Бакалавриат
2025/2026
Научно-исследовательский семинар
Статус:
Курс обязательный (Политология и мировая политика)
Где читается:
Санкт-Петербургская школа социальных наук
Когда читается:
2-й курс, 1-4 модуль
Охват аудитории:
для своего кампуса
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
3
Контактные часы:
44
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course is a freshmen introduction into the craft of academic research. During the course we will discuss what the research is and how working with academic literature contributes to producing original research. Moreover we will cover issues of modern technologies in academia and a career of political scientist.
Learning Objectives
- The main goal of this course is to introduce students to the basic steps of conducting and academic research.
- As a subgoal the course aims at developing the skill of navigating, reading and understanding the research literature.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Aggregates data using Python.
- Applies Python language for data processing.
- Students learn what academic research is and what role does it play in political science.
- Students explore what place does literature review take in a single research. Student learn what goals does literature review aims to reach.
- Students learn how to download, use and administrate citation manager systems.
- Students learn how to operate in the university library and how to use the electronic resources
- Students learn the different ways to organize and structure a literature review
- Students learn which parts does research include and how fo they compose in a single paper.
- Students explore the definitions of academic integrity and plagiarism. Students learn to differ the types of plagiarism. Students grasp how to avoid plagiarism in academic reserach the penalties for breaking the rules.
- finds, defines and uses the information from different sources which required for solving of research and professional problems (including the system approach)
- retrieves, collects, processes and analyzes information relevant for achieving goals in the professional field.
- outlines the need for resources and plan its using for solving professional problems
- chooses research methods appropriate for resolving the professional tasks.
- executes applied analysis of the political phenomena and political processes: by using political science methods and in support of practical decision making process.
- forms a research design in social sciences, with all its elements and with all its parts, by looking into specific examples
- knows what kind of research questions can be formulated and what kind of research problems there are
- Students learn what academic research is and what role does it play in political science
- Applies the techniques of bibliometric analysis and interprets their results
- Students learn the different functions and possible origins of political science researchers.
- Student learns to think critically about the sources
- Describes formal requirements for the term papers
- Describes the main peculiarities and functions of a literature review
- Uses relevant data sources and search techniques to find literature for review
- Uses relevant techniques to summarize and systematize scientific information
- Conducts a literature review taking into account the norms of academic integrity
- Uses appropriate standards of academic writing when conducting a literature review
Course Contents
- DG1. Introductory session
- DG2. What is research?
- DG3. Who is a political science researcher?
- DG4. How to read a research paper
- DG5. Working in a library. Working with electronic resources
- DG6. Academic integrity
- DG7. Plagiarism
- DG8. Citation manager: Using the Zotero Software
- DG9. What is literature review?
- DG10. Workshop
- DG-1 (Second Year). Introduction to Literature Reviews
- DG-2 (Second Year). Searching for Literature.
- DG-3 (2nd year). Science Maps and Bibliometric Analysis
- DG-4 (Second Year). Literature Selection. Abstracts.
- DG-5 (Second Year). Heuristics and Tips for Literature Review
- DG-6 (Second Year). Citation and Plagiarism
- DG-7 (Second Year). Academic Writing.
- DG-11 (2nd Year) Python Workshop
- DG-12 (2nd year). Data Analysis Workshop
- DG-1 (3rd year) How to prepare a literature review?
- DG-2 (3rd year) Positivist research and theory building
- DG-3 (3rd year) Interpretive research and theory building
- DG-4 (3rd year) Case-selection and sample design
- DG-5 (3rd year) How can we combine research methods?
- DG-6 (3rd year)
- DG-7 (3rd year)
- DG-8 (3rd year)
- DG-9 (3rd year)
- DG-10 (3rd year)
- DG1 (4th year)
- DG2 (4th year). Particularities and Constraints of Social Sciences
- DG-3 (4th year). Guidelines for a Good Research Design
- DG-4 (4th year). Research Strategies, Methodologies and Methods
Assessment Elements
- In-class TestsIn-class tests represent a set of quizzes taking place at the beginning of some seminars. Each test includes from 1 to 5 open and multiple-choice questions. There is a 10-scale grade for each test. For each correct answer a student gets from 1 to 4 points depending on the question. The final grade for this assignment represents a mean value of all test results.
- Interim AssignmentThis assignment is designed to check both skills of using Zotero and identification of research questions. At certain point srudents have to divide in groups of 2-3 people and choose a topic. Then the topic have to be approved by the instructor. After that students will have to make list of 20 bibliographic references of books and academic papers in Chicago author-date style (this one: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html ) made in Zotero on the approved topic. The document also have to include a research question. Requirements: 1. Division into teams until DG5 Approval of the topic with the instructor until DG7 Deadline of submission: DG 10, before class Each day of overdue will result in subtraction of 1 point from the grade for this task 2. Requisites: a. amount of sources: 20 sources, at least 75% in English language b. types of sources: books and academic papers c. correspondence of sources to the topic of the Literature Review
- Final AssignmentThis test consists of two parts. The first part is a quiz with multiple-choice questions where each question has only one correct answer. The second consists of a set of open questions where students have to show that they have a profound knowledge of the matter. All questions are based on the mandatory readings and seminar discussions. The test lasts 1 hour 20 min. For each correct answer, a student gets 1 to 3 points depending on the question. Total sum of the points that a student has got for the test is converted into percentages (100% are given when all the answers are correct). To grade the test, the following scale for converting percentages into grades is used: 10: 100,00 – 95,00 % 9: 94,99 – 90,00 % 8: 89,99 – 85,00 % 7: 84,99 – 75,00 % 6: 74,99 – 70,00 % 5: 69,99 – 60,00 % 4: 59,99 – 50,00 % 3: 49,99 – 45,00 % 2: 44,99 – 35,00 % 1: 34,99 – 10,00 % 0: 10,00 – 00,00 %
- Class AssignmentsThe classes feature assignments that are graded. These assignments are to be submitted at the end of the class.
- Home AssignmentAfter some classes students are expected to fulfill and submit a written home assignment. The use of AI is strictily prohibited and may result in the grade of 0.
- ExaminationDuring the exam, students are to write a literature review based on the provided materials (abstracts). The exam is written. It can be conducted in SmartLMS or in a paper-based format. The duration of the exam is 120 minutes. During the exam, students are not allowed to use any additional materials, including dictionaries or translators. The volume of the literature review should be within 4000 - 5000 symbols (with spaces).
- Class ParticipationDuring the seminar the lecturers evaluate students' participation. The final grade for this component is the average of all grades for the seminars.
- Assignment on Data AnalysisThe final exam will take place at the end of the fourth module of the academic year. It will include working with the dataset, building, and interpreting the statistical model, and writing a short conclusion. The exam’s duration is 90 minutes, the students will be allowed to use their laptops and notes in order to complete the task.
Interim Assessment
- 2024/2025 4th module0.3 * Final Assignment + 0.3 * Final Assignment + 0.35 * In-class Tests + 0.35 * In-class Tests + 0.35 * Interim Assignment + 0.35 * Interim Assignment
- 2025/2026 2nd module0.15 * Class Assignments + 0.15 * Class Assignments + 0.6 * Examination + 0.6 * Examination + 0.25 * Home Assignment + 0.25 * Home Assignment
- 2025/2026 4th module0.6 * Assignment on Data Analysis + 0.6 * Assignment on Data Analysis + 0.2 * Class Participation + 0.2 * Class Participation + 0.2 * Class Participation + 0.2 * Class Participation
- 2026/2027 4th module1 * 2024/2025 4th module + 1 * 2024/2025 4th module
- 2027/2028 2nd module1 * 2024/2025 4th module + 1 * 2024/2025 4th module
