Phase
1. Introduction
An introduction on what you intend to study. You should discuss why your study is important. Think about the following points.
What do you want to study?
Why do you want to study?
Do you find any empirical puzzle?
“What have others said about the topic? (Check the description of the Research Topic and Lit.)
Are there consistent findings, or do past studies disagree?
Are there flaws in the body of existing research that you think you can remedy?” (Babbie, p113)
What is your argument? (Your argument should be made within the first couple of pages. It will give a clear direction of where you are heading. It is important that you grab readers’ attention early.)
1. Make sure to read the description of the Research Topic and Bibliography again.
2. Know what you are trying to explain. For example, you are interested in the impact of electoral rules on party systems. In this example, you are trying to explain cross-national variations of party systems by electoral rules.
Other examples
The impact of economic growth on democratization
The impact of gender on party support
The impact of race on voting behavior
The impact of guns on crime rates
3. You should not argue the importance of your research paper based on your personal experience. Your research paper should be important to other readers.
4. Avoid factual research questions. Avoid normative questions.
5. Quotations should be used effectively.
6. Cite academic sources and discuss what research has been done. (You can use JSTOR to search for articles. You can also go to the library.) Articles in magazines and newspapers are not considered as “academic.”
e.g. According to Smith (2002), …
Riker (1982) argues that …
Bibliography (Journal)
Riker, William. 1982. “The Two Party System and Duverger’s Law: An Essay on the History of Political Science.” American Political Science Review 76: 753-766
Bibliography (Book)
Sheingate,
Adam. 2001. The Rise of the Agricultural Welfare State.
7. Do not forget to attach bibliography.
Note:
1. At the end of the semester, you will turn in your paper by combining the phases. You will be asked to turn in the original phases with your final paper. In other words, you need to keep your original phases with my comments after I return them to you.
2. Staple (Do not use a binder).
3. Save your work in disks (Make sure to have multiple backups). You will be responsible for a lost disk/file.
4. Overall, present your paper professionally.