Paper Assignment

This is a "W" course. That means that half of your grade must depend on a writing assignment graded for writing style as well as content. I take this requirement seriously.  Your assignment will be what I call a "structured" paper. That is, it will be a long (20 pp+) paper that will follow a preset outline. Sections of the paper will be due over the course of the semester.

The paper you are to write will be an economic history of one particular country in Europe (Eastern or Western). You can choose any country that interests you. Your history will be chronological.

I will return each draft section with comments. You will revise the section according to my comments, and you may return it to me for additional comments as many times as you like. At the end of the semester, you will put all the pieces together and turn in a finished paper on the last day of class.  You should also keep a running bibliography, to which you can add with each succeeding section.

Your paper should develop the following theme, which is essentially the theme of the course: what were the social institutions and economic conditions that led this country to develop (or fail to develop) economically? I encourage and expect you to find sources and references beyond what I have assigned for class readings.

This semester, we have the benefit of a Writing Center fellow, Bryan Murphy (cormano.wild@gmail.com). Bryan will hold office hours in Room 334 Monteith on Wednesdays, noon to 2:00 p.m. You can also email him to arrange a meeting. You can avail yourself of his services throughout the course. But I am requiring that you meet with him at least once before you hand in your second installment. Also, he will assist us on November 10 -- the day the third installment is due -- when we engage in an in-class peer-review session.

Schedule of assignments.

Note: The terms "medieval," "mercantilist," etc., are common labels for periods of development in the most advanced countries of Western Europe. Your country may not follow this pattern very well. Use the dates given as your guide.

Grading.

This assignment will count for 50 per cent of your course grade. I will grade each installment separately. The four installments will be worth 10 per cent of the assignment grade each (five per cent of the course grade each). The final paper will count the remaining 60 per cent of the assignment grade (30 per cent of the course grade). You may revise the installments and resubmit them to me for additional comments; but your grade will not change, that is, your grade for that installment will be based on the first submission. You will lose one-third of a grade point (e.g., the difference between a B and a B-) for every class day for which you miss a submission deadline.

Course grade summary:

Style and resources.

We will talk about writing style in class.  You have the McCloskey book as a resource.  You may also want to consult Elements of Style by Strunk and White -- probably the most famous guide to writing ever -- as well as my Notes on Writing. You may also benefit by consulting the UConn Writing Center.

You must cite all ideas that are not your own.  (See below.)  You should cite references using the “scientific” or name-date style, which is dominant in economics.  That means that, rather than placing a reference in a footnote, you should follow the idea you are citing with the name of the author and the date of publication of the work cited.  Example: 

Far from being the inventor of the idea of perfect competition, Adam Smith was in fact among the last representative of economists who saw competition as a dynamic process of rivalry (McNulty 1967). 

This means you are citing a 1967 article by someone called McNulty as the source of the idea in the sentence.  You would then list that article in a list of references at the end of your paper:

McNulty, Paul J. 1967. “A Note on the History of Perfect Competition,” Journal of Political Economy 75(4): 395-399 (August)

There are many ways to run the details of a name-date style.  I care only that you pick one style and use it consistently.  Here is the style guide for the Journal of Economic Perspectives.  Some of your references will no doubt be available online, and there are standards for citing online resources as well.  Here is a good source with extensive links to related resources.

Plagiarism.

The UConn student conduct code defines plagiarism as “presenting as one's own the ideas or words of another for academic evaluation.”  Here are some resources from the UConn Libraries, the Instructional Resource Center, and Harvard University.  Please read these carefully.

I take plagiarism seriously.  If you have questions or concerns, please ask me.