How to Write a Sports Term Paper: The Guide from Qualified Academic Writers

What Is a Sports Term Paper?

Students learning sports-related subjects often find it interesting to research a topic for the advancement of their knowledge on the question. The sports term paper aims to enable the student to reveal the depth and clarity of understanding of the studied course. Therefore, such work is often assigned at the end of the semester for the student to apply theories, concepts, and terms within the research of a suitable field.

The directions for sports term paper subjects are tenfold, ranging from the medical input in the industry to psychology in team roles or nutrition. It is significant to write a term paper that pertains directly to the needed topic. While it may be interesting to write about the favorite sport or its history, a sports term paper demands the support of personal opinion with research. Below there are selected advice on writing a sports term paper that will assist in managing the writing process, choosing a suitable topic and understanding the expectations of the prescribed work.

How to Choose a Sports Term Paper Topic?

The choice of a topic for a sports term paper depends on a wide range of factors. For instance, when learning specifically about a sport, such as a football or a basketball, it would be suitable to write a structured report with updates on recent achievements, analysis of the sphere, the interaction between teams. However, when studying subjects related to medical science, dietary, general physical training or sports physiology, it is necessary to focus on finding topics that relate directly to the chosen field. These are the most common sports term paper topics:

• The Impact of Steroids on the Immune System of Sports Players;
• The Evaluation of Methods in Assisting with Arm Trauma;
• Rehabilitation of Football Players After Brain Injuries;
• Injury Prevention Strategies for Powerlifters and Bodybuilders;
• Effects of a Balanced Diet on the Performance of Gymnasts in the Olympics.

Thus, the topics may pertain to an array of studies. It would not be a mistake to coordinate the topic choice with the professor.

Pre-Writing Tips

Once the topic for the sports term paper is selected, there starts preparation for the research and writing. The critical advice relates to the need for understanding the limitations, controversies or inconsistencies in reporting of data of the chosen subject. It will assist in providing a novelty to the research, what in turn would support its validity. However, to write compelling arguments and lucid interpretations of ideas, it is necessary to conduct preliminary research.

Further, before the beginning of the writing process, it is advisable to manage the personal timetable in a way that would allow working consistently on the term paper throughout an extended period. As term paper requires up to a dozen pages, devoting time to research and writing will simplify the coordination of the process, and enable to evaluate own arguments. Leaving the term paper till the deadline would lead to the constrained research along with lack of clarity, logical sequence, and organization.

How to Conduct Research for a Sports Term Paper?

Research is the most critical part of working on the sports term paper. The goal of such work is to learn valuable and relevant information about the chosen topic. It involves reading academic literature, such as books, journal articles, scientific magazines, reports, or other. The following sources relate directly to varying sport-related fields of study that could be used in the research:

• Vos, B. C., Nieuwenhuijsen, K., & Sluiter, J. K. (2017). Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury in Professional American Football Players. (https://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Fulltext/2018/03000/Consequences_of_Traumatic_Brain_Injury_in.1.aspx)
• Mitchell, L., Hackett, D., Gifford, J., Estermann, F., & O’Connor, H. (2017). Do Bodybuilders Use Evidence-Based Nutrition Strategies to Manipulate Physique? (http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/5/4/76/html)
• Mackenzie, C. (2018). Ironic effects in softball pitching: How knowing information about an opponent’s strengths affects athletic performance under pressure(https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:akron1523274403849214)
• Oliveira, W., Couto, A., Santos, M., Santos, V., & Silva, F. (n.d.). Influence of biological maturation on the body mass index of young soccer players. (https://search.proquest.com/openview/6e5edd10927137eb095750a2288d5df9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=616555)
• Mills, J. P., & Boardley, I. D. (2016, December 19). Advancing Leadership in Sport: Time to ‘Actually’ Take the Blinkers Off? (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40279-016-0661-3)

These sources are either accessible to read for free or require membership of the database. However, the majority of universities holds library partnerships with such databases. Therefore, to get the scholarly sources for the term paper, a student can contact the college library.

Further, a researcher should take notes when reading. It will help to identify the critical points of each reference to utilize in writing. While it may be convenient to conduct online research, a writer should not hesitate to take printed journals from the university’s library or purchase books in the stores to get the most up-to-date information.

Structure of a Sports Term Paper

Depending on the guidelines of the task distributed in class there will be several suitable structures of the sports term paper. However, there are common sections that are present among the guidelines in the field related to sports. For instance, the article could start with an abstract that will define the critical areas of the term paper. In other formats, a summary would be excessive. Therefore, the introduction paragraph will be enough to provide an overview of the selected topic.
Further, a sports term paper will hold several body paragraphs. A writer should be eager to give sub-headings to different sections of the work. Finally, there will be a conclusion providing an overview of the results of the research, followed by the reference page. If a researcher chooses to sustain elaborated arguments with empirical research, he or she should consider adding methodology, discussions and results sections with an appendix following the referencing.

Title

Each sports term paper should be headed with a title. Depending on the complexity of the selected topic, the title will vary. However, it is necessary to avoid turning a title into a thesis statement or abstract. It should reflect the studied theme and core subject of the term paper. The following sentences provide several examples of suitable titles:

• Development Strategies of Nutrition Plans for Football Players
• Evaluation of Impact of Organic Steroids on Gymnasts Performance
• Coordination of Team Spirit in Transformation of Sports Teams Morale
• Differences in Male and Female Injuries During the First Year of Varsity Basketball
• Assessment of Illnesses and Injuries of Canadian Male Hockey Players from 1990 till 2015

The title will be different depending on the selected topic. It should describe the subject directly and openly. A successful title will consist of several words providing relative information while avoiding going into too much detail.

Outline

After the research on the topic is finished, it is possible to start drafting the outline. The role of this element is to establish a clear understanding of the way the term paper will be structured. It will be helpful to set the critical ideas into varying sections to establish their logical sequence. In contrast with an argumentative paper or an essay, a term paper does not require the description of contrary ideas to the stated claims.
Thus, an appropriate practice is to concentrate on issuing one argument and drafting an outline with notions that reinforce it. The framework will hold the main discussions and, at least, three supporting claims for each. Finally, it will provide the core structure to be further filled with topic sentences, summaries, conclusion, and other sections.

Thesis Statement

The final sentence concluding the introduction is known as a thesis statement. It provides a concise overview of all arguments discussed in the term paper. Avoiding oversimplification or excessively composite sentence structure is essential. Primarily, a researcher should identify at least three claims to issue in the term paper, combining them with the background for them and solution. The following sentences refer to properly-written thesis statements:

• Evaluation of impression management techniques will provide measures for leadership advancement, interaction and tactics of the Lakers team for active play in the 2019-2020 NBA tournament.
• Amateur athletes are at the highest risk of injuries in CrossFit due to the unsupervised consumption of waste-shrinking, image-enhancing, and weight-loss steroids.
• The balance of nutrients in football player’s diet can be attained through the careful count of calories, individually selected food and considerate consumption.

It is vital to focus on the main arguments of the term paper to succeed in thesis statement writing. The following examples refer to sentences that represent a poorly written thesis:

• Healthy food is important for sports players.
• Identification of prevention strategies will help the team.
• Football is one of the most traumatic sports.

Therefore, a writer must devote extra time to writing the thesis statement and correlate each part of the sentence with the structure of the term paper.

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs should provide the core information about each argument. It is significant to maintain the structure of a body paragraph to at least five sentences with referencing in the middle sentences to elaborate on the chosen research source. For instance, injuries in sports can occur in any setting including playgrounds, backyards or hobbies related to physical activity. To establish the claim in a body paraph, a writer will need to reinforce the stance using statistics or metrics that support such a notion.

As a result, it will be evident that each claim is not subjective, but supported by data from research. Separate body paragraphs should reinforce its’ strengths, proving the objectivity and validity of data.

Methodology

The methodology section of a sports term paper will be relevant to students who decide to add empirical evidence to their writing. For example, it could be used while researching the demographic changes in the injury prevention of the college’s basketball team. In research, a writer can decide to set a survey for the current players to assess their consideration and strategies to promote the safety of the play. In the methodology section, it would be useful to describe the reasons for choosing to survey the team players. Furthermore, there is a need to explain the process of drafting questions, evaluations answers and incorporating them into the term paper’s subject. Each correlation, comparison or assessment should be supported with charts, graphics or tables. The methodology section is where a student will explain the process of handling such a notion.

Results and Discussion

The final section of the sports term paper with empirical research refers to the results and discussion. The first part of the results section applies to the identification of the primary outcomes of the study. For example, a researcher writes about the matters that you learned during the investigation, provide an evaluate the strengths of solutions to the concern, or other. In the discussion section, he or she should focus on the overview of the context of the subject. Then, predict the value of the topic for the future years, assess the solutions and clarify the research need for continuing studying the selected issue. These sections provide an overview of the results of the term paper. They aim to reveal the authors’ evaluation skills and knowledge of theories to apply to the researched field. The term paper is not a Ph.D. work. Therefore, there is no need to feel challenged by such sections.

Post-Writing Tips from Our Top Writing Experts

After finishing the last writing sections of the sports term paper, it is necessary to read the complete draft several times. Such process relates to proofreading and editing. The former refers to the identification of grammar or style mistakes. These are minor notions that can be easily missed while writing. Proofreading provides an opportunity to double check the spelling, punctuation, and usage of articles. The critical idea to consider when editing and proofreading is the logical sequence of arguments.
Each paragraph should provide the considerate and precise description of the evidence without motivating readers to submit additional questions to clarify the final stance on the subject. The next stage is checking the formatting requirements to comply with the guidelines outlined in the assignment guidelines. The title should be capitalized and personal information listed on the cover page. Further, the reference page has to be edited correctly with the required italics, capitalizations, and punctuation.

References

The final page of the sports term paper is the list of references, works cited or bibliography section. The goal of this part of the term paper is to provide the sources used throughout the term paper to support given claims, ideas or quotes. A reference implies a line with information about the author of the reading, its title, publication, and other relevant information. There are several referencing formats generally used in class. For instance, these include MLA, APA, Chicago Turabian, Harvard, ASA or other. However, the most commonly assigned referencing style for sports term papers is APA. The reference below is a proper citation of a book to use in a sports term paper.

• Yesalis, C. (2000). Anabolic Steroids in Sport and Exercise (2nd ed.). New York: Human Kinetics.

A rule is to cite each source used in the term paper in the alphabetical order. In the APA writing style, there is no need to provide footnotes. However, there is a requirement to paste in-text citation. They would appear in the end of the sentence, where the writer uses the source in the following way:

• (Yesalis, 2000).

Overall, a sports term paper requires concentration, time, research and a clear understanding of the selected topic. Before starting to write, it is necessary to organize an outline that will save time on connecting the parts of the paper. Moreover, the visual separation of the writing parts will simplify the research. It is vital to find relevant scholarly sources to support the writer’s ideas. The listed advice on referencing sources is an essential notion for a proper grade.
Students should not hesitate to write several drafts and share them with their professor to get feedback before turning it to the final version. Furthermore, the ordered work should be original. Therefore, avoidance of plagiarism is a critical notion of keeping in mind while writing. Sports term paper is a useful task to prepare for a further sports research paper. While instructors do not expect to receive full-scale research, incorporation of the basic research principles will boost the final grade and enhance the additional work on the research paper.