Writing in Political Science

This guide provides a brief introduction to writing in political science for prospective and current students. It includes:

• A statement about the fields of political science
• A statement of threshold concepts in political science
• A description of writing characteristics valued in political science
• Expectations for how writing happens in political science

Political science includes a number of subfields, including public administration, international relations, comparative politics, American politics, and political theory. These subfields differ in terms of both substance and analytical methods but are all rooted in the systematic study of institutionalized power and critical analysis of power dynamics. Regardless of major (i.e., political science, public administration, diplomacy and global politics), students in political science can expect to engage in disciplinary conversations about sources, manifestations, and implications of power and authority.

“Political science is the study of governments, public policies and political processes, systems, and political behavior.” - American Political Science Association

Political science (like all fields of study) is at once a body of knowledge, the development of that body of knowledge, and the practice of applying that knowledge to problems of the human experience. The fields of political science are built on certain core concepts (the building blocks of understanding). These include the concepts of authority, power, rationality, and the state, and are taught in the introductory sequence (e.g., American Political System, World Politics, Public Administration).

Fluency in core concepts is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for an education in political science. Training in political science—i.e., engaging and contributing to the body of knowledge and its practice—requires students to gain proficiency in its threshold concepts: the connective tissue of a field that, once understood, produces a shift in the learner’s depth of understanding of the phenomena of interest (Meyer & Land, 2003). Threshold concepts can only be understood through dedicated and repeated practice and create a fundamentally different view of the subject matter that is essential for masterful application.

While each subfield has its own set of threshold concepts, all political science students should expect to grapple with the following throughout their coursework:

• • Quantitative and qualitative evidence
  • Multiple levels of abstraction
  • Deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning
  • Quantitative (e.g., regression analysis), qualitative (e.g., content analysis), and computational (e.g., network analysis) methods

Where and how we teach this threshold concept: We teach this threshold concept through a scaffolded curriculum that leads students through critical reading, writing, speaking, and data analysis to produce an integrated understanding of collective action that acknowledges, reflects on, and critiques multiple positions, compositions, and dynamics of power.

Political scientists use behavioral, institutional, and cultural models to conduct critical analyses of power. We value systematic (rather than partisan) argumentation, and this value is reflected in what and how we write.

We tend to write in genres such as policy analyses, research articles, response memos, and monographs. We rarely write genres such as ethnography or laboratory reports. The writing genres of political science tend to require both substantive knowledge of a collective action problem and application of a rigorous design and analytic method. Students can expect to be exposed to these general forms, as well as more specific genres and expectations within their major (i.e., political science, public administration, diplomacy and global politics).

Professional writers in our field are understood to be credible when they situate their arguments within existing literature and provide evidence for their claims. We understand evidence to include administrative data, field research, case studies, and coded datasets. We generally do not expect or accept opinion, anecdote, or personal experience as evidence. Effective writing is grounded in methodical use of evidence, minimizes jargon, and advances a logically sound argument.

We tend to use APSA, APA, or Chicago citation styles in our formal writing. These citation practices reflect our values; as a field, we prioritize honoring scholarly lineages and contributions, while also positioning ourselves within a conversation with those scholars. Political scientists rarely quote directly or at length. Instead, we tend to paraphrase ideas and contributions with attributions to the original authors. We do this because we value synthesis and novel use of existing ideas as features of scholarship.