Overview
-Chicago referencing – in text – (Author year, page) (Smith 2021, 43-67)
-Ensure that the work is well referenced – if you take an idea from somewhere, reference it. The usual rule is an intext reference every 100-150 words.
-Academic sources only.
-Word limit is 2700 words to 3000 words.
The paper should be structured as:
1. Introduction:
Have a thesis statement and state it clearly. In short, the introduction should introduce your research topic, research question, and argument, and briefly outline the remaining parts of your paper.
2. Literature Review:
This section discusses the previous literature that has been published on your subject. The literature review is the foundation upon which you build your argument. Rarely does a writer come up with an idea completely divorced from the writer’s experience. Rather, we are all researchers standing on the shoulders of other researchers. You want to build a strong foundation out of previous research for your argument to build on. Discuss the literature in a way that suggests that there remains a gap in this literature and that you are going to fill or question a particular aspect or conclusion of other works to highlight the relevance and importance of your argument.
3. Argument:
This section outlines the argument you are making in a clear and concise manner. It builds on the literature review, yes, but it is an opportunity for you to differentiate what you are arguing from the arguments of previous works. Also, in this section be sure to recognize arguments that might contradict the one you are making. Be sure to address their main points and explain why you think yours is better or more complete. When putting forward a theoretical argument or examining evidence, it helps to be aware of three fundamental challenges to interpreting evidence in social science. First, to what extent is your proposed relationship endogenous. Second, to what extent is the relationship spurious. Third, are you really focusing on the levels of an explanatory factor or the magnitude of its change over the short term.
4. Evidence:
This section can consist of a case study, a review of the narrative relevant to your case, or a systematic quantitative analysis. The important part of this section is that it ties the argument you made in the previous section to the real world. This is where the reader really gets a chance to understand the importance of (and implications of) your argument. Be sure to support any assertions you make with evidence that is well cited! A reader should be able to verify what sources you used to make your argument and track down any important statistics and quotes you may use. Be sure to give proper credit when using other people’s words by using appropriate citations. If you quote another’s words, always mention the author, publication year, and page number of the quote.
5. Conclusion:
The conclusion is the final section that provides an opportunity to reiterate what you have told me, why it matters, and what areas remain to be explored in future papers. It is an opportunity to draw all the various strands of your paper cleanly together and reinforce the main point you are trying to bring across in your paper.
The paper needs to be proofread and avoid any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. Please use British English spelling.