Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T03:20:54.131Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Doing Good and Doing Well: Teaching Research-Paper Writing by Unpacking the Paper

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2008

Lisa Baglione
Lisa Baglione
Affiliation:
Saint Joseph's University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Learning how to write a research paper is an important skill for political science majors, and faculty can also benefit when their students develop their research-paper-writing talents. Few departments, however, teach these skills explicitly, and many curricula seem to be based on the assumption that students will arrive at college with adequate basic writing skills. Several programs also suppose that a major will develop the ability to write a research paper through her experience with political science and other courses. These expectations are faulty, as most students are not “proficient” writers when they move to campus (McGrath 2004; NCWASC 2003, 16–7; Persky, Daane, and Jin 2003, 20–1), and writing a research paper in political science is a specific skill set that must be developed (Scholes 1998, 95; Russell 2002, 9–10). The approach I advocate here is to demystify the paper and the process for students by identifying and explaining the different parts of a typical paper—introduction, literature review, model and hypothesis, research design, analysis and assessment, and conclusion—and showing how the paper-writing process is broken into manageable tasks. While faculty know the components of research papers, most students have no idea what these sections should contain or what their titles mean. In addition, because revision and editing are essential general writing skills linked with the overall substantive learning process (NCWASC 2003, 1, 9; Maimon 2002, x), I suggest that students submit their papers in pieces, benefiting from feedback from faculty, peers, and themselves. In this essay, I unpack the parts of the paper and the writing process, providing suggestions for teaching about these segments and integrating research-paper-writing skills into the curriculum.

Type
The Teacher
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 595 - 602
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Applebome, Peter. 1997. “Insisting It's Nothing, Creator Says SAT, Not S.A.T.” New York Times, April 2, B6.Google Scholar
Baglione, Lisa. 2007. Writing a Research Paper in Political Science. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Breuning, Marijke, Parker, Paul, and Ishiyama, John T.. 2001. “The Last Laugh: Skill Building through a Liberal Arts Political Science Curriculum.” PS: Political Science and Politics 34 (September): 657–61.Google Scholar
Daniels, Harvey. 1983. Famous Last Words: The American Language Crisis Reconsidered. Carbondale: University of Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Deans, Thomas. 2003. Writing and Community Action: A Service-Learning Rhetoric with Readings. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 1916. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
De Witt, Karen. 1993. “S.A.T. Scores Improve for Second Consecutive Year.” New York Times, August 19, A16.Google Scholar
Hacker, Diana. 2004. A Pocket Manual of Style. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Hard, Stephen F., Conway, James M., and Moran, Antonia C.. 2006. “Faculty and College Student Beliefs about the Frequency of Student Academic Misconduct.” Journal of Higher Education 77 (6): 1,058–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Janet Buttolph, and Joslyn, Richard A.. 2005. Political Science Research Methods. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Kegley, Charles W. Jr., and Wittkopf, Eugene R.. 2004. World Politics: Trend and Transformation. 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.Google Scholar
Ishiyama, John. 2002. “Does Early Participation in Undergraduate Research Benefit Social Science and Humanities Students?” College Student Journal 36 (September): 380–6.Google Scholar
Ishiyama, John. 2005a. “Examining the Impact of the Wahlke Report: Surveying the Structure of Political Science Curricula at Liberal Arts and Sciences Colleges and Universities in the Midwest.” PS: Political Science and Politics 38 (January): 71–5.Google Scholar
Ishiyama, John. 2005b. “The Structure of an Undergraduate Major and Student Learning: A Cross-Institutional Study of Political Science Programs at Thirty-Two Colleges and Universities.” The Social Science Journal 42: 359–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellogg, Alex P. 2001. “Looking Inward, Freshmen Care Less about Politics and More about Money.” Chronicle of Higher Education 47 (20): 47–50.Google Scholar
Lim, Timothy C. 2006. Doing Comparative Politics: An Introduction to Approaches and Issues. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maimon, Elaine P. 2002. “Foreword.” In Writing in the Academic Disciplines: A Curricular History, 2nd ed., ed. Russell, D. R.. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, ix–xi.Google Scholar
Malesic, Jonathan. 2006. “How Dumb Do They Think We Are?” Chronicle of Higher Education 53 (17): C2–C3.Google Scholar
McCabe, Donald L., Treviño, Linda Klebe, and Butterfield, Kenneth D.. 2001. “Cheating in Academic Institutions: A Decade of Research.” Ethics and Behavior 11 (3): 219–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, Charles. 2004. “Writing to the Test.” New York Times, November 7, A24.Google Scholar
National Commission on Writing in America's Schools, and Colleges (NCWASC). 2003. The Neglected R: The Need for a Writing Revolution. New Jersey: College Entrance Examination Board.Google Scholar
Neuman, W. Lawrence. 2003. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 5th ed. New York: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Persky, R., Daane, M.C., and Jin, Y.. 2003. The Nation's Report Card: Writing 2002, NCES 2003-529. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences. National Center for Education Statistics (USDE, NCES).Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Gerald. 1991. The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Russell, David R. 2002. Writing in the Academic Disciplines: A Curricular History. 2nd ed. Carbondale: University of Southern Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Schemo, Diana Jean. 2003. “High School Seniors Get Highest SAT Math Scores in 35 Years.” New York Times, August 27, B9.Google Scholar
Scholes, Robert. 1998. The Rise and Fall of English. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shively, W. Phillips. 2002. The Craft of Political Research. 5th ed. Upper Saddle Brook, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Sommers, Nancy. 2005. Across the Drafts: Students and Teachers Talk about Feedback. DVD. Princeton, NJ: Telequest.Google Scholar
Wahlke, John C. 1991. “Liberal Learning and the Political Science Major: A Report to the Profession.” PS: Political Science and Politics 24 (March): 48–60.Google Scholar
Zerubavel, Eviatar. 1999. The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar