210010 PS BAK3: PS Introduction to scientific work (2017S)

The course introduces students to the principles and research processes of scientific work in political science. Students will be required to complete regular assignments that will be discussed in the classes and used as building blocks for their final essay. Students attending the course must have a good command of English, since all the lectures, seminar materials and assignments will be exclusively in English.

The aim is to provide the principles and skills in the field of social scientific work that are required for the studies of political science. This includes in particular the critical use of scientific argumentation, texts and text types as well as the ability to develop and find answers to scientific questions. The textual work, i.e. reading, appropriating, processing, interpreting, discussing and drafting texts, is a key part of social scientific work. Therefore, it is aimed to improve the reading and analytical skills to deal with complex matters of political theory and applied research through joint discussions of texts on various political science topics, but also transdisciplinary themes.

Fundamental scientific techniques – quoting, paraphrasing, structuring and writing – are taught and applied by means of selected texts. Particular attention will be given to addressing the issue of plagiarism. Likewise, students will be familiarized with basic strategies and techniques of social science literature review, and will also be introduced to social science "soft skills" (understanding of the scope and limits of knowledge – validity and reliability issues, self-organization, workflow creation, teamwork and communication skills, presentation skills) as well as with the use of web-based e-learning platforms.

Moreover, a special focus will be on the preparation of the final research essay. This will be done by following a typical research workflow starting from information gathering, formulating a research question, drafting and presenting the research outline (exposé), writing the first draft and editing it all the way to the final research essay that complies with all formal requirements.