Proseminar: American Politics and American Political Thought

obligatory courses
proseminars

This is the first half of the BA Research Project. Here students will learn the basic skills of how to not only engage in social science research (but more specifically in political science), but also how to effectively write an undergraduate level research paper.

BA Proseminar is intimately connected to BA Seminar offered in the spring semester. The two courses together allow the students to obtain necessary skills to develop and complete a BA paper. While the work on selecting the BA paper topic should begin already in the fall semester, the proseminar is primarily geared towards providing students with research and writing skills combined with a limited number of in-depth case studies that will allow them to engage texts and phenomena critically.

The goal of this class is to introduce students to the scope and methods of research in political science. Students will be introduced both to core principles of the philosophy of social science that underlay all research methods and to methods that are currently being used by students of political science.

Kate Turabian (Williams, Colomb, and Booth eds.), A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations (Chicago Style) University of Chicago Press.

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research 4th edition.

Leanne Powner, Empirical Research and Writing: A Political Science Student’s Practical Guide.

Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods in Political Science

Baglione, Writing a Research Paper in Political Science: A Practical Guide to Inquiry, Structure, and Methods.

Upon completion of the course, the student will:

Knowledge:

- Understands the terminology, methods, tools, and techniques for data acquisition, selected traditions, research schools, and directions of development relevant to political science used in research on US politics and American political thought.

- Understands the importance of academic integrity.

Skills:

- Can plan a research project in the field of political science under the supervision of an academic advisor.

- Formulate a clear topic for the bachelor's thesis.

- Develop a working bibliography for the bachelor's thesis in the field of political science.

- Formulate a research question and hypothesis.

- Prepare a draft chapter outline of the bachelor's thesis in the field of political science in English.

- Apply various commonly used methods in research on US politics and American political thought, compare and contrast different methods, selecting the most effective ones for a given type of project.

Social Competencies:

- Is ready to collaborate and work in pairs and groups, respectfully listen to and comment on the opinions of others.

Assessment methods and assessment criteria:

1. Short assignments 30% of the overall grade.

2. Craft a draft topic. 5% of the overall grade.

3. Craft and submit final topic. 10% of the overall grade.

4. Craft a hypothesis. 15% of the overall grade.

5. Create the working Research Bibliography. 15% of the overall grade

6. Create the overall outline for your Research Project. 20% of the overall grade.

7. Oral Executive Summary of your research project. 5% of the overall grade

(0 to 6 scale) excellent, >5.6, Very good 5.0 to 5.59, Better than Good, 4.5 to 4.99, Good, 4.0 to 4.49, Satisfactory, 3.5 to 3.99; Sufficient, 3.0-3.49. failure, <3.0