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In this video, I am going to go over the directions for the literature review/theory section draft.
You should starting working on this assignment AFTER I have graded your Research Project
Proposal.
The written instructions for this assignment are located in Module 7. You can download
them here.
This assignment is due on Friday, March 18, in Module 10 on Blackboard. The Literature
Review and Theory Section should be in the same document. Each paper has to be written
in Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced, and 1 inch margins. Proper citation
is required.
In your literature review, you should summarize at least 5 peer reviewed journal articles
that identify factors that influence variations in your dependent variable. Peer reviewed
articles are articles published in academic journals, such as the American Political Science
Review or the American Journal of Political Science. In order to find peer reviewed sources,
use the Library Resources link on Blackboard. It takes you to the Albertson’s Library
resource page for Political Science. You can use one of the search engines on the website
to look for sources.
If you need additional help, you may also contact Elizabeth Ramsey (208-426-3781), the
Political Science reference librarian, or any reference librarian for additional help.
OK- onto how to write the literature review.
You should write your literature review in paragraph format. You should organize it in
the following way:
In Part 1, you should describe your dependent variable in detail. Make sure to identify
your unit of analysis. Remember that your unit of analysis is the subjects in your study
(i.e. individuals, countries). Explain why we should care about the dependent variable.
In part 2, you should summarize each journal article in separate paragraphs (so you should
have at least 5 paragraphs). Each article summary should include the following information:
• What is main dependent variable in the source?
• What is the main independent variable? (You can usually find this information in
the abstract of the article.) • How does the author expect the main independent
variable to affect the dependent variable? Should it be a positive or negative effect?
• Why does the author expect the main independent variable to affect the dependent variable
that way? • Based on the empirical analysis, what
does the author conclude about the relationship between the dependent and independent variables?
Next, you will work on your theory section.
In the first part of your Theory Section, you should discuss your first independent
variable. What is the conceptual definition? How does this independent variable affect
the dependent variable? Should it be a positive or negative effect? Why does this independent
variable influence the dependent variable that way? After this discussion, state your
hypothesis using a similar format to the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: As the number of battle deaths increases, the number of anti-war protests
increases.
You would repeat this exercise for your second and third independent variables.
Now I am going to talk about academic honesty.
Word for word quotes in your paper require the use of quotation marks. Additionally,
if you want to paraphrase something, I suggest typing the information in your own words.
Do not copy something that someone else said and then alter it to make it sound more like
you wrote it. No matter how hard you try, most often it will not sound like your own
words. When you do paraphrase something, make sure to cite it properly.
Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses. Any student caught cheating or plagiarizing
on any assignment will automatically receive a grade of 0. Students cannot resubmit an
assignment for a grade if s/he cheat or plagiarize. Further, upon the discretion of the instructor,
cheating or plagiarism cases will be officially reported to the college.
Visit the following websites for more details about academic honesty: http://deanofstudents.boisestate.edu/student-code-of-conduct/
In this section here, I tell you how to cite in your paper.
You must use APSA style guidelines to cite sources (1) within the paper and (2) at the
end of the paper. Below I provide some examples of in text citations and bibliography citation formatting.