Final Paper
Finally, this part of the assignment brings everything together. Your final paper should be no
less than 2,500 words, excluding a cover page, bibliography, tables or figures, and footnotes and
should adhere to the writing style and reference guidelines discussed in class.
2. Structure of Your Final Paper
Professor’s General Comments on Assignment
• Please see the sample research paper posted to BlazeVIEW for additional guidance. All
sections of your final paper should follow the customs and guidelines discussed during
each class session on the requisite topic.
• All papers should use the following section titles, at minimum. You may add to these
when necessary but not subtract from them.
1: Introduction
• Provide an introduction and background to your topic. Assume the reader has some
familiarity with your topic already. This means you can skip basic information and
assume the reader knows that. For example, in talking about Nigeria I could skip the fact
that Nigeria is in West Africa or is the most populace country on the continent. These are
basic features that a reader would know. This section should be approximately 1-1.5
pages long.
2: Literature Review
• This section should conform to all the material we discussed in class on the literature
review writing day. In short, you should discuss at least 8-10 scholarly, peer-reviewed
articles, books, or documents. This section should be approximately 2-3 pages long.
3: Methodology
• This section will be relatively simple compared to a standard Political Science research
paper. Since many of you have not undergone the “Scope and Methods” course yet or
other methodology classes, this section will only include the following: (1) your research
question; (2) your thesis statement; (3) at least one hypothesis you plan to test in your
paper; and (4) descriptions of all variables (e.g., independent, dependent, control,
intervening, etc.). This section will be about 1-1.5 pages long.
4: Results & Discussion
• This will be the second large section of your paper. Here is where you will examine your
hypothesis, case studies, and topic in a scholarly manner. This section should be about 2-
4 pages long.
5: Conclusion
• This section will wrap up your paper and discuss the key findings of your research. You
should also address future areas of study that could not be done in your paper but ones
that you recommend future scholars examine. This should be about 1-1.5 pages long.
Finally, this part of the assignment brings everything together. Your final paper should be no
less than 2,500 words, excluding a cover page, bibliography, tables or figures, and footnotes and
should adhere to the writing style and reference guidelines discussed in class.
2. Structure of Your Final Paper
Professor’s General Comments on Assignment
• Please see the sample research paper posted to BlazeVIEW for additional guidance. All
sections of your final paper should follow the customs and guidelines discussed during
each class session on the requisite topic.
• All papers should use the following section titles, at minimum. You may add to these
when necessary but not subtract from them.
1: Introduction
• Provide an introduction and background to your topic. Assume the reader has some
familiarity with your topic already. This means you can skip basic information and
assume the reader knows that. For example, in talking about Nigeria I could skip the fact
that Nigeria is in West Africa or is the most populace country on the continent. These are
basic features that a reader would know. This section should be approximately 1-1.5
pages long.
2: Literature Review
• This section should conform to all the material we discussed in class on the literature
review writing day. In short, you should discuss at least 8-10 scholarly, peer-reviewed
articles, books, or documents. This section should be approximately 2-3 pages long.
3: Methodology
• This section will be relatively simple compared to a standard Political Science research
paper. Since many of you have not undergone the “Scope and Methods” course yet or
other methodology classes, this section will only include the following: (1) your research
question; (2) your thesis statement; (3) at least one hypothesis you plan to test in your
paper; and (4) descriptions of all variables (e.g., independent, dependent, control,
intervening, etc.). This section will be about 1-1.5 pages long.
4: Results & Discussion
• This will be the second large section of your paper. Here is where you will examine your
hypothesis, case studies, and topic in a scholarly manner. This section should be about 2-
4 pages long.
5: Conclusion
• This section will wrap up your paper and discuss the key findings of your research. You
should also address future areas of study that could not be done in your paper but ones
that you recommend future scholars examine. This should be about 1-1.5 pages long.
Page 3 of 3
3. Reference Style and Citations
Remember that all students will be using the Chicago Manual of Style reference guide that is
posted to BlazeVIEW. We will all be using the footnotes version, since this assignment is
designed to provide you with experience in writing a research paper in Political Science.
3. Reference Style and Citations
Remember that all students will be using the Chicago Manual of Style reference guide that is
posted to BlazeVIEW. We will all be using the footnotes version, since this assignment is
designed to provide you with experience in writing a research paper in Political Science.