Research and Writing in International Relations

Research and Writing in International Relations, Fourth 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 Fourth Edition:

• Expanded guidance on formulating and refining effective research questions
• Recommendations for navigating the use of information sources popular with students, such as social networks, podcasts, and other digital media
• Additional focus on areas of particular challenge for students, such as avoiding plagiarism
• Advice on how to responsibly use AI to assist in the research and writing process
• Revised topic chapters that include updates to the scholarly literature and data sources
• New resources on research topics of special interest to students, including global climate change, international pandemic response, and democratic backsliding

Laura Roselle is Professor Emeritz of Political Science and Public Policy at Elon University. She is the co-author of Strategic Narratives: Communication Power and the New World Order and Forging the World: Strategic Narratives and International Order.

Joel T. Shelton is Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Elon University, where he teaches courses in international political economy, international relations, and comparative politics, and serves as coordinator for the university’s Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) program. He is the co-author of Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism and author of Conditionality and the Ambitions of Governance: Social Transformation in Southeastern Europe.

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