How to write a good final essay

1. DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZESOCIALI E POLITICHE Undergraduate Course in Political Science (SPO) How to write a good final essay Alessandro Pellegata Department of Social and Political Sciences • 4 e 6 April 2017 • Seminar Room Department SPS

2. Important changes • Public defense of the final essay for undergraduate courses has been abolished in the Fall 2014. • The structure of the final essay was not modified (6 cfu), as well as the potential mark you can obtain. • The final essay will be evaluated by your supervisor and another instructor. • The final mark will be published on your personal UNIMIA webpage. • There will be only a graduation day. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

3. Graduation days Fall session 2015-2016 16 December 2016 Winter session 2015-2016 31 March 2017 Summer session 2016-2017 18 July 2017 How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

4. Procedures and deadlines • Regarding all the information on procedures and deadlines you should visit the page on the university website. • You can find other useful information visiting the page of the faculty website. • For any other doubts you can ask to your supervisor and/or to the secretariat. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

5. What a final essay is • A theoretical-methodological reflection around a concept or an approach in the discipline, or a small empirical contribution around a problem or a research hypothesis. • In both cases the work must include an autonomous contribution of the author: the identification of causal links; a reasoned literature review; a reinterpretation of an author’s idea; the application of a theoretical framework to different empirical phenomena, an hypothesis test through new data • This added value can represent just a small contribution within the academic debate, BUT it must be present. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

6. What a final essay is NOT • It must not be a simply «cut & paste» of others’ works, material found on the web or other contributions present in the literature. • As a consequence of an essay flagrantly plagiarized, the student risks to incur in an official suspension. Thus, he/she loses the opportunity to obtain the degree in that session How tp write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

7. Choice of the topic • The student has to choose the topic of the final essay among one of the courses he/she took. • If the chosen topic does not pertain to one of the courses taken within the bachelor program the student must ask for an authorization by the Director of studies. • Whenever you choose a topic you always have to connect it with the discipline in which you want to write your final essay. Political science, sociology, law, economics and historical studies have often different aims and adopt different methodologies. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

8. Choice of the topic • The student autonomously identifies a topic on the basis of his/her interests. He/she will submit the chosen topic to the supervisor for his/her approval in one or more meetings. • In choosing the topic the student has to consider: • His/her personal interest; • The topic’s relevance; • The research’s feasibility; • Available time resources; • Future intentions after the bachelor degree. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

9. Title • The final essay’s title must reflect, in a synthetic way, the general problem debated in the work. • The possible subtitle aims to clarify to the reader the specific content of the research also indicating, if necessary, a geographical and/or temporal location of the object of the research. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

10. Topic and related title • Phenomena such as globalization, Belgian institutional system, radical right, the Front National or the Italian Constitution cannot be considered as good topics for a final essay. • It is necessary to restrict the focus of your research by contextualizing the object of your study and placing it in a precise point in time. • For example: • “Once upon a time in Belgium: The politico-institutional crisis after the elections of June 2007” • “The economic voting and the rise of extreme right in Europe (1994-2014)” • “The radical right in France: the Front National (1984-2012)” How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

11. Proposed table of content • The supervisor usually asks to the student to prepare a reasoned table of content of the essay or an abstract. • The table of content represents the first step in writing the final essay. • It should be submitted to the supervisor for his/her approval before the student starts to write the essay. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

12. Proposed table of content • The reasoned table of content should include: • The presentation of the problem; • The temporal and geographic contexts considered; • The illustration of the research hypotheses, theoretical explanations and solutions present in the national and international debate; • The identification of the approach adopted in the study and the sources used; • The specific contribution to the knowledge of the problem; • The empirical results’ discussion; • A brief conclusion with the recap of what it has been done in the essay; • A complete list of references. • The table of content could be modified several times before and during the writing of the essay. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

13. Structure • A final essay always has an introduction and N number of chapters (at least three), the last of which is the conclusion. • The number of chapters and the length of your essay can vary, but what matters for the final score is that your work is: • methodologically correct (i.e. scientifically written) • complete and balanced between its different parts • relevant (for the chosen topic) • easily readable (i.e. well written) How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

14. Introduction • It aims to encourage the readers to continue to read the entire essay. • It describes the research question that will be treated in the essay and the strategy used to provide an answer to it. • It illustrates the structure of the essay in different chapters and offers a brief anticipation of the their contents. • It is not necessary to present in the introduction all the results obtained. • Usually the introduction should be written only after the entire essay is concluded. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

15. Central chapters • They focus on the various research phases. • In the first chapter usually students present the object of the research • Illustrate your research problem, motivating why it is interesting (looking at the scientific and academic debate) • Describe which phenomena you are going to study and the research hypotheses that you will advance • In the second chapter you should describe data, sources and the methodology adopted. • In the third chapter you should: • Describe the results • Explain which hypotheses have been confirmed by the analysis and which not How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

16. Conclusions • Conclusions have three related purposes: • To provide a recap of the work done and summarize main results obtained; • To encourage the reader (in particular distracted ones) to “go back” and read more extensively the substantial contents of the essay; • To provide suggestions for further research. • Concluding remarks open up by making a recap of the work done in the essay and by summarizing main results that should always be connected to the initial research question. • Conclusions can end up providing new puzzles and suggestions for further research. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

17. Format • There are no precise rules: we suggest to adopt 3 cm margins on each of the four sides of the page. • Use a standard font (e.g. Times New Roman): font 12, line space 1,5/2. • All the chapters must be numbered. • Each chapter is usually divided in paragraphs (at least two), each of them numbered, together with a conclusive paragraph (numbered) that draws conclusions and briefly recap what you said in the chapter. • If you include sub-paragraph, they must be numbered and there must be at least two of them. • Pages must be numbered. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

18. Format • Usually a final essay for a BA degree should not go over 50 «cartelle», all included. • A standard “cartella” includes around 60 keystrokes for each row and around 25-28 rows in each page, for a total of around 2000 keystrokes. • The typical length of a chapter is around 15-20 pages. • Supervisors prefer to read and correct one chapter at time. Do not submit to your supervisor neither 2-3 pages nor the entire essay. The required time for reading and correcting each chapter is at least 7 days. • At this link on the Faculty website you can find and example of frontispiece for your final essay. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

19. An example of table of content Table of content (it must always be put at the beginning of the essay) Introduction .................................................................................................3 Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................4 1.1 Definition of the area of research …...................................................4 1.2 Selection of the units of analysis .......................................................7 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................15 2.1 Southern Europe …........................................................................15 2.2 Northern Europe ……......................................................................18 2.3 Eastern Europe …..........................................................................20 2.4 Western Europe ….........................................................................24 Chapter 3 .....................................................................................................33 3.1 Selections of the indicators .............................................................33 3.2 Empirical analysis .........................................................................35 Conclusions ...................................................................................................41 Appendix A ...................................................................................................43 References ...................................................................................................49 How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

20. Style • The final essay is a scientific text, which purpose is to describe and explain phenomena. Therefore, the text “style” has to be as more clear and plain as possible. • Basic knowledge should be taken for granted, definitions should be kept at the minimum. Who reads usually knows them. • A final essay in the field of social sciences must have an analytic/interpretative style. You must avoid to use: • Normative emphases (e.g. “he/she must”, “we should …”, “they need …”, etc.), • Personal opinion (e.g.: “In my opinion …”, “For me …”, etc.), • Moral or political judgements (e.g.: “The political leader made a mistake …”, “elections went wrong …”, etc.). • Avoid foreign words and limit the use of Italics and uppercases. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

21. Style In general, remember: • To think always to what you are writing: often, given a lack of attention, you write nonsense, redundancies, anacoluthon, etc. that the reader badly judge. • To read always what you have written before submitting it to your supervisor. It is very important that your supervisor, in order to give you useful suggestions, will read a well written essay. Otherwise he/she will spend the time to correct orthographic errors. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

22. Notes • You should include notes in the text of your essay. • Notes aim to explain a term, or develop a secondary aspect, that, if included in the main text, will make it heavier. • Do not exceed in using notes. • You should opt for footnotes or, alternatively, endnotes at the end of each chapter. • Notes should be numbered consecutively and their numeration restarts at the beginning of each new chapter. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

23. Quotations • Bibliographic references of your final essay is very important. • Being a scientific work it is necessary to support every statement you make with adequate references, that MUST be quoted. • Whenever in the text you make a reference to the thought of one or more authors it is necessary to correctly cite the source of your quotation. • For quotations we suggest to adopt the interlinear method, also known as American style. According to this method you have to report (author, year) between brackets in the main text. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

24. Quotations – interlinear method The are two different situations in which it is necessary to make a quotation: • After having summarized, with your own words and through paraphrases, the thought of one or more authors. • In this case it is sufficient, but still necessary, to report between brackets in the text the last name of the author(s) and the publication year of the text to which you refer. E.g.: (Ferrera 1993). • When you report in the text a precise quotation. • In this case, however, it is necessary to report between brackets in the main text the last name of the author, the publication of the text to which you refer and the page/s in which you have found the quotation in the original source. E.g.: (Tsebelis 2004: 51) How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

25. Quotations – interlinear method • Whether the precise quotation is short (less than two rows) it is sufficient to report between inverted commas the text in the same way it is found in the original source. • E.g.: “Thus, the electoral decision becomes the decisive stage for applying majority rule” (Powell 2000: 89) • Whether the precise quotation is longer than two rows we suggest to report the text with a blank line before and after it and using larger margins than the normal body of the text. E.g.: As Powell argues: • “Proponents of the alternative, dispersed power, vision of democracy accept the principles of citizen equality and participation at the decisive stages of public policy making. But they challenge both the majoritarian focus on the election as the sole decisive stage and the validity of simple majority rule as the appropriate decision rule” (Powell 2000: 90) How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

26. Quotations – traditional method • The interlinear method is suggested because it is easier for both the writer and the reader and because using it the text is less «heavy». • Some discipline (in particular law), however, prefer to adopt the traditional system. • The choice between the two depends by your supervisor. • By adopting the traditional system, all the references must be reported in notes (footnotes or at the end of the chapter). How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

27. Quotations – traditional method • When a source is quoted for the first time it is always necessary to report the complete reference • Es. G. Tsebelis, Veto Players. How Political Institutions Works, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2002. (if necessary add, p. …) • In case the same source is quoted in the note immediately following the one in which the source is quoted for the first time, you can simply report the name of the author followed by “op. cit.” • Es. cfr. G. Tsebelis, op. cit. (if necessary add, p. …) • In case the same source is quoted in a following, but not consecutive note, in presence of other works by the same author you can report: • cfr. G. Tsebelis, Veto Players, cit. (if necessary add, p. …) How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

28. Quotations - Precautions • It is very important to maintain the coherence in using the same style of quotations in the entire final essay. • In case of precise quotations, the cited text must be reported in the same way you find it in the original sources. Italics and foreign words included. • All the quoted works must be reported in the final list of references, at the end of the essay. • In case there are two works of the same author(s) published in the same year, they must be distinguished (in both the main text and the final references) by adding a letter to the year of publication (e.g. Ferrera 1993a; Ferrera 1993b). How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

29. Tables and figures • Tables include data ordered along rows and columns. • Figures can be graphs, schema, diagrams, etc. and are used to explain connections between concepts and phenomena. • Tables and figures can be created using word, excel or software for statistical analysis (SPSS, Stata, R, …) How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

30. Tables and figures • You have to introduce always tables and figures in the text of the essay and discuss their content. • All tables and figures included in every chapter must be numbered progressively. • For instance, in Chapter 2 you will include: Table 2.1, Table 2.2 and Table 2.3. • In Chapter 3 instead you will find: Figure 3.1 and Figure 3.2. • Both tables and figures must be always accompanied by a title that refers to their content. • Below every table and figure you must always indicate the source from which it is gathered. If the table or the figure is yours you should write: Source: Author’s elaboration. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

31. Searching of the sources You can start your bibliographic research from university resources: • For traditional paper sources: UNIMI OPAC Catalogue. • For electronic resources: UNIMI Digital Library, in particular: • Web search engine for E-Journal. • Web search engine for data sources (list of online data sources grouped for discipline). You can consult online resources also from outside the university (e.g. your home) by logging in with the same username and password of your email address (name.surname@studenti.unimi.it). How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

32. Searching of the sources • Remember that every library has an online catalogue: • Web catalogue of Italian libraries • Web catalogue of Milan Central Library (Palazzo Sormani) • Several web search engines specifically devoted to academic publications are particularly helpful and user-friendly: • Google Scholar • Google Books • Web of Science • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts • If you cannot find a book or an article in one of the university libraries, on the webpage of the Political Science Library you can use the inter-library loan service by filling in the requested form. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

33. Searching of the sources • Internet has the advantage of being continuously updated. You can consult a source on the web more than one time, from every location and in every moment. • For a good online search you should: • Interrogate a good search engine using keywords referred to the topic of your essay; • Restrict your search by adding new specifications and using advanced search resources; • Favor information from institutional websites, research centers and universities; • Start from more recent information and go back to older ones; • Understand rapidly whether a web page is really relevant, and thus you should read it carefully, or it rather deserves only a quick look; • When you download and save texts or documents, you should always remember to record the URL and the date of the last access. You need this information to compile the list of references. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

34. References • A good reference list, updated and internationally relevant, is an important factor that allows you obtain a high mark. • In the reference list at the end of the essay you must include all the texts and websites quoted in your final essay. • According to both quotation approaches (interlinear and traditional) there are different styles that can be adopted. You are not asked to use a specific style but, as for in-text or notes quotations, it is particularly important that you adopt the same style for all the references. • You should take one of the books used for your exams as an example to follow. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

35. References The following are examples of references created on the basis of the two different approaches. How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

36. References How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

37. How to find complete references • Of a book • Of a chapter in an edited book • Of an academic article How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

38. Useful material Guidelines and some indications provided by instructors belonging to various disciplines to write a good final essay can be found on the SPO website How to write a good final essay DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE