Research Paper
Students must demonstrate the ability to identify, assemble, and disseminate extant information relating to
a research topic in Political Science. Achievement of this objective will be measured by the evaluation of
student performance on a written research paper. The research paper will be from seven to twelve pages
in length. It will be structured along the following lines:
1 statement of research topic
2 review of literature relevant to the research topic
3 formulation of hypotheses
4 defining and operationalizing concepts
5 if applicable, design for testing hypotheses/data analysis (and, if time permits, actual testing)
6 conclusion
Specifically,
Format for the Research Project:
• The research project must have a (1) statement of research topic (introduction), a thesis statement,
a body, and a conclusion. The research project should have a clear organizational
structure including transitions between the sections.
• 1. Introduction / statement of research topic: In this part you need to get reader’s attention.
First, state the question that you are answering (5% of the paper grade). Then, briefly explain why it is an
important question (5%). (You may include any practical (and/or theoretical) reasons for addressing this
question. If you think that the question you are answering is ambiguous, please make sure to interpret the
problem in the way you understand it. If the question you are tackling is too broad, narrow it down.)
(10%)
• 2. Review of literature relevant to the research topic and Thesis statement / The body section:
While writing this section you will need to (1) elaborate on the previous literature that has dealt with this
problem/question (15%). The purpose of this exercise is to see what we know about the answers to your
question based on other people’s research (and how your paper “fits” into it). In writing this section you
should avoid presenting mere paragraphs that describe one by one previous studies. Rather, your task here
is to analyze previous studies and explain how they are similar and different. If there is more than one
explanation to the phenomena that they study, try to explain why there might be two or more
explanations. This means that you need to assess previous knowledge and present your own judgment
about its relevance to the question. You do not have to read every single study written on the topic, just
some of the most important ones.
Additionally and in relation to your literature review, in this section you will need to (2) clearly present
your argument and show the logic of the argument. Your thesis statement should start with: “In this paper
I argue that [… XY]” or “The major argument of this study is [… XY]”. Next, explain why we
should expect a relationship between the factors that you think are important and the
phenomenon/phenomena that need/s to be explained (15%). In this section try to make the big points that
relate to the question that you are answering. After you write a paragraph try to re-read it to make sure
that it is clear how this paragraph relates to the question under consideration.
It would be admirable if in this section try to demonstrate how your answer “fits” the previous knowledge
(analyzed as a part of the literature review). If there is a disagreement among scholars on a particular
issue, does your study solve this disagreement? Does it take any particular side? If so, then why? If there
is a complete agreement among scholars on a particular issue, does your argument agree with them or
does it bring a new revolutionary explanation that overturns the conventional wisdom? Or maybe the
problem has not yet received much attention and you are a pioneer in explaining the phenomenon
(phenomena) of your interest. Or perhaps you are simply testing somebody else’s argument that has not
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been tested yet? In either case, demonstrate how your argument is superior to other explanations, if any of
them exist.
• 3. Formulation of hypotheses: After having clearly stated your argument in the previous section,
in this section, present a formal statement of your hypothesis(es) based on your argument (and any
competing explanations) that you are testing. It means that your hypothesis(es) statement has
to clearly contain your key explanatory (independent / causal / treatment / manipulated) and the
dependent (consequence / effect / outcome) variables (20%).
• 4. Defining and operationalizing concepts: Be sure to define any major concepts and
variables that you are using in your argumentation (10%). Do not use definitions from dictionary or web.
If the authors from the reviewed studies provide a definition of the main terms, you may use these. You
do not have to explain the logic of your thesis in this section, since you should have already done so in an
earlier section.
• 5. Testing hypotheses / Data analysis: In this section you should ideally (collect), describe,
and analyze (qualitative or quantitative) data, whether from primary or secondary sources. Since in the
course of a short semester it may not be possible to collect original data or presents a detailed data
analysis, you should at very least provide a research design, or your roadmap as to how you would go
about conducting your data collection and data analysis. You should describe the sources of your data,
and show why you chose a particular methodology.
While it would be certainly admirable if your findings support your argument and you use a complex
research methodology, yet I completely understand if your analysis is preliminary and rudimentary and
your findings do not support the proposed argument(s) and hypothesis(es). What is necessary for the
purposes of this paper is to show that you can apply skills acquired in this course (such as literature
review, argument and hypothesis formulation and data analysis), than to have great results and fancy
methods. (25%)
• 6. Conclusion: In this section, briefly re-state the issue that you investigate and its importance.
Re-emphasize your own answer to this question and its place in the previous research. Indicate any
potential areas for the future research in light of the statements you make. In case your results do not
support the hypotheses, indicate what might have been responsible for this lack of intended findings. (5%)