TERM PAPER
GUIDELINES
A term paper is any type of research-intensive paper authored by students that showcases a
student’s understanding of a specific topic. They are aimed at consolidating knowledge acquired
by the student, fostering the skill of independent research on the selected topic, and developing
capabilities for analysis, research and information processing.
The guidelines for preparing your term paper are as follows:
1. Students may choose the topic of their term paper in consultation with the faculty
guide.
2. Before finalizing the topic, students must get approval from the guide for proceeding
with the topic. You must register your topic on the Google doc (shared with you by the
PGP office) before the deadline. As you register, please check if the same topic has
already been selected by any other student. If yes, you will have to choose another
topic/modify your topic so that the topics are not similar.
Try to find a topic that truly interests you/from your area of specialization
Try writing your way to a topic and narrow it down to a ‘do-able’ topic
Pose your topic as a question to be answered or a problem to be solved. This will make it easier
to carry out your research on the topic.
3. Following this, an outline of the term paper must be submitted to the guide.
Further to the points given in the general guidelines, you may consider the following questions to
prepare your outline:
What is the topic?
Why is it significant?
What background material is relevant?
What is my purpose statement (i.e., the questions your paper will answer)?
How do I organize my paper to best support my purpose?
4. The information that you collect for writing the paper/studying your business problem
must be from authentic sources. Provide citations in your paper to give due credit to the
source of your information. The citations also help to support any assertion that you
make. All the citations that you use will have to be included in your reference at the end
of the term paper. Use endnotes and/or footnotes wherever necessary. Please refer to
the term paper format for additional details.
5. You are advised to refer to credible sources of information that may include
magazines/journals/websites and other practitioner oriented sources such as McKinsey
reports, reports from big four consulting firms, SHRM website etc. for collecting
information on your topic/business problem.
6. For any research papers that you may want to refer, the RSOM/RBS library will provide
remote access to journal databases such as Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, JGate etc. These
will soon be shared with you.
7. The basic elements of a paper (copied from general guidelines) should include:
Introduction, discussion paragraphs/sections and conclusion or summary.
Descriptive or explanatory paragraphs following the introduction, setting the
background or theme.
Analysis and argument paragraphs/sections. Using your research, write out the main
idea for each body paragraph.
Any outstanding questions or points you're not yet sure about.
Keep in mind the following as you prepare the term paper:
In the introduction you will need to do the following things:
present relevant background or contextual material
define terms, variables or concepts when necessary
explain the focus of the paper and your specific purpose
reveal your plan of organizing the information/paper
While writing the body/discussions you need to do the following:
Use your outline as a guide
Build your paper around points you want to make (i.e., don’t let your sources organize your
paper)
Integrate your sources into your discussion
Summarize, analyze, explain, and evaluate published work/information rather than merely
reporting it
In your conclusion, remember to do the following:
Summarize the arguments/points of your paper.
Add your points up to explain their significance.
Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context
provided by the introduction.
Perhaps suggest what about this topic needs further research.
8. As you prepare the term paper, check the overall organization of the paper i.e., logical
flow of introduction, coherence and depth of discussion in body, effectiveness of
conclusion.
9. You are required to send a weekly progress report to your guide explaining the progress
of your work (please see attachment on deadlines for details). Your first progress report
shall have ‘Progress Report 1’ in the subject line, second one ‘Progress Report 2’ and so
on.
