Research Paper

This Foundation Seminar is a W-1 course, which requires a 12-page (3,000 word) research paper to be submitted at the end of the term. This paper should discuss and interpret a problem related to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and to contemporary Russian civilization; it should not be a simple description of a historical period or event. Your topic should develop from your thinking about the materials of the course: the reading, the listening, your web research and notes, and the discussions in class or with your colleagues outside class.

An outline for your paper should be handed to me in class on Monday, October 18, 1999. Feel free to meet with me to talk about potential topics before this date. I will review your outline, we will meet that week to discuss it, and to fine tune, broaden, narrow, or refocuss your ideas. You might even decide to change topics at this point, which is fully allowed. Our discussion is a vital step in creating your paper. Once you have settled on a topic, you should follow it in the daily OMRI or Monitor reports and the Voice of Russia news broadcasts. That is, begin to focus your homework time on research for your paper, and we will spend some class time discussing your thoughts.

A first draft of your paper is due in class on Friday, November 5, 1999. The first draft should be a serious first attempt at organizing the ideas of the paper and not simply your notes typed sequentially. It does not yet have to reach 12 pages in length, but you should write at least 7 or 8 pages. I will return your draft with general comments in a private consultation during the following week. In this consultation, we will work to improve your writing and discuss how to best proceed with your paper.

A second, significantly revised draft will be due no later than 5 pm, Monday, November 22, 1999. I will return your draft, with detailed comments, and we will meet to discuss your progress after Thanksgiving break. Below you will find a section on Evaluation of Term Projects. This will provide you with further information on which aspects of research and style you need to consider before completing the final paper. The term paper accounts for one quarter of your course grade.

A number of classroom activities will assist you in the process of writing your papers. Over the course of the semester, short in-class writing assignments will help you practice using writing as a tool for thinking. We will also set aside part of the class prior to each written report to discuss such important writing issues as audience, purpose, organization, and style. In addition, Bertrand Library will provide us a workshop on researching and writing term papers. If you feel you need additional assistance, feel free to arrange individual consultations with me, or the Writing Center in Roberts Hall can provide tutoring sessions.

The final draft of your term project will be due at 5pm, Wednesday, December 8, 1999.

Tentative Schedule of Term Paper Assignments
Outline Friday, October 15, 1999
First Draft Friday, November 5, 1999
Second Draft Friday, November 19, 1999
Final Draft Wednesday, December 8, 1999

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON STYLE

  • Critical Thinking and Evaluation of Sources. Capital Community Technical College, Hartford, Connecticutt.
  • Garrison, Roger How a Writer Works. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
  • Horton, Susan Thinking Through Writing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Hughs, Anthony On-line English Grammar. Edunet International.
  • MLA Guide for Writing Research Papers. http://155.43.225.30/mla.htm.
  • Nonymous, A. An Essay on How to Write an Essay
  • Nonymous, B. How to Write English Good.
  • Strunk, William, Jr. Elements of Style. Ithaca, NY: Privately printed, 1918.
  • Walker, Janice MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources
  • Williams, Joseph Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity & Grace. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1982.
    Library Wizard Search for FN 98-10

    Bertrand Library maintains a list of research reference resources for each Foundations Seminar. You may access the resources for this course by clicking the heading of this section.

    Evaluation of Term Projects

    It is difficult to state briefly what makes good expository writing. However, three aspects of writing will be crucial to producing effective term papers: style, organization and content. Below is a summary of accepted norms for each of these aspects.

  • Style. A term paper should be written in standard, "formal" English. You should not use slang or colloquialisms. Assume that your audience is intelligent, educated adults, but not specialists in the field. You should use clear language; the reader should not struggle to understand what you want to say. Paragraphs should be carefully structured, and sentences should maintain syntactic integrity. Be careful of antecedents, noun-verb agreement, participial reference, typographical conventions. Use a dictionary and a thesaurus to ensure that your vocabulary is well chosen and appropriately used. Finally, you should be judiciously creative with metaphors, word selection and imagery.
  • Organization. Your paper should consist of an intelligent organization of paragraphs. Your paper should begin with a thesis, that is, an expression of what you want to say. Subsequent paragraphs should carefully present material to support your thesis. Each paragraph itself should be well organized. You should not jump from one topic to another, and there should be a sense of a single cohesive thought in each paragraph. (One popular approach is "(Background:) Thesis: Argumentation: Conclusion.") The paper's conclusion should summarize your arguments.
  • Content. The paper should be well researched. It is usually best not to depend on a single source, especially not general works. You should have evidence from a variety of books and articles, that is integrated into your own thesis. You should control the material and bring your own opinion to bear on it.

    • Suggested Writing Conventions

    Use footnotes only for related peripheral matters which are interesting but not directly germane to your thesis. For references, simply place the last name of the author you are citing, the year of the publication and the page number, e.g. "(Smith 1972: 237)" or "according to Smith (1972: 237)". The bibliography should then display the year of publication immediately following the author: Smith, J. 1972. Avoid pedanticisms like "op. cit.", "ibid." Italicize (underline) foreign words if they are not in common use in English. "Samovar", "tsar", "troika" need not be italicized (= underlined), but "pomeshchik", "Ulozhenie", "ukaz" should be.



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    PEER REVIEW WORKSHEET

    Fill out a peer review worksheet for each paper that you peer review and return it to the author of the paper. Authors should turn in all peer review worksheets along with the second draft of their paper.

    Research Resources on Russia and the USSR in Bertrand Library
    A. USSR: Periodicals in Bertrand Library

    1. Cahiers du Monde Russe et Sovietique
    2. Canadian Slavonic Papers
    3. Central Europe Journal
    4. The Current Digest of the Soviet Press
    5. East Europe
    6. Hungarian Review (popular magazine)
    7. International Affairs
    8. International Socialist Review
    9. Litaunus
    10. Moscow News
    11. New Times
    12. New World Review
    13. The Polish Review
    14. Pravda
    15. Problems of Communism
    16. Russian Review
    17. Slavic and East European Journal
    18. Slavic Review
    19. Slavonic and East European Review
    20. Soviet Education
    21. Soviet Geography
    22. Soviet Law and Government
    23. Soviet Life (popular magazine)
    24. Soviet Literature
    25. Soviet Military Review
    26. Soviet Review
    27. Soviet Studies
    28. Soviet Studies in History
    29. Sputnik (popular digest)
    30. Studies in Comparative Communism
    31. Studies in Soviet Though
    32. Survey
    33. Voprosy istorii
    34. Western Socialist
    35. World Marxist Review

    B. USSR: Statisticial Resources in Bertrand Library

    1. American-Russian Chamber of Commerce. Economic Handbook of the Soviet Union. New York, 1931
    2. American-Russian Chamber of Commerce. Handbook of the Soviet Union. New York, 1936
    3. Mickiewicz, E. Handbook of Soviet Social Science Data. New York, 1973
    4. Treml, V. Soviet Economic Statistics. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1972
    5. Tsentral'noe statisticheskoe upravlenie. Soviet Union, 50 Years: Statistical Returns. Moscow, 1969
    6. Tsentral'noe statisticheskoe upravlenie. Statistical Handbook of the USSR. Moscow, 1956 to date
    7. Tsentral'noe statisticheskoe upravlenie. The U.S.S.R. in Figures.
    8. United Nations. Compendium of Social Statistics. New York (annual)
    9. United Nations, Statistical Office. Statistical Yearbook.
    10. United Nations, Yearbook of International Trade Statistics. New York.
    11. World Economic Survey. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    C. USSR: Bibliographical Resources in Bertrand Library

    1. American Bibliography of Russian and East European Studies.
    2. Brozek, J and M. Brozek "Recent Russian Books in Psychology". Contemporary Psychology 11.364-7
    3. Business Periodicals Index. New York, 1958 to date
    4. Education Index. New York
    5. Historical Abstracts
    6. Horecky, P. (ed.) Russia and the Soviet Union: A Bibliographic Guide to Western Language Publications. [To 1917]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965
    7. International Political Science Abstracts.
    8. Journal of Economic Literature
    9. Michael, K. Guide to Russian Reference Books, Vols. I-II
    10. MLA Bibliography. New York: Modern Language Association
    11. New York Times Index. New York: Times Publishing
    12. Public Affairs Information Service Bulletin. Paris
    13. Slusser, R. and J. Triska A Calendar of Soviet Treaties, 1917-1957.
    14. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
    15. Social Sciences and Humanities Index.
    16. Sociological Abstracts.
    17. Social Sciences Index.
    18. Wieczynski, J. (ed.) Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History.
      Gulf Breeze, Fla.: International Academic.