Research and Writing in International Relations

Research and Writing in International Relations, Third Edition, offers the step-by-step guidance and the essential resources needed to compose political science papers that go beyond description and into systematic and sophisticated inquiry.

This book provides concise, easy-to-use advice to help students develop more advanced papers through step-by-step descriptions, examples, and resources for every stage of the paper writing process. The book focuses on areas where students often need guidance: understanding how international relations theory fits into research, finding a topic, developing a question, reviewing the literature, designing research, and last, writing the paper.

Including current and detailed coverage on how to start research in the discipline’s major subfields, Research and Writing in International Relations gives students a classroom-tested approach that leads to better research and writing in introductory and advanced classes.

New to the Third Edition:

• A new first chapter that gives an overview of the relationship between international relations theory and research in international relations, demonstrating how theoretical frameworks shape the concepts utilized, topics selected, and questions posed in international relations research.
• Revised topic chapters that include updates to the scholarly literature and data sources
• Revised descriptions of the areas of study that incorporate new research topics (like global inequality)
• Additional perspectives from international relations theory.

Laura Roselle is Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies at Elon University where she teaches political communication and international/comparative politics. She is the co-author of Strategic Narratives: Communication Power and the New World Order (Routledge, 2013) and Forging the World: Strategic Narratives and International Order (University of Michigan, 2017).

Sharon Spray is Professor Emerita of Political Science and Policy Studies at Elon University.

Joel T. Shelton is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies at Elon University, where he teaches courses in international political economy, international relations, and comparative politics. He is the author of Conditionality and the Ambitions of Governance: Social Transformation in Southeastern Europe (Palgrave, 2015).