The term paper is a critical part of this course. Most of your final course grade will depend on seven term paper-related items: a brief "idea piece," a longer term paper proposal, an in-class presentation on your proposal, written comments on other students' proposals, a first draft of the term paper, the term paper itself, and an in-class presentation on your term paper.

 
Term Paper Idea Piece
 The goal of the term paper idea piece is to encourage you to begin thinking about your term paper early in the semester. The idea piece should describe the topic that you think you would like to study and why you feel this topic is important. It should be 1 double-spaced page (10-point, 11-point, or 12-point font). The idea piece is due by 5:00 pm on Friday, September 18, 2009. Please submit the idea piece by email as an attachment.

You are not obligated to write your paper on the topic described in your idea piece. Based on my comments or your own further thoughts, you may decide to select a different topic.

 
Term Paper Proposal
 You are required to write a term paper proposal that describes what you plan to cover in your paper. The purpose of the paper proposal is to permit feedback from me and your fellow students that will lead to a better term paper. The paper proposal is due by 4:00 pm on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.

Your paper proposal should clearly indicate the topic you plan to analyze in your paper. The proposal should describe why this topic is important and should provide a preliminary outline of your paper. The proposal should also briefly describe the literature you have found so far on your topic.

Your topic should be finalized by the time of your paper proposal. You should not switch topics between the paper proposal and the term paper without my approval.

The body of your term paper proposal, excluding title page, bibliography, and any tables or graphics should be 3 double-spaced pages (10-point, 11-point, or 12-point font). Your term paper proposal should be submitted via email as an attachment.

 
Proposal Presentations
 You will give an in-class, PowerPoint presentation on your term paper proposal. Please submit your PowerPoint presentations via email as an attachment by Noon on the day of your presentation.

The proposal presentations will be October 13, 15, 20 and 22, 2009. We will work out the order of presentations during the semester.

 
Comments on Other Students' Proposals
 You are required to prepare a brief set of comments (one or two paragraphs) on each of your fellow students' term papers. The comments should be constructive in tone and should be designed to help your fellow students produce high-quality term papers. Your comments should be submitted to me via email.

I will collect the comments, edit them as appropriate, and then distribute them to each student along with my own comments. Your comments will be distributed anonymously – you will not be identified as the person who wrote a particular comment. The comments are due by 5:00 pm on Friday, October 30, 2009.

The term paper proposals will be posted on a password-protected portion of this website for your review.

 
First Draft of Term Paper
 A first draft of your term paper is due by 5:00 pm on Friday, November 20, 2009. The main purpose of the first draft is to allow me to provide constructive comments that will lead to a better final product. Please submit your first draft via email as an attachment.

The first draft should be reasonably complete, although there may be some parts not yet filled in or research not yet completed. First drafts with major omissions will receive a reduced grade.

 
Term Paper
 Your term paper is due by 5:00 pm on Friday, December 11, 2009. The body of your term paper, excluding title page, bibliography, tables, and graphics should be 12-14 double-spaced pages (10-point, 11-point, or 12-point font). Your term paper should also include a half-page, single-spaced executive summary. An executive summary is simply a summary that appears at the beginning of the paper. Your term paper should be submitted to me via email as an attachment.

 
Paper Presentation
 You will give an in-class, PowerPoint presentation on your term paper.

The term paper presentations will be December 1, 3, 8 and 10, 2009. We will work out the order of presentations during the semester.

 
Choosing a Topic
 First and foremost, choose a manageable topic. Overly broad topics like "the world hunger problem" can't be handled well in a term paper. More narrowly focused topics will make for a more substantive and insightful paper. Choose a topic that you can do justice to given time constraints (you have one semester) and space constraints (body of paper 12-14 double-spaced pages in length). In general, successful term papers in this course focus on a specific issue within a specific country.

It's also critical for you to choose a topic you are interested in. If you don't like your term paper topic, you'll have a hard time getting motivated to do the work required to produce a quality paper. Choose a topic based on your own interests.

Your paper topic should fall within the range of material covered in this course. It should focus on a developing country (that is, a country classified as low-income or middle-income by the World Bank).

Your paper topic should be focused on the present and future. This is not a history course, and historical problems generally do not make for interesting term papers in this course. It is certainly fine to include some historical background in your paper if that helps in understanding a present-day issue.

Do not do a country study (e.g., "The Indian Economy Today"). Country studies are important but doing a good country study within the confines of a term paper is impossible.

 
Researching Your Paper
 Your term paper should be well researched. You should make sure you have covered the major literature on your topic, including the scholarly literature. Research resources that you should consult include:

  • The scholarly literature on your topic. Google Scholar is often very helpful. Penn State libraries' online research databases are also helpful, particularly:
    • LIAS
    • ProQuest
    • Ingenta
    • AGRICOLA
       
  • The web at large. However, a search of the web alone, by itself, does NOT constitute adequate research.
     

There is no minimum or maximum number of references for your paper. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to references. Again, you should make sure you have covered the major literature on your topic, whether that literature is abundant or scarce.

 
Writing Your Paper
 Your paper should have a point to it. You should reach some conclusions, even if those conclusions are tentative. The kinds of conclusions you could reach might include:

  1. In order to solve the problem X in country C, we need to do Y.
     
  2. Y has often been proposed as a solution for X in country C, but it is not a solution at all or not a good solution. Z should be done instead.
     
  3. X is a problem that requires multiple solutions. In the case of country C, both Y and Z should be done.

Your paper should build on the material covered in this course and on economic knowledge. Bring some economic analysis to bear on the topic you have chosen.

The organization of your paper will depend on your topic. I will offer suggestions on organization as necessary in my comments on your paper proposal and the first draft of your paper.

Use tables and graphics (charts, diagrams, photos, drawings, maps, etc.) as appropriate to support and illustrate the points you're making in the body of your term paper. In citing references within your paper, you should follow The Chicago Manual of Style or some other appropriate style guide.

There should be no errors in spelling or grammar in your paper.

 
Avoiding Plagiarism
 Plagiarism can sometimes occur because students are unaware of what constitutes plagiarism. Links to information about what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it are available at http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/cyberplag/.

 
Examples of Paper Topics
 Some examples of term paper topics are listed below to help get you thinking about the wide range of topics available to you. These examples are based on term papers written by students in prior years. You do not have to pick a topic from this list, and it would be best if you did not because a papers have already been written for this course on these topics.

  • Soil Erosion in the Philippines
  • Boy-Girl Differences in Birth Rates and Infant Mortality Rates in India
  • Policy Options Regarding Vehicle Emissions in Mexico City
  • Renewable Energy Sources for East Africa
  • Mangrove Degradation in Indonesia and Economic Incentives for Conservation and Restoration
  • The Informal Economy in Venezuela
  • Economic Impacts of the 2004 Tsunami on Thailand
  • The Maquiladora Industry in Baja California
  • Microcredit Programs and Women in Developing Countries
  • Infrastructure and Economic Development in Mexico
  • Regional Disparities in Living Standards in China
  • The U.S. Agricultural Export Enhancement Program and Developing Countries
  • Corruption and Economic Development in Nigeria
  • Local Knowledge for Agroforestry in Brazil
  • Inequality and Access to Water and Sanitation Services in Venezuela
  • Land Titling and Investments in Soil Conservation in Peru
  • Public investments in Education in Zimbabwe
  • NAFTA and Knowledge Spillovers among Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.
  • Informal Rural Finance in Kenya
  • Making Sustainable Development Operational in Nepal
  • Participatory Agricultural Development in the Peruvian Highlands
  • Land Market Liberalization and Agricultural Production in Mexico
  • Agricultural Export Taxes and Agricultural Growth in the Ivory Coast
  • The Changing Role of Women in Ghanaian Agriculture
  • Child Labor in Indian Agricultural Households
  • Climate Change and Agriculture in Bangladesh
  • Soil Erosion and Agricultural Production in Honduras
  • Conflicting Estimates of Malnutrition in India
  • Organic Farming in Costa Rica
  • NAFTA and the Rural Poor in Mexico
  • Marketing Issues in Small Scale Agriculture in Peru
  • Pesticides Usage and Export Crops in Chile
  • Coffee Policy in Colombia
  • Ecotourism and Sustainable Development in Costa Rica
  • Logging and Natural Disasters in China
  • Child School Attendance and Labor Force Participation in Mexico
  • Malnutrition among Pregnant Women in India and the Cycle of Poverty
  • Pollution in the Rio Grande Border Area
  • Iran: An Economy in Distress
  • Economic and Environmental Effects of Coffee Production in Colombia
  • Famine in North Korea
  • The East Asian Financial Crisis and Thailand
  • International Conference on Population and Development: Empowering Women in Uganda
  • Polish Agriculture and Accession to the European Union
  • Agricultural Development in Ethiopia
  • Child Labor on Ecuadorian Plantations
  • Policies for Reducing the Illegal Drug Trade in Colombia
  • The Consequences of Mining Venezuela's Natural Resources: The Case of Lake Maracaibo
  • Analysis of the Three Gorges Dam in China
  • Prevention and Treatment Solutions for AIDS in Nigeria
  • Maternal Health and Child Malnutrition in Ethiopia
  • Agricultural Transformation and Land Use in Bulgaria
  • China's One-Child Policy
  • Education in Nigeria
  • Capitalism's Role in the Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon
  • Dairy Farming in Argentina
  • The Economics of Costa Rican Health Care
  • Crop Production in Rural Kenya
  • Bridging the Digital Divide in Nepal
  • Rural Poverty in Brazil
  • Maoism and its Effects on Nepalese People
  • Implementing Regulations for Sustainable Fisheries in China
  • The U.S. Trade Embargo Against Cuba
  • Air Quality in Nepal

 
© 1997-2009 David Abler except where noted. All rights reserved worldwide.