Research and Writing Guide for Political Science

by Williams, Kristen

• ISBN13: 9780199890545
• ISBN10: 0199890544
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-08-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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