How Economic Conditions in Russia Contributed to the Fall of the Tsarist Regime in the Early 20th Century

[[[[Just copied the requirements, the specific requirements can be viewed in the uploaded PPT.]]]]
Topic selection.
• Suggested topics.
• Setting your own topic.
• Some topics lend themselves to particular formats and structures for the paper.
o Compare and contrast.
o Debates / advocacy.
o Pre- and post-events.
o Natural experiments.
• Let your interests guide you.
o One of the few opportunities for students to learn about / research / write about a topic that interests them.
Sign Post # 3: Finding research materials.
• Google scholar / Econlit / survey articles.
o “Handbook of Cliometrics” or “Cambridge Economic History”.
• Using search engines and bibliographies to construct “bodies of literature” or research trees.
• Reading lists from economic history courses at other universities.
Sign Post # 4: Structuring a research paper.
• Introduction and conclusion should “bookend” your paper.
• Explicitly state research question / thesis statement / hypothesis to be tested / main objective of research.
o This helps the reader and the writer.
• Motivate your research question.
o Why should the reader care?
o Modern parallel / lessons from history.
o Persistence.
o Historical curiosity.
Sign Post # 4:
• Economic framework / structure.
o How would an economist think about your topic / structure your argument?
o What would an economist expect to observe in the historical record? Why?
• Historical context.
o What happened in your particular historical period / episode?
o What does the economic history literature reveal?
 Literature review: context / methodology / evidence / conclusions.
• Critical thinking.
o Compare and contrast / critique / extend.
o What have we learned?
o What is missing or incomplete?
• Conclusions.
o Link back to explicit statement of research objectives and motivation.
Sign Post # 5: Putting all the pieces together.
• There is no grade awarded for the length of the papers.
o However, to accomplish the learning objectives, almost all second year papers will be 10-14 pages (double spaced, default margins), and almost all third year papers will be 12- 16 pages.
o The grade is assigned on the basis of the quality of the writing and research, not the number of words.
• Headings and sub-headings are not only allowed, they are encouraged.
o The structure of the paper is more obvious with headings.
Sign Post # 5: Continued...
• References and citations.
o The specific style is not relevant, but format must be consistent through entire paper.
o In-text / footnotes / endnotes are all acceptable, but choose only one approach through entire paper.
o All citations and references must provide enough information for reader to find the material being referenced.
 Authors’ names; full title; year of publication; article / chapter name; point references (page / table / equation numbers) for specific references and quotations.
 For online material provide full URL and access date.
Academic integrity.
o Turnitin similarity reports are automatically generated.
 No specific threshold for similarity scores.
 Looking for long sections of unreferenced material from other authors.
 The goal to is discourage violations of academic integrity.
o DO NOT:
 Submit other authors’ intellectual property as your own.
 Submit your own work for assessment in multiple courses.
 Submit friends or family’s work as your own.
 Purchase or acquire a term paper written on your behalf.
o It is every student’s responsibility to check university rules regarding academic integrity.