INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FINAL ASSIGNMENT – RESEARCH ESSAY
PSCI 2602B (Winter 2020)
The third assignment is a research essay worth 35% of your final mark. Critical
points to note include:
Length 7-9 pages, 2000-2500 words
Due date 11.55 pm on April 7th
Last acceptable upload date 11.55 pm on April 14th
Late penalty 2% per day
Only the course director can grant extensions, which have to be supported by
appropriate documentation. All essays are to be uploaded to the cuLearn “drop-box”.
Your essay should be formatted as a Word document, with 12 point font and 1”
margins. Please note that you may only upload your document once, so make sure
you upload the final version only and hit the ‘submit’ button.
This assignment should take you approximately 30 hours to complete. Please explore
any one (1) of the following questions:
1. Choose any one of the following countries and assess how its place and/or role
in the global political economy has changed over the past four decades (since
1970): Canada; the United States; Great Britain; Japan; China; South Korea;
Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; India; Turkey or South Africa. You may focus on
any combination of internal and external factors, but a combination of both
must be examined. You may use any aspect of IPE to explore your chosen
country, but please make sure that you relate your case to the material and
themes covered during the course. Failure to do so will be penalized as
appropriate.
2. Choose any one of the following international institutions and assess how its
role in the global political economy has changed over the past four decades
(since 1970): the IMF; the World Bank; the GATT/WTO; the OECD; the
ILO; the BIS or UNCTAD. You may use any aspect of IPE to explore your
chosen institution, but please make sure that you relate your case to the
material and themes covered during the course. Failure to do so will be
penalized as appropriate.
3. Choose any one of the following issues and assess how its significance for the
global political economy has changed over the past five decades (since 1970):
imperialism; inequality; development; environment or liberalization. You may
use any aspect of IPE to explore your chosen issue, but please make sure that
you relate your case to the material and themes covered during the course.
Failure to do so will be penalized as appropriate.
Since this assignment is a research essay, the sources for the paper may include
internet sources but must include at least 4 refereed journal articles, books or book
chapters. You should include at least 8-10 sources in total.
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Successful research essays are produced in five stages:
 Planning the essay (think about the question; link it to your interests;
establish the essay’s priorities; consider the availability of information)
 Conducting the research (conducting a literature search; taking adequate
notes; using full bibliographic information; using at least 5 scholarly
sources – be careful of relying on the Internet, as you need to consult
scholarly material)
 Preparing your proposal (see Research essay proposal assignment)
 Writing the essay (write clearly; use proper sentences; develop an
argument; use evidence; adopt a proper citation format; consider criticisms
of your argument; AVOID PLAGIARISM)
 Reviewing/Revise your work (is it clear; does it flow; is it logical; check
spelling and grammar carefully)
Your essay should be organized as follows:
 Introduction: to explain why the question is important and to indicate the
argument (or hypothesis) you will be making; you should also briefly
outline how your essay is to be organized and your theoretical framework
 Main body: here you build your argument and deploy the evidence you
have accumulated; you should note at the appropriate place any relevant
literature (gleaned from the course outline, bibliography and your own
research), and acknowledge conflicting interpretations; your strongest
evidence usually comes last
 Conclusion: restate argument and show why your interpretation is
plausible and even better than most
After writing the essay, you should leave it for a day or two to regain your perspective
on the text, and then give it a final proof before handing it in. Ideally you will also
have another person proof it (in exchange for proofing their paper, of course), in order
to ensure as far as possible that your language is clear and your logic is flawless.
Your essay will be marked against how well you meet the following criteria, which
can range from unsatisfactory to excellent:
• clarity and sophistication of your argument
• organization and structure of the essay
• depth and range of your sources (if you do not use five sources as
outlined above you will be penalized 5% on the final mark)
• depth and range of how you use theoretical and empirical material
• proper use of citations
• adequacy of syntax, grammar and spelling
Your final mark is an amalgam of how well you meet all of these benchmarks,
although the first five criteria are the most important.