Political Science 100B Fall 2014
Political Science Methods: Honors in Politics
Monday or Wednesday 2:00 – 3:20pm
Professor Jill Greenlee
Email:
Office: 205 Olin-Sang
Office Hours: Thursday from 1:30-3:30pm and by appointment
COURSE OVERVIEW: This course has two primary goals. The first is to offer thesis writers in the Politics Department and other social sciences, an opportunity to gather and work collectively on aspects of their respective theses. Writing a thesis can be a solitary experience, and some students may feel unmoored as they begin the research process. This course is intended to offer students both practical knowledge about the research and writing process, as well as provide a forum in which students can discuss specific aspects of their projects. Through class discussions, readings, and short assignments, students will have both concrete examples of various aspects of the research process, as well as opportunities to articulate important components of their own projects.
The second goal of this course is to expose thesis writers to a variety of research approaches in political science. We will read recent published work from members of the Politics Department, and those faculty members will join us in class to discuss specific aspects of their work. These conversations will not only offer concrete examples of how scholars develop their writing projects, but they will offer honors students a unique opportunity to connect with faculty members across all of the subfields.
COURSE SCHEDULE: This class will meet, on average, one time per week. You are expected to be available during the times established by the registrar; however, most weeks, we will convene for one of those meeting times. Please check Latte regularly to stay up to date on when we will meet and to access the readings that will be posted as we move through the semester.
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING: Grades for this course will based on: attendance (15%), participation in classroom discussions (20%), a series of short papers (40%), and a final paper (25%).
The final paper will be a detailed prospectus that outlines your senior thesis, incorporating all of the topics that we have covered over the course of the semester.
The due dates for the assignments are listed in the syllabus. All assignments should be turned in at the beginning of class. Late work may receive a point deduction.
You should expect to attend class regularly. Participation is part of the grade for the course, - but more importantly, you will benefit intellectually from this class only with regular attendance. You are permitted one free absence during the semester; additional absences will be reflected in your grade. (Each additional absence will mean a 1-point deduction in your attendance grade.)
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will result in a failing grade for the course. Academic dishonesty is defined as cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying academic records, and any act designed to avoid participating honestly in the learning process. Scholastic dishonesty also includes, but is not limited to, providing false or misleading information to receive a postponement or extension on a test or assignment, and submission of essentially the same written assignment for two different courses without the prior permission of faculty members.
Please feel free to speak with me at any time about the course requirements and their evaluation.
STUDENT SUPPORT: If you are a student who needs academic accommodations because of a documented disability, please contact me and present your letter of accommodation as soon as possible.
If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, you should contact Beth Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services (x6-3470 or .)
Letters of accommodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of accommodations, and absolutely before the day of an exam or test. Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively.
READINGS: All readings can be found on the Latte course website. Please check the website regularly to see newly posted readings and updates to the schedule.
Wednesday, September 3: Orientation
Prof. Greenlee
What is an honors thesis? What does the department expect of thesis writers? How will the honors program work? We will discuss these questions and more.
Wednesday, September 10: A General Approach to Writing a Thesis
Prof. Kryder
What are the steps that are involved with writing an honors thesis or beginning a research project? We will discuss the “big picture” during this class, and lay out a general roadmap that many scholars follow when commencing an original research project.
Wednesday, September 17: Developing a Researchable Question
Prof. Greenlee
The first step in any project is to clearly define the question or set of questions that you seek to
answer with your research. Though it may sound easy, formulating very clear and “researchable” questions is
actually quite challenging. How do you take a topic that interests you and turn it into a very specific question
that you can actually answer? We will tackle this topic together and begin the process of refining our respective
questions.
Wednesday, September 24: Group Discussion of Research Questions
Prof. Greenlee
What is your research question? What challenges are you encountering as you attempt to formulate a very
clear question? We will share our research questions and have an open conversation about this step in the
research process.
Due: Short Paper 1 -Research Questions
Wednesday, October 1: Defining Concepts
Prof. Chase
What are the key concepts in your research project? How do you define a concept, and why is it important
for this definition to be clear? What does it mean to operationalize a concept? We will discuss this
very important step in the research process, and learn about the relationship between your research question
and the key concepts of your research project.
Wednesday, October 8: Engaging with the Literature
Prof. Yack
When doing original research, how do you decide what to read? And after you’ve read something, should you include it in your thesis? This conversation will help us think critically about what published work we should be reading and what work we should include as we write our theses. For more empirically oriented theses, this conversation will help you write a literature review for your thesis. For more theory oriented theses, this discussion will help you hone in on the intellectual conversation you would like to be a part of with your thesis.
Wednesday, October 15: Group Discussion of Concepts
Prof. Greenlee
What are the key concepts in your project? How do you define these concepts? Are your definitions different
from those commonly found in the literature? How will you measure these concepts? We will tackle these
questions in a group discussion.
Due: Short Paper 2 – Key Concepts
Wednesday, October 22: Thinking about Relationships
Prof. Art
Social science research is often interested in the nature of the relationship between two concepts. What causes an event to occur? What contributes to the creation of a new political institution or a new political attitude? In thinking about these relationships, we often look to existing theories in the literature to provide some possible explanations as to how these concepts work together. In this class we will talk more about the utility of theories and how we can use theories to guide our research.
Wednesday , October 29: Group Discussion of Relationships
Prof. Greenlee
What are your expectations regarding the relationship between your key concepts? What existing theories have helped you to think about the nature of this relationship? We will discuss these questions in class.
Due: Short Paper 3 – Relationships
Monday, November 3: Looking for Evidence
Prof. Bellin
With a research question in hand, we must now look for evidence to answer that question. How do we know
where to look? In this class we will learn about case selection and the important role it plays in some
empirical research. We will also discuss more generally how to assess what evidence or data are most
appropriate for answering your research question.
Monday, November 10: Working with Evidence
Prof. Lenowitz
The topic this week will be how to work with evidence in order to come to conclusions. We will discuss the
importance of thinking analyticallyabout the evidence that you unearth in your research, and how to come to
conclusions about that evidence.
Wednesday, November 19: Group Discussion of Evidence
Prof. Greenlee
Do you have some initial evidence to share? How are you interpreting that evidence? What should you do
when the evidence you amass is confusing or contradictory? We will cover this in our class discussion.
Due: Short Paper 4 – Looking for Evidence
Draft of one chapter due to your thesis advisor BEFORE the Thanksgiving break.
Wednesday, December 3: Assessing Your Contribution
Prof. Greenlee
After you’ve worked through all of the evidence that you have compiled and reached some initial conclusions
about what that evidence tells you, it’s time to step back and assess what you’ve learned. Have you answered
your research question? How confident are you in your answer? How do assess your contribution to the
existing literature? In this session, we will discuss the final analytical step of your thesis.
Monday, December 8: Crafting a Roadmap for Future Work
Prof. Greenlee
In this last class, we will talk about how to approach the winter break and spring term.
December 15: Final Paper Due
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