Environmental Studies and Forestry Term Paper: How to Write a Winning Paper?

Writing guide
Posted on January 18, 2019

Throughout the semester (or a specific control period), you wrote a variety of intermediate essays regularly. Systematic is the fact that you have to write the term paper on the basis of all the work done. This process seems tricky due to the fact that you need to combine all the studied materials in one paper and draw the right conclusions. Nevertheless, if this process is done according to the instructions and recommendations described below, then the term paper will be made as soon as possible, and the process of writing it will bring you pleasure. In addition, you already have all the necessary materials because you wrote intermediate essays, and now your actions are reduced to a consistent and accurate systematization of existing knowledge. Follow the instructions given below, and you will succeed!

What Is an Environmental Studies and Forestry Term Paper?

An environmental study and forestry term paper is a qualification written assignment that students of colleges and universities perform during each control period of their studies to acquaint themselves with the issues of the chosen specialty better. In the course of its implementation, the author of the term paper masters the norms of conducting research activities in the context of environmental studies and forestry, and learns to sort and analyze the material, conduct independent research, and then present and formalize it correctly and systematically to demonstrate the results of his/her work clearly and convincingly. The basic principle of writing the term essay is the following: a clear interconnection of the topic, the purpose, the subject and the object of research throughout the paper.

So, the goal of writing the environmental studies and forestry term paper lies in the student’s consolidation of the knowledge gained in the course of the learning process, according to the course taken. Thanks to this paper, it is easier for the professor to assess the quality of knowledge obtained by the student, and his/her ability to apply it to solve professional problems.

However, the most important point is the fact that you get invaluable experience and improve your existing skills while writing your term paper. There is a chance that you will want to explore the chosen topic in the future or take it as a basis for your dissertation. Perhaps, this paper will become the beginning of a new path, in which you will collect new knowledge by grains and bring it to perfection, and then it will give great benefits in the field of environmental studies and forestry in the future. So, why the term paper is necessary?

  • It helps to consolidate and systematize the knowledge gained;
  • The environmental studies and forestry term paper teaches to work with research and scientific literature, as well as boosts information search skills;
  • It forms analytical and mental skills, as well as the ability to overcome barriers and solve complex problems;
  • The term paper allows drawing conclusions on the materials studied.

Tips from Our Writers on How to Take Preliminary Notes

An integral part of writing the term paper (and of student activity in general) is the systematic taking of preliminary notes. Probably, many of you will wonder why you need to make additional notes if there are lectures available. However, they are necessary indeed. During the lectures, you record all the information that the professor provides. It is undoubtedly necessary, but they often do not provide the kind of assistance that preliminary notes can give for further work. Their meaning is to write down the main key points of the topic studied briefly, as well as to add one’s thoughts to this information. So, the usefulness of preliminary notes comes down to the following:

  • With the help of preliminary notes, you can always remember all the material that you learned, even if it was given six months or a year ago.
  • Preliminary notes do not take up much space but focus the student’s attention on the main issues of the topic under study. For example, you write a long lecture on the rational use of forest resources. It includes a lot of material that probably does not come in handy for you in your environmental studies and forestry term paper. However, during the lectures, you point out the key points in parallel: the relevance of reforestation, ways to increase the productivity of forests, the optimal methods of forest restoration, and so on. After a certain period, you will open your preliminary notes and recall all the material by focusing on the control points only.
  • In the preliminary notes, you can immediately draw conclusions on the topic covered. That is, after studying the material, you can note to yourself what seems important, what you should examine more deeply, and what you can say on the topic studied as a whole. All these notes will help you formulate your thoughts properly while writing your term paper.
  • With the help of preliminary notes, you can create a universal work journal, in which each topic will be recorded separately. For example, you can divide a notebook into separate areas. Subsequently, during the study of each new topic, you can make notes in those categories that match the material most closely. For example, there may be such sections as environmental aspects of forestry, forest resources, environmental norms and policies, and so on. When writing your environmental studies and forestry term paper, as well as subsequent works, including research, intermediate, or even dissertation papers, you will have the key points of each topic in sections. This will help you to navigate the information.

Advice and recommendations:

  • Do not skip taking notes, make them regularly;
  • The notes should be short and should not take up much of your time;
  • Include topics that interest you, and your thoughts about them in the notes.

Selecting a Topic for the Environmental Studies and Forestry Term Paper

There are times when instructors assign complex term paper topics. Chances are the topics they choose are real puzzles for students. However, if the choice is left to the student, then he/she should remember that the ideal option would be a term paper that unites or indirectly affects all topics studied during the reporting period. An important role in this process also belongs to intermediate essays that can be involved in the creation of the environmental studies and forestry term paper. So, if you have to choose a topic, you should follow these recommendations:

  • View lecture materials on the topics covered. Preliminary records will also be of great support;
  • With the help of preliminary notes, identify the key points to focus on;
  • Consult your instructor. Probably, he/she will tell you interesting and narrow directions for the chosen topic and help you to find suitable literature for this case. The result of your choice should be a narrow topic that covers the key points of the material you have grasped and, importantly, is really interesting to you.

Examples of Choosing a Topic:

For example, during the academic year (month, reporting period), you learned the following topics:

  • Ecology and Ecological Balance;
  • Forest Resources and Their Use;
  • Ecological Problems of the Environment;
  • Classification and Types of Forests;
  • Rational Nature Management;
  • Protection and Restoration of Forestry.

Moreover, in your preliminary notes, you marked the following areas of your interest:

  • The role of artificial forest reserves;
  • Ecological sources of renewable energy;
  • Production, consumption, and disposal of forest resources.

In this regard, the combined topic of your environmental studies and forestry term paper can be the following: The Role of Forest Reserves in Maintenance of Environmental Processes.

The Key Points of an Environmental Studies and Forestry Term Paper

In your environmental studies and forestry term paper, the following items must be present:

  • The introduction to the topic. In this section, you must indicate the topic that got you interested and draw readers’ attention to it. For these purposes, you may describe its relevance or problems, briefly outline its main characteristics or key points, and explain why it is important for research. To add more, while writing intermediate works, you probably already drew some global conclusions concerning the topic that interested you. It is necessary to create a thesis or hypothesis that you will develop throughout the process of writing. However, the thesis statement itself is indicated in the first, introductory part. For example, presumably, forest reserves can become a universal tool for restoring the ecological balance of the environment.
  • Description and analysis of the work done. In this section, you should briefly describe all the work that you have done throughout your study of the material related to environmental studies and forestry. For these purposes, you will need your preliminary notes. After reviewing them, you can tell what you wrote and studied, what attracted your attention, and how it can be used in the topic chosen by you. This item must also indicate the results of the completed assignments, especially if they included field or practical studies, interviews, surveys, and so on. Each key point of this stage should be supported by strong arguments and evidence, for which you can use both your observations and opinions of authoritative authors. The structure of this part should imply a division into several paragraphs, each directly or indirectly relevant to the stated thesis and confirms (or refutes) it. The result of this section should be the final conclusion for all the work done.
  • The experience gained/reflection. This item is also necessary for the environmental studies and forestry term paper, as it shows what conclusions you have made from the tasks performed and what experience you have gained. The ideal option is a brief description of each assignment that you have completed during the reference period, and your reflection on its usefulness, relevance, and appropriateness. Plus, in this section, you should describe what skills you have gained while working on the term paper, and how they may be useful to you in the future.

Additional items of the project can be the following:

  • Restrictions and barriers. At this section, you should describe what shortcomings you see in your completed assignments, what they are related to, and how they might be hypothetically prevented. Besides, it is necessary to indicate what difficulties you encountered and the ways to overcome them.
  • Directions for future research. At this point, preliminary notes will help you as well. Here, you can describe your interest and suggestions that will affect your future work. You can identify the topics that should be developed first, and that will contribute to the field of environmental studies and forestry.

Writing and Post-Writing Tips

Plan. To ease the writing process and follow its phases strictly, you should make the paper outline before you start writing. The main point is to set the logic of presentation. This is required to reveal the stages of achieving the research goal, to demonstrate the movement from the academic positions’ analysis to the pragmatic consideration of the topic aspects and summarizing the results. The detailed text is not required. The presentation of the key points and structuring the main items will do.

Recommendations for writing the environmental studies and forestry term paper:

  • The topic of the term paper must necessarily concern the discipline under study;
  • The topic should serve as a tool for deepening the knowledge gained;
  • The presence of arguments and evidence is mandatory;
  • Check the paper for errors (grammatical, spelling, and so on).

So, this instruction will serve as a good support for writing a high-quality term paper!

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