International Relations

Assignment:
Students will write an 8–10 page paper on how international relations affects some area
of interest to you. One way to approach this is to write about your proposed
course of study, major or future career. For example, if you are a business major
you can examine how international trade rules affect a certain branch of business; if you
are a pre-med major you can examine international conflict over drugs derived from
Third World plants or the actions of the influential non-governmental organization
“Doctors without Borders.”

Length:
8-10 pages using a standard 12 point font, double-spaced, and 1 inch margins.

Sources:
Any format for your citations is acceptable—MLA, APA, APSR, etc. Which
ever you choose, be consistent. Use in text citations or footnotes, and include a works
cited page at the end.
A good rule of thumb: have as many sources as number of
pages. At least half of your sources should be print sources, even if you access them online. This includes books, peer-reviewed journals, etc. As long as it exists in print somewhere, it counts as a print source. Dot.com websites are generally not a good source to use. Wikipedia is not acceptable as a source. You may use official
government websites for the UN, EU, CIA, etc. if it’s relevant to your paper. Don’t
overuse news sources (if all your sources are CNN, NY Times, etc., you will lose points
on the citations grade).
Warnings from TAs who grade the papers:

1.) Do not write a history paper. While a history and IR often go hand-in-hand, we want
critical analysis of why decisions were made, not a record of what happened. If your topic is
on Human Rights, for example, it should not be on the history of the UDHR, but instead on the
importance. Has it succeeded or not? How has this changed leaders decisions about Human
Rights? History should be kept to two pages, after that citations should be used to explain
why it is important if still included.
2.) Do not write a foreign policy paper. Your goal should be to look at what has happened
and explain why it happened so we can better predict in the future. An example of a foreign
policy paper topic is “Why the US shouldn’t get oil from Saudi Arabia” when instead it should
be “How states choose where to get their oil trade from.”
3.) Cite carefully. Avoid wikipedia, Answers.com, Dictionary.com, and any blogs. Avoid
pundits. Scholarly journals (Journal of Politics, American Political Science Review, etc.) are
the best sources and two should be involved for full credit. A general rule of thumb is if it is in
the slides and textbook, there is an article which goes into greater detail. Ask a TA if you feel
you need help searching. Chances are we know of a name you can look for. Turnitin.com will
check for plagarism, so it will be clear how much is copy/paste.
4.) Roadmap, roadmap, roadmap. Be as absolutely clear as possible as to what the
goal/topic of your paper is and what is the layout of your paper. Some of the most
misunderstood comments on the grade are due to the student not posting a clear thesis and
outline statement. Tell us how your points come together so they are not mistaken as
irrelevant to your argument.
5.) Check with a TA on your topic. Choosing a properly-phrased topic is the first and most
important part of your paper (see 1 and 2). Asking a TA to look over your first two pages early
on can help make sure the following 6-8 pages fulfill the assignment guidelines.
6.) Apply Theory and Concepts. If the concepts and theories from class can be correctly
applied, use them. Are you arguing this supports realism or liberalism? Who are the primary
actors? Is this an example of broader concept seen elsewhere? Concepts make the topic
easier to understand and support why your topic is significant.

Important:
1. Have a clear thesis statement. If we cannot figure out what your thesis statement is,
you have a problem.
2. Outline your essay. Make sure your essay is organized and clearly relates back to your
thesis. Don’t get most of the way done, then realize you need to somehow get another
3 pages in there, and start going off on random tangents until you hit the page limit.
a. On a related note, try to have clear topic sentences—I should be able to read
the first sentence of the paragraph and know what the main point of that
paragraph is.
b. Likewise, really long paragraphs are typically not a good idea.
3. Make sure your arguments are well researched.
a. Try not to say “they probably have” or “there likely is…” This tends to mean that
you didn’t do your research! It is better to write the facts and conditions behind
your arguments/statements, rather than simply guessing.
4. Do your citations correctly—there is no need to get points off for avoidable mistakes.
a. Also, please don’t quote the dictionary, and do NOT cite Wikipedia.
b. Somewhat related—please introduce quotes.
5. Edit your paper! Again, there is no need to get points off for avoidable mistakes. Some
things to double check:
a. Use punctuation correctly! This goes for apostrophes, colons, semi-colons,
commas, periods, etc. (A thing on how to use apostrophes, with pictures:
https://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe).
b. Also, the “if you learned it in the fourth grade rule:” If you learned something in
the fourth grade, you should still know it now! This goes for correctly using words
(to, too, two; their, there, they’re), correctly using punctuation (see above), and
the like.
c. Also, try not to use “a lot,” and contractions are generally a bad idea (e.g., won’t,
can’t, don’t).

Paper must be submitted electronically, MS word document preferred.