Even students capable of writing excellent essays still find their first major political science research paper an intimidating experience. Crafting the right research question, finding good sources, properly summarizing them, operationalizing concepts and designing good tests for their hypotheses, presenting and analyzing quantitative as well as qualitative data are all tough-going without a great deal of guidance and encouragement. Writing a Research Paper in Political Science breaks down the research paper into its constituent parts and shows students what they need to do at each stage to successfully complete each component until the paper is finished. Practical summaries, recipes for success, worksheets, exercises, and a series of handy checklists make this a must-have supplement for any writing-intensive political science course.
Lisa A. Baglione is a Professor and the Chair of the Political Science Department at Saint Joseph's University. Her major fields of study are International Relations and Comparative Politics. Dr. Baglione has published works exploring contemporary Russian foreign policy, post-settlement peacebuilding, the arms control decision-making process in the United States, the Soviet Union, and Russia, and the research-paper writing process, and has co-authored articles on the transformation of the Russian polity and economy in the early post-communist period. Currently, she is researching conflict transformation in the twenty-first century and contemporary Russian center-periphery relations. At Saint Joseph's, Dr. Baglione teaches courses in which she developed the ideas, advice, and techniques offered in this work.
Table of Contents
PREFACECHAPTER 1: So You Have to Write a Research PaperWhat Is a Research Paper? A Few Helpful MetaphorsWhat Research Paper Writing EntailsBlueprint of the BookCHAPTER 2: Getting Started: Finding a Research QuestionCharacteristics of a Good QuestionPractical SummaryRecipe 1: The Research QuestionExercisesCHAPTER 3: Learning Proper Citation Forms, Finding the Scholarly Debate, and Summarizing and Classifying Arguments: The Annotated BibliographyWhat Are Bibliographies, and Why Do We Bother With Them?Plagiarism versus Paraphrasing and Avoiding Drop-Ins and Transcripts, TooAnnotating the BibliographyIdentifying the Key Conceptual IssuesSearching for SourcesIdentifying Similar Arguments and Grouping Your SourcesOne Last Word of Advice: Generic Schools of ThoughtWriting the Annotated BibliographyPractical SummaryRecipe 2: The Annotated BibliographyExercisesCHAPTER 4: Making Sense of the Scholarly Answers to Your Research Question: Writing the Literature ReviewPreparing for and Understanding the Literature ReviewThe Fundamentals of the Literature ReviewWriting the Literature ReviewPractical SummaryRecipe 3: Literature ReviewExercisesCHAPTER 5: Effectively Distilling Your Argument: The Thesis, Model, and HypothesisThe ThesisThe ModelThe HypothesisApplying These InsightsPractical SummaryRecipe 4: Thesis or Model and Hypothesis SectionExercisesCHAPTER 6: Revising and Editing Your Work: The Research-Writing-Thinking SpiralPractical SummaryRecipe 5: Revising and EditingExercisesCHAPTER 7: Making Your Plan and Protecting Yourself from Criticism: The Research DesignResearch Design: The Courtroom and Medical Science AnalogiesWriting the Research Design, Focusing on Hypothesis-Driven ResearchThe Research Design: Two ExamplesPractical SummaryRecipe 6: Research DesignExercisesCHAPTER 8: Evaluating the Argument: The Analysis and Assessment SectionQualitative AnalysisMixed (Qualitative and Quantitative) AnalysisQuantitative and Statistical AnalysisPractical SummaryRecipe 7: Analysis and AssessmentExercisesCHAPTER 9: Bringing the Paper Together in Essential Ways: The Conclusion, Introduction, Title, Abstract, and the Utility of a PresentationConsidering the Significance and Limitations of Your Findings: The ConclusionWriting a Good IntroductionA Last Element in Attracting Readers: Developing an Appealing TitleAlmost Done: Writing an Abstract and Giving a PresentationAre You Done? The Joy (and Continued Responsibilities) of Finalizing Your DraftPractical SummaryRecipe 8: Conclusion, Introduction, Title, and AbstractExercisesBIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX