Writing in Political Science

Writings in political science examine the political landscape, both how it should be and how it actually is. Writing that you may be required to do spans from historical analysis reaching back to past centuries, to modern day examinations of functional or dysfunctional institutions, to the implications that historical and current patterns and trends may have for future political policies. Writing in this discipline will require students to think critically, draw connections, and evaluate past and current political changes.

These tips will focus most heavily on the social science subfields (American politics systems, International relations, and Comparative politics). Political theory writing, because it concerns itself with normative studies and theory, tends to be structured more like a philosophy paper than a social science paper, although these tips can still be of use when crafting some papers for this sub-field.