Writing Guidelines for Final Research Paper

Science, Technology, Power and Politics

POLI-388, Spring 2008
Instructor: Shelley Hurt
Office: 112 Rockefeller Hall
Phone: 437-7838
Email: shhurt@vassar.edu

Your final research papers MUST include six components. These guidelines provide you with
an outline of these six components, which I expect to see in all of your final papers. These
guidelines are followed by a handful of minimum requirements and friendly suggestions to keep
in mind when writing your final papers before you hand them in on Thursday, May 15th at 3:00
p.m. in my office. Your final papers must be turned into my office. Late papers will be marked
down by a full letter grade on the day they are due and an additional third of a grade for each
additional day. I will be in my office between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to collect papers. I will
not accept emailed papers. I expect all of the papers to be between 20-25 pages long, double-
spaced, 1.25” margins, and in Times or Times New Roman font. Your research paper is worth
50% of your final grade.

Requirements

First: Your paper MUST be organized to address a research question that relates broadly to the
subject matter covered in this class. Your research question should be formulated as either a
how or a why question. I expect your research question to be located in either the first, second or
third paragraph of your paper. Ideally, your paper will begin by describing some real-world
development or event that prompted you to generate a research question about that development
or event.

Importantly, your research question MUST be organized to identify a cause-effect relationship in

terms of one of the broad themes covered in the course.

Second: Your paper MUST examine the conventional wisdom or alternative explanations in the
literature we read for class. The conventional wisdom evaluates what other scholars,
practitioners, policymakers or citizens think about your research question. In other words, how
have others attempted to answer your research question? Alternative explanations deal more
explicitly with the expectations of the main theoretical paradigms we study in class. This section
of your paper should be between 2-3 pages long.

Third: Your paper MUST analyze primary evidence in addition to secondary evidence. Primary
evidence might include statistical data, government reports, prominent think tank reports, and/or
archival evidence. This evidence might also include speeches, oral histories, or interviews. Your
primary evidence may be supplemented by newspaper or related accounts in the popular press.
Toward the beginning of your paper, I expect you to tell me what type of evidence you used to
investigate your research question. I expect this section to be one or two paragraphs long.

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Fourth: Your paper MUST draw upon a theoretical paradigm and/or framework to elucidate
how your primary evidence answers your research question and how your case study builds
knowledge. You should think of the theoretical framework section as an analytical crowbar that
provides you with a tool to make sense of your research project. During the course of the
semester, we will discuss several theoretical paradigms that explore the tension science,
technology, power, and politics. Among the theoretical paradigms we cover are technological
determinism, political institutions, consensual hegemony, economic systems and processes,
democratic accountability, and ideas, such as constructivism. This abbreviated list provides you
with a general point of departure for thinking about how specific theoretical perspectives can
assist you in explaining your empirical evidence when building your case study. I expect you to
examine one of the theoretical paradigms from class in some depth. It should be noted that I
expect this section to reflect a significant amount of comprehension of the theoretical
perspectives presented in this class. This section should be between 3-4 pages long.

Fifth: The substance of your paper MUST be an evaluation of your research findings. I expect
this section of your paper to be between 10-12 pages long. I strongly suggest that many of you
use the terminology of a case study when presenting your findings. We will study numerous
case studies throughout the semester, which will provide you with an opportunity to become
comfortable with this language.

Sixth: Your paper MUST include a discussion of the “so what?” question. The “so what?”
question simply refers to the implications of your research findings and the significance of your
research question. I expect that strong final papers will point toward the implications of your
project at the beginning of the paper and then discuss the implications of your project in more
depth in the conclusion. This section should reflect the clearest indication of your interpretation
of your research findings. I hope and expect that this requirement will push you to develop a
bold voice in demonstrating your perspective. This aspect of your paper should reflect your best
effort to persuade me that your theoretical perspective and empirical findings are innovative,
interesting, and important.

Additional: Politics is about the study of power. Some people gain it, some people lose it, some
people exploit it, and some people abuse it. I hope all of your papers will demonstrate that
you’ve thought about the political dimensions of your research project.

Writing Skills

The following list provides you with a set of minimal requirements and friendly suggestions for
improving your writing style and for citing your references correctly and completely.

• Your paper should provide a roadmap for the items and issues to be covered in your
paper. I expect students to list these 3-5 items in numerical order, such as first, second,
third, and finally.
• Try to think clearly about cause-effect relationships in your analysis. For instance, when
you are explaining a particular outcome, you should identify who or what is the agent of
change in your analysis.

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• Your paper should include a cover page with the title of your paper, your name, the
course title and course number, my name, and the date. Your cover page should not have
a page number on it.
• Every page of the paper, with the exception of the cover page, should be numbered at the
bottom, center of the page.
• You may want to break down your paper into a few sections and several subsections. For
relevant examples, you should look at any of the major journal articles we read for class.
• Footnotes provide you with an opportunity to cite your reference and to expand upon a
thought you mention in the text. You should use any of the essays we read from the
journal, International Security, as a model for your own footnote presentations. If your
footnotes are thorough and complete, then you don’t need to add a bibliography. If you
choose to write a bibliography, the pages for that part of your paper will not count toward
your 15-page minimum or your 20-page maximum. However, the pages of your
bibliography should be numbered. I read footnotes carefully so please take them
seriously.
• All quotes that are five lines or more (counted in a traditional 12 pt., double-spaced text)
should be turned into an indented quotation, which involves 10 pt. font and single-spaced
text with indented margins on both sides of the quote.
• Omit the word “will.” For instance, don’t say I will show, rather say I show.
• Please use active verbs. Some common examples include: examine, evaluate, analyze,
probe, describe, show, investigate, and demonstrate.
• Define your terms. It is your responsibility to teach me what you mean by the use of a
particular term while demonstrating your knowledge about it.
• Use transition terms to ease the presentation of your argument and material. Some
common transition terms include: furthermore, however, similarly, therefore (hence),
thus, certainly, accordingly, consequently, nevertheless, although, and moreover.
• Make sure you don’t say ‘this leads me to conclude’ instead say, ‘this point/idea/division
(or whatever descriptive term, noun, etc., you are referring to) leads me to conclude.’
• Italicize the names of newspapers, journal titles, and books. Put in quotation marks the
title of an essay, an academic or newspaper article, or a book chapter in an edited volume.
• Use parallel sentence structure.
• Periods and commas should go inside quotation marks and a footnote should go on the
outside.
• Proofread your work. If there are numerous mistakes in your paper, I will presume that
you did not proofread your work and that you did not prepare your final draft carefully.
• I suggest all of you use the Vassar Writing Center to assist with editing your final paper.