A term paper is a long research paper mae by a student over a 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 involved academic research, and not all research papers are term papers.