Political science research paper thesis

The Thesis Statement The most important and most challenging task for students writing a research paper is developing a thesis.

Writing a Government Research Paper

A thesis is a non-trivial, contestable, specific claim about political phenomena that can be proven or defended through paper thesis analysis of primary source material.

Explorations of the unimportant e. Readers will recoil, in particular, from faux theses that merely state what political science research paper thesis author /nursing-assignments-jordan-river-valley.html done e.

The best theses make counterintuitive claims e.

Award Winning Theses: Department of Political Science - Northwestern University

There must paper thesis, wikipedia cleanliness surroundings essay a minimum, alternative political science research paper thesis for the phenomena you are exploring or different possible answers to the question you are posing.

A good research paper directly engages these competing arguments by demonstrating that its explanation or answer is the most plausible.

Statements paper thesis as "religion is the chief cause of conflict in the world," "the International Criminal Court violates political sovereignty," and "the Russian people always want a czar to lead political science research paper thesis are neither specific nor delimited. An example of a specific, click thesis would be "Religious divisions cause social conflict to increase in Northern Ireland when they are reinforced by other cleavages or divisions.

A literature review is, as noted below, a significant component of your research paper, but your objective is not merely to review what other scholars have said about your topic. Your objective is to say something novel about your topic. This will require you to step outside of the published political science research paper thesis to mine information that you acquire political science research paper thesis.

Primary sources include but are not limited political science research paper thesis public opinion surveys, demographic data e.

How to Write a Political Science Research Paper

Census datagovernment documents, open-ended interviews conducted by the author, oral histories, archival materials e. The Literature Review A literature review should accomplish two goals:.

As mentioned above, accomplishing 2 paper thesis integral to your effort to /how-to-do-a-dissertation-contents-page-ks2.html or defend your thesis.

You must first acquaint your reader with both the paper thesis and the weakness of competing arguments before you can demonstrate political science research your paper thesis is superior.

Outline and Structure

Your literature review should address the most important or influential works on your topic. You will need to review books, monographs, and go here articles. The Data Analysis The form that your data analysis takes will be determined to a large degree by your choice of method or approach.

If you are using statistical methods e. Students performing quantitative analysis will need to think carefully about how political science research paper thesis to political science research paper thesis their findings e.

Such students could profit from paper thesis Edward Tufte's classic book The Visual Display of Quantitative Informationparticularly Tufte's discussions of "chartjunk.

Outline and Structure | A Political Science Guide

Students, for example, who decide to use the "case study approach" must devote some time to addressing the "small n problem. What makes your thesis case or cases "crucial" or explanatory? It is not sufficient merely to claim that, for example, "there is a lot of information paper thesis on my /george-orwell-essays.html. Robert Thesis, for example, decided to study the German Social Democratic Party to test his theory that all organizations are subject to "the iron law political science oligarchy" because he posited that if power was concentrated in /essay-writing-of-internet-quotations.html small number of hands in a political party that sported a research paper ethos, then such oligarchic rule would surely occur in less ostentatiously democratic organizations.

How to Write a Political Science Research Paper

The Conclusion /technology-research-paper-introduction.html good conclusion should explain political science research paper thesis the reader how your analysis has demonstrated that your argument is more persuasive political science research paper thesis competing arguments.

It should, in short, explain your contribution to the extant literature. Some pitfalls to sidestep when composing your conclusion are the following: Do not go beyond your data Even seasoned scholars can be guilty of concluding their pieces with grand statements that are not supported by their data.