Political Science 467
Political Manipulation of the News
Dr. Sellers
February 6, 2008

Paper #2

In paper #1, you explored the recent history of your topic, describing how the competing sides attempted to frame discussion for political advantage.  This paper asks you to begin explaining how you will use this topic for your research project, building what others have found in previous research.  This paper is a draft of the literature review section of your final research paper due at the end of the semester.

Ideally, your review of the literature will lead to a conclusion in which you outline one or more hypotheses that you can investigate in your own research.  These hypotheses can emerge from the "unanswered questions" in previous research.  Or, you can investigate previous established patterns of politician-journalist interaction in a new context, i.e., the particular substantive issue that you explored in Paper #1.   

In this paper you should review previous research on your research topic.  This research may be academic (by political scientists) or non-academic (by journalists or other non-academics).  For academic research, you can use JSTOR, an electronic archive of articles published in political science and other journals.  You can also review recent papers presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association .  For non-academic research, you can turn to several different research organizations based in Washington and elsewhere.  Additional citations are also available in the assigned reading in this course.  Review the table of contents of the assigned books, and look for chapter titles related to your research project.  The citations in these chapters can provide a paper trail for you to follow.  For this paper you should find at least 8 citations for your topic; your final research paper will hopefully have more.

You may not find previous studies exactly on your particular issue or topic.  In your searches for relevant literature, try to think your project more broadly, in terms of how politicians and journalists might interact on any issue or topic.  You can use your assigned topic as a specific case to illustrate these broader dynamics.  When reviewing the previous research, do not simply list the previous studies and their findings.  Instead, use them more constructively, outlining unanswered questions in this research that you can address in your own project.  You can also describe techniques from the previous research that will improve your own project. 

Finally, please turn in a hard copy of your paper in class.  In addition, email me an electronic version of your citations.  I will combine all the citations into a single list and distribute that list to the class.  This list may help with writing your final paper.  Please email the cites before the start of class on the day that Paper #2 is due.

You should type your paper, using 1-inch margins and a font no smaller than 10 point. The paper can be either single- or double-spaced. The maximum length is one page of text; when grading, I will not read any material past this one page (except citation information in a bibliography). The paper should contain appropriate in-text citations for any sources used. The detailed information for each citation should then appear in a bibliography on a separate page. The paper should contain a blank cover page containing the student's name, the class, the number of the paper, and the Honor Code pledge. The paper is due at the start of class on Monday, February 13.  Papers turned in after the middle of class will be considered late. Paper grades are lowered by ten points (out of 100 total points) for each 24-hour period (after the start of class) that they are late.  Finally, the Honor Code binds all answers; make sure that you pledge your work.