Literature Review-Related Assignment 1

Make a list of three topics you would like to research for your literature review.  Your list must be typed and you will hand it in on the due date.  Your choices must be a political science topic in American government, comparative politics, international relations, public policy, administration, or law, or political theory.  Avoid current event-type topics.  If you have one specific topic in mind, identify three sub-topics for it.  The only topic off-limits is anything pertaining to gun control or the Amendment II of the US Constitution.

For example, let's say you're interested in foreign aid.  This topic is too broad, given the purpose of a literature review, which is to review the academic literature on a particular topic.  If you just focus on foreign aid to Zambia, this is too narrow for a literature review.  Unlike a research paper, you cannot use newspaper articles or Internet websites for your literature review.  Instead, the primary resources are academic journal articles and academic books.  Bottom line:  try to think generally enough to get started, then worry about narrowing once we discuss your topic choices.  When approaching this assignment, think more along the lines of 'What do the academics say about the feasibility of foreign aid ' or 'What do the academics say about the effectiveness of foreign aid?'