Graduate

This group brings together students and faculty working at the intersection of politics and identity. Our goal is to foster community among anyone studying the role of social identities in politics and society, regardless of subfield, methods involved, and identities of interest. Anyone is welcome. Participants can present research, give and receive feedback, share research best practices, and work through challenges with fellow scholars in a collegial and welcoming environment. Discussion can center around research at any stage, from fully-drafted working papers, to proposed research designs (e.g., an experiment before it is run), to early-stage ideas and brainstorming. We will meet weekly for an hour for most of the semester. Food and drinks will be served.

Tuesdays 12:30-1:30
Harris Room, Philosophy Hall
Sept 10-Nov 19

*Course will be renumbered to PS290IP as of Spring 2025.

PS 375 is a two-credit course designed for first-time Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs).  The course seeks to introduce students to practical teaching methods and to foster discussion about effective pedagogy. It also focuses on professional development, in particular on developing skills that are closely related to effective teaching such as presentation skills. The course features student presentations on selected pedagogical topics, panels on key issues related to teaching and to professional development, and discussion of weekly assignments in relation to challenges encountered by GSIs in the course of their teaching.

The practice of carrying out research is an acquired skill. Everyone has to learn it, although traditionally most of it is self-taught. This course is designed to provide students with guidance, structure, and feedback that will help them to frame and execute well-specified and coherent research projects on American political behavior. The seminar also offers students an opportunity to work through their ideas and test their arguments in an informal, small, and collegial setting. Students will present their own research, comment on the research of their peers, and learn about different types of feedback mainly through example.

The workshop provides a forum for students to improve how they think about conducting research projects, to workshop early work, conference papers, and ideas for MA or PhD proposals, and, finally, to develop a community in which they can work through specific practices for research and problems that arise in conducting their projects. These main aims of the workshop are met through a forum in which faculty and graduate students at various career stages work closely together. It is an applied workshop with an emphasis on learning by doing and on learning how to be a more constructive colleague. Rather than segregate PhD students by cohort, the workshop is designed to bring cohorts together in order to facilitate the student-to-student transfer of skills and knowledge.

The main aims of this workshop are met through a forum in which faculty and graduate students at various career stages work closely together. It is an applied workshop with an emphasis on learning by doing and on learning how to be a more constructive colleague. Rather than segregate PhD students by cohort, the workshop is designed to bring cohorts together in order to facilitate the student-to-student transfer of skills and knowledge.

The goal of this yearlong course is to provide a forum in which students propose, develop, and complete a research project that produces a journal-length paper of publishable quality. This paper will typically serve as students' second-year M.A. essay, and the course is intended as a complement to that requirement. This course is primarily oriented towards second-year Ph.D. students in any subfield (students in other years may participate with the professors’ consent). The course meets regularly during parts of the fall semester and irregularly during the spring semester. In the first few weeks of the course, we discuss the process of moving from research topic to research question; and we survey published articles by recent Ph.D. students/assistant professors, focusing on the structure and nature of the writing and presentation as well the quality of the argument and evidence. We then move to students’ research proposals for the rest of the fall semester. During the spring semester, students meet individually with the course instructors and their advisors, develop and revise drafts of their papers, and present their work at a department “APSA-style” conference. In order to complete the course and receive credit, students must complete the requirements for both semesters.

A comprehensive review of the major topics in political behavior through intensive examination of the theories, findings, and proceedings of the most significant studies in the field.

This course is a graduate field seminar in International Politics.  We will survey and assess foundational theoretical perspectives, issues, and research programs in IR, placing each in historical perspective.  What kinds of questions does modern IR theory ask (and not ask) and about what kinds of problems?  What methods are used to seek answers?  What is the value of the answers?  Who uses them and for what?  Where is this field headed and where do we think it should be headed?  Through intensive reading and discussion as well as some small writing assignments, we will build a foundation for more advanced courses in International Relations as well as research agendas that can elaborate, refine, and extend contemporary debates in academic IR.  

Please note that this description is from Spring 2014.

This course emphasizes the application of the formal analytic tools to current or significant research in political science.