Assignment: Academic Writing Project

Assignment Outline

Students are required to draft an academic essay over the course of the first 8-9 weeks of the semester. The paper will be drafted in phases, with opportunities for detailed feedback, revision and improvement at each phase. Since it is not possible to write a full academic paper in 1500 words (and the research required for a full academic paper would exceed the workload requirements for this course), the essays will follow one of the following formats:

1.      Literature review. Students can write a review of the literature in a specific topic area. This will need to be more than just a series of paragraphs summarizing various papers – it will need to have a central thesis (argument) and cite academic literature to support that argument (most likely, arguing what the main takeaway of the literature is). So, ideally, for this kind of essay the student would identify an area of literature where there is some debate, with multiple papers taking different sides of an issue. The student’s essay would then argue in support of one side of the debate, citing and acknowledging literature on both sides of the debate, and in most cases, ultimately coming down in support of one side.

2.      Research proposal. Students can write a proposal for a specific research project. You can think about this in a number of ways – as the narrative section of a research grant, as a proposal that one would write to receive permission to conduct research in a public sector or professional context, or as the proposal for a masters or PhD thesis.

3.      Persuasive essay. Students can use academic literature to backup an argument about an issue of economic interest. This could be a public policy issue, a business issue, or a more academic issue. In any case, the essay should be grounded in supporting a particular argument using economic reasoning and supported by credible academic economic literature.

Students are encouraged to select an essay format that best fits their personal and professional interests. The potential subject matter is broad. The core requirement is that the essay use economic reasoning and argumentation to make its main points, and be based on credible academic economics literature.

In general the essays will have the following format: introduction, evidence/exposition, conclusion. The introduction will motivate the central argument (the “hook”), outline the main aspects of the essay, and argue for the importance of the essay. The evidence/exposition is the meat of the essay – it will bring the student’s research to bear, in outlining the evidence for the main argument or point of the essay, while the conclusion will succinctly tie up the essay.

The final submission will be capped at 1500 words, exclusive of literature references. Format: double spaced, 12-point font, 2.5 cm margins.

Phases

The assignment will be completed in phases. The phases are meant to build on each other.

Phase 1 (400-750 words; 3/37 percent): due Thursday 25 March, 6pm (Week 4)

Students will write about a quarter to half of the essay for a first draft. This should involve a first attempt at an introductory section, and at least one section of the supporting evidence. It is

understood that students may not have completed all the background research by this stage, so the evidence/exposition section may be incomplete. However it will present a first attempt to giving the hook for the essay and outlining the main arguments.

The soft copy of the draft must be submitted online through Canvas (by Thursday 25 March, 6pm) so the course instructor can give feedback particularly on the economic topic and reasoning in the essay. Phase 1 will be capped by having students participate in an in-class peer feedback session (3%) during Week 5 lecture on 29 March.

Phase 2 (1500 words; 14/37 percent): due Thursday 15 April, 6pm (Week 6)

Students will fill out the full essay for the second draft.

Phase 2 will be capped by (i) students participating in an in-class peer feedback session (4%) and

(ii) having their essay read and receiving detailed written feedback from the course tutor through submitting the essay in soft copy through Canvas (10%). Students are expected to revise their essay in light of the tutor’s feedback and will have an opportunity to meet the tutor to discuss their revision and any further changes.

Phase 3 (1500 words; 20/37 percent): due Thursday 6 May, 6pm (Week 9)

This is the final submission of the essay, to be submitted in soft copy online through Canvas, to be graded by the course instructor.

Due Date

Due dates are as listed above. Several adjustments on the dates (by the instructor) are possible as the semester progresses.

Grading Weight

The academic essay carries 37% of the grading weight for the course.

Tips

How do you come up with new research ideas or areas to explore in economics? Well, if it were easy we would all have a shot at a Nobel Prize. Unfortunately it is not so easy, but there are certain patterns we can follow:¹

·         Be curious and critical. Don’t take what you read at face value; always ask questions. Just because someone wrote something doesn’t mean it’s “right”. Sharpen your filter for ideas by learning from others, but also learn to trust your instincts and unique perspective.

·         Gather new information. While you can get new research ideas from reading the academic literature, unless you work on methodology this is often not a great source of new ideas. Much more interesting can be broad reading and exposure – to what’s going on in the world, what the media is chattering about (in op-eds, etc.), what’s happening in

1 Here’s useful advice from some other academic economists on how to come up with research ideas: Marc Bellemare, UMN (http://marcfbellemare.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/BellemareHowtoPublish.pdf); Amy Finkelstein, MIT (http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/spischke/phds/Amy%20Finkelstein%20IAP%20talk%2007.ppt); Steve Pischke, LSE (http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/spischke/phds/How%20to%20start.pdf).