Writing a research paper in political science: a practical guide to inquiry, structure, and methods

So you have to write a research paper

Getting started: Finding a research question

Learning proper citation forms, finding the scholarly debate, and summarizing and classifying arguments: The annotated bibliography

Making sense of the scholarly answers to your research question: Writing the literature review

Effectively distilling your argument: The thesis, model, and hypothesis

Revising and editing your work: The research-writing-thinking spiral

Making your plan and protecting yourself from criticism: The research design

Evaluating the argument: The analysis and assessment section

Bringing the paper together in three essential ways: The conclusion, introduction, and title.