4000+ words, using at least 10 sources (including at least 8 scientific articles on your question).

Your paper must include:

• abstract
  one paragraph that summarizes your paper; write this last, after everything else is done
• research question
  one paragraph, ending with a question mark; you have already written this
• literature review
  several pages, describing different ways scholars have answered your question or similar ones; you have already written this
• explanation of your theory
  one to three paragraphs explaining, in your own words, what you have learned from your literature review and explaining the cause-and-effect relationship you are interested in; this is a new section you’ll write for this assignment
• hypothesis
  one very short paragraph; you have already written this
• research design
  a detailed description of your units and independent and dependent variables, and an explanation of how you operationalize your variables; you have already written this
• observations
  at least two observations, each with complete descriptions of a dependent variable and at least one independent variable (for most of you, this will be a table, ideally with a scatterplot Links to an external site.)
• comparison of cases
  a description of the pattern you see across cases and explanation of whether the pattern is consistent or inconsistent with your hypothesis; this is a new section you will write after you are done writing your observations of the cases
• conclusion
  an explanation of what you have learned about your hypothesis, along with any new guesses you have in light of your findings; this is a new section

Papers will be evaluated based on the the clarity of the question and thesis and based on the appropriate use of evidence, as well as on clarity of writing.

I will not accept any paper that does not have properly-formatted, complete citations.