Soviet Union/General communism

THE INTRO: Here’s where scientific methodology can be of use. You have a topic in mind and in the intro you present what is the big question about this topic, or what do you want to prove about this topic, or what do you think is useful to know and explain, or what has someone else said about this that makes you disagree, or agree, or what hypothesis, theory, or explanatory framework do you want to introduce that might shed light on our knowledge about this topic. In other words, you got to set the paper up with an introduction that tells the reader where you are going to go and why you are going there and what are you going to prove on the way and maybe what will be found when the reader gets there.

THE BODY of the PAPER: This is where you present your research, your supporting evidence for the claims that you made in your introduction. You can use a case study, or compare cases, or use statistics, or interviews, or a historical analysis, or an economic analysis, or a political analysis, or a cultural analysis, or an ethnic or gender specific analysis, etc. This is probably the part of the paper where you will have the most citations, AND YOU BETTER PUT THEM IN! Don’t go 1 or 2 pages without a footnote, end note, or in text citation. You really don’t want me to get suspicious about your paper. You can use whatever documentation style you want, just be consistent. This part of the paper is the easy part. It’s just grunt work and fill in the blanks because you actually got interested in a topic, read about it, and all the heavy thinking was done in the intro. Now you just present the evidence to support your insights.

THE CONCLUSION: This part can be the most creative. What is useful about your analysis? Can it be generalized or is it case or topic specific. What can we learn about this? Also, it helps to recapitulate your thesis and where this analysis might lead. A conclusion that rigorously unpacks the paper and suggests that your thesis could not be supported is in actuality a well researched non-finding and you should not feel timid about presenting something like this, if you can do a good job at it.

So this research paper is unlike your essays where you just wrote about stuff, addressed a question, and often offered undocumented opinion. This is different and the key is to write about something that interests you and to not start on the night before it’s due or you will not be a happy camper.

I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY LATE PAPERS!!!!

Double-spaced and normal font and 1″margins. Outside sources (sources beyond the class materials) must be used. This means sources like a scholarly book, essay, or a journal article, which also means that you might have to go to the library. Newspaper or magazine articles can be used to bolster your arguments but newspapers or popular magazines like Time or Newsweek are not considered sources to be counted. And here is the kicker! When it comes to real research the WEB still does not cut the mustard and you are limited in your internet sources. For page length, number of sources, and maximum number of web sources requirements, please read your syllabus; it’s a contract.

Mistakes to be avoided:
1) You are going along just fine but by God you are going to stop at the minimum number of pages because there is no way that you are going to write anymore, even if another couple pages means a solid conclusion and a better grade. After all, let’s save the trees!

2) You are not going to use more than the minimum number of outside sources no matter what, even if you have more in front of you and a little extra reading and reflection might get you a better grade.

3) You are convinced that you can do the paper the night before it’s due because that’s how you got through the essay assignments.

4) You still think that you can turn the paper in late.