POLI/INTL 361: Issues in World Politics

Spring 2023

 

Analytical Book Review/Research Paper

 

This is big and has very important information in it.  For that reason, I’ve created a Table of Contents (linked to sections below) for you to use to find information you’re looking for.  You should read this entire assignment, however.  I guarantee you will wind up with a better grade if you do.

 

The Assignment

Requirements

Optional Rough Drafts

Sources

Citations and Bibliography

Citing Specific Information

Page Numbers

Numbering Endnotes or Footnotes

Introductory Paragraph

Quotes

Plagiarism

Artificial Intelligence Programs

Nitpicks and Style Issue (or Helpful hints)

Late Papers

The Assignment

Your paper this semester is a bit of a hybrid assignment – part analytical book review and part research paper.  The basics are simple.  Read the following book:

Thomas Rid. Cyber War Will Not Take Place (Oxford University Press, 2017). Available online through VCU Libraries. ISBN: 978-0190660710  

 

Rid’s argument is in his title. While many people think the development of cyber weapons – computer-based forms of attack – will fundamentally change the nature of international conflict as much as nuclear weapons had, Rid disagrees.  Your assignment is simple: what do you think?  Is Rid right or wrong?

 

You’ll make your argument by researching the issue (using a minimum of ten sources).  That makes this assignment both an analytical book review and a research paper. The analytical part is your assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Rid’s argument. Your analysis will be based on the research you’ve done on the subject. In short, there are different arguments relating to the impact of cyber weapons and the possibility of cyber war.  You will use those other arguments to shape your own and analyze Rid’s arguments, citing information and other scholars’ arguments with absolutely perfect citation formats.

 

The structure of a Political Science paper is pretty standard.  Your paper will look something like this. I’ve given page number guidelines here, but these are not requirements.  You can write more if you like. There is no page limit here. If you’re having a good time and cranking out page after page, enjoy yourself.  I’ll enjoy reading it.

·         Introduction: Summarize your paper in about a paragraph to a page. Very important (see below on how to write a good Political Science introductory paragraph)

·         Rid’s argument: Summarize his ideas in about 2-3 pages.

·         Why he’s right/Why he’s wrong: Here you’re making your argument. Choose 2-3 issues to focus on. Explain how these issues/arguments support of challenge Rid’s conclusions.  5-6 pages. 

·         Conclusion: re-summarize your argument and state the implications of it.  If Rid is right, then we don’t have to worry as much or maybe we have to worry about it in a different way.  If Rid is wrong, then are we taking cyber war as seriously as we need to?  1-2 pages.

 

Your research task is to find good sources (see below) that examine cyber war and cyber-attacks.  This is where you’ll find out what all the arguments are.  Scholars and policy makers are debating these issues. Your research will allow you to understand that debate, explain it to me, and make a judgment based on your new expertise. In short, the assignment isn’t for you to just logic this out by yourself.   There are ongoing debates. Your research is designed for you to show me that you understand what that debate is about. Your citations of other people’s ideas and arguments allow anyone who reads your paper to find out more about all the ideas in your paper. I do want your ideas, but I want to see everyone else’s ideas too. Those are the ones you’ll find in your research and the ones you will cite in your paper.

 

 

Requirements

 

Optional Rough Drafts

            Up until the rough draft deadline indicated on the syllabus, I will look at anything you’d like me to look at regarding the paper.  Anything from outlines, bibliographic sources, or even completed drafts can be turned in for comment up until that date.  I will go over what you have, mark it up, and if you like give you a hypothetical grade.  You can then make revisions based on my comments.

 

Sources

            Ask me!  If you have a question on where to find sources or if you need a specific source and you can’t find it, ask me.  This is what I do for a living.  I have everything!

 

Library: The library is typically the best place to do research, but given the virus, your access to it may be limited.  This paper is designed so you can do all your research online. 

 

Peer Review Articles from Scholarly Journals: These are the best sources. They are written by scholars like myself and your other POLI professors, then reviewed by other POLI professors before they are accepted for publication (a horrible process similar to an intellectual colonoscopy).  But in spite of that, the result is an article that will be very helpful to you.  Most of the time they take a broad look at the issues which is helpful to you because it gives you the pros and cons for any issue the article examines. These articles also contain bibliographies and citations which you can use to find other articles on the subject.

 

How do you know what the scholarly articles are? Use scholar.google.com.  That is a specific search engine that only gets scholarly work. It eliminates websites and newspaper articles and magazines.  Remember that the web is very good for several things: information on what happened yesterday; instant opinion on what happened yesterday; instant disinformation (propaganda and outright lies about what happened yesterday); and databases on obscure things. How else would I know that in 1943 Washington quarterback Sammy Baugh led the NFL in touchdown passes, interceptions, and punting.  On November 14, against the Lions, he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four passes.  I know this from ProFootballreference.com. That’s fun. That’s the Internet. But scholarly research should start with scholar.google.com.

    1. How do you find a good journal at the VCU Library: The VCU library web site is a good place to start if you want to find specific journals. You might go to the VCU Library website. Near the top of the page, you’ll see a link for “Academics.” That will take you to a drop-down menu. Click on “Libraries.” Then you’ll see a search box. Don’t search yet. Below that click on “journal finder” and you’ll get another search box.  Type in “cyberwar” or “cyberweapons” or maybe “cyber-weapons” or something with “cyber” in it.  You’ll get a list of the journals on the subject you want.
    2. How do you find a good article at the VCU Library: This is similar to what I described above, but a more specific search. You might go to the VCU Library website. Near the top of the page, you’ll see a link for “Academics.” That will take you to a drop-down menu. Click on “Libraries.” Then you’ll see a search box. Don’t search yet. Below that click on “Advanced.”  You’ll get a set of search boxes where you can specify what you’re looking for. I can set the search for subject in one field and type in “cyberwar” or another “cyber-something” search term. Then hit search.  If it gives you too many listings, narrow it down. On the left you’ll see “filter options.”  Click on that, and you’ll get several ways to limit the search: just “peer-reviewed articles” is one of the options.
    3. Keywords: For any kind of search keywords are important. You may have to do a few searches before you find the right keywords that get you all the good sources. Always try a few combinations to see what you get.  You might try:

·         “cyberwar”

·         “cyber-weapons”

·         “cyber-strategy”

·         “cyber-doctrine”

·         “cyber-attack”

·         “cyber-deterrence”

·         Hint: some of these might be one word in some sources (cyberdeterrence) or even non-hyphenated (cyber deterrence)

Then you might learn a bit about cyber war weapons while you do the search itself.  You’d learn that one of the key events was a US-Israeli cyber-attack on Iran – Stuxnet.  You might add “Stuxnet” to the keywords.

 

Many journals are available through the VCU system and you can search through the VCU library, but you may also try Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/).  Use this instead of a regular search on any search engine. It will get you scholarly work, think tanks reports and journals rather than the Wikipedia entry. Again, for keywords to search, use things like “cyberwar,” or “cyberweapons” or “cyber-weapons,” or cyber-attacks.” Or whatever you find that works best.

 

 

Some of the best journals on national security affairs include the following (in no particular order).  The VCU libraries have almost all of these available online).  They are scholarly refereed journals that are excellent sources of information.  Here's a list of some of the best journals on international security and foreign policy. There are more than these, but these are likely to have the largest number of relevant articles.  Use scholar.google.com to find these and others. You can search by using a keyword and a journal name as the search terms.

·         Foreign Affairs (policy-oriented)

·         Foreign Policy (policy-oriented)

·         Foreign Policy Analysis (academic)

·         The National Interest (policy-oriented)

·         The Washington Quarterly (policy-oriented)

·         Survival (policy-oriented)

·         Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (policy-oriented)

·         The American Interest (policy-oriented)

·         Orbis (half policy; half academic)

·         Journal of Strategic Studies (half academic; half policy)

·         International Security (academic)

·         Security Studies (academic)

·         International Affairs (London-based academic)

·         World Politics (academic)

·         Journal of Conflict Resolution (academic)

·         Armed Forces and Society (academic on civil-military relations)

·         Journal of National Security Law and Policy (legal)

·         National Security Law Journal (legal)

·         Harvard Law School National Security Journal (legal)

·         International Organization (academic)

·         Texas National Security Review (policy)

·         Arms Control Today (arms proliferation and nuclear weapons)

·         Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (same as Arms Control Today)

·         Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (academic)

·         Journal of Democracy (academic, focused on human rights issues)

·         Millennium (academic)

·         Terrorism and Political Violence (academic)

·         Studies in Conflict and Terrorism (academic)

·         Perspective on Terrorism (academic)

·         The Long War Journal (online)

·         US Military Services Journals (academic)

o Parameters (journal of the US Army Strategic Studies Institute)

o Military Review (US Army Combined Arms Center)

o Joint Force Quarterly (journal of the Chairman of the JCS)

o Strategic Studies Quarterly (journal of the US Air Force Air University)

o The Naval War College Review (journal of the US Naval War College)

 

Think Tanks: These are research organizations that produce articles and books on foreign policy issues. They are excellent resources, but slightly different from academic sources. Generally, they are specifically focused on policy and intended to make recommendations for US policy (very good for this assignment).  They might also have explicit political orientations. Unlike most academic work, think tanks can lean liberal or conservative. That doesn’t mean their arguments should be discounted. It just means that you should be aware that something you’re reading comes from a specific point of view. There are more than these and I will add them as I find them.

 

The best are:

·         Brookings Institution: Non-profit organization that watches over world political trends and also includes many former government officials

·         Council on Foreign Relations: The most prestigious non-profit organization that examines foreign affairs and national security. It publishes the journal Foreign Affairs

·         Rand Corporation: US government funded think-tank, but its reports are designed to analyze government policy, not justify it. (In other words, it is honest analytically).

 

Excellent Ones are

·         International Crisis Group: https://www.crisisgroup.org: This is the best thing that exists on current international crises.

·         American Enterprise Institute (AEI): leans conservative, but is not too ideological

·         Arms Control Association (ACA): Non-profit organization that watches over world military trends; it has a decidedly pro-arms control attitude

·         Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (BSCIA): The Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University) does some of the best analyses of international affairs and national security and publishes the best journal on international affairs, International Security, which can be accessed online through the VCU online journal systems.

·         Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs: Focuses on Human Rights issues.

·         Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: One of the biggest and best. It is a non-profit organization, which studies international affairs and has a huge number of programs. It sponsors scholarly research on everything form non-proliferation to building civil society. See the list of "Programs" on the home page.

·         Carter Center: Former President Carter established this Center to examine international issues, host conferences, and mediate international conflicts.

·         Cato Institute: Right of center think tank that conducts research on foreign policy, national security, and economic policy, as well as domestic political issues.

·         Center for American Progress (think tank with links to the Democratic Party)

·         Center for National Policy (non-partisan center which does some national security work)

·         Center for Non-proliferation Studies (CNS) at the Monterrey Institute of International Studies, which is one of the best sources on information on the spread of weapons of mass destruction

·         Center for Strategic and International Affairs (CSIS): attached to Georgetown University. It produces reports on national security, and is filled with ex-government officials

·         Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Danger: A center-left organization that focuses on US and international nuclear weapons policy.

·         Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO): Columbia University’s compilation of papers, journals, web sites, and other resources on international affairs. It’s no a think tank itself, but collects information from think tanks, government, and other academic circles on international affairs and national security. You may need to use your VCU password and login to get into this system. It has a specific link to Working Papers from various think tanks and scholarly institutes.

·         Council for a Livable World: Center-left in its ideology and focuses on ways to reduce the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and reign in US defense expenditures and deployments.

·         Federation of American Scientists (FAS): Non-profit organization that watches over world military trends

·         Global Security.Org (excellent resources for international diplomatic, military, and political issues)

·         Heritage Foundation: Right of center think tank that conducts research on foreign policy, national security, and economic policy, as well as domestic political issues.

·         Hudson Institute: Center-right think tank that conducts research on foreign policy, national security, and economic policy, as well as domestic political issues.

·         Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA): Non-profit think tank that does a lot of work for the US government on national security issues. Much of its research is available online.

·         Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis (IDSA): A think tank that looks at many international security issues, particularly east and South Asia. It is an Indian institute based in New Delhi.

·         International Republican Institute (Republican Party-affiliated organization that analyzes world affairs and supports programs that help nations make the transition to democracy)

·         National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (Democratic Party-affiliated organization that analyzes world affairs and supports programs that help nations make the transition to democracy)

·         National Endowment for Democracy: A private, non-profit organization that is funded by the US Congress.  Its goal is to foster democracy around the world through programs and research

·         National Security Archive: This is a non-profit organization that gets the US government to declassify documents relating to US foreign affairs (through Freedom of Information Act requests) then makes those documents available to the public. Some are available on line. All are available at the Archive itself (In George Washington University’s library. You can contact the Archive and make an appointment to go there.) Some are also available to purchase in sets.

·         Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Non-profit organization that watches over world military trends

·         New America Foundation (centrist think tank that looks at domestic and international issues)

·         Nixon Center: Non-Profit organization that studies foreign and national security policy, leans toward republican ideas

·         Nuclear Threat Initiative (non-profit, non-partisan group that analyzes and lobbies on nuclear proliferation issues)

·         Project for a New American Century: New think tank that espouses and develops neoconservative views.

·         Project on Defense Alternatives (center-left)

·         Henry L. Stimson Center: Non-profit organization that watches over world political and military trends, in particular United Nations peace operations

·         Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI): Non-profit organization that watches over world military trends

·         Western States Legal Foundation: A pro-arms control group watching over US defense expenditures and deployments and their impact on the public among other things

·         Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars: Supports scholarly research on a number of international topics. In particular, its Cold War International History Project provides support for scholars using declassified documents to understand what was really going on in Washington and Moscow during the Cold War.

·         Union of Concerned Scientists: Center-left in its ideology and focuses on ways to reduce the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and reign in US defense expenditures and deployments.

·         United States Institute for Peace (USIP); Funded by the US Congress, it is a non-partisan organization that sponsors and published research concerning conflict prevention and conflict resolution

 

Citation Tracing: Don’t forget one of the best ways to find good sources. Say you found a great article on exactly the issue you’re researching.  That article will have footnotes, endnotes, parenthetical references, and a bibliography.  Find those articles and books.  Use them.  They are almost guaranteed to be useful because the author of the great article you just read must have found them useful.  Rid also has a bibliography and tons of endnotes. You will find lots of good sources there. Let’s say he makes an interesting point, and cites an article that made that point. Find the article and read it.

 

The Internet: You cannot do this type of research only from websites.  Do not expect to be able to sit in front of your computer without using scholar.google or the VCU library system and find all the information you need.  Remember that the primacy purpose of the Internet is advertising (even what passes for information is often really advertising its information). The web tells you that everything you need is on the web. That is not true.  It is especially not true when it comes to scholarship. 

 

A Warning about the Web: I don't think I need to tell you much about the web. In college I wrote papers on a manual typewriter and I took my SATs on stone tablets. But if you do have any questions about it let me know. An important note about Internet sites: what is crucial about any webpage is that you and I know what the source of the information is. All information on the web is not equal. Before you trust any information on the web you must know who runs the websites. Who is the source of the information? The US Nazi Party has many websites. Their information is probably not a source you want to use for research on Israeli foreign policy, for example.  If I’m researching Russian foreign policy, I need to know if the source is from the Russian government or a scholarly source. Their views might be very different. There is a ton of propaganda on the web. Many governments in the world are not Democratic. They don’t have freedom of the press, but they do have a huge presence on the Internet where they disseminate propaganda that tries to influence the world’s judgment of their actions.  China, Russia, or North Korea are good examples of nations that use propaganda on the internet as part of their “influence operations” that try to make their governments look warm and fuzzy while they imprison government critics.

 

Even in Democracies you need to be careful of the sources. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party both have their own web presence that is designed to make them look good and make their political opponents look bad.  Media often has a perspective as well (left, right, center, celebrity, sensationalist, scandal…whatever).  In short, always be mindful of where the information comes from.  The web is a smorgasbord of conspiracy theories. That’s one of the most difficult aspects of our information environment.  There are so many sources of information and many of them are just garbage. Remember that on the web you can find a lot of information on these topics, NONE OF THE FOLLOWING ARE TRUE!!!!!

·         How President George W. Bush launched the September 11 attacks so he could repeal the 2nd Amendment

·         How George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003 to steal all Iraq’s oil and prevent Saddam Hussein from disclosing that the Bush family had been controlling global oil prices for decades in league with the Saudi Arabian royal family

·         How Barack Obama was born in Kenya and sneaked into the US at an early age so he could become President; he was doing this under the orders of al-Qaeda

·         How the Affordable Care Act (that created near universal health care in the US) had a section allowing a small government committee to decide who would live or die when they reached old age (the “death panels”)

·         Again: NONE OF THESE ARE TRUE, but there are sadly way too many people who believe this stuff because it is on the Internet.

·         Oh, and there was an Italian website about fifteen years ago that linked me to the Kennedy assassination. I am not kidding. I had just turned two when Kennedy was killed. If I was involved in the plot, I don’t remember. 

 

How do you tell what is good and what is bad? That’s difficult, but here are some keys to it:

 

Remember there is a ton of disinformation and misinformation from conspiracy theory folks and foreign governments trying to influence US politics, and sadly by politicians and activists in the US who are working hard to spread propaganda.  If you’re not sure ask me or go to a fact checking site:

·                 Fact Check.Org From the Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania

·                 PolitiFact.com From several newspapers

·                 The Fact Checker From the Washington Post

·                 Snopes.com (fact checking and debunking urban legends and internet hoaxes that are often about politics)

 

Citations and Bibliography

Read this. Pay attention to it; Or face everlasting doom! Failure to pay attention to this will likely result in a grade of D.

The following is not just because I want to annoy you or because I like to have things done my way.  The following is because this is a class where you will do social science research and the rules of social science research are different from the rules of English composition or journalism.  Learning how to write for different audiences and in different styles is part of the university experience.

You must use an established format for citations and your bibliography.  You need to learn how to reference information properly, and how to write a bibliography with the correct and complete information before you leave VCU. This is easy to do, but more important than you think. Whether you go into academia or business you will be judged on the quality of your information, and that means people will want to know where you found your information. They will judge you at first, before they read your text, on your bibliography and citations. If you do it wrong while at VCU, you’ll get a deduction from your grade.  If you do this in graduate school or government or the business world, you will be asked to go home and not come back (as in “you’re fired”).

It does not matter to me what format you use, as long as you use an established standard format for the social sciences. You can use footnotes or endnotes or parenthetical references, but you must learn to do it correctly.  Here are resources that will teach you to do this:

·         You can use scholar.google.com another way.  If you found the book or article on this page, you’ll see that underneath the small paragraph on the source is a link for “cite”.  Click on that and it will you give several already formatted citations.  You can do that even if you didn’t originally find the source on scholar.google.com.  Just go to the page and search for it there, then click the “cite” link. The properly formatted citation can be copied and pasted directly into your bibliography. Remember, however, that these are bibliographic formats.  Footnotes and endnotes are slightly different and have different page number rules that are discussed below.  That is very important.

·         You can use one of the assigned books in the class as a template for citation style. The easiest thing to do here is follow the style Rid uses.

·         Chicago Manual of Style Guide: I just finished a book for U of Michigan Press, and it required me to use this style guide. It is excellent.

·         Easy Bib

·         Bibme

·         Purdue OWL (Online Writing Workshop)

·         Endnotes (and footnote style). This is an article that I wrote which has endnotes that you can use as a template.  It also includes a bibliography that you can use as a template.  Endnote and footnote citation style are the same. The only difference is where you place them in the text.  Microsoft word allows you to choose endnotes or footnotes and to switch one to the other if you like.  Ask me if you have questions on how to do this.

·         Parenthetical References This is a link to an article I wrote which can be used as a template for citing using parenthetical references. Note in the citations that the author’s name and publication date is within the parentheses (and page numbers if available). You may have to sign in to get the article.

 

Since I have instructed you to pay attention to notation and bibliographic style, and have provided you with a specific place to look for the proper styles, I will take points off of your paper if you do not do this in the correct manner. This is simple. If you do not do it correctly it means one or both of the following: 1) you are not taking the assignment seriously or are too lazy to do the paper correctly; and/or 2) you are doing the paper at the last minute. Both of these are good reasons why you will not get the grade you are able to earn.

 

Warning! What not to do.  I realize that in many cases instructors in ENGL 200 are telling you to include reference material in the text of the paper. However, this is exactly the wrong way to reference in social science.  What I mean is the following. 

 

Citing Information

In doing research there are three basic types of things you must cite: quotes, specific information, and other people’s ideas.  Other people’s ideas are covered above under plagiarism.  See the section on quotes, but that shouldn’t be a big issue here.  This is a small paper and you should avoid quotes.  When I say specific information, what I refer to is any information which is not general knowledge.  For example, you would not need to use a citation if you state that Henry Kissinger was Richard Nixon’s National Security Adviser in Nixon’s first term (general knowledge).  But you would have to cite the fact that Kissinger met with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on July 9, 1971 and any details of the meeting.

Page numbers

If you are referring to specific information that you found on a specific page in a source (if the source has page numbers, unlike some web sources), you must include the page number where you found the information.  Let’s say you found information in a book that is 450 pages long. Citing the book and not the page number is not very helpful for anyone who thought that the information was interesting and wanted to learn more about it.  You’re forcing that person to scan through 450 pages of text to find the info. Instead, cite the page number and then the reader can just turn to that page number.  This is the established method of citation. This is true even for parenthetical references.  If you are citing the main point of an article or book or something as background information, you don’t need the page number, but if it is specific material, it does need a page number.

When you reference specific things that Rid wrote in his book, cite the page number.

 

Numbering Endnotes or Footnotes

You may use parenthetical references.  You may use endnotes. You may use footnotes, but then the paper must be a bit longer since some of the page will be taken up by footnotes. If you do use endnotes and footnotes, pay attention to this section. In the social sciences, footnotes and endnotes are numbered consecutively.  The first note is number 1; the second is number 2, etc.  Microsoft Word will do this for you.  You can use a source more than once in your paper.  There are specific citation formats for the first citation and for the second citation.  You can also put more than one source in a specific note.  See my article for examples for all of this: Endnotes /Footnotes.  A short reference follows:

·         Footnotes and endnotes are numbered consecutively (1, 2, 3, 4…) Please don’t use the natural sciences-style that merges the bibliography and citations.  This format lists the sources in a bibliography and numbers them, then cites information in the text by listing the number of the source used in the bibliography.  That format is for natural sciences, and I have never seen it used in any Political Science journal.  Since this is Political Science, you should learn how Political Science works.

 

On Writing a Good Introductory Paragraph

This is the key to writing a good paper so I am providing detailed instruction on this. Political Science has a specific style of writing, especially when it comes to introductory paragraphs.  It mirrors the style of government memoranda.  In short, the introductory paragraph should summarize the paper and that includes giving the reader a summary of your conclusions.  If you don’t do this, even a great paper, becomes a grade of B. 

A good introductory paragraph should include the following:

In other words, the introduction should provide your reader with a "road map" that explains exactly what you will say during the paper. This is not as difficult as it sounds. Basically, what you need to do is write the outline you have for your paper in sentences in the first few paragraphs of the paper. Your opening paragraph (or couple of opening paragraphs) should also give the reader some reason to be interested in your topic and in your argument. Tell the reader why this subject is important. Here is an example of an opening paragraph: (I’ll use a topic that won’t overlap with the paper.)

 

The Barack Obama administration’s decision to invade increase the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2009 can best be described as a collegial decision-making process, in which the president relied on all his advisors to give him options and evaluations of options.  However, the final decision was made by Obama himself after close consultation with National Security Adviser James Jones, the senior commanders in Afghanistan, and key all-purpose political advisers within the administration. (There's the topic and conclusion).  During the deliberations in 2009 and 2010 all senior advisers participated in the decision-making process.  Even Vice President Joe Biden, who disagreed with the general direction of the policy, was always allowed to air his views in the National Security Council.  While divisions did exist between the political aides and the Dept. of Defense, no views were left out of the debate (the specific argument and your evidence). This decision-making process will be illustrated by a brief examination of the situation as Obama entered office, an analysis of the intra-administration debate between January and December of 2009, and an examination of the final meetings where the decision was made.  The narrative of the decision will be followed by an analysis of the decision process in the context of the presidential management models. (your road map).

 

So, this paragraph tells me what you think, summarizes why you think that is true, and explains how you will illustrate your point.

 

You can use lots of topic headings and subheadings to correspond to the points on your "road map" -- they'll help you organize your thoughts, and they'll help your reader clearly identify where he is on the "road map." The above paper might have five main sections:

 

 

As you make the points that support your argument, you'll probably be aware of the places in which your argument is controversial or in which a reasonable person might disagree with you. Preempt those controversies in your text. Point out what those opposing arguments might be, and why you think your point of view is more accurate or reasonable.

 

Quotes

·         Try not to use quotes. I want your writing, not anyone else’s.  If there is a great quote from a direct participant in the event, a phrase, or word, that you think really adds to the paper then a quote may be appropriate here or there.  But if you have a paragraph-length quote in an eight-page paper, that would be bad.  I’ll be sad, and you’ll be even sadder when you see your grade.

·         In a paper of this size, you should not quote general information that you found in a scholarly article and don’t quote the conclusions of other scholars.  Paraphrase the information or the idea in your own words and then cite the source. The exact words of another scholar don’t really matter, so simply use your own works and cite the source where you found it. Ask me about this if you have a question.

·         Do not give me a sentence in your paper that quotes that information directly from the source.  For example, don’t include a sentence that says: “The United States included 20,000 troops.”  It is basic factual information and does not need to be quoted, but it does need to be cited.  Even if it is an analyst’s opinion, it does not need to be quoted.  Just paraphrase it in your words and cite the source. 

·         Reserve quotes for direct participants: candidates and their staffers.  The exact words matter in these cases.  In general, though, this paper is too short to have anything other than a word or phrase from a direct participant. 

·         Too many quotes mean that you’re just cutting and pasting, not writing.  A research paper is not a series of quotes rearranged the way you like.  It doesn’t teach you anything and your grade will suffer horribly, terribly, and painfully. 

·         So, for example, if noted terrorist scholar Reed Richards says in his book that “Al-Qaeda probably only consists of 10,000 people worldwide.”  Do not give me a sentence in your paper that reads: Reed Richards says that “Al-Qaeda probably only consists of 10,000 people worldwide.”  Give me something that says: “One scholar estimates that al-Qaeda only has 10,000 active members globally” or “Al-Qaeda only has 10,000 fighters worldwide.”  (Add the citation here which cites Richards’ book and the page number in it where the information is found).  Or if Ben Grimm concludes in his book that: “Al-Qaeda’s growth depends on economic reform in the Middle East.  Elimination of poverty is not the biggest problem. Rather it is the ability of the middle class to gain social and economic mobility.”  Don’t quote that, but say in your own words: “Economic reforms designed to allow the middle class to grow and prosper will be the key to battling al-Qaeda in the future” (Add the citation here which cites Grimm’s book and the page number in it where the information is found). 

·         In a larger paper, but not in this one, sometimes quotes are useful.  A good quote is this: According to Osama bin-Laden, “for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples” (Add the citation here which cites Bin-Laden’s fatwa and the page number in it where the information is found or the internet URL).  This is an excerpt from the 1998 fatwa of OBL.  Bin-Laden is a participant, a historical figure.  His exact words are important.

·         In any case: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever cut and paste anything from a source into your document unless you place it in quotes and cite the source of the quote.  And generally, in a paper that is under a few dozen papers, there is never a need to quote anything that is not an official source.  Why quote anything unless the exact words are crucial.  So, quoting a President or Foreign Minister or a witness to an event is useful, but quoting a scholar or journalist is not. 

 

Plagiarism and Avoiding It (Or “How to Use Other People’s Ideas Legitimately”)

First, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever cut and paste anything from a source into your document unless you place it in quotes and cite the source of the quote. And generally, in a paper that is under a few dozen papers, there is never a need to quote anything that is not an official source.  Why quote anything unless the exact words are crucial.  So, quoting a President or Foreign Minister or a witness to an event is useful, but quoting a scholar or journalist is not.  For the purposes of this paper, there is no reason to quote anyone. The paper is too short for quotes.

This is really not a fine line.  Did you write the sentence or not? Did you come up with the idea or not?  When in doubt, it’s relatively simple: never include something in your paper that you did not write unless it is quotes and then it also must be cited.  Anything that is not your idea must be cited. Plagiarism is a violation of the VCU Honor Code and I will not hesitate to charge someone with a violation if I catch plagiarism.  If you have questions about what is plagiarism, ask me or see VCU’s Writing Integrity Workshop. 

But just because someone else has already written an idea that you agree with 100% doesn't mean you can't discuss it in your paper. Just point out whose idea it is; paraphrase it in your own words, cite the source of the idea, and expand upon it. Generally, that is how Political Science works. 90% of all Political Science articles and books do the following (I give you another example that is not topically relevant to the class):

 

There are various explanations for the Clinton administration’s decision to grant China permanent most favored nation trading status. First, the Clinton administration is accused of hypocrisy, campaigning on a human rights platform only to abandon it once in power and satisfying the business community revealed itself as the real priority (Barton 1994, 1-34). Second, China experts argue that Clinton learned during his first year of office that sanctions on China would accomplish very little and only slow and steady engagement would ultimately improve China’s human rights situation over the long term (Rogers 1997, 17-29). A third argument focuses on the internal bargaining within the administration and the ability of President Clinton’s economic advisers to best a human-rights first collation of advisers from the State Department and NSC staff (Romanoff 2000, 307-332). Each of these arguments has merit. A combination of the second and third arguments that emphasizes Bill Clinton’s learning process holds the most explanatory power.

 

The article would then outline the theories of Barton, Rogers, and Romanoff, analyze each one, and then develop the fourth theory. There is no problem as long as Barton, Rogers, and Romanoff get credited with developing their theories, and the fourth theory is yours. If the fourth theory belongs to a fourth author (Banner? Stark? Hill?), the author should be credited and your article will show why his theory is superior to the other three.  The point here is that you may find sources which have different opinions on an issue. 

 

If paraphrasing an idea: make sure to change the verb you use so it is different from the verb used in the source.  Make sure you change everything but the proper nouns. So, let’s say, you’ve read this in your source: “The President phoned the Prime Minister immediately after he received the news.”  That may be the point you want to make in your paper, but you shouldn’t quote that and can’t copy it (or you’d be plagiarizing).  The only words you really can use here would be “President” and “Prime Minister.”  These are the proper nouns. So, put it into your own words.  How about: “Once the President had been informed, he contacted the Prime Minister.” And then cite the source of the information.  That would not be a quote problem or a suspicion of plagiarism

And never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever cut and paste anything from a source into your document unless you place it in quotes and cite the source of the quote.  (He said it again! And in italics! Must mean something!)

Artificial Intelligence Programs

            You’ve heard all the buzz and you might have used these programs already for different things. New technology is fun, and it can be used as an excellent tool in lots of situations.  But in a class like this, the rules of plagiarism haven’t changed just because new technology has arrived: If you didn’t write it and you say that you did write it, that is plagiarism, a violation of the VCU Honor Code. Then you fail the assignment, maybe the class, and there is an Honor Code violation on your record. Copying something from an article online or buying a paper that someone else wrote is that same as having a computer program write your paper. You didn’t write it. So don’t do it. Here’s why you shouldn’t.

1.      If you didn’t write it, you don’t learn anything (and that’s why you’re here);

2.      You’ll likely get caught. The companies that make the AI also make free AI-detection programs.  See the plagiarism section above.

3.      AI programs use the entire internet to find information and they are not very good at sorting good information from bad information. Even worse, AI programs are notorious for picking up disinformation and putting it into their writing. Disinformation is information that is wrong, but is deliberately placed on the internet by governments or political parties trying to fool people with propaganda. There is an information war going on 24 hours a day. Some people refer to it as a “firehose of falsehood” used by people who want to rewrite the history of the world as a path to controlling what people think. In the fight against propaganda, we used to think that facts would always win out. It was a battle between people who wanted to hide the facts and people who wanted the facts to be revealed so everyone could make their own judgments.   But the internet has accelerated and expanded the other problem.  What if the actual facts are surrounded by lies masquerading as facts? How do you sort the facts from the lies?  That’s where we live right now.  It’s hard for the any human to sort this all out. It takes some effort and some factchecking. AI systems don’t do this well.   They can be fooled by the disinformation.  Your paper will suffer if your AI program gets fooled.

4.      AI systems have been known to make up sources and facts. They literally have made up fictitious journals and fictitious articles in those journals.   AI looks at the internet and makes composites of other things. So, they may take three or four journals that have similar titles and three or four articles on a similar subject and put them all together into a mish mash article from a journal written by a composite of names from the other articles.   The authors, articles, and journals do not exist.  But if you simply use the program to write your paper, you won’t know that. That’s easy for me to find.

5.      In short, it’s a bad idea for lots of reasons. And, of course, it’s cheating.

Nitpicks and Style Issues (Or Helpful Hints)

1.      Margins and Font Papers should be doubled-spaced with one-inch margins, and reasonable sized font (11 point). Shorter pages with wide margins and large print size font will be penalized.

2.      Subject and Verb Make sure you have a subject and verb in every sentence. (You would be surprised how many important journals and books allow non-sentence sentences). This is non-fiction, not fiction. So, you need to observe the basic rules of grammar. A long sentence is not necessarily a better sentence -- each sentence should express only one thought. Don't be afraid to break up a long sentence into two or three shorter ones. It will usually flow better that way.

3.      Official Titles Provide someone’s title in the text the first time you mention them if they are an elected official (Tim Kaine, Governor of Virginia) or an appointed official (Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Paul Nitze).  Thereafter, you can refer to them as Kaine or Nitze. So, for the first mention, you’d say: “National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger told his assistant to.…”  From that point on, you can simply say “Kissinger told his assistant to…” When you mention a senator or representative, say: Senator John Warner (R-VA) to introduce and after than you can just say Warner or Senator Warner.

4.      Keep a Copy Make a copy of the paper for yourself before you hand it in to me. There are two reasons for this. If you have a copy, you don't have to worry about me losing a copy. I have never lost anyone's paper, but just in case you should always make sure that you have a copy of your paper with you, in any class, not just this one.

5.      Back up WHEN YOU TYPE YOUR PAPER ON A COMPUTER MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP DISK WITH THE PAPER ON IT. AS YOU TYPE THE PAPER SAVE THE FILE TO THE BACKUP DISK EVERY TEN MINUTES OR SO. Don’t just leave it on your hard drive and hope it will be safe.  A super safe way to deal with this is to use your own, already built-in cloud system.  Email the drafts of your paper to yourself and then you know it will be safe on the VCU system and you can access it from anywhere on the planet. Also, remember that if you type on the university computers be careful. Putting your paper on the hard drive in the computer lab is risky – they sweep the hard drives of files at night. Keep a backup copy for yourself. I have several backup copies of anything I write. You don't ever want to lose work because you didn't back it up.

6.      No Wikipedia Do not use Wikipedia or any other web-based encyclopedia.  It is unreliable and you should have stopped using encyclopedias for research in elementary school.

7.      Reliability of the Internet Be careful about internet sources.  Make sure the source is reliable.  Remember that anyone can post anything on the internet.  There aren’t necessarily any editors or fact checkers.  For example, there is a website that links me to the Kennedy assassination; I was two years old. Ask me if you have questions about this (internet sources, not if I was involved in the Kennedy assassination; I wasn’t).

8.      The use of “I”: Try to avoid using “I” in non-fiction.  Instead of “I will discuss three problems…” say “This essay addresses three problems…”

9.      The use of a semicolon: Semicolons connect two complete sentences that are related to each other.  For example: “I went to the pizzeria to get a pie; it was closed so I had Chinese food instead.”  You could also write them as two separate sentences if you wanted.  The following would be an incorrect use of a semicolon: “I had six very tasty pizzas last week; except for that crappy one from the big chain store.”  That should be a comma, not a semicolon.  The test is this:  If the two sentences you are connecting with a semicolon could stand alone as complete sentences, then use a semicolon.  So, it becomes obvious: “Except for that crappy one from the big chain store” is not a sentence.

10.  The use of “however”: This word trips everyone up.  It’s a bit similar to semicolons.  “I went to the pizzeria; however, when I got there, it was closed.”  Notice the semicolon, not the comma.  That’s because “When I got there, it was closed” could be a complete sentence by itself.  Also, this sentence is like the use of a semicolon.  You are connecting two complete sentences.  In this case, you’re connecting two sentences that are related, but related in a very specific way.  The second sentence is adding the “however” to show a different expectation than the first sentence implies.  The first sentence implies you were going to eat pizza.  The second sentence says you didn’t.   On the other hand, look at this example: “I went to the pizzeria.  Upon arriving, however, I found out it was closed.”  The “however” is surrounded by commas.  That’s because “upon arriving” is not a sentence by itself.  Here’s another aspect of this.  “I went to the pizzeria, the one with the best pizza in the world.”  There is a comma there because “the one with the best pizza in the world” is not a sentence by itself. These are the non-fiction rules. In fiction, you can do anything you want.

11.  Some useful rules:

1.      Numbers under 100 should be written as out.  So, you would not have this sentence.  “President Bush met with 3 advisers.”  It would be “President Bush met with three advisers.”

2.      When you have an acronym, such as NSDD-75 or UN.  First write out the name in full: National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 75, or United Nations (UN). After that first use of the term, use the acronym.

Late Papers

Papers are due at the time and date indicated in the syllabus. This is a soft deadline this semester, so don’t worry about a few hours late.  But by the morning after the deadline, I will mark late papers down ONE GRADE for each day late. That means that an almost perfect paper -- one that I would give 98 points to -- becomes an 88 if one day late, 78 if two days late, etc., all the way down to 8 points if nine days late, and zero points if ten days late. 

            Talk to me if you are having some family or personal problems. If there is a serious need to get an extension on the paper, I will give you an extension.  I do realize that there are more important things in life than this class and this assignment.  So, if you run into a problem, talk to me. Computer problems do not count as a problem that warrants an extension.  If you are writing your paper at the last minute and you have a problem, the moral of the story is that you should not have been writing your paper at the last minute.  If you have a printer problem, that doesn’t have to be a problem.  Give me your disk and I will print up the paper, or come to my office hours and we'll print up the paper at my office.  If you have some kind of computer problem, and you are not writing your paper at the last minute, let me know.  Maybe I can help.