POLS 442/SISEA 449POLS/LSJ/SIS Writing Center

Agenda

Components of a good paper

Final tips

Deadlines for completing your paper

Introduction A clear statement of the paper’s focus (“Do new communication technologies—

such as the internet—challenge established political structures?” v. “All people yearn for freedom.”)

  Brief references to the specific events or arguments under discussion (“Given

the power of new communications technologies to fuel citizen discontent, China’s rulers face significant issues with regime instability: …” v. “The rise of new technologies is always difficult for authoritarian regimes.”)

  A thesis statement (“I argue that although the Chinese regime frequently

responds to new technologies with coercive measures, as demonstrated by their crackdown on blah blah on this date, they have recently become more responsive to citizen concerns because X, Y, and Z.”)

A roadmap (“First, I will review two instances of the regime’s information management: one that was coercive, and one in which the CCP readily responded to citizen concerns expressed on the Internet. Then I will…Finally, using…, the paper will demonstrate that…”)

Thesis/Statement of the Argument An assertion, backed by evidence, which is falsifiable. (This is what Prof.

Whiting means by “debatable.”)

Not open for debate/YAWN: “The CCP is an authoritarian regime.”

Open for debate/INTERESTING: “Although the CCP is an authoritarian regime, there are a still several spaces where citizens engage in democratic political activism.”

The thesis statement answers the question that animates the paper. So if the question is “What is the impact of new communication technologies on the stability of CCP regime in the aftermath of the Arab Spring? Your thesis statement should answer that question: something along the lines of “New communication technologies do not disrupt the CCP’s stability because X, Y, and Z.”

  The thesis statement is NOT a statement of fact: “High-speed internet is

becoming increasingly common in China” or opinion “The internet is a democratizing force.”

EvidenceEvidence supports your argument. You are

being asked to evaluate actual events and their impacts, rather than make normative

claims about what actors should have done or should do in the future: you should stay in the

land of empirical causal claims.

The Argument Each premise and assumption of the thesis is shored up by supporting

evidence, and the whole is analyzed.

What is analysis? A clearly written analysis will indicate how key points relate to one another and consider relevant assumptions. Often, analysis requires judgment or evaluation of sources or claims.

Each chunk of the thesis statement should be argued for (rather than merely asserted)—by which I mean evidence and/or logical inference should be used to persuade the reader of the statement’s correctness—in a way that is logically coherent. Paragraphs should come in the correct order and have clear and strong topic sentences.

The argument should, in fact, argue for something rather than describing things. It is crucial that your paper NOT merely describe the situation, but instead analyze and make an argument about the situation.

CounterargumentsAs you conduct research for this paper, you may come

across evidence that does not support your thesis. After all, these topics were chosen because they are open to debate.

Do not ignore disconfirming evidence. If you encounter disconfirming evidence, consider it seriously. How does this evidence impact your argument? Does it merit adapting your thesis? Or, does the preponderance of the evidence still support your thesis?

If the preponderance of the evidence still supports your thesis: Acknowledge the disconfirming evidenceExplain the strength of your argument given this evidence

ConclusionThe conclusion is essentially a rear-view mirror: here’s

what I’ve done and here’s the route I’ve taken.

It introduces no new evidence, but it may gesture toward roads not taken: “although topic X has been my focus, recognize that

question Y is crucially important because…” or “although I have limited my discussion to X, this paper

leaves the following important questions unanswered.”

Conclusions remind the reader why this question is important: the ‘so what/who cares’ question should absolutely be clear.

Final Tips You may use whatever citation style you wish, but all citations must

be internally consistent. That is, if you use Chicago 16th for all but one citation which is in MLA format, that is not internally consistent.

Cite everything you did not know before you started studying China. It’s always better to over-cite than under-cite. This does not necessarily mean every sentence has a citation, but it does

mean that whenever you rely on the insights offered or evidence gathered by someone else, you give them credit.

  Start EARLY (no later than May 3). Plagiarism is often the result of

procrastination or confusion about the assignment: the best way to avoid that is to start early. Then, you can work through confusion or points of frustration BEFORE the paper is due.

DeadlinesMay 14: Hand in Preliminary Bibliography.May 21: Rough Outline with Provisional Thesis

and Topic Sentences. If you are dissatisfied with one of the sections, go back and find different sources.

May 27: Crank out a Rough Draft.May 28: Get someone who is NOT YOU

(perhaps the Writing Center!) to read your draft.

May 29: Revise.May 30: Turn it in and do a dance of joy.