Assignment:
In consultation with the professor, you will pick a topic for your research paper.
Papers should be between approximately 15 pages in length (not including title page and bibliography). For 400 level courses, Politics and Law now required the use of the Chicago citation style (in text). Papers should be proofed to: 1) eliminate typographical and grammatical errors and 2) ensure good paragraph organization and sentence fluency.
The research paper must have at its core a good research question which you will try to answer using academic journals, primary sources and other relevant material. It should be a question relevant to international political economy (not just US political economy). We will go over potential topics in class.
A research proposal is the presentation of an idea that you wish to pursue. The key to a good research proposal (and project) is a good question. You probably will need to know at least a little something about the subject in order to come up with a good question. The first step is to think of an area/issue/region in which you are interested and read up on it and then brainstorm about potential projects.
Thus a good research proposal presumes that you have already thought about your project and have devoted some time and effort in gathering information, reading, and then organizing your thoughts. A research proposal is NOT a project to be thrown together in one night with ideas off the top of your head. One might say that the research proposal is a second step, following the selection of a broad topic.
For this class your research paper can address any empirical question relevant to the field of International Political Economy. Your proposal is not graded, but a well thought proposal will likely help you get a better grade as it means you have thought through your research topic.
Format for a Research Proposal
The proposal will likely be between one and two typed pages. It should include the following:
1) Name, and a Working Title for the Project
2) Write an introductory statement: The purpose of the introductory statement is to catch the attention of the reader and to get them interested in the general subject matter. It sets the stage for your research questions or puzzle. It often can contain a dramatic statement to highlight the need for the study. (This should be a good paragraph or two long. It could become the introductory paragraphs of your paper).
3) State the problem or puzzle:
4) State your research question or a main question and sub-question. A clear question will help you figure out what types of information will help you in answering that question. You might want to think about it in terms of:
a) the dependent variable (the outcome which you want to explain).
b) the independent variables (the various factors that might explain the outcome).
For those of you who have had Comparative Politics, this will seem familiar. I will go over this in class and I have a power point on reserve called "methodology" for you to review if you have questions.
5) State your (preliminary) argument(s). What do you think might be the answer to your research question? As you do your research, you can change your opinion, but remember you don't have to be "right" to have interesting findings. In other words, don't select evidence to fit your argument.
6) Describe the structure of the paper. How are you going to organize the paper so that you can answer your question(s)? Think of this as a draft outline.
7) Preliminary bibliography: You should have at least 5 good, relevant sources.