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Doing Good and Doing Well: Teaching Research-Paper Writing by Unpacking thePaper

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2008

Lisa Baglione
Lisa Baglione
Affiliation:
Saint Joseph's University
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Extract

Learning how to write a research paper is an important skill for political science majors,and faculty can also benefit when their students develop their research-paper-writingtalents. Few departments, however, teach these skills explicitly, and many curricula seem tobe based on the assumption that students will arrive at college with adequate basic writingskills. Several programs also suppose that a major will develop the ability to write aresearch paper through her experience with political science and other courses. Theseexpectations are faulty, as most students are not “proficient” writers when they move tocampus (McGrath 2004; NCWASC 2003, 16–7; Persky, Daane, and Jin 2003, 20–1), and writing a research paper in political science is a specific skillset that must be developed (Scholes 1998, 95;Russell 2002, 9–10). The approach I advocate hereis to demystify the paper and the process for students by identifying and explaining thedifferent parts of a typical paper—introduction, literature review, model and hypothesis,research design, analysis and assessment, and conclusion—and showing how the paper-writingprocess is broken into manageable tasks. While faculty know the components of researchpapers, most students have no idea what these sections should contain or what their titlesmean. In addition, because revision and editing are essential general writing skills linkedwith the overall substantive learning process (NCWASC 2003, 1, 9; Maimon 2002, x), I suggestthat students submit their papers in pieces, benefiting from feedback from faculty, peers,and themselves. In this essay, I unpack the parts of the paper and the writing process,providing suggestions for teaching about these segments and integratingresearch-paper-writing skills into the curriculum.

Type
The Teacher
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 595 - 602
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 2008

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