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FORMATTING RULES:
TYPEFACE: Times New Roman (or equivalent serif typeface for Linux users, e.g. Libertine)
FONT SIZE: 12-point (body) / up to 16-point (section headings) (but otherwise it is your choice of font size/weight and typeface for headings)
SPACING: paragraphs: double-spaced / abstract, long direct quotes, headings/labels: single-spaced MARGINS: 1″ (page), 0.5″ (header and footer)
HEADER: “[Student’s Last Name] – Pierce SP2022” (right-aligned, include on ALL pages)
FOOTER: “Page # of [TOTAL PAGES]” (centered, include on all pages except the title page)
TITLE PAGE: The abstract must be single-spaced, 12-pt. Times New Roman font (with reasonable margins), but everything else on the title page may be formatted as you like. Get creative if you like (i.e. add a photo, color, fancy fonts, whatever), just make sure it’s not difficult to read. The title page must include:
your full name
course/professor info: “01:790:300:[##] Intro to Political Science Methods, Professor Pierce, Spring 2022” (where [##] = your class section: 01, 02, or 03)
date of submission
your paper title
the 100-word abstract
ORGANIZATION: Use headings to organize your paper, labeled according to the paper sections listed below. You may opt to add subheadings too if you like.
CITING SOURCES: Use parenthetical citations (not footnotes) to cite references within your paper, and a properly formatted entry in your bibliography for every source cited in your paper
REQUIRED SECTIONS:
Title Abstract (100 words)
Introduction (400–500 words)
Data & Methods (600–800 words)
Results & Analysis (400–500 words + tables/graphs)
Conclusion (300 words)
Bibliography
Appendix (OPTIONAL)
1. TITLE Included on the title page
not more than 20 words
formatting (see guidelines above)
What is the paper about? The title presents a concise statement of the theoretical issues that are investigated in your paper. 2. ABSTRACT 100 words
Included on the title page
12pt. Times New Roman, single-spaced
What is the paper about? What topic is the author studying? What was the primary finding?
The abstract is a single paragraph that provides a summary of the entire article, including your findings. 3. INTRODUCTION
400–500 words
Starts at top of Page 2
No heading needed for this section
What is the article about? What does the author plan to do in the paper? Why should we care about this problem/study? What is the author trying to test or show?
This section introduces the topic and theory of the paper and discusses what the paper contributes to existing knowledge on the topic. The introduction should be compelling, with the goal of enticing readers to continue reading. 5. DATA & METHODS
600–800 words What data did the author use and how does the author plan to analyze them? What were the units of analysis? What is the sample? Is the sample a good representation of the entire population? If not, how are they different? The methods section provides information about what the author studied and the way they conducted their analysis. This includes operationalization and measurement of variables, data sources, information about the participants or units of analysis, the procedures, and what the author expects to find if their research hypothesis is correct or not. 6. RESULTS & ANALYSIS
400–500 words + tables/graphs
minimum results to include: any relevant descriptive statistics for your IV, DV, and all control variables (e.g. mean/median/mode, standard deviation, min/max values; create a histogram or bar chart showing distribution for each of the DV and IV; at least one bivariate regression (DV & IV) with table of results and graph; at least one multivariate regression with all control variables; linear regression analysis – interpret the following stats for each regression (for those who must additionally do logistic regression, don’t forget to read chapter 9 and then see HP or Burcu for help): for each IV/control variable: sign (+/-) of Beta (besides intercept), t and related p-value, does zero (0) fall within the 95% confidence interval? whether yes or no, what does this mean?
for full model: R-squared, F/p-value;
use the Betas to write out the equation; report the number of observations in each model
can you reject the null hypothesis? can you accept your research/alternative hypothesis?
Be sure to interpret all stats. Comparison of bivariate and multivariate regressions? Did the relationship (significance) between your IV and DV change when you added control variables? If so, how? what does this mean? If no, what does this mean? What did the author find? The results section explains what the author found when they analyzed the data. This section can be quite technical, reporting the results in detailed technical tables.
This section should include tables and figures (well-formatted). NOTE: You should also submit a copy of your DO file with all of your analysis HERE. 7. CONCLUSION
300 words
What does it all mean and why is it important? What were the author’s overall findings? Why are these findings important? What limitations does the author identify? What should be studied next on this topic?
In this section, the author discusses what the results mean and how the study contributes to existing knowledge on the topic. Here, the research questions are answered and it should be clear at this point whether the hypotheses were supported. In the conclusion, the author usually relates the paper back to the larger context and suggests avenues for future research. 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
This is where the author lists all references used in the paper. This includes attribution for any ideas or work referenced in the paper, along with citing the codebooks for any datasets used.
STYLE: APSA, Chicago Manual (author-date), or APA
HANG-INDENT: First row of each reference should not indented, second and all subsequent rows of each multi-row reference should be indented 0.5 inches
Do not include URLs for academic journal articles
9. APPENDIX (OPTIONAL)
If you have lots of extra tables and graphs, stick them here.