The assignments for this course are of three types:
- Regular participation in weekly class discussion, demonstrating close reading of the assigned texts;
- Two short (but formal) discussion papers, organized as a response to a class reading assignment, and designed to offer the students practice in critiquing the scholarship of others; and
- A substantial research paper on a relevant topic of the student's own choosing, designed to give the students the opportunity to develop their own hypotheses and defend them.
The research paper may take one of three forms. First, students may pursue an original argument based on the reading of primary materials and/or the analysis of quantitative data, either contemporary or historical. Second, they may write a well-developed review essay which considers the current historical or social scientific literature on a particular topic in depth. Finally, they may draft a policy paper in which they take a topic of current concern and propose policy choices which governments (or other applicable agencies) could pursue relevant to the amelioration of that concern. In all cases these papers should be on the order of 15-20 pages.
See the calendar section for the due dates of course assignments.
Examples of Student Work
Student work appears courtesy of an anonymous student and is used with permission.
First Draft - Changes in Non-Food Household Expenditure between Sexes by Marital and Work Status (PDF)
Second Draft - On Household Bargaining: Theoretical Models and Empirical Evidence (PDF)
Final Paper - On Household Bargaining: Theoretical Models and Empirical Evidence (PDF)
Final Results - On Household Bargaining: Theoretical Models and Empirical Evidence (PDF)