Friday, December 14, 2012

Assignment NO 3 Tips and Notes


IREU  Assignment 3 Article Review Guidelines

Deadline for submission: DECEMBER 21, FRIDAY 2012 17:00

Send to eser.sekercioglu@gmail.com  Open Office, WORD or PDF attachments only.
Assignment article and instructions can be found at:



In this assignment you will combine what we have learned in the semester so far.

I will post a research article about Turkish Politics. You will read this article and write a 1.5 - 2 page review.
 
In a typical journal article authors argue several points and try to support them with data analyses, historical documents, or with logical reasoning. In the article I will give you for review most arguments will be based on empirical data. When you are writing an article review you have to think about the following points very carefully.

  •  What is the research question? (I.e. What is the topic/subject of the article?)
  •  What are the main arguments made in the article? (There can be several)
  •   How are these arguments supported with evidence?
  •   Is the support for the arguments convincing?
  •   What is the importance/value of the article? (what did we learn from this article that we did not know before and how does this article help us understand the political world)


Since IREU 150 is a general introductory course in International Relations I do not expect you to be expert article reviewers. Therefore, I will limit the scope of the article review to more specific points.

Here are the points I want to see in the article review:

-          What is this article about? (2-3 sentences)

-          What are the arguments made in the article? For each argument:
o   What is the argument (1-2 sentences)
o   How is this argument supported by the authors (data, anecdotes, charts, etc.) (1-3 sentences)
o   Do you find this argument convincing? Why or why not? (Give your reasons for finding the argument convincing or not) (1-3 sentences)

-     Some arguments will be supported by graphs and/or charts. Evaluate these charts the same way we evaluated charts for the second assignment.
o   Are there any problems with the chart? (2 sentences)
o   If yes, how does the chart misguide or mislead the reader? (1-3 sentences)
o   How could it be corrected? (1-2 sentences)

-     What is your general evaluation of the article? Did you learn anything? Do you agree or disagree with the authors generally? Why or why not? (3-5 sentences)

Notes and Tips

-          In the article I assigned there are some statistical methods you are not familiar with. Do not be worried about these. Focus on what the authors infer (çıkarım yapmak) from these analyses. I am aware that you are not experts on statistical analyses. So, assume that all statistical work is correct. Focus on the message.

-          How do I know which argument is about which chart or graph? Usually the name or number of the chart is given in the text. For example you can see a sentence like:

“In figure 3, it can be seen that….”
“Figure 2 illustrates the point that….”
“The resulting map (Figure 1) displays a vivid picture of trends along the survival/ self-expression and traditional/secular-rational values for Turkey and some EU member states.”

-          This is a 20 or so page article. Unlike the assignment 1, when claims were just one sentence long, in a journal article arguments can be explained in several paragraphs. So, when you think you found an argument do not jump in and start writing. First make sure that you read the whole argument and exactly know what it is.
-           
-          You have 1 week to complete this assignment. First read the article one or two times before writing anything. Take short notes as you read the article. If you try to do this assignment on the last minute you will not understand the article and write a very poor review. Use your time wisely, and please do not wait until the last minute.




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