Overview
Draft 1. Is completed
Draft 2. Literature Review. The literature review (50 points) should revise the first draft in accordance with comments received and substantially expand the portfolio from a discussion of one article’s approach and findings to a discussion of five such pieces of academic literature and their approaches to the puzzle. Describe and critique the theories and results of at least five peer-reviewed articles, dissertations/theses, or research monographs from scholarly presses (or all of them, if five such sources do not exist – which is the student’s burden to prove). Meeting this milestone is worth up to 50 points, depending on the quality of the work. ? Failure to clearly identify the question will result in the deduction of half of the points that the portfolio would otherwise have earned. ? For every one source fewer than five, ten points will be deducted. The exception is if the student demonstrates to the satisfaction of the instructor that all work relevant to the question has been reviewed.
Draft 3. Revision and Model Development. The student must revise the question and literature review of the portfolio in accordance with criticism of that work. In addition, the student must now add a formal model that addresses the issue. The model should be fully specified – its assumptions and definitions should be clear, as should its structure. Meeting this milestone is worth up to 75 points, depending on the quality of the work.
?The question and literature review are worth 20 points. You will receive these points in proportion to the amount of required revision that was made in this draft. In other words, simply taking the old literature review (without revisions)onto the new draft will result in a loss of 20 points.
?Clearly stating the attributes of the formal model (e.g. a game, an expected utility model, an evolutionary model, etc) is worth 10 points.
? Defining the non-standard terms in the model and listing its non-standard assumptions are worth 10 points. A non-standard term or assumption is something not already embedded in the generic class of model. For example, a game-theoretic model of deterrence need not define terms such as strategy, node, or Nash Equilibrium – these are part of game theory, and anyone who understands game theory already knows what they mean. However, the term “deterrence” would need to be defined, and any assumptions about players’ preferences would need to be clearly stated.
Draft 4. Revision and Hypothesis Generation. The student must revise the earlier sections of the portfolio in accordance with the criticism of that work. In addition, the student must solve the model and prove that it leads to at least three testable hypotheses. Meeting this milestone is worth up to 100 points, depending on the quality of the work. ? Revisions to earlier sections of the portfolio are worth 35 points. Failure to revise will result in a 35-point deduction, while full revision in accordance with all critiques will result in no deduction. ? The solution to the model is worth 50 points. Students must show their work (just use an appendix if doing so disrupts the flow of the portfolio). ? Each testable hypothesis is worth five points (15 points total). ? For every spelling/grammar error, one point will be deducted.
Final Draft. The student must revise the earlier sections of the portfolio in accordance with criticism of that work and complete the process of generating a self-contained formal model and critical commentary on that model. The final product is worth 150 points.