Essay Instructions: Guidelines for a Political Theory Paper
When you are preparing to write a political theory paper (or when you are reading any political theory text in general) consider the following questions:
1. What is the character of the argument? Is the author concerned to describe and analyze existing political arrangements and social conditions or to recommend changing those arrangements? What sorts of evidence does the author appeal to for answers (history, fact, logic/reason, divine will/revelation?)
2. How does the theorist envisage the relationship between the individual and the political community? Is the community merely an association of independent individuals or is it a supra-individual organism? Does the political community provide the necessary conditions for achieving the ‘good life’ or does it restrain human nature? Is the political community a good in itself or is it merely a necessary evil?
3. What is the nature of political authority? On what basis does the claim to political authority rest: inheritance, superior knowledge/wisdom, divine will, conquest/power, contract, consent? What is the scope of political authority: are there any spheres of human activity excluded from the ruler’s exercise of authority; are there any other restrains on what a ruler legitimately does?
4. What are the political ‘values’ implicit or explicit in the text? How does the theorist define and rank concepts like justice, freedom and equality?
On Substance
Make a compelling argument. Your goal is to present an accurate treatment of the basic interpretive facts, but then to conduct a dialogue with the text and to give your opinion on the theoretical problem at hand. For example, political theory essays often deal with a normative issue (known colloquially as the "ought to" question). In that spirit, the political theory paper should advance a clear normative argument (whereby the term “normative argument” means “expressing value judgments or prescriptions as contrasted with stating facts”).
Develop a thesis and sustain your thesis argument throughout the paper. Each paper should be organized in terms of a thesis that emphasizes a conceptual argument, rather than a mere summary of the texts or a general theme. Take a position, state clearly what your position is, and then mobilize textual references to convince your reader that you have approached the question in a fair-minded and thoughtful manner. Papers that are not built on a thesis tend to summarize the text and to wander aimlessly from point to point.
Engage with the themes of the course and the texts that we are studying. A good paper strikes the reader as a work that could not have been written unless the student had attended the course lectures, taken part in class discussions, and engaged with the assigned readings.
Define your terms. Political theorists should aim to define terms with great precision. Political theorists contribute to the study of politics by shedding new light on the conceptual dimensions of key political problems. As soon as you introduce a term into your essay, you should define it very clearly. The reader must know exactly what you mean. For example, when you write ‘classical realism’ explain this concept by writing two to three explanatory sentences. A sophisticated paper also shows awareness of the denotation of words (their explicit meanings) and their (laudatory or pejorative) connotations.
Avoid the use of clichés. An essay is an academic mode of discourse. Casual language usage and sloppy argumentation that you would use in other contexts, such as your personal journal or conversations with friends, has no place in a political theory paper. In political theory writing, the more you strike a thoughtful and scholarly tone, the more your reader will trust your judgment.
Use direct quotations sparingly. When you are dealing with a richly textured passage a direct quotation both illustrates and advances your argument. However, quotations must be an aid to an argument, not a substitute for one. You should choose appropriate passages from the text and put them in your own words, taking care throughout the paper to capture the nuances of the text. Following each paraphrase, you should bring your own analytical voice to the forefront by giving your own commentary. In other words, your paper should never strike the reader as a simple set of textual summaries.
You should explore the meaning of each text very carefully. If you are opposed to an argument, you must nevertheless recognize its strengths. By the same token, you must indicate the weaknesses and contradictions in the texts that you happen to favor. Any essay that fails to do this will miss the opportunity to engage in advanced forms of interpretive work. If you agree with the text without carefully reconstructing its position, then your agreement will come too easily and you will fail to note the text's own contradictions and weaknesses. If, by contrast, you criticize the text without considering its strengths, you will be engaging in a dismissive reading where subtle and detailed commentary is required.
Target audience: Use the non-expert scholar figure as your target audience. Write your paper as if you will be submitting it to a professor who studies politics, but who is not an expert on the material you are dealing with. This will remind you to use any complicated terminology sparingly, to define all key terms thoroughly, and to avoid taking for granted the meaning of complicated debates and issues.
Cite only the sources you consult. Citing the source of your source, as if you had consulted it yourself, is misleading and deceptive, unless you explicitly acknowledge it (e.g., source X, as quoted in source Y, p. Z).
Technical requirements: On Organization, Form & Style
Your paper must have organization, clarity, logic and textual evidence. Every paper must begin with a summary introduction that tells the reader briefly what the paper's main points are. Tell your reader the question(s) you are going to address, why they are significant, how you are going to answer them, and what your answer is going to be. Don’t just raise questions or topics and leave the reader in suspense about your conclusions until the end; this makes it harder for readers to digest and evaluate your arguments. Because you can't write a summary introduction until you know what the paper is going to say, it is better to compose it after the outline (or even after the body of the paper itself has been written).
Papers 10 pages or longer should be divided by section headings to help the reader follow the progression of your argument. Explain to the reader why you are proceeding from one idea to the next. Present major arguments first, followed by supporting or subsidiary ones. One good organizational structure is to lay out and defend your main position, then turn to alternative explanations or counter-arguments and deal with them in turn.
Good diction (i.e. choice of words) consists of the deliberate selection of words that most precisely express your meaning. If you find that you are repeating a few general adjectives, examine each case to see whether you can find words which will make finer distinctions as well as give variety to your writing.
Do not put too much emphasis on a single source. For a 12-15 page paper you much have at least eight sources (not including your primary source), including a minimum of three from academic journals. Avoid using Wikipedia or other non-credible internet websites.
Leave yourself enough time to write a full outline and multiple drafts. The best theoretical papers take a great deal of reflection and critical revision. Aim to finish the final draft several days before the due date, so that you will have enough time to put it away for a couple of days. Re-read your draft in order to detect weak passages and problematic transitions.
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