Guidelines for Paper 1 on Eva Bellin

Include your Active Reading Worksheet and bring hard copies of both to class on March 5. The active
reading worksheet can be hand written as before, but the paper must be typed, double spaced, about 1,5
pages.

After taking notes on the reading in your Active Reading Worksheet IN YOUR OWN WORDS and
articulating your initial thoughts on the reading in the “Reflection” and “Critique” sections, you will put
that material together in the format of a short paper. Here’s what to do in this 1,5 page, double spaced
paper:

Question and Argument: start by briefly and clearly stating the core question the author is asking (one
sentence probably sufficient, but can be two or three if needed) and explaining why that question is
important or interesting (again, one-two sentences). This gives you a short introductory paragraph.

Then state the argument IN YOUR OWN WORDS and explain it briefly. Most research articles make causal
arguments where they explain a certain outcome by one or more variables/processes. Identify, state,
and explain that argument.

Identify the contribution: how does the author position themselves vis-à-vis other scholars who have
written on the subject? What view(s) do they see themselves as challenging or revising? To what
scholarly debate are they contributing? Here, you don’t need to go beyond the reading to explore what
others have said. Instead, understand how they position themselves vis-à-vis other ideas in their own
article and briefly explain that to your reader. This section should be brief! A paragraph or less.

Evidence: what empirical pattern or evidence does the author base their argument(s) on? How do they
show their claim through evidence? This can be a few sentences as second part of previous paragraph or
a short paragraph of its own.

Reflection: What questions does the reading raise for you? This is an open-ended, “what is your
reaction/take away” question. Simply stating the author’s argument (“It showed me that …[author’s
argument]) is not enough. For example, the argument made may lead to further questions that you will
raise or propose a new angle on patterns you observe in other relevant cases/periods.

Critique: Here, take the argument on its own terms (i.e., based on what the author’s question is, not
based on some other questions you are interested) and evaluate that argument. How convincing is it,
does the author use sloppy concepts that can mean anything and everything, is the evidence
appropriate and convincing, are there some glaring issues (processes, cases…) that the author is
overlooking, arguments that are contradictory or incoherent, etc.. As in the Worksheet, don’t comment
on style (boring, meandering, unclear…), but on the substance of arguments. You need to go beyond
merely stating a critique and explain and justify it. Devote one fat paragraph to this.

You will be evaluated on how well you have understood the text, how well you are able to analyze it, and
how well you write. A reference list is not required for this assignment, but do cite your sources in the
text, with Chicago author-date system (E.g., Belge 2016, 37), and include page numbers when you’re
drawing from a specific part of the text. ALWAYS WRITE IN YOUR OWN WORDS and do not just switch
around the words of the author while following their sentence structure.