Term Paper Prompts
Your term paper is worth 40% of your course grade and will be graded out of 40. It is expected to be in essay format. You may be required to consult outside material for your term paper to develop your argument or analysis. Your term paper will be graded along 4 criteria. Knowledge, Application, Communication and Thinking. Each of these components is weighed equally, 10 points each.
Your term paper needs to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the background material as well as material utilized in your argument/analysis. Your term paper will involve an application/explanation of a key theory or method to a case study. You will be required to communicate your thoughts clearly and coherently. Finally, good term papers demonstrate higher level thinking and have a degree of originality.
Your term paper should be at maximum 15 pages double spaced, and at minimum 8 pages including citations and sources.
Here are three prompts for you to consider, if you do not find these suitable to write a term paper, you are free to write a paper on a topic of your own choosing, but please run it by me first.
1) International relations theories purport to explain why certain phenomenon occur in international relations. International relations methods attempt to chart out a course of action to study phenomenon in international relations. Is there a relationship between theory and method? Can studies in international relations take place only employing theory and not method? What about with method and no theory?
2) Traditional subfields in international relations include: international political economy, international law, international organizations and security studies. Write a term paper focusing on one of these subfield areas on a topic of your choosing and ensure that you analyze and discuss at least one theoretical approach and one methodological approach.
Here are some examples: The role of China and the Global Economy (international political economy) and how liberal approaches to international politics can help us quantitatively understand China’s economic rise; The International Criminal Court on International Law and how constructivist theory can help us interpretively understand whether the International Criminal Court is effective; The UN Security Council on Security Studies and how realist theory can help us understand why the UN historically is effective (or not) at deterring military conflict. Based on the above examples, you essentially need a “case” in IR that can be studied under the umbrella of an IR subfield, and how theories/methods in international politics can inform your study.
3) In this course, we have talked about a range of different theories and methods. Write an essay discussing which theoretical and methodological approach you find most convincing. Provide evidence, as necessary
