Academic and Research Paper Guidelines

Important Announcements and Academic Guidelines

  • Counseling Support for Academic Performance

    • Instructors may submit a flag for students exhibiting low class attendance or grades below a 'C'.
    • Students flagged will receive an email from a counselor to discuss academic performance across all flagged classes.
    • This system is designed to provide support and help students develop a plan for improvement.

  • SoCo Center & Mayor's Town Hall Event

    • Date & Time: October 77th at 05:3005:30 PM.
    • Location: OSC Ballroom.
    • Organizer: The SoCo Center (the instructor's unit).
    • Speaker: The Mayor of Pueblo.
    • Purpose: To engage students with local government, discussing the city's recent activities, achievements, and future plans. It functions as a town hall, allowing students to ask questions and voice concerns about their community.
    • Civic Engagement: Residents of Pueblo are encouraged to attend to stay connected with elected officials. Non-residents who spend more than 50%50\% of their time in Pueblo are encouraged to consider registering to vote locally, as city government decisions impact their lives.
    • Duration: Approximately one hour (attendees are not required to stay the entire time).
    • Refreshments: Light food will be provided.
    • Community Involvement: A significant number of community members are expected, as the Mayor has been hosting similar well-attended town halls across Pueblo.
    • Local Political Context (Pueblo Ballot Proposition): There is an upcoming ballot proposition to remove the Mayor's office from city government and reinstate a city manager, a system Pueblo had until about 6−86-8 years ago. This is a significant local political debate.
    • Promotion: The event will be promoted through flyers, the Polyside Club, ASG, and other organizations.
    • Extra Credit Opportunity: Attending this event (or similar community events related to policymaking and political science) will typically grant a 22 percentage point bump on the student's midterm grade (e.g., a 7878 becomes an 8080). While not a massive increase, it can be valuable for students aiming for specific GPAs (e.g., grad school aspirations) or those on the cusp of a higher letter grade (e.g., a 6868 becoming a 7070).

Research Paper Guidance

  • Handouts vs. Final Paper

    • Purpose of Handouts: Designed to guide students through the paper-writing process by breaking it down into manageable steps (e.g., annotated bibliography, literature review, theory section).
    • Grading of Handouts: Handouts are not counted towards the final paper grade. They contribute to a participation grade, which will be evaluated for the midterm.
    • Deadlines for Handouts: Not a hard deadline, but ideally, they should be submitted one week after the relevant workshop.
    • Final Paper Deadline: The complete research paper is due at 11:5911:59 PM on Tuesday, December 1616th (the day of the final exam) on Blackboard.

  • Research Paper Core Idea

    • Topic: Investigating how one or more racial/ethnic groups in the United States experience politics differently.
    • Goal: To generate new scholarly research.

  • The Literature Review

    • Purpose: To summarize and analyze key scholarly debates related to the research question.
    • Process: Identify major schools of thought within existing scholarship. Your paper builds on previous ideas; truly novel ideas are rare in academic science, which progresses incrementally.
    • Situating Your Argument: The literature review helps you position your unique contribution, identify prior assumptions you're building upon, and refine your research question (e.g., addressing a niche topic or a missing argument).
    • Organization: Sources should ideally be organized by schools of thought or approaches to your research question.
    • Focus for Reading: When reviewing papers for your literature review, prioritize reading the introduction and the literature review sections (typically the first 44 pages), rather than the entire paper.

  • Annotated Bibliography Requirements

    • Minimum Sources: A minimum of 55 scholarly sources is required.
    • Source Allocation:
      • At least 22 sources can be from assigned course readings.
      • At least 33 sources must be original, found outside of class readings.
    • Content of Annotation: For each source, explain how it relates to your specific research question. Do not just summarize the article; connect it directly to your topic.
      • Example (Church Participation & Group Consciousness): If a source discusses decreasing church attendance, relate it to your question by explaining how declining community building in churches (which are often racially segregated) could lead to decreased racial identity among younger Americans, linking to broader trends of fewer social connections.
    • Template: A Word document template for the annotated bibliography is available on Blackboard under the