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A
term paper is a research paper written by students over an academic
term or semester which accounts for a large amount of a grade and
makes up much of the course. Term papers are generally intended to
describe an event or concept or argue a point. There is much overlap
between the terms "research paper" and "term paper".
The phrase "term paper" was originally used to describe a
paper (usually a research based paper) that was due at the end of the
"term" - either a semester or quarter, depending on which
unit of measure a school used. However, the term has fallen out of
favor. Common usage has "term paper" and "research
paper" as interchangeable, but this is not completely accurate.
Not all term papers involve academic research, and not all research
papers are term paper.