative explanations of the results. The point is that commenting on potential doubts will help you to avoid any misunderstanding and false interpretation of your results. Besides, the evaluation of the alternative explanations might serve as a logical step to the research context.

Show how your chemistry findings fit into the general picture of the current research, as well as how your term paper contributes to the existing knowledge in the scientific community.

Smooth Transitions

Keep your reader in mind as you write your Chemistry term paper. Sum up your results at the end of every section. Moreover, it’s recommended to openly point out the relationships between the separate segments of your project with the help of transitions and road-mapping to inform your reader on where he/she is going. Thus, they will be able to enjoy your content and easily orient in the world you’ve created.

The End

The concluding paragraph of the term paper in the field of chemistry summarizes the key arguments of the project, as well as adds the results of the of the main part to the thesis statement.
A helpful strategy here is to read and re-read the introduction, the discussion and the results to craft a well-structured conclusion that will sum up the paper’s focus.

• Refer back to the issue you’ve researched, and describe the conclusion that you reached in the process of work, sum up interpretations and observations: ‘We have described the reaction between dibenzoylacetylene and 4-alkylaminocoumarins and in DMSO and THF/H2O. The reaction of dibenzoylacetylene with 4-alkylaminocoumarins in THF/H2O (50:50) leads to the formation of 4-(alkylamino)-3-(1,4-dioxo-1,4-diphenylbut-2-en-2-yl)-2H-chromen-2-one derivatives in good yields.’
• Think through the limitations and strengths of your research (suitability of the chosen methods, the fruitfulness of questions, perspective for further debates, broader implication of the results, etc.).
• Don’t simply include the introduction into the concluding section of the term paperwork for word.
• Provide your readers with the ultimate feeling that your term paper was worthwhile to read, as well as encourage further thinking.

It’s late at night and you’re about to finish your term paper for the chemistry class. Regardless of the outcome, you know you’re going to submit your paper tomorrow. What is even more important is that you have the writing strategy that you’re going to keep for your future term papers, for doing research and taking notes, for conducting experiments and reviewing previous researches. You’re not going to lose your grade and, who knows, will become a productive chemist one day. But for now, celebrate the end of the writing process, which was made possible thanks to this chemistry term paper guide!