Essay Instructions: Paper assignment
Write a 12 page paper, 1.5?space, 1 inch margin 11 pt. font, analytical discussion of economic performance of two
countries. Paper should have an analytical orientation (answer a Why? Or How? question, rather than a What?
question…) using the comparative method (comparing two countries).
sequences
Equatorial Guinea? Chad Transparency in oil extraction
Allocation of points for the paper:
20 there is a coherent argument
10 there is evidence of critical, original ideas
10 the paper is balanced in terms of devoting attention to relevant components
25 there is rich in detail on country and issue
05 the writing has consistent academic style
10 the paragraph sentences make sense and are appropriate
10 the sources are adequate for the assignment
10 there are few grammar mistakes and typos
How should you proceed?
1. Do a country review, learning and writing about the basic overview of country. Keep working on this as you
go along, making a point to read stuff about the country even if maybe not directly pertinent. What kinds of
sources are useful?
a. Wikipedia and other reference works in library are good places to start with overview
b. Freedom House has on their website overviews of politics and economics in many countries; Amnesty
International and International Crisis Group regularly publish reports on countries in crisis
c. Many countries have a community of bloggers? look for Global Voices online
d. http://globalvoicesonline.org/?/world/sub?saharan?africa/
e. Search for articles using jstor.org and Google Scholar. On Google or Bing, limit your search by using
“filetype:pdf” since academics write and post articles in PDF format. Think of key issues “political
transition” “governance” “colonial legacy” together with the country name? will probably immediately
come up with a good source. Use the snowball technique? one source leads to another, or to an
author name, or to a keyword, or a set of references. Let your self be fascinated. Give up something
to spend several hours browsing.
2. Once you feel like you have a decent handle on the country, it is time to start thinking of an analytical topics
to focus on. Here’s my outline of an analytical topic regarding a paper (that focuses on just one country):
a. Setup: Azania has experienced slow growth for much of its post?independent history
b. Context: it should be remembered that the colonial authority of Tuva believed strongly in mandatory
music lessons
c. Question: A number of authors have suggested that the colonial legacy of the musicality of the
people of Azania is responsible for their slow economic growth
d. Context: It is plausible that over?emphasis on the arts encourages people to not spend their days in
factories and farms
e. Substance: Numerous studies at the local level emphasize this important feature of Azania
i. Study 1: An anthropologist found that a village played music for seven straight days
ii. Study 2: President Tabuley of Azania commanded a performance of Philip Glass’s musical
opus Einstein on the Beach be played continuously on presidential office speakers, and a
team of psychologists documented the effects
iii. Study 3: A careful household survey of Azania found that 20% of household assets were
musical instruments.
f. Interpretation: While the musicality of Azania is clearly well?established, a number of sources suggest
that the colonial authorities merely responded to a pre?existing emphasis on music
i. Study 1: Oral tradition of music in Azania
ii. Study 2: Archeological findings suggest all human music originated in Azania
g. Conclusion: Music has made people happy but poor, and is not a colonial legacy. Interesting question
now for comparative analysis.
3. My generic recipe for a paper was inspired by this hilarious video:
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpVTUdfcEMg
5. Your paper, in other words, should be a narrow analytical question. It should try to not be a trivial question,
but rather something significant.
6. As you go about formulating the question, try to draw a parallel to a question in the U.S. and Europe,
economies and polities you may be more familiar with. How would the question you are asking be framed in
the U.S./Europe context?
Suggestions for successful papers
1. Section headings: make sure you have four?five or so section headings, starting with introduction, ending with
conclusion. Each section should develop a distinct idea. I am very happy to help you with this ‘architecture’; stop
by sometime.
2. References in text; should be like this Sen (1981:23) or Sen (1981) or (Sen 1981). Bibliography: should be at
the end of the paper (reference should not be in footnotes). Here is the reference format I like:
Dunning, Thad and Harrison, Lauren. 2010. “Cross?Cutting Cleavages and Ethnic Voting: An Experimental
Study of Cousinage in Mali” American Political Science Review Vol. 104, No. 1, pp. 21?39.
Elley, Warwick. 1998. Raising Literacy Levels in Third World Countries: A Method that Works Language
Education Associates, Culver City, CA.
3. Page numbering: Pages should be numbered.
4. Font should be Times Roman 11 point; margins should be 1" all around.
5. Africa: Avoid using the term ‘Africa’ as if it were a country or nation. It isn’t.
6. Make sure your introduction motivates the paper; what is the purpose of the paper? What is your point?
7. Paragraph sentences: I assure you that when I grade the papers I will start by reading through the first
sentences of each paragraph. If these do not make sense, or do not tell me what the paper is about, or do not
‘flow’ in some logical?reasonable order, I will be suspicious that you have not put the necessary time into
organizing the paper. Look at some of the papers in the readings for examples of how you can read the
paragraph sentences and get an idea of the entire paper (useful trick when reading articles in the future... ;?)
8. Avoid pink pony syndrome, especially in conclusion “If everyone worked together, African economies could
grow rapidly and equitably, and everyone could have a pink pony too.”
