The purpose of the term paper is to evaluate your competence in applying theoretical constructs and approaches on negotiation to the analysis of real-world historical or business cases of negotiations across national boundaries. This document provides instructions on writing a successful term paper. (Your paper should be approximately 1,500 words, excluding your references).
General Structure of the Paper
The paper is based on the application of a specific theoretical topics covered in the class discussions and lectures to either historical or business case. The case may be selected from those cases that we cover in class, or from other cases from the press or other souces. A good structure of the paper is the following
Introduction. The introduction lays out the specific research questions, the context of the paper (e.g., prenegotiation, psychological approaches, mediation, etc.), and provides a brief overview of the paper. In general, it is a good idea to write the introduction at the end after you have finished the research and spelled out your findings and conclusions. This way, if the paper has a central theme, it is useful to point it out at the outset.
Theory. This section lays out the theoretical framework that guides the case study. It discusses the relevant theoretical concepts and derives from it a set of hypotheses that are researched in the next sections.
Narrative of the Historical or Business case(s). Brief description of the facts and the historical or business (such as a merger or acquisition) processes you are studying. Be sure to discuss the actors, the problems, and the facts that are relevant to your analysis, and not provide unnecessary information.
Analysis. This section applies the concepts, approaches, ideas, and methods entailed in the theory you are using on the historical or business case(s). Be sure to relate the analysis of the case to specific hypotheses that you had specified in the theory section. The key question here is whether and how do the facts of the case either support or contradict the hypotheses. Also, it is useful to say something about if and how the theory helps explain seemingly inexplicable aspects of the historical or business case.
Conclusion. This section summarizes your findings and whatever other conclusions you derived from the research. You can also point out shortcomings or advantages in the theory on the basis of your study of the case. If there are policy implications, please mention them.
2.Technical Matters
â¢Bibliography and references. Be sure to use sources and cite them correctly. Use the APA style or the APSA style for citations and references. Look up any of the APSA Term Paper 2
journals (American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, etc.) for examples.
â¢Style. Spend some time thinking on how to organize your paper, how to present your arguments, how to support them, and how to conclude. A well written paper makes for a better grade than a poorly written one.
â¢Questions. I encourage creativity in writing, but to be on the safe side, check with me any ideas that you think are not really of a standard form that you want to put in your paper.
