How to Write Women’s & Gender Studies Term Paper

Students who take courses in Women’s & Gender Studies typically have to complete a certain number of writing assignments and a term paper is one of them. A term paper is the most extensive written assignment and is a result of a thorough investigation on a specific topic.

The process of writing a term paper for college can be stressful, especially if you don’t know how to start. So, if you have no idea on how to approach your challenging Women’s & Gender Studies term paper, read this article where you will find some useful advice on how to successfully cope with this complex task.

• We will offer you a step-by-step gender studies term paper guide.
• We will give you some easy tips on revising, editing, and proofreading.
• Besides, you will find here some interesting Women’s & Gender Studies term paper topics that can serve you as a source of inspiration for choosing great term paper topics on your own.

But first, let’s discuss what Women’s & Gender Studies term paper is and what approaches you should use when writing this type of college paper.

What Is Women’s & Gender Studies Term Paper?

Women’s & Gender Studies program allows students to take a number of classes in a variety of college disciplines that focus on gender and deal with the experiences of women. This program is a good choice for male and female students who want to pursue their interest in social justice and gender equity and develop the skill that will help them succeed on the dynamic and ever-changing job market and meet the requirements of competitive graduate programs.
Being an interdisciplinary program, Women’s & Gender Studies allow students to understand how gender shapes lives, institutions, and worlds through its connections with class, race, national location, and sexuality.

When writing a term paper in Women’s & Gender Studies, you need to demonstrate your analytical and critical thinking skills. You also need to prove your ability to integrate and apply knowledge across a variety of disciplines. To succeed in completing this assignment, you need to examine women, gender, and sexuality from a historical and cross-cultural perspective, using the methodology and analytical tools of various disciplines such as political science, psychology, sociology, philosophy, history, anthropology, literature, and others.

The structure of a term paper may differ depending on your topic – you can use a literature review style or rely on the scientific report style. Here is a general format of a term paper in Women’s & Gender Studies which typically consists of the following sections:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Results
• Discussion and conclusions
• References/Bibliography

But in general, when choosing a format for your term paper, you have to follow your instructor’s guidelines. You can include different sections but the necessary ones are the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion.

Tips from Our Writers on Choosing Great Women’s & Gender Studies Term Paper Topics

The process of discovering a good researchable topic is very important for the success of your academic project and requires a serious approach to it. Here are some easy gender studies term paper tips on how to do it right:

• Try to find a great topic that you are truly interested in;
• Try to find your own way to approach your topic;
• Talk to your classmates and your instructor about your topic and ask their advice on how to cover some specific issues;
• A good idea is to pose your research paper topic as a problem that should be solved or as a question that has to be answered.

It’s important to narrow down the topic you have chosen to make it manageable within the word count of your Women’s & Gender Studies research paper. For example, if you are interested in writing about science, gender, and social inequality in the developing world, you can choose such issues as the relationship of scientific progress to colonial expansions and aspirations of nationalists or explore how technology and science have affected developing societies.

To help you get started, here we have made a short list of impressive Women’s & Gender Studies term paper topics. Maybe you’ll be able to find a good topic for writing your own project.

1. The Difference Between Women’s Literature and Feminist Literature
2. Gender and Health Inequality
3. Violation of Human Rights in Human Trafficking
4. Gender Roles in The Classical Civilizations
5. The Gender Gap in Crime
6. The Ethics of Assisted Reproduction Technologies
7. Gender Inequality in the Workplace
8. Women and Leadership Roles in Business
9. Women and Transformation of Traditional Values
10. What Roles Do Women Play in the Development of Technology?
11. The History of Women in Science and Engineering
12. Gendered and Racialized Language In Contemporary Media
13. International Women’s Issues and Globalization
14. Feminist Film Theory
15. Technology and New Gender Relationships

How to Do Effective Research for Your Gender Studies Term Paper

The main goal of writing a term paper in Women’s & Gender Studies is to prove your ability to conduct an effective research on your topic and provide a critique of scholarly sources through a written project. Remember that you should demonstrate that you are able to synthesize multi-disciplinary approaches to the subject of your term paper and examine social and cultural issues from the gender perspective, taking into consideration other differences between people as well.

When doing a research, you should consider relevant primary and secondary sources on your subject as well as artifacts. You should use articles from scholarly journals and critical books that are related to Women’s & Gender Studies as well as general and interdisciplinary ones. Check your university library and electronic databases to find good sources for your term paper. Your instructor can provide you with a list of possible sources as well. Besides this, you need to find good primary sources related to women’s history to provide convincing evidence for your argument – letters and diaries, newspapers and magazines, photographs and documentary films, original texts written by women etc. You should look for such sources in archives.

As you read, you should write some useful notes that you can use for writing your term paper and keep track of all your sources. This information will help you to properly cite your references and create a bibliography page. You can keep your notes on separate pieces of paper, cards or in a spreadsheet.

How to Organize the Writing Process

When you have gathered enough relevant materials, you should plan your writing. You have to define a working thesis and organize your ideas. You can use different techniques to plan your writing:

• Make an outline;
• Create a cluster or a diagram;
• List supporting arguments;
• Identify the pros and cons.

Create an Outline

You can choose any technique you like, but the best way to organize the writing process is to create a detailed working outline that will help you develop a logical and coherent structure for your term paper. In this way, you can ensure that you will stay focused when writing and save a lot of time when translating your ideas into words and sentences. When you have an outline, you can actually start writing your Women’s & Gender Studies term paper from any section because you’ll have a clear picture of what to include in your paper and it will also help you at the revising stage.

Here is what you should do to make an outline for your term paper.

First, create a strong thesis statement that will summarize the main point of your paper and preview the supporting points as well. The thesis statement presents the major idea that you will argue in your term paper and will guide your writing. If you fail in creating a well-thought thesis statement, your term paper is likely to look jumbled and will not have a clear purpose.

For example, if your term paper is dedicated to ethical issues of assisted reproductive technologies, your thesis statement can be like this one:

‘Assisted reproductive technologies that are used to treat infertility can raise complicated ethical issues for human participants, health care professionals, and the whole society.’

Next, you should think about the key points that you’ll need to include in your paper to support your thesis statement. These key points will be sub-headings in your outline. You need to organize all the information that you have gathered under these sub-headings. Keep in mind that you have to include only relevant information that supports your argument and fits the framework of your Women’s & Gender Studies research paper outline.

Write a Draft

When you have planned your ideas, you need to start writing the first draft of your academic paper. At this stage, you should refer back to your notes and the outline but don’t be afraid to make changes when needed. You should get your ideas to paper and concentrate on organizing all your information logically. You don’t have to think about grammar and spelling too much. It’s the first draft and you’ll need to do several revisions to improve the content. You will check grammar and spelling mistakes when you finish the final draft. Now your task is to develop the topic of your Women’s & Gender Studies term paper with enough detail for your purpose and audience.

When writing an introduction, you should grab your audience’s attention and make your readers want to read the rest of your term paper. Here is what you can include in your introductory section:

• A description of the problem, a statement of the purpose of your paper, questions that need to be answered, and your thesis statement;
• A broader context for your specific topic;
• A review of the existing literature in the field;
• Explanation of terms and definitions.

The structure of the main body depends on your objective. There are no general rules to determine how many chapters your Women’s & Gender Studies term paper should include and which specific aspects you have to consider. You should build your paper around the points you want to make and integrate the sources into your discussion. Here are some tips on how you can do it:

• Divide your text into sections/subsections. Each section has to present the main point in the argument and the relevant information;
• Make sure that each chapter has a clear structure;
• Develop a convincing argument step-by-step and do it in a comprehensive manner;
• Don’t just report your sources but summarize, explain, analyze, and evaluate each source;
• Back your arguments with quotations and make sure you explain and each quotation;
• Present your own opinion and give reasons for all your ideas;
• Provide references to all literature.

In the conclusion, you may summarize the argument of your paper for your readers. You can also explain the significance of your findings and consider limitations and strengths of your work. Besides, you can make suggestions for further research. In general, your conclusion should leave your audience with a feeling that it was worthwhile to read your piece of writing and stimulate further thinking.

The style of your writing should be objective and precise and you should avoid repetitions and passive constructions.

Revising, Editing, Proofreading

When your first draft is finished, you need to review it and make changes to improve the content and the logic of your Women’s & Gender Studies term paper. Actually, revision is done to ensure that your argument is logical and clear and that they can easily follow it. You should check the overall organization of your paper and organization of all paragraphs: a logical flow of the introduction, coherence of the discussion in the main body, sequence of ideas in the paragraphs, use of transitions in the paragraphs and between them.

During editing, you need to improve the sentence structure and the word choice and correct grammar and spelling. When your final draft is ready, you need to proofread it – fix minor grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors and check documentation – consistent use of one citation style, appropriate use of references in text, and accuracy of a list of works cited.