CULTURE, GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY- Syllabus Notes The course is divided into three units. The first unit explores the notions of identity and culture, the second unit explores the notions of capitalism and globalization, and the third unit explores the notions of civil society and alternative social movements. Arguments are not simply opinions. Arguments are made with reference to existing scholarly work using concepts and formulated in the context of theory (a theory framework) Any messages sent outside of the Moodle website and not of an urgent nature will not be answered in a timely fashion or may not be answered at all LITERATURE REVIEW A literature review is a careful (not random) survey of scholarly sources on your chosen topic, within a field of study, across disciplines, and is an integral part of a research project or theory paper. A literature review includes both synthesis (bringing together of several or many sources and their arguments) and analysis (a careful and methodic discussion of concepts and theory) and provides the reader with an overview of the scholarly work that has been done on a particular topic The literature review presents the way in which you intend to use the most current and relevant works on your topic in order to develop an overall argument on your final paper. You must show what has been written in a particular field, mine the arguments you are surveying looking for concepts and the theory they draw from, and show explicitly how your sources will contribute to building a coherent and progressive argument later on in your theory paper. Choose any of the weekly topics from the course outline. It is required that your topic for your literature review is the same topic on which you will write your theory paper. This is why you must think about this carefully as there will be no chance of changing topics after you’ve written your literature review. Identify the literature that you will review: five sources plus required readings for your chosen topic Familiarize yourself with online databases (go to York’s Library website and familiarize yourself with “eresources”), identifying relevant databases in your field of study. You can also search for literature sources using Google Scholar, Google Books and even Wikipedia. In some cases, you can also use Amazon.ca to help you find the most recent publications on your selected topic. You can start your search with the topic itself, placing the entire topic in quotation marks, and using Google Scholar It is a good idea, as part of your literature search, to also look for existing literature reviews that have already been written on this topic. Import your references directly from Google Scholar, Google Books or Amazon into your RefWorks account (if you have one) or into Zotero. You can also enter references manually into your preferred reference app. Overview the sources (articles, books, etc.): Skim the articles to get an idea of the general argument, concepts and theory of the sources (focus your reading here on the abstract elements, leave aside the facts and figures for now). Define key terms: look for core concepts and the different ways in which they are used by your sources (note these differences). These differences are very important and they will be central in your theory paper. Note key statistics (facts and figures) that you may want to use as examples to illustrate arguments in your review. But remember that these facts and figures should not be the central focus of your review or theory paper and should, in fact, be minimized. Note emphases, strengths & weaknesses in the original sources: Although your scholars should share assumptions/theory (A) and a similar view on the overall process (B), they nevertheless focus on different aspects of the topic (C) you’re studying and so each source that you read will have different emphases, strengths, and weaknesses. Therefore, it is important to use related or complementary sources that can strengthen each other’s arguments to help you build an overall view of what is being studied Identify the topic clearly, but avoid personal introductions based on personal opinion (e.g. I did not know anything about this topic until…; In High School they taught us that…; etc.) or global statements such as: Throughout human history; It is a well-known fact that…; Ever since my childhood; Every country; Society thinks…; The entire modern period; etc. Use grandiose statements only if your sources do and then quote them, contextualize them and reference them. Early in the review, indicate why the topic being reviewed is important. Otherwise we will not know why you chose a topic over others. You can draw the reason(s) from your sources. Indicate why certain studies are important and how they are related to your other sources in more than just being about the same topic otherwise we will not know why you selected them. If citing a classic or landmark study, identify it as such and briefly explain why it goes where you’re putting it. If a landmark or classic study was replicated by one of your sources, mention that and indicate the results of the replication, that is, how does your source continue or change the original landmark or classic study THEORY PAPER Theory papers are analytical, conceptual and theoretical analyses of existing arguments, relevant concepts and theoretical paradigms that frame discussions of your chosen topic. These are usually papers that present the point of view of your scholars rather than your own and contextualize these views with theoretical discussion rather than simply facts and figures. You are aiming at a presentation, a study, of the authors’ arguments, the core concepts they use, the theoretical interpretation they give to facts and figures as well as other arguments (the arguments of related or rival scholars). When discussing the theory of your sources, you are essentially discussing the “epistemology” (or methodology) and “ontology” (or philosophy) your sources use to construct their arguments. Note: I have borrowed and adapted these steps and suggestions from Anna Marie Smith, «Guidelines for Writing a Political Theory Essay», available here https://goo.gl/zMqW0e and Carl W. Roberts, «Tips on How to Write Theoretical Papers», available here https://goo.gl/ZsOZFZ). At issue here is that you convince us that your reading of each theorist (as evidenced in your application of their respective grammars) is defensible. What this means is that you must think of yourself as arguing (not merely repeating) each theorist’s position. Your goal should be to make the strongest possible case for his/her argument on the topic (C), on his/her terms, taking into account their view of the overall process (B) and from his/her point of view (A). This is how a scholar’s argument becomes your own DO argue for your own interpretation of the theorist’s ideas and provide specific page references to the theorist’s words. As said above, at issue here is that you convince us that your reading of each theorist is defensible. DO give page references for each of the theorists’ key arguments with the goal of demonstrating that you have interpreted the theorist correctly. Define your terms. More specifically, define the concepts As soon as you introduce a term into your paper, you should define it very clearly and use quotations and references to back it up and carefully note the passages from your sources that you are using to build your definitions your theorists should roughly share the same assumptions (A), understand the basic process similarly (B), even if they offer arrive at different conclusion on the topic or issue under discussion (C). Therefore, DO distinguish among the same theorists (or schools of theorists) on how specifically they address the topic or issue of your paper (C). These distinctions are crucial in your theory paper Speak of dead theorists in the past tense, and of living theorists in the present tense. The objective in your term paper is to draw key distinctions between theorists. If theorists belong to the same school of thought, you should, of course, establish their membership in this school by pointing out their common characteristics. Yet finding similarities should always be a MINOR aspect of your paper. In many of your other courses you have been “trained” to write syntheses of peoples’ ideas. In this course you should intentionally avoid such syntheses. Your objective is not to combine ideas into something “closer to the truth.” It is to expose differences between theorists in terms of how they see the issue or topic of your paper. Even theorists who share A and B can arrive at irreconcilable differences on C. Your closing paragraph(s) should list A and B, but should emphasize how the differences discussed in the body of your term paper (C), make for an overall argument or perspective on the topic (C) that you find in common among these differences, and use these distinctions to draw interesting contrasts among the related theorists you are analyzing. THEORY PAPER GRADING CRITERIA 1. General a) Same number of theorists as in your literature review who share theory/assumptions (A), see the social/international process in roughly similar ways (B), but with distinct theoretical positions on your topic (C). b) Concise syntheses/analysis of each theorist being analyzed. c) At least 3 pivotal concepts are used to develop distinct arguments from each of the theorists’ ideas. d) Conclusion in which theorists’ contributions to your overall argument on the topic (C) are highlighted and foregrounded. e) Bibliography properly formatted according one consistent bibliographical style (MLA, APA or Chicago). 2. Content a) Defined terms: Theorists’ (not your) definitions are given for all key terms. b) Logical consistency: Arguments are provided step-by-step, without logical gaps, and connected with one another. c) Clear English: Work was carefully proofread, thereby avoiding reader-confusion, spelling or grammar mistakes. d) Accurate representation of theorists’ ideas: Citations of theorists make clear why you interpreted them as you did, thereby avoiding indefensibly misrepresenting them. 3. Errors Anthropomorphism (e.g., “Society expects . . .”) Referencing a secondary source, and not developing your own interpretations. A work cited in the body of your theory paper is not listed in the paper’s bibliography. A work listed in your bibliography is not referred to (always with author, date, and page number) in the body of your theory paper. Instead of incorporating cited works into logical arguments, summaries (book reports?) of the works are given. 4. Risky strategies to be avoided Asking questions, rather than answering them. Speculating about why a theorist wrote what s/he did. Arguing that a theorist is inconsistent or unclear on some point. Developing your own theory (e.g., “common ground among your theorists”). Giving your personal evaluations of a theory (e.g., its strengths and weaknesses). Using lengthy and/or numerous quotations. (You are graded on your words only.) Assuming that things need not be explained because your reader already knows them. FORMAT REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS Papers must be formatted in size 12, using Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins and double-spacing. Paper must not exceed page limits, excluding title page, endnotes and bibliography. Papers must begin with a title page containing the title of your paper (be creative!), your name, student number, course identifier and the name of your TA. Papers must end with a bibliography formatted according to your chosen citation or bibliographical style. If using endnotes, they must be numbered using Arabic numerals (e.g. 1, 2, 3) and not Roman ones (e.g. i, ii, iii, iv, etc.). And endnotes must be used as per the instructions above. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and writing style are important in communicating your ideas, and the failure to proofread will affect your grade. The paper should use a consistent citation style. Feel free to use APA, MLA or Chicago. Use intext citations when referencing your sources and endnotes when expanding ideas or mentioning extra sources that you’re not covering on your review/paper. Pages must be numbered consecutively from the first page (excluding the title page). Papers must be submitted in Microsoft Word format (save the document as a doc or docx file type) on Moodle and on the due date. Many apps including Pages can save documents using this file format. If applicable, you may also be required to submit a printed copy of your paper to your TA, but this is at the discretion of TAs. Marks will be deducted for not following these format requirements.
