In writing the paper, students will incorporate appropriate terms and theories in the discipline of political science. Students will also demonstrate an understanding of gathering and evaluating sources for research in the field ofpolitical science. Finally, in writing the paper, students will demonstrate an ability to create a thesis statement or research question for a research project in political science. Each research paper should have several parts. The paper’s introduction will broach the topic under consideration and present the research question that will be addressed by the paper. For instance, a student might decide to produce a paper comparing the mode of constitutional interpretation that is strict constructionism with another mode known as pragmatism. She might then include in her paper’s introduction discussion of modes of constitutional interpretational generally before stating a research question that would inquire about how these particular modes are similar and different. The body of the research paper will contain, respectively, detailed discussions about one school of jurisprudential thought followed by discussion about the countervailing school of thought. Multiple facets of each aspect should be compared and contrasted. So, for instance, the student writing about one school of thought would cover such things as a description of the mode or modes contemplated by the particular school, discussion of jurists who embrace or employ that particular mode, examples of cases resolved employing that jurisprudential method, etc. This discussion would then be repeated for the opposing school of thought. The final narrative part of the paper would be its conclusion. In this, a student should answer the research question posed in the introduction. It would also be appropriate in the conclusion to suggest avenues of future research that scholars might undertake pertaining to comparative analysis of the judicial processes in question. In writing the research paper, students will make use of a minimum of 10 political science journal articles, governmental sources, law review articles, academic book chapters from edited volumes, and/or books. While one may use sources such as newspapers or magazine articles from popular publications (i.e., Time, Newsweek, etc.), do so sparingly. Most of your sources should be academic ones you find on GALILEO library databases. (If you are a bit rusty in using GALILEO, visit the following URL and make use of the several tutorials and learning aids that the USG has housed there: https://help.galileo.usg.edu/searching/tutorials/.) All sources should be included in a bibliography, which must be turned in along with the final research paper.You may use only reputable sources to develop anything you produce for this class. Examples of such sources might include the Oxford Dictionary of Politics, various law reviews, West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, and the Oxford Guide to the United States Government, to name but a few representative examples. Many others may be found by browsing around the UNG Department of Political Science & International Affairs’ Faculty Research Resources, which you can find under “Student Resources” on the departmental home page. Generally speaking, steer toward online materials housed at academic or government websites when utilizing electronic sources. Overall, students should probably anticipate writing around 12-15 pages of narrative material, excluding a cover page, bibliography, etc. This assumes you employ (which you should) something standard like Times New Roman 12-point font, 1’’ margins, and double spacing. Please use Turabian or APA citation. Purdue University maintains a good website to help you with proper citation formatting. You can find it at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ Please note from the course schedule the day and time upon which your final research paper must be submitted. Please plan on submitting a stapled hardcopy of your paper by that prescribed moment, via post or by dropping off a copy in my campus mailbox. Please note, however, that you should also retain an electronic copy of your research paper as well. The instructor reserves the right to request that you submit the electronic copy of your paper to him via email if there is any suspicion that plagiarism may have occurred. Please note that failure to immediately submit an electronic copy of your research paper, if requested, will result in an automatic grade of zero for the entire paper. Incidentally, it goes without saying that committing plagiarism in an upper-division college course would be a really, really bad idea for both your research paper grade and your academic career, so do guard against doing this. The University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill maintains a good website about how to do so at the following URL: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/plagiarism/ .
