Ancient and MEdieval Political Theory
Project description
The final research paper aims at explaining significant events in international relations through the theoretical frameworks studied in the course Theory and Practice of International Relations. Rather than a mere description of an international problem, the paper must connect the concepts and theories with the empirical evidence. The structure of the paper must include the following sections:
1.Title or cover page. Title, authors, date, class. Example: a) topic: environment; b) specific dimension: environmentally destructive practices; c) subject: State Bureau of Water Resources; d) time and space. Analysis of the Environmentally Destructive Practices of the State Bureau of Water Resources: 2000-2010.
2.Abstract: Concise summary of the research in 100-150 words. It must inform readers the argument and the findings of the paper.
3.Introduction. This section will explain the rational of the research including the delimitation of the problem, the research question, the hypothesis and the theoretical framework adopted in the research (One or two pages).
4.Description of the problem: This section will present the evidence why the object study presents contradictions, puzzles or anomalies that deserve to be studied in by International Relations (two pages).
5.Literature Review: This portion should address the state of the art in the areas related to your research. How have important scholars answered your general research question and explain your object study? What are the most important schools of thoughts and who are identified with them? What is an appropriate label for this group of authors? Why? Which schools of thoughts seems to provide the best answer and why? What are the major gaps, and where do you think scholarship should go from here? This section must focus on scholarly journals and books (four or five pages).
6.Research Design: This section must explain the research question, the rationale of the hypothesis and the theoretical tools, including a) the justification for choosing a theory (realism, liberalism, alternative approaches and their variants), b) the main concepts and assumptions of such theory and, c) the levels of analysis (three pages).
7.Development of the argument. This part is the largest of the paper and must present the empirical evidence (selection of events) to support the argument of the paper (eight-ten pages).
8.Final considerations. The student will describe the findings of this paper. Particular attention must be paid to the link between the empirical evidence and the theoretical framework (one or two pages).
9.Works Cited.
2. Fonts and Paragraphs. Times New Roman 12, double space. All pages must be numbered.
3. Sources of Information. The paper must quote or make references to at eight books on the topic and eight specialized articles from scholarly journals. Newspapers and on-line publications references are welcomed, but they do not substitute books and specialized articles.
4. Format for references. The paper should be presented in Harvard Reference Style.
However, as all papers will be tested by plagiarism-detector software, an electronic version of the paper is required
