The paper should be written from a comparative perspective. Its organization should include title page, abstract, introduction, literature review, research design, analysis and assessment, conclusion, and reference list.
The Research Paper should be logically and factually based. It could be cross-sectional at one point in time or longitudinal at different points in time. The attached table outlines some of the differences between an essay and a research paper.
The Paper should not be merely descriptive. A formal Research Paper is required to prepare students for the Capstone course, IR6690. But this is just practice. Those who have not taken Research Methods and those who are not IR students need not despair. Good grades can be earned here simply by submitting well-written and comprehensive work.
The Research Paper must answer a theoretical research question. Possible answers should be considered in an outline, an informal annotated bibliography (not included in the paper). They should then be discussed formally in the literature review of the Paper.
Next comes the research design followed by the analysis and assessment. The variables identified in the literature review should be classified as independent variables or causes, dependent variables or effects, and control variables or constants.
The broad variables should then be operationalized using logical arguments, historical evidence, and/or specific measures. Temperature is, for example, a variable whereas Fahrenheit is a measure.
Students may write quantitative papers that feature statistical tests of theoretical hypotheses or qualitative papers that include at least some charts and/or graphs of numerical data created in the separate spreadsheet assignment.
The Research Paper should be a minimum of 4000 words. It should be typed in MS Word and submitted as a single-spaced Word doc in the Assignments section during Week 8.
The Paper must follow the APA or APSA Style Manual.
Along with other references, students should include a minimum of ten relevant references to peer reviewed articles in academic journals. These can be found using the Troy Library Advanced Search / Discovery Search