submit a paper of between 1,500 and 2,000 words (not including the header, title, and footnotes/bibliography). This final paper should summarize the argument of your chosen article/book in about 250 words. The rest of the paper should focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the argument as well as recommendations for future research.You should spend roughly 500words on the strengths, 750words on the weaknesses, and 250 words on the recommendations for future research. In discussing the article/book’s strengths, you might discuss the novelty or rigor of its data or methods, its assessment of competing hypotheses, or any ways in which it usefully speaks to ongoing political or theoretical debates. In discussing the weaknesses, you might mention, e.g., any limitations in the methods or data, any alternative explanations it fails to adequately anticipate and rebut, or any unconvincing assumptions it makes. In providing recommendations for future research on the topic of your chosen article/book, you might focus on, e.g.,additional data that could be gathered, plausible alternative hypotheses that could be tested, or different approaches that could be taken to the same basic question and data. For more ideas on how you might engage the work, see the section, “A Checklist for Commenting on Papers” in this graduate-level syllabus: http://www.columbia.edu/~mh2245/2010_Syllabus.pdf.
