Political Science

Final Paper

Students will write a research note on identifying different variables that affect voter turnout rates in the 2016 presidential elections in the US.

• Papers must be 1-inch margins, Times New Roman Font 12, double-spaced, 6-8 pages including graphs and figures (but excluding cover page and list of references).
• APA citation style must be used for in-text citations and references (see attached guidelines below):
  • Do not use too long direct quotes
  • If a direct quote exceeds two lines, you must use “block quotes”
  • You must use in-text citations for all data, idea, argument that is not yours with page numbers. There is no such thing as too many in-text citations (paraphrased)
  • Tables and graphs must cite the source right beneath the table/graph
• Students must visit the Writing Center at least once with a complete final draft to work on formatting, proofreading…etc. The professor will receive a report from the WC discussing your meeting. You will receive a hard copy report from the Writing Center, which MUST be attached to your final draft when you submit it.
• Students will turn in subsections of their paper as the semester progresses and we cover these topics in class. You MUST attach these corrected subsection drafts to the final paper when you submit it (see below schedule for due dates for the subsections)
• Papers MUST have the following subsections:
  • cover page,
  • abstract,
  • research puzzle,
  • research question: state the RQ in the form of a question
  • brief literature review (5-10 scholarly articles),
  • hypothesis,
  • alternative hypothesis,
  • arrow diagram depicting causal mechanisms and identifying the type of variable (IV, DV)
  • argument/explanation for the hypothesis,
  • variables,
  • operationalization of the variables,
  • levels of measurement,
  • statistical inferences,
  • data analysis and interpretation,
  • conclusion,
  • “works cited” page (not bibliography)

Variables to Use: Race, Gender, and Age

Data to Use: 2016 US Presidential Elections- Students are only allowed to use datasets from Roper Poll, Census.gov, and Pew Research.

 Advanced Search

Not to be confused with a book review, a literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

The literature review is designed to do several things:

• Discover what is known (or not known) about a topic or research question.
• Determine the current status of the research on a topic or research question.
• Situate your topic or research question into the context of related research and information.
• Provide an understanding of the methodologies used in researching related questions.
• Identify areas for further study.

The literature review itself does not present new primary scholarship.

Content courtesy of CalyPoly University Library http://libguides.calpoly.edu/graduatestudent

From “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. W.W. Norton & Company: New York, 2006.