International relations
Written Assignment
This assignrnent requires students to apply theories, concepts and material learnt in the course to a theme arising within the course itself. The assignment seeks to test students’ theoretical, conceptual and empirical understanding of thernes and content arising in the course by requiring them to apply one to the other
Students will write a thematic paper on the following theme: international relations… They will apply this therne to a specific topic or topics that have arisen in the course. Students choose the course topic or topics to which they wish to apply the theme. Students cannot choose any course topic which they have already covered in Essay 1 or 2. The content of the thematic paper must be separate and distinct frorn Essay 1 and 2. Within the thematic paper the student will
(1) identify the features of the theme relevant to their paper;
(2) identify the course topic or topics to which they are applying their theme;
(3) critically apply the theme to the course topic/A showing what the course topic reveals about the theme and what the theme reveals about the course topic.
The structure of the thematic paper is the sarne as an essay, with an introduction, body and conclusion. However, unlike an essay, in which students answer a specific question provided by the Course Coordinator, the thematic paper encourages students to develop their own lines of inquiry, interest and critical evaluation by applying the theme to the topics of the course that interests them and decide for themselves how they wish to apply one to the other in order to elucidate both. The idea is for students to provide significant critical analysiA evaluation and application of the theme to the topic given that by Week 12 they would have had a semester’s exposure to both.
