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Research and Writing Guide for Political Science

Kristen Williams

Publication Date - 09 August 2013

ISBN: 9780199890545

144 pages
Paperback
8 x 10 inches

In Stock

A concise guide to the basics of writing political science research papers

Description

How do we know why the Soviet Union decided to place missiles in Cuba? How do we know why North Korea invaded South Korea? How do we know why the U.S. decided to invade Iraq?

We know the answers to these questions because political science scholars did in-depth research and shared their findings. Conducting, presenting, and publishing research are all integral parts of being a political scientist. Students in political science courses are exposed to the research done by scholars. In turn, professors would like their students to become part of this community of scholars and will assign research papers so that students can demonstrate their knowledge of specific topics.

An indispensable resource, Research and Writing Guide for Political Science provides a brief primer on the basic skills required for writing an effective research paper. It covers conducting research (finding, evaluating, and using sources); the various parts of a research paper and how they should be organized; writing, rewriting, revising, and editing; and citing the research (footnotes, endnotes, bibliographies, reference lists, and different academic citation styles: MLA, APA, and Chicago). A conclusion offers a list of additional resources.

Features

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About the Author(s)

Kristen P. Williams is a Professor and Chair of Political Science at Clark University. She teaches courses on international relations, including U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. National Security, Women and War, Peace and War, and World Order and Globalization.

Table of Contents

    Chapters 1-4 end with a Conclusion.
    CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
    WHAT THIS BOOK DOES DO AND WHAT IT DOES NOT DO
    WHY WRITE A RESEARCH PAPER?
    GETTING STARTED: I HAVE TO WRITE A RESEARCH PAPER. . . .
    WHAT DO I DO NEXT?
    Parts of a Research Paper
    Introduction
    Literature Review
    Research Design
    Evidence/Analysis: Testing Your Hypothesis
    Conclusion
    Bibliography or Works-Cited page
    CHAPTER 2: CONDUCTING RESEARCH: FINDING, EVALUATING, AND USING SOURCES
    SCHOLARLY SOURCES: WHAT ARE THEY?
    Primary and Secondary Sources
    Books
    Scholarly journals
    Finding Scholarly Journal Articles and Book Reviews
    Newspapers and magazines
    Data and Statistical Sources
    Internet
    Library and the librarians
    TAKING EFFECTIVE NOTES
    CHAPTER 3: WRITING, REWRITING, REVISING, AND EDITING
    WRITING: DRAFTS, DRAFTS, AND MORE DRAFTS
    Writing the Paper
    The Introduction
    The Literature Review
    REVISING
    EDITING THE PAPER
    THE NITTY-GRITTY: FORMATTING THE PAPER IN PREPARATION FOR SUBMISSION
    PROOFREADING
    GETTING FEEDBACK FROM OTHERS
    CHAPTER 4: CITATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
    CITING DIRECT QUOTES, PARAPHRASE, AND IDEAS
    CITATION STYLES
    APA Style and References List
    Other things to keep in mind as you cite and write using the APA style
    MLA Style and Works-Cited List
    Other things to keep in mind when you cite and write using the MLA style
    Chicago Style: Citations and Bibliography
    Other things to keep in mind when you cite and write using the Chicago style
    CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION: FURTHER READINGS
    Books for political science papers
    General books on research and writing papers
    Bibliography

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