A User's Guide to Political Science

Writing begins day one. Complementary to, and overlapping with the research process, writing tends to progress in its own stages. Many of the pieces you write while initiating your research — outlines, research prospectuses, and the like –  can form the basis for sections of a paper, or even the chapter of a longer thesis. But the process of writing becomes most central after the research has been completed and it becomes time to write up the results.

Typical Writing Stages

1. Outline
2. Draft
3. Seek Feedback
4. Revise
5. Submit

On Writing

Attention to basic grammar and writing style can go a long way in crafting the final research paper….

• Williams, Joseph M. and Lawrence McEnerney. “Writing in College: A Short Guide to College Writing.” University of Chicago Writing Program.
• Essay-Writing Guide for Political Scientists by UC Berkeley Graduate Students and Michael Nelson (PDF)
• On Writing a Policy Paper
• Essay Writing, A Personal View by David Rayside (U Toronto)
• Writing a Political Science Essay by Charles King, Georgetown University
• Suggestions for Writing Essays and Research Papers by Erica Chenoweth, Wesleyan University

George Orwell on Writing

• Politics and the English Language (an essay by George Orwell)
• George Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing (John Wesley’s summary of the above on “Pick the Brain”)

Miscellaneous

• Joshua Sowin’s A Guide to Writing Well found via Lifehack.org
• 5 steps to writing an effective paragraph from Getting Things Done in Academica
• Advice for Students: How to unstuff a sentence found via Lifehack.org
• Advice for Students: Beware of thesaurus found via Lifehack.org
• Writing Tips from Anne Bliss, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Plagiarism. Wesleyan’s Policy PLUS  More on Plagiarism

Revisions

Peer Editing Worksheet [docx] [pdf]

Resources

• http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/index.html
• http://www.wesleyan.edu/writing/workshop/generalinfo/papertopic.html