A Guide to Writing Research Papers in POLS 343

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A Guide to Writing Research Papers in POLS 343

• November 13, 2009

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How to get started?

• Identify an issue/event/policy/time period that
  youre interested in
• Do some initial reading
• Textbook chapters (Guide to further reading)
• Books on reserve
• Identify a research question

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What is a research question?

• The question to which you will seek an answer in
  your paper
• A why or how question
• Why did the 12 member states of the EU decide to
  go for monetary integration?
• Why was the EU Constitution rejected in
  France/the Netherlands?
• Why did the EDC fail whereas the ECSC succeeded?
• How does the European Parliament contribute to
  addressing the democratic legitimacy of the EU?

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What is a research question?

• Try to frame the research question as a puzzle
• Why, after staying out of the ECSC, EEC and the
  Euratom, did the British apply for membership in
  1961?
• Why does the EU maintain an inefficient and
  expensive Common Agricultural Policy?
• Try to make the research question manageable, yet
  still interesting and relevant

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What is a research question?

• Social scientists often hide in the trivial, the
  formal, the methodological, the purely
  theoretical, the remotely historicalin short,
  the politically irrelevant
• AVOID THIS!
• - What is the problem? Who says its a problem
  and why? Whats the big idea or confusion? What
  is it that I want to discover, solve, learn more
  about?

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What next?

• What are the possible answers to your research
  question?
• Research
• Library online databases (Web of Knowledge,
  Lexis-Nexis)
• Google scholar http//scholar.google.com.tr/
• Official websites (See Syllabus)

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What next?

• Identify possible answers to your research
  question (hypotheses)
• Look for evidence to support or disconfirm your
  hypotheses

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Writing it up

• Introduction
• Sets the research question
• EU governments have had mixed record of support
  for and success in monetary cooperation through
  the 1970s. Given this record, how did they
  establish and maintain the EMS in 1979?

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Writing it up Introduction

• Thesis statement
• In this paper I argue that
• Not a statement of a fact or opinion
• Tell us what you will argue for in the paper and
  why
• In this paper I argue that the key to the
  success of the EMS was the economic policy
  convergence that occurred across EU governments
  in the 1970s. A neoliberal policy convergence
  replaced Keynesian beliefs.

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Introduction Thesis statement

• In this paper I will compare and contrast the
  Treaty of Paris (1951) with the Treaty of Rome
  (1957).
• In this paper I will discuss the Eastern
  enlargement of the EU in 2004

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Introduction Thesis statement

• In this paper, I will argue that the rejection
  of the EU Constitution by French voters in 2005
  was driven more by national political factors in
  France than negative attitudes of the French
  public on Europe.

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Writing it up Introduction

• Set the research question
• Thesis statement
• Roadmap for the paper introduce the structure of
  the paper After doing x, Ill do y, then z and
  conclude by doing such and such

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Writing it up

• Body of the paper
• Answers the research question and supports your
  position with evidence
• Explain your argument
• Present your evidence FACTS DO NOT SPEAK FOR
  THEMSELVES! Explain your evidence.
• Discuss alternative or counter-arguments or
  disconfirming evidence, dont hide them.
• All paragraphs, arguments, information should
  contribute to your main argument.

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Writing it up

• Conclusion
• Summarizes the main argument and the evidence
• Any surprising results, unanswered questions,
  unresolved puzzles
• Significance of findings So what?

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Writing it up

• Introduction
• Research question and thesis statement
• Roadmap for the rest of the paper
• Body of the paper
• Supports your thesis statement both logically and
  empirically (with evidence)
• Deals with counterarguments or disconfirming
  evidence
• All parts contribute to making your argument
• Conclusion
• What conclusions have you reached? Summarize and
  state the significance of findings

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Writing it up

• Avoid plagiarism. Cite your sources every time
  you use someone elses ideas and words
• Footnotes or in-text citations
• Bibliography
• Edit your paper carefully. Style counts
  (organization, spelling, grammar, punctuation,
  use of formal language)

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