Research Seminar

2019/2020

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

4

Кредиты

Авторы программы

Григорьев Иван Сергеевич

Декальчук Анна Андреевна

Кто читает:

Департамент политологии и международных отношений

Статус:

Курс обязательный

Когда читается:

1-й курс, 2-4 модуль

Преподаватели

Декальчук Анна Андреевна

Руда Мена Дариус

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This class is a freshmen introduction into the craft of academic research. The class is divided into two substantive blocks. The first one attempts to engage students into a broad discussion of what the research is and how working with academic literature contributes to producing original research. The second block covers some major elements of research design, thus, providing students with the general understanding of how the research process looks like and where it is expected to lead.

Learning Objectives

• The main goal of this course is to introduce students to the basic steps of conducting an academic research
• As a subgoal the course aims at developing the skill of writing a literature review as one of the steps of any research process

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Student is able to identify scientific subject
• Student is able to solve professional problems based on synthesis and analysis
• Student is capable of reporting the results of the information retrieval and analysis, academic or applied research she/he has conducted: - in various genres (including reviews, policy papers, reports and publications pertaining to sociopolitical subject matter); - and depending on the target audience
• Student is able to work with information: find, define and use the information from different sources which required for solving of research and professional problems (including the system approach)
• Student is capable of retrieving, collecting, processing and analyzing information relevant for achieving goals in the professional field
• Student is able to outline the need for resources and plan its using for solving professional problems
• Student is capable of posing research problems relevant to the study of political phenomena and political processes; setting particular research tasks; and putting together a research design

Course Contents

• What is research: Introduction
• What is research: Research as a process
• What is research: Reading a research paper
• What is a literature review?
• What is a literature review: Reading a literature review
• What is plagiarism?
• Working in a library: what for and how?
• Citation manager: Using the Zotero Software
• Citation manager: Zotero workshop
• Topics and research questions
• Research questions and research problems
• Is there a place for a literature review?
• Theories and hypotheses
• Operationalization
• Designing your research: how the number of cases affects the design of your paper?

Assessment Elements

• In-class participation
• Written Assignment: Team Literature Review
• Exam test
  This is a written test scheduled for June 17th, Wednesday. There are two parts in the test: multiple choice quiz (part 1) & open questions (part 2). There are 20 questions in part 1 (multiple choice quiz; four possible answers – always only one correct answer among the four options); there are 10 open questions in part 2 (each question requires a 4-6 sentences answer). The exam lasts for 1 hour 20 min (80 min in total). The exam is conducted on the Moodle (https://et.hse.ru), proctoring on the Examus platform (https://hse.student.examus.net). The student's computer must meet the following requirements: https://elearning.hse.ru/data/2020/05/07/1544135594/Технические%20требования%20к%20ПК%20студента.pdf). There are no breaks. This is not an open-book exam; this means no materials can be used during the exam.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (4 module)
  0.35 * Exam test + 0.25 * In-class participation + 0.4 * Written Assignment: Team Literature Review

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Ralph Berry. The Research Project. How to Write It (5th ed.). London: Routledge, 2004

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Wayne C. Booth et al. The Craft of Research (4th ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2016.