Transcript Research Seminar Thursday, 1500 – 1645, room C

Research and Writing Seminar
Thursday, 1500 – 1635, room C
To find an up-to-date version of the schedule and
to read the papers check the website
www.wne.uw.edu.pl/seminar
Coordinators:
- M.A. in Development Economics
Dr. Joanna Tyrowicz
- M.A. in European Banking and Finance
Dr. Michał Krawczyk
- M.A. in International Economics
Dr. Grzegorz Kula
Objective of the course:
The objective of the Research and
Writing Seminar is to give the students
the basis for their own research.
The goals for each student are following:
• Gain exposure to state-of-the-art research in
economics,
• Become familiar with key analytical tools and
modeling skills,
• Develop basic academic writing skills,
• Gain exposure to useful presentation
techniques.
Students’ obligations
In the winter semester:
- Five critical reviews of the presented papers,
- Reviews are purely descriptive, and not
exceeding 10 pages,
- Each review must be delivered two weeks after
the seminar presentation.
Students’ obligations
In the summer semester:
- Four critical reviews,
- Each review must include an analytical
extension of the reviewed paper,
- Reviews should not exceed 20 pages,
- Each review must be delivered four weeks
after the seminar presentation.
Students’ obligations
In the summer semester:
Each student has to write also her/his research
proposal for the master dissertation. This
research proposal is not graded, but you must
hand it in by August 31st, 2010 in order to pass
the seminar.
Process of writing reviews
Each paper has to be developed following the four
rounds process:
1. Read the paper and prepare your comments – in the
week before the seminar.
2. Ask questions and present your comments – at the
seminar.
3. Discuss the first draft – one week after the seminar.
4. Submit the final version – two/four weeks after the
seminar.
Process of writing reviews
1. Read the paper and prepare your comments
Once you have identified topics that are of interest to
you, you should:
• Read the paper which will be presented and think
about it.
• Make comments that include your reasons explaining
why you like (or do not like) the paper, your
suggestions and concerns.
• Make a list of specific questions you would like to
ask to the presenter at the seminar.
• Think about possible extensions that could be made
to the paper.
Process of writing reviews
2. Ask questions and present your comments
• Ask the invited speaker the questions you have
prepared while reading the paper and those you have
after listening to the presentation.
• Present your suggestions for extensions and discuss
them with the presenter and other participants.
Process of writing reviews
3. Discussing the first draft
• Discuss your ideas with your seminar coordinator.
• Present your opinions, comments and suggested
extensions.
We will give you the feedback both on the substance
and exposition.
• If you want to get more detailed comments you can
send us your draft by email. However, you need to do
it few days in advance to give us time to read it.
Process of writing reviews
4. Submitting the final version
• Incorporate results of our discussion in round 3 and
write the final version of the paper.
• Read it carefully before you hand it in and use the
spellchecker if possible.
• Please send the paper to us by email.
The final version of each paper should include:
• A title page
• An abstract
• An introduction with motivation, intuition, goals and structure
• A brief literature survey
• A critical analysis of the theoretical framework (if any)
• A critical analysis of statistical methodology (if any)
• A critical analysis of theoretical and empirical findings
• In the winter semester: a list of possible future extensions
• In the spring semester: extended theoretical model or new
empirical results
• A brief conclusion
• Bibliography
In the introduction:
• you should describe what the paper is about,
maybe mention its main points,
• explain, what is your motivation for reviewing
this paper (saying ”it is interesting” is not
enough),
• state the goals you want to achieve in the
review (”reviewing the paper and criticizing it”
is too general for the goal of a review).
The literature review:
• it is not an analysis of what literature is used in the
paper and how it is presented,
• it is a survey of the field in which you should show
how the paper is related to other works on this
subject,
• you do not need to read everything nor summarize all
the papers you have found,
• the idea is to compare the problems, methods and
results, and not to describe other papers in details.
In the critical analysis:
• do not describe theory or methodology in detail,
unless you have comments or opinions of your own,
• if you have them, include in the paper sections on a
critical analysis of the theoretical framework and/or a
critical analysis of statistical methodology,
• if you have nothing to say about them, drop these
sections, but say a few words about theory and
methodology in the introduction,
• you have to include a critical analysis of theoretical
and empirical findings,
• you should present arguments supporting your
opinions.
Extensions
In the winter semester:
• Possible future extensions = only suggestions.
• You have to describe:
- what the suggested extension is,
- the intuition behind it,
- what result you hope to obtain,
- why it is significant,
- its’ feasibility.
You should think of at least three possible extensions.
Extensions
In the summer semester:
• Theoretical or econometric extensions of the
reviewed papers:
- a step further in the research described in the
reviewed paper,
- solutions of some special cases,
- alternative methods of estimation,
- tests which were not conducted in the original
research,
- etc.
Extensions
In the summer semester:
• You are to do only one extension per review.
• You are definitely not asked to conduct a completely
new research, although you can conduct one if you
wish.
Papers in the summer semester can be written in pairs
Remember:
You are writing a critical review, not a
summary! There is no need to rewrite the
paper you are reviewing.
Papers evaluation and final grades
Each paper is evaluated on the basis of:
• Clarity of exposition – 20%
• Academic writing quality – 30%
• Substantive quality – 50%
In the summer semester these three points will
constitute 50% of the grade, while the extension will
yield the remaining 50%.
Papers evaluation and final grades
For each paper you can get maximum 10 points.
You may get one additional point, if you ask
sensible questions during the discussion after
the presentation.
If you are late, you will loose points: minus one
point for the delay of one week. Therefore it is
best if you deliver the reviews on time!
Papers evaluation and final grades
The final grade in the semester is a weighted average of
the points from the reviews. We expect you to learn
and improve with each review, thus:
• In the winter semester the weights are: 15%, 17.5%,
20%, 22.5%, 25%.
• In the summer semester, with only four reviews, the
weights are: 20%, 22.5%, 27.5%, 30%.
Research proposal:
• Introduces and describes the subject, or at least the
field you want to study in your master thesis.
• Should not exceed 10 pages.
• Describes the problem, explains why it is worth
studying, says how you will conduct your research
and what you plan to include into the thesis, etc.
• Includes a short bibliography of basic literature.
Basically, the research proposal is supposed to show
that you are interested in the subject, you know the
problem enough to start the research, and you are able
to write the thesis.
Contact details
Dr. Joanna Tyrowicz
Room: 5
Office hours: Thursday, 915 – 1015
e-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Michał Krawczyk
Room: 214 Office hours: Friday, 1130 – 1230
e-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Grzegorz Kula
Room: 106 Office hours: Friday, 1535 - 1635
e-mail: [email protected]