Professional Norms in Political Science

Catalog description

An introduction to professional norms, the fundamentals of good research, and the basic skills necessary for good teaching. PL SC 511 Professional Norms in Political Science (1.5) This course is the first of two courses in a required series on professional development in the graduate program in political science. The first course focuses specifically on fundamental knowledge and skills that will help graduate students throughout graduate school but also in their later careers as a scholar. The topics over the course of the semester fall into three mail themes: 1) understanding the norms and requirements of the profession; 2) the fundamentals of good research; and 3) an introduction to teaching. Professionalization topics include planning your graduate school years, putting together a curriculum vita, communicating with senior scholars, and writing the MA; teaching topics including planning a course and recitation sections, preparing lectures or discussion classes, as well as documenting your teaching; and the research fundamentals that we will discuss include defining problems, crafting arguments, outlining and revising manuscripts.