Research Essay
Students will be required to write a research essay of 2500 words (excluding reference list) on one of the following topics
- What is the principle cause of the current crisis in the World Trade Organisation? What does your diagnosis imply for how we understand the causes of economic cooperation?
All essays must include referencing and a bibliography. It does not matter what referencing style you choose, providing that it is an officially recognised style.
The research essay will be graded on: (i) your capacity to thoroughly research a topic (ii) your comprehension of material you have read and (iii) your capacity to develop a structured, reasoned and evidenced (‘triangulated’) argument in response to the selected question.
Please note that it is not acceptable for you to rely upon internet sources; you must engage with the academic literature (journal articles and books) on the topic. These can be accessed through the Library’s catalogue and journal databases. The Further Readings listed for each topic in the unit’s learning guide provide an excellent starting point for academic research. Wikipedia should NOT be used as a source for your essay as it is not refereed to academic standards and is therefore considered of questionable reliability. Wikipedia may be of use for raw research purposes, but any information obtained from Wikipedia should be treated cautiously and must be checked against acceptable and citable sources before being incorporated into your written work.
There are no prescribed limits on the number of references/citations/sources incorporated into your research essay. More important is the quality of the sources, their relevance to the essay’s topic, and how effectively they are used. As a general guide, it would be expected that a well written and presented research essay for would as a minimum, make use of several sources from the relevant topic required and further reading list/s as well as additional sources obtained through independent research that are not listed on the reading lists.
