PSCI 4718

Honors Thesis in Political Science
PSCI 4718
Fall 2007/Spring 2008

David Leblang
Ketchum 34A
492-6812
leblang@colorado.edu
Office hours: by appointment

This two-semester course is designed to provide a forum to help you write your senior honors thesis in Political Science. As such this course serves to help you as you work on your research project. Because each thesis is as different as each individual I am not assigning a large list of readings; rather the assigned materials provide examples of how to go about a research project and how to present your findings. You were asked to have done the reading over the summer and it is expected that you have at least familiarized yourselves with the materials. The two readings are:

Richard P. Feynman. 1988. “Mr. Feynman Goes to Washington: Investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster,” Part 2 in What do You Care What Other People Think? Further Adventures of a Curious Character,” New York: Bantam Books.
Ray C. Fair. 2002. Predicting Presidential Elections and Other Things, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

We will devote the first part of the semester to a discussion of research design and the nature of evidence in social science. In order to keep you on schedule for successful completion of your thesis I will require a few writing assignments. These assignments along with your in-class participation will serve as your grade for the Fall semester. Note: Late assignments are not acceptable.

1) Research Statement: 2-3 page statement of your topic and proposed research plan. This should offer a fairly detailed hypothesis that you plan to test and some indication of to the evidence you will gather. Specific guidelines will be given out in class a week or two into the semester. (10% of your grade)

2) Literature Review: 3-5 page review of the relevant literature with a clear understanding of where your research question fits into previous work on the subject. Specific guidelines will be given out in class later in the semester. (20%)

3) Draft: 15-20 page draft of your honors thesis. This will be the foundation of your thesis. It will lay out the structure of your entire study and provide all the key insights and evidence. It should be the first full cut at the question you have posed. Specific guidelines will be given out in class later in the semester. (50%)

4) Participation in class discussions of the readings as well as your peers’ research topics is very much expected. You will be surprised at how much you will gain by discussing and debating your own and others’ research. (20%)

Your grade for the Spring semester will be determined by the quality of your thesis.

Choosing an Advisor
Probably the decision that will most affect your thesis experience is the selection of an advisor. It is not only important (and required) that you pick your advisor early in the Fall semester, but also that this individual be deeply involved in your project every step of the way. It is important that your advisor be part of the process of formulating and honing your research question, your decisions about evidence, your review and understanding of the literature, the choice of additional advisors, and finally reading and commenting on drafts of your thesis. I recommend that you choose an individual who is willing and able to do all of these things throughout the year. I would also recommend that you arrange a schedule of meetings with your advisor in advance – at least once a month and probably more frequently in the second semester.

Policies
Special Accommodations
I will be happy, when possible, to accommodate students’ needs. Please note, however, that requests for special accommodations need to be presented in a timely manner: at least one week prior scheduled exams / assignments.

Learning disabilities
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, and http://www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices

Religious Observance
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. The above remark on timely signaling of special accommodation needs applies also to religious observance needs. See full details at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html

Class Behavior
Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Faculty members have the professional responsibility to treat all students with understanding, dignity and respect, to guide classroom discussion and to set reasonable limits on the manner in which they and their students express opinions. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender variance, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records. See policies at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html

Academic Integrity
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor Code can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/

Discrimination & Harassment
The University of Colorado at Boulder policy on Discrimination and Harassment (http://www.colorado.edu/policies/discrimination.html), the University of Colorado policy on Sexual Harassment and the University of Colorado policy on Amorous Relationships apply to all students, staff and faculty. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been the subject of discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://www.colorado.edu/odh.

Tentative Course Schedule

August 27 Introduction and Orientation
Have you met the requirements for departmental honors?

September 3 Labor Day, no class

September 10 The Process of Social Research
(you must have identified a thesis advisor by this date)

Feynman (all)
Fair, Introduction and Chapter 1

September 17 Causal Inference

Fair, Chapters 2 & 3

September 24 Data and Evidence

Fair, Chapters 5-8

October 1 Research Plan Due

A statement of your research question and your research plan is due to me by 5pm (hard copy please). You must send a copy of your research plan to all of your classmates as well as to your advisor. Everyone must read these plans and be prepared to discuss them over the next several weeks and please prepare some constructive comments.

October 8
October 15 Discussion of Research Plans
October 23

October 30 Literature Reviews Due (hard copy please)

November 5
November 12 Work on thesis, no class
November 19

November 26
December 3 Presentation of Drafts
December 10

December 17 Thesis draft due to me and your advisor by 5pm.

PSCI 4718: Honors Thesis in Political Science
Fall 2007/Spring 2008

Fall Written Assignment Guidelines
(From Joseph Jupille)

During the fall semester, you will proceed with your honors theses through a series of stages, weighted and due as indicated below:

The aim of proceeding in this way is to keep you “on task” and, especially, to permit you, your advisor and our class to identify helpful “course corrections”.

Thesis Topic
Your paper topic reflects your initial characterization of the thesis. In 1-2 pages (not more!), you must identity and introduce the question that you will be addressing in the thesis; briefly identify the relevant literatures (e.g., at a broad level of generality such as “theories of social capital”); identify the hypotheses that you will test; provide the broad contours of your research design; and discuss implications of your findings for our understandings of the question in play and institutional theory more generally.

Literature Review
As we have discussed, science is conventionally viewed as a transparent and progressive process, wherein, among other things, given work occurs against the backdrop of work already done. The literature review is your identification and analysis of the scientific backdrop for your own research. You must be thorough and creative in identifying existing work. You must analyze and organize it so that it “sets up” what you aim to do. In other words, your own research should depart from some knowledge frontier, and that knowledge frontier must be explicitly identified.

I imagine that a revised version of this literature review will find its way into your first draft and eventually into your final thesis. So be as thorough as you can be now, “up front”. It will not only help guide you (e.g., by helping you to identify questions that need answering or rival theories that need addressing), but it will save you work later on. Existing literature should be organized logically or analytically, not merely chronologically or categorically. Again, it should be organized so as to “set up” your own research.

Thesis Draft
Your draft will be a substantially complete initial version of your thesis. Minimally it should contain a full introduction, a full literature review, a clear research design, and full specification and operationalization of your hypotheses, and initial discussion of data/results and implications. The more you can get done at this stage, the better off you will be as you get down to “brass tacks” throughout the spring semester.

Here are some of the nuts and bolts. Failure to respect these requirements will result in point deductions.
Your draft must have a title page which provides a descriptive title (something other than “draft honors thesis”) and your name.
Draft theses must be double-spaced, in 12-point font, with normal margins, paginated, and spell-checked.
Do not bind the drafts other than with a staple at the top-left corner.
The draft thesis must contain the following elements, organized as you see fit.
An introductory section comprised of four elements: 1) mood music (introducing the topic, identifying your main question); 2) thesis/argument; 3) plan/outline; 4) implications. This should be relatively brief, certainly not more than a few pages.
A literature review, in which you present an organized survey of the knowledge frontier with respect to the issue that you examine. This should “set up” your own research insofar as it will form a response to or departure from the existing literature.
A theoretical section in which you state your arguments and derive testable hypotheses.
A research design section in which you identify and justify the evidence and methods that you will use.
An empirical section in which you present, analyze and interpret your evidence.
A concluding section in which you summarize your arguments and findings and draw out the broader implications of your research.