Economics Department Citation Style Recommendation
Chicago Manual of Style (author-date). We prefer that students cite sources in the text with name of author and date enclosed within parentheses, referring to a bibliography placed at the end of the paper.
Writing Guidelines
From Economics Chair, Ralph Bradburd
Q. How should an argument be structured? Is a thesis necessary? If so, how would you define a good thesis? Do you prefer the student to state her intended argument outright in the introduction, or to develop it through the paper and state it definitively only in the conclusion-or is she free to choose?
A: Except perhaps for special assignments, students should always have a well-defined thesis that they will be supporting with argument. The convention in economics is to state the thesis in the introduction.
Q. How should a paper be presented on the page? Are there rigid guidelines for form (as in scientific lab write-ups) or are students free to experiment? Do you advise students to divide their papers into sections with headings and subheadings? How do students integrate tables and diagrams into their papers if need be?
A: We do not have a rigid guideline for form. Sections and subheadings are often helpful to the students in terms of organizing their own thoughts and they frequently are helpful to the reader. I encourage their use. Ideally, tables and diagrams are integrated into the text, but clearly, if it is difficult to do so, we are not going to care that much about it.
Q. Are there grammatical or stylistic conventions peculiar to writing in your discipline of which students should be aware? For example, is the use of first-person pronouns permissible? Is passive voice permissible? How do you feel about quoting other sources?
A: The first-person pronoun is fine. Students should avoid the "royal we" and, at least in my class, they should avoid the passive voice like the plague. Re quoting: except perhaps in a history of economic thought course, economists don't care much about the exact language used by a cited author; therefore, paraphrasing (with appropriate citation of course) is almost always preferable to quoting because in the latter case the student is always struggling between preserving the original text and saying what must be said in the most parsimonious manner possible.
Q. Are there any writing guides or handbooks you would recommend to students with questions about paper writing (either in your discipline or in general)?
A. I (and one other colleague) distribute a handout called "How to Write a Good Economics Paper" to my students. [see below]
Q. What do you look for in grading a student paper?
A: Clear logical structure, solid reasoning, felicitous language, appropriate use of paragraphs, proper sentence structure, correct spelling, proper punctuation.
Writing a Good Paper Handout
(Compiled by Ralph Bradburd, Dept. of Economics, Williams College)
It is not easy to write a great economics paper. However, writing a good economics paper is not all that difficult if you follow a few basic guidelines.
I. THINKING THINGS OUT
A good economics paper must have a thesis. Your thesis is the point you wish to make. Obviously, it must be an arguable point. Two examples of theses are 1. "The beer industry does not function in a competitive manner;" and 2. "Keynesian models of the economy are more consistent with the data than are classical models."
Think about how you intend to argue your thesis. Work through the arguments before you start writing. Let me repeat this for emphasis. Don't try to start writing until you know what your thesis is and have a plan for the development of your argument.
Make sure that your arguments are solid. Do this as well before you start writing. This is perhaps the trickiest part of the job. Once you have a thesis--that is, once you have convinced yourself of something--it is easy to drop your intellectual guard and to begin to construct arguments that are only convincing enough to convince the convinced. We all have problems with this. My advice is to become quasi-schizophrenic. Pretend that you have two personalities, one of which agrees with your thesis and one, an "evil twin" (to be called "Skippy") who finds your thesis not just absurd but repugnant in some way. As Skippy, pick apart every argument you make. Look for the weaknesses, the fudges, the inconsistencies. Consider the implicit and explicit assumptions of your arguments; if there are any that are assailable, figure out what happens when you change them. If you do this, you will end up with stronger arguments. You may have to qualify your original thesis, but that's okay. It might even turn out that Skippy's arguments blow yours away. That's okay too. THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T START WRITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH STEPS A & B & C.
Holding off writing until you have finished thinking is more important than you might imagine. Don't kid yourself. Once you have spent fifteen minutes getting the wording of a sentence just right you begin to get attached to it; you'll be reluctant to give it up, even if it is wrong.
II. WRITING
If you start the Writing Part after you have completed the Thinking Part, the writing will be less painful than it would otherwise be. When writing a paper, I find that the best metaphor to bear in mind is "giving directions."
TELL THE READER WHERE HE/SHE IS GOING
Would you expect people to spend an hour or more following (occasionally tedious) directions if you never gave them information about where the directions would be taking them? Not if you were playing with a full deck you wouldn't. Therefore, the first paragraph of your paper should contain a "thesis statement," which is an arguable statement that, presented at the beginning of an essay, provides the logical and organizational framework for that essay. This not only gives the reader some incentive to follow your argument, but just as important, by introducing the major components of that argument right from the start, you help guide the reader through the intricacies of the paper's argument. Don't try to say too much in the thesis statement: your reader may lose that all-important sense of where things are heading. (This paragraph has borrowed heavily from Elizabeth Geren, Williams '92, a former tutor in the Writing Workshop.)
YOUR ARGUMENTS SHOULD ADVANCE YOUR THESIS IN A LOGICAL WAY
Again, think of giving directions. Good directions get people from A to D via B and C by getting them from A to B, B to C, and C to D. Directions in the wrong order are useless, not to mention aggravating. Your arguments should flow one to the next in a natural, logical way. If for some reason there just has to be what might look like a detour, tell the reader what is happening. (For example, if there are three essential components to point B, which forms the basis for Point C, let the reader know that you will discuss B's three points and then move on to Point C.) Obviously, if the detour isn't absolutely necessary, don't include it.
BE CLEAR AND SIMPLE
Make every word count: "waste words" just get in the way. Using big words where a smaller one will do is like giving directions in Latin.
USE THE ACTIVE VOICE
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use the passive voice. Writing such as "In this paper it will be proven that the demand curve slopes downward" is deadly to read. Aaaargh!! Compare it to "I will prove in this paper that the demand curve slopes downward." You are writing this paper: there is no mysterious agent that is penning your arguments, or at least there had better not be. Don't be shy (or pretentious). Same goes for the use of "we." To paraphrase Mark Twain, the only individuals who should refer to themselves as "we" are royalty and people with parasites.
PARAPHRASE INSTEAD OF QUOTE
When you try to quote someone in order to make a point, you rarely have a perfect fit between what you need to communicate and what the source you quote has written. The result is wasted words. Paraphrase instead. (Generally, in economics, we don't really care how something was said.) However, you must take care never to plagiarize the work of others: paraphrasing without citing the source is still plagiarism. When in doubt, cite your source.
Citation of sources (even heavily paraphrased ideas and concepts) is crucial to the academic integrity of your paper. ANY idea that is not largely your own should be cited. The Chicago Manual of Style is a commonly accepted citation guide in Economics. (Jill Constantine contributed this paragraph.)
EDIT, EDIT, EDIT
Check your spelling. Check your grammar. Check your punctuation.
Read over each and every sentence and paragraph to make sure that you didn't leave out any words or phrases or sentences. Make sure that every sentence is a sentence with a noun and verb. Make sure that every sentence is intelligible to someone other than yourself or a mindreader.
Read over the whole paper to make sure that there is a logical flow to your argument. Everything should be working to advance your thesis. If a sentence or a paragraph does not advance your thesis, delete it or change it.
After you have done A and B and C, do them again.
All research papers should include a list of references (i.e. a Bibliography) at the end of the paper. You can refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for guidelines on this.