How to Create a First-Class Ethics Term Paper

Writing an ethics term paper is equivalent to writing an ethical question. Therefore, your term paper should concentrate on issues concerning what ought to be done from an ethical perspective rather than what is practical or typical, or even what is consistently based on certain popular or religious beliefs. Your term paper should focus on issues concerning fairness, consequences, and rights as they constitute ethical reasoning. Your professor may provide you an opportunity to select term paper topics. Alternatively, you may be required to address specific issues that focus on the violation of people’s rights, the fairness of certain decisions, and personal and societal effects of certain choices.

The success of your ethics term paper writing depends on how effectively you state your reasons for the position you take in argumentative narratives, how you articulate your arguments, how you adhere to stipulated guidelines, and how you observe term paper mechanics. Writing a term paper on ethics is a tedious process, especially when you lack necessary abilities and some level of understanding of the elements that constitute a term paper. Regardless of the level of your study in post-secondary education, writing term papers is part of the evaluation process that professors use to test your understanding of concepts, your ability to apply concepts, and your critical abilities. This guideline provides you with the necessary ethics term paper writing tips that will guide you through your ethics term paper writing process.

Pre-Writing Tips from Our Writers for an Immediate Start Off

Before beginning your term paper writing process, you need to understand the meaning of the term ‘pre-writing.’ Pre-writing denotes the actions you should take before you begin writing your first ethics draft. The main rule that guides the writing process to ensures one writes a high-quality term paper concerns working on the quality of your pre-writing phase and the outcome of the process. In this case, the more you work on your pre-writing, the easier it is to write your first and subsequent drafts of your term paper. Accordingly, you need to take pre-writing seriously. Below are the common and important pre-writing tips.

• Choice of the topic. The selection of your term paper topic is vital. If you have concepts or issues you have background information on or issues that tickle your interest, or those that are controversial or trending, these could be your ideal term paper topics. However, the issues and concepts should be based on topics in ethics, such as virtue theory, meta-ethics, consequentialism, and deontology, among others. Alternatively, search for topics within your preferred area of ethics in ethics journals, online platforms, books, and trending news. Perhaps your teacher will assign you a topic or provide a list from which you should select your subject matter. If such is the case, select your topic wisely.
• Brainstorming. Once you are done with the topic selection, you should move to brainstorming. Brainstorming involves writing down any word or words you can think of which are related to the ethics topic. You do not need to think much about their relevance. At this point, it is fine to have redundant material because it involves jotting down any ideas that cross your mind. Being redundant during this stage, is not a problem, as you will define your thoughts as you progress through the writing process.
• Thorough research. The ideas you come up with during the brainstorming session should help you develop viable ideas on appropriate term paper content. Research involves finding relevant sources that provide adequate information on your chosen term paper topic. Use keywords during your research, especially if it is based on online searches. The sources should be scholarly where possible and should be current unless you are tackling a topic that requires a historical overview. The context of your topic should also help you search for appropriate content for your term paper.
• Meticulous note-taking. Note taking should occur when conducting project research. It involves writing down the main points that come up during your research. The notes may not have a particular flow and may focus on different themes that may or may not form part of the term paper. It is important to draft quality notes that are not only legible but also clear in content. In this regard, ensure that you do not write sloppy notes as there is nothing as bad as not being able to make sense of your own writing.
• Solid plan. The final pre-writing tip concerns formulation of a quality plan. A quality plan is an outline of the term paper. Once you have your notes, it is now time to plan where specific points will fit in your term paper. In this case, plan your introductory content, information that will form the main part of the term paper, and inferences that you and your audience can draw from the term paper.

Topic Selection for Your Ethics Term Paper

A good ethics term paper topic should fascinate you, inspire your passion for engaging in writing about the topic, be specific and concrete, researchable, and should not be too technical or too trivial. Choosing an appropriate term paper topic involves several steps that involve:

• Searching for several topics and making a list of possible options. At this point, you can Google controversial topics in ethics, social issues affecting society but based on ethics, as well as current issues. You can go to the library and search for possible topics in ethics or browse magazines, journal articles, or encyclopedias.
• Eliminating topics. Once you have an idea on possible topics, cross off any topics that are not appealing to you and those with little research materials. If the ethics term paper is argumentative, cross off any topics that are not arguable.
• Highlight the most appealing topics. Appealing topics are those that are in line with your interests and those that are manageable and have adequate resource materials. From the highlighted topics, select one with materials and scope that can sustain your term paper. In this case, you should ask yourself the following questions before settling on a particular topic:
  • What do I know about the topic?
  • When is the topic appropriate for discussion?
  • Is the topic current or outdated?
  • How does the topic fit into the term paper objective?
  • Is the topic too broad or too narrow?
  • Do I have adequate resource material?

If you can find answers to the above questions after settling on a topic, then you are good to go.

Below are some examples of topics for your ethics term paper:

• Utilitarianism and Critical Analysis of the Ideology;
• The Concepts of Freedom vs. Happiness in Modern Society;
• Compare and Contrast of Utilitarianism and Egoism;
• Utilitarianism Is the Best Approach in Addressing Environmental Issues;
• Difference Between Utilitarianism and Deontology.

Formulating a Thesis Statement for Your Ethics Term Paper

Once you have your topic and ideas on what your term paper will focus, it is important to formulate a claim that forms your thesis statement. A thesis statement is a claim that presents the focus of your term paper. You need to understand that your term paper should have the main idea and the arguments you present in the paper should reflect the idea. A thesis statement captures the main ideas and your position on these ideas. It is specific and usually consists of two sentences or one depending on the objective of the term paper. The first sentence of the thesis statement should present the topic of your paper while the second sentence should comment on your position on the ethics topic. Questions you need to ask when formulating a thesis statement for your ethics term paper include:

• Where is my thesis statement?
• Is my thesis statement specific?
• Is the thesis statement too general?
• Is the statement clear and does it present my position on the discussion issue at hand?
• Is my thesis statement original?
• Does my thesis statement provide room for disputing the claims presented?

An effective thesis statement is refutable. This implies that the target audience or a different writer can contest the arguments presented. As noted earlier, the thesis statement should be written as the last sentence of the paper introduction segment.

Appropriate Outline for Your Ethics Term Paper

A paper in ethics philosophy whether in deontology or existentialism or any other field of ethics consists of at least three parts, namely the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The body segment has further divisions that can be presented in the form of paragraphs. These divisions focus on the presentation of arguments, the presentation of counter-arguments, and a response to the raised objections.

• Introduction. The opening paragraph of your term paper serves as an introduction to your paper. The introduction should present your topic, arguments discussed in the paper, your intended objective, and should contain a thesis statement and an explanation of your thesis. If you do not have a clear picture of your paper organization at this stage, it is appropriate to write the entire paper and compose the introduction once you finish the main body of the term paper. In this case, compose the other sections of the paper first, and come back to (re)write the introduction so that it reflects what your ethics term paper discusses. Where necessary, define the key terms in your thesis statement. These terms should define your paper and provide the scope of the term paper. Such terms may be, ‘abortion,’ ‘euthanasia,’ ‘immorality,’ and ‘personhood.’
• Body. The body of the term paper should present your argument as stipulated in your introduction. The arguments should be presented in a paragraph form to imply that each paragraph should focus on one main argument. Moreover, each paragraph should have a topic sentence that makes a claim for the paragraph. The topic sentence should be in line with the term paper topic and the thesis statement. The subsequent sentences in the paragraph should provide evidence that supports the noted claim. In cases where the body section should contain subheadings, it is important to group themes in a way that they provide a systematic analysis of appropriate content for each subheading.
• Presenting arguments that support the thesis. This section is the part of the body section. The arguments constitute the greater part of the term paper. When presenting your term paper arguments, use compelling premises logically. Present the possible arguments in paragraphs. Each argument should be discussed in its own paragraph along with evidence that supports the argument. Your paragraphs should demonstrate that you have an understanding of the term paper topic and written content. Provide both empirical and theoretical support for the presented arguments and do not repeat your arguments.
• Presenting objections to the thesis. If your ethics term paper contains arguments that oppose the main claim, present them after articulating the main ideas. At this point, you step into your opponent’s shoes and ask yourself what some of the arguments against the thesis statement are. Review research materials whose authors disagree with your thesis and present their ideas as objections to your thesis. Each counter argument should be presented in its own paragraph just as when you present the main arguments. Remember your target audience and do not include unfounded counterarguments.
• Conclusion. The conclusion sums up your term paper and provides your recommended action plan where applicable. You should include a restatement of the thesis statement and a brief summary of arguments. Do not introduce new ideas and arguments at this stage because it only serves to summarize the entire term paper.

Post Writing Tips on the Last Things You Should Do

The post writing tips entail proofreading and referencing the ethics term paper. You should begin by checking the paper to ensure you identify the most significant points of the topic. Ensure that your paper is free of grammatical mistakes and sentence structure issues. The sentences should be coherent and in the correct tense. The logical presentation of ideas is important in a term paper; hence, proofreading should involve ensuring there is a coherent flow of ideas and arguments. Finally, ensure you quote any borrowed sources and use appropriate citation mechanisms as required by your professor.