Goals of the course
Publication of research is one of the most important criteria according to which individual scholars and entire departments are evaluated. Increasingly articles/papers are becoming the most important form of publication in political science (as is the case already in other disciplines). The goal of the course is to train students to write a paper. To reach this goal each participant works on a paper (from the topic of his/her dissertation). Each step in the production of the paper is discussed in class and accompanied by suggestions. Ultimately each participant should produce a “submittable” paper either for a conference or a journal.
The form of the course is that of a seminar and the basic principle is that we learn from one another – both from strengths and mistakes. Each participant will therefore profit from how others construct their paper, draft their abstract, find appropriate titles, write their introduction, etc. The success of the seminar strongly depends on the willingness of each participant to engage with others' work and to accept critiques and suggestions from peers in the group.
The course takes place during the Spring Semester and covers 12 weeks.
Requirements
Participants must produce one paper either for a conference or a journal.
Contact
daniele.caramani[at]unisg.ch
Week 1 (February 22, 2012): Presentation of the course (by the lecturer).
Presentation of the course and organisational matters.
Week 2 (February, 29, 2012): Publishing in the social sciences (by the lecturer).
This meeting introduces students to the process of scientific publishing in the social sciences. It describes peer-review and anonymous evaluation of the papers, the policies of different journals, what “impact factor” and “ranking” of journals mean, and how this affects career chances in the academic world, as well as the evaluation of departments world-wide. Examples of ranking are given for departments and journals, with measures of difficulty of publication. This meeting also introduces the formalities of a submission and the technicalities of the production of a journal, taking examples from various journals.
Week 3 (March 7, 2012): No meeting.
Week used to prepare next meeting.
Week 4 (March 14, 2012): Definition of topic, research question, research design, data sources and method.
In this session students define the topic of their paper and the research question (that is, they formulate the hypotheses). They also specify their research design – meaning case selection, operationalisation, sources of data and methods used for the analysis (for example, econometric, text analysis, interviews, Boolean algebra, etc.) and justify why. This is done on one page.
Week 5 (March 21, 2012): Title, abstract and bio-bibliography.
For this session students present a title, an abstract (max. 200 words), five key-words and a bio-bibliography (max. 100 words). These are then discussed in class with the aim to improve them in terms of clarity, conciseness, amount of information and effective communication of the main argument of the paper. Title, abstract and bio-bibliography should be put on a slide to be visible to the whole group. Also where the paper is going to be submitted and/or presented should be stated.
Week 6 (March 28, 2012): Literature review and contribution of the paper.
In this session students present the bulk of literature to which their topic and research question relates. Most importantly they clarify what type of contribution their paper makes in the literature, either through new data, a different approach, a different set of cases, etc.
Two "break" weeks.
Week 7 (April 18, 2012): Structure and synopsis (part I).
In this session students present the structure of their paper and a brief synopsis – meaning a brief summary of the contents of each section and sub-section of the paper.
Week 8 (April 25, 2012): Structure and synopsis (part II).
This meeting is a continuation of the previous one.
Week 9 (May 2, 2012): No meeting.
The free time this week is devoted to the preparation of the next meeting.
Week 10 (May 9, 2012): No meeting.
The free time this week is devoted to the preparation of the next meeting.
Week 11 (May 16, 2012): Drafts (part I).
In this session we will discuss first drafts of the papers. It is important that these drafts are circulated in advance for participants to be able to read one another's papers. Discussants for each paper will be assigned.
Week 12 (May 23, 2012): Drafts (part II).
This meeting is a continuation of the previous one.
Course organisation
The course meets on Wednesday at 14.15–16.00 in room 22-101.