Global Governance

Below is a list of things to ensure you are adhering to in this final week before submitting your research essay. They are based on the tutors’ experiences after having graded many hundreds of research essays as well as other essays over many years of teaching. While writing your essay, you should of course be mindful of the assessment criteria that is articulated in the Research Essay Rubric. However, the list below is a more detailed articulation of that rubric. What comes below are roughly listed in order of importance:

1. You need to have done solid research. For an essay of 2,000 words, we are expecting between 15-20 sources. This is so that you are both across your chosen topic, and that you have enough information and evidence to substantiate your claims. These include both primary sources (reports by international organisations, NGOs, governments, etc), as well as secondary academic sources (journal articles, books, book chapters). Blogs, social media posts and Wikipedia are not acceptable sources. Newspaper articles are ok, but only when used sparingly, as a complement to academic research, not a substitute.

2. You need to answer the essay question as fully, directly, and accurately as possible. This needs to be done in the introduction, as the basis for your argument. Your argument is effectively your answer to the question, and the essay is your justification of this argument. For example, in response to the first question, the answer/argument could be: “This essay will argue that the realists are correct in arguing that global governance is a contradiction in terms, because…”. Please also state what question you are answering at the top of the essay!

3. Your introduction is very important. This is where you tell your marker everything they need to know about the essay. It should be structured so that the marker can clearly see what your argument is and how you’re going to illustrate it. It should include (in this order):

· Context: where you illustrate how the topic fits in the broader context of global governance, for example, what the Paris Agreement means for climate change governance.

· Argument: where you state your argument in response to the question, for example “this essay will argue that the Paris Agreement can overcome the obstacles to effective action on climate change, because…”.

· Signposts: where you outline the points you will make to illustrate this argument, thus laying out the structure of the essay: “this essay will illustrate this argument, by firstly examining the key features of the Paris Agreement. Secondly, it will…” etc. 

4. You need to evidence all the claims you make and not simply rely upon assertions. For example, statements like “the neoliberal era has led to growing inequality” is an assertion, it needs to be backed up by evidence, in the form of data statistics, examples, etc.

5. Please ensure, therefore, that you are not writing descriptive narratives. All evidence you use should be explained and related to the points you are making. You are analysing what is occurring in global governance in accordance with trying to demonstrate/evidence your central argument. You are not trying to describe what has been occurring in global governance.

6. Some topics will need to consider, apply, and assess the efficacy of theoretical approaches. If a theory (or theories) has been covered in this unit and it (they) clearly applies (apply) to your chosen topic, it (they) needs to be addressed, and done so comprehensively. Other questions will not require you to explicitly apply a theory to it, but you might want to think about whether that question can be analysed in a more in-depth way by considering some insights from theory.

7. Please ensure you have clear topic sentences for each paragraph. Please ensure the first sentence of the paragraph you are writing supports your central argument.

8. Quotes should be analysed/used to support and demonstrate your argument in the paragraph. While quotes may align with your argument, they themselves are often not evidence. They are the analysis of others. Evidence is always needed to demonstrate arguments, otherwise they are unsubstantiated statements.

9. Please ensure your argument ie your voice is coming through. Essays that have too many footnotes or have unexplained quotations obfuscate the student’s own voice. In most cases, quotes and footnotes should not dominate one’s analysis. Rather, they should assist or augment the author’s argument.

We’ve explored the issue of climate change, and the attempts to govern it since the 1980s. While climate change is the issue most in need of a global solution, it has also proved one of the biggest failures of global governance, with national interests and capitalism obstructing effective climate action.

Instructions:

Please relate it to global governance and IR theories. The theories contribute most to the grade as explained in the rubric.