Table of Contents

TO THE STUDENT: Welcome to a Community of Skilled Observers

TO THE TEACHER: What’s New in the Eighth Edition?


PART 1: Reading & Writing for Introductory Political Science Courses
1.
Read & Write to Understand Politics
1.1
Reading Politics Analytically

Read & Write: Analyze a Presidential Address
1.2
Reading News as Political Power

Read & Write: Compare the Slants of Front Pages
1.3
Skillful Reading Techniques: How to Read Newspapers as a Political Scientist

Read & Write: Critique a Lead News Article
1.4
Analytical Reading Techniques: How to Read Editorials and Op-Ed Essays

Read & Write: Respond to an Editorial
2.
Read & Write Effectively
2.1
Get into the Flow of Writing

Read & Write: Narrowing Topics
2.2
Think Creatively

Read & Write: Freewriting to Engage Your Creativity
2.3
Organize Your Writing

Read & Write: Write an Outline for a Paper Inspired by a Published Article
2.4
Draft, Revise, Edit, and Proofread

Read & Write: Discover Your Own Identity and Style
3.
Practice the Craft of Scholarship
3.1
The Competent Writer

Read & Write: Rephrase to Eliminate a Sentence Fragment
3.2
Avoid Errors in Grammar and Use Punctuation Correctly

Read & Write: Proofread for the President
3.3
Format Your Paper and its Contents Professionally

Read & Write: Explain the Data in this Table
3.4
Cite Your Sources Properly in APSA Style

Read & Write: Create an Actually Usable Bibliography
3.5
Avoid Plagiarism

Read & Write: Properly Summarize an Article from The Economist or Mother Jones
4.
Become Familiar with Government Documents
4.1
Welcome to the National Archives

Read & Write: Describe Five Images from the Digital Vaults
4.2
Welcome to the Library of Congress

Read & Write: Recall Some Actual American Slave Narratives
4.3
How to Read the Congressional Record

Read & Write: Correspond with Your Representative About Current Legislation
4.4
How To Read the Federal Register

Read & Write: Contribute Comments to Pending Government Regulations
5.
Introductory Skilled Observations
5.1
Presidential Campaign Commercials

Read & Write: Analyze a Presidential Campaign Commercial

Classroom Project: Create Your Own Campaign Commercial
5.2
Local Government Policy

Read & Write: Analyze a Local Government Policy

Read & Write: Report on a Local Government Agency Meeting
5.3
The Presidential Decision-Making Process

Listen and Write: Analyze Styles of Presidential Decision-Making
5.4
The Law-Making Process

Read & Write: Analyze a Bill Currently Before Congress
PART 2: Becoming a Political Scientist: Learning Scholarship Skills
6.
Read and Write Professionally and Critically
6.1
How to Read Political Science Scholarship

Read & Write: Explain the Content of a Recent Article from a Political Science Journal
6.2
How to Critique an Academic Article

Read & Write: Critique a Recent Article from a Political Science Journal
6.3
How to Write a Book Review

Read & Write: Review a New Political Science Book
6.4
How to Write a Literature Review

Read & Write: Write a Political Science Literature Review
7.
Preliminary Scholarship: Research Effectively
7.1
Institute an Effective Research Process

Read & Write: Write a Research Proposal
7.2
Find and Evaluate the Quality of Online and Printed Information

Read & Write: Locate a Dozen High Quality Sources
PART 3: Practicing Political Science in Advanced Courses
8.
Analyze Public Opinion

Learn the Steps in Writing a Survey Paper

Read & Write: Write a Public Opinion Analysis
9.
Analyze a Domestic or International Government Policy
9.1
Learn the Basics of Policy Analysis

Read & Write: Write a Brief Domestic Policy Analysis
9.2
Foreign Policy Analysis

Read & Write: Analyze a Specific Foreign Policy
10.
Author an Amicus Curiae Brief

Learn the Rules for Writing Briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court

Read & Write: Write an Abridged Amicus Brief
11.
Political Philosophy Papers

Consider Some Options for Political Philosophy Papers

Read & Write: Write a Political Philosophy Paper


Appendices
A
List of Political Science Periodicals
B
Forms of Proper Address
C
Glossary
D
Bibliography

About the Author

Gregory M. Scott, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Central Oklahoma, is best known for his co-authored (with Stephen M. Garrison and others) thirty-three volumes of political science texts and readers published by Pearson Higher Education. He and Professor Garrison are now developing a series of ten writer’s manuals with Rowman & Littlefield. He holds a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University, an MDiv from Oral Roberts University, and an MA and PhD from the University of Virginia. Dr. Scott’s has also served for fifteen years as Editor of Pearson’s Choices: An American Government Reader. His text Foundations for a Fifth Millennium: The Discipline of Political Science (Prentice Hall 1996) casts academic political inquiry as creative activity.

Stephen M. Garrison, PhD, is Professor of English and Creative Writing, former Chair of the Department of English, and Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). He received a BA and an MA from Baylor University and a PhD from the University of South Carolina. Garrison teaches writing, creative writing, fiction, and poetry. Author of the novel Shoveling Smoke (Chronicle Books 2003), Garrison has co-authored seven writer’s manuals in separate disciplines with Gregory M. Scott and has published numerous scholarly works. Garrison served as Fulbright Lecturer at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (1989-90).