. The essay should be an original, persuasive analysis which relates your topic (in some way) to the material covered in one of the class sessions. The critical essay should be about 5-6 pages typed and double-spaced, . 1. Introduce and summarize your focus (purpose, argument, question) early and clearly. You may want to consider the use of sub-sections and sub-titles to organize your essay. nt: you should be able to state in one sentence what is the purpose of the essay. 2. . Define major terms, even if they have been defined in lectures and the readings. Your meaning may differ (that is fine), but you need to articulate your terms so that the reader knows exactly what you are discussing, arguing, or suggesting. 3. . Avoid unsupported generalization. Elaborate from course materials to support ideas and arguments. You could and should use others ideas, but be sure to cite them in your essay. 4. . Be aggressive in your comparisons, criticisms, praise, or conclusions that relate to the international relations themes. Courageous (aggressive)
arguments/conclusions are encourageddont forget, however, to support those arguments with material from the course or outside sources. 5. . A common weakness of essays is to have too much description and review of the issues/ideas and not enough analysis, comparisons or criticism of the subject. 6. . Be careful with grammar and especially with spelling. You may have a ! Whatever your chosen topic, STRONG essays: Have a clear focus and organizational structure; Challenge lecture, readings or outside material; Analyze an event theoretically or philosophically; Aggressively compare, contrast and critique material; Elaborate using supporting examples and evidence; Minimize typographical and grammatical errors. In contrast, WEAK essays: Contain no statement of purpose or focus; Contain no organizational structure (such as sub-sections); Contain only detailed historical/chronological reviews; Describe single events in great detail; Offer polemic or generalization without supporting evidence; Contain typographical, spelling and grammatical errors.