2. Slides are available at: http://individual.utoronto.ca/sealey and will be posted to Blackboard shortly.

3. POL 242 Introduction to Research Methods Final Paper Tutorial, Part I Writing About Stats August 4, 2011 Anthony Sealey anthony.sealey@utoronto.ca http://individual.utoronto.ca/sealey

4. Please be sure to sign the attendance form.

5. Agenda (1) Introduction (2) The Basic Components of an Empirical Paper (3) A Final Note (4) Working on Your Report

6. Research Questions Introduction

7. The Basic Components of an Empirical Paper ______________________ (1) An Introduction (2) Literature Review (3) Hypotheses (4) Data and Methodology (5) Presentation of Results (6) Conclusion

8. Introduction ______________________ Engage the reader with your topic. Clearly identify your dependent variable. Explain what your study does and why it’s important. Provide an outline of the structure of your paper.

9. Literature Review ______________________________ Should identify the key findings of other research. Mike has specified that he wants you to include at least four academic sources. Ideally, you can use this to lead in to your hypotheses.

10. Hypotheses ____________________ Explain both (1) how and (2) why you expect your hypotheses to be related to your dependent variable. Unlike in previous assignments, in more polished writing there’s no need to specify null hypotheses. Try to connect to lit review.

11. Data and Methodology ______________________________________ Identify and discuss the data set you are using for your research. Explain in detail how your variables are measured, and any transformations performed on the original data source (i.e. recodes). Identify and discuss the method used and why it’s appropriate.

12. Presentation of Results ______________________________________ Identify the key findings of your analysis. Introduce results sequentially, from more simple to more sophisticated techniques. Remember to discuss both the substantive and statistical significance of your findings.

13. Conclusions _____________________ Discuss your hypotheses and reconsider your original ideas in light of your findings. Overall, what have we learned? Discuss any extensions you can suggest or implications for future political science research?

14. Finally, don’t forget to include a ‘References’ section at the end!

15. Research Questions Final Notes

16. Please be sure to pick up a copy of the handout.

17. More _________ Prof. Fletcher occasionally teaches a more advanced course Sociology and Economics York’s ISR (cheap) Michigan’s ICSPR (expensive)

18. Student AnthonyTeacher Anthony Facebook

19. Working on Your Report _________________ Please use the rest of the time to work on your paper. A good place to start is by beginning research for your literature review to learn what other researchers have found or to begin reading the paper assigned for the next tutorial to get a sense of the way that research papers are presented?

20. Research Questions Thanks for a great semester!