Research Outline Example
Fall 2009
PART I: Revised Introduction:
The last quarter of the twentieth century may be described as the era of the Republican Party. During a period when most party observers believed parties were in wholesale decline, the GOP succeeded in first dominating the office and politics of the presidency, and then the Congress. Following Nixon’s election in 1968, and the decline of the once dominant Democratic coalition, the Republican Party has played a leading role in the formulation of presidential policy. It has exercised a similarly profound influence on Congress since the Republican takeover in 1994, aided by its Senate majorities in the early 1980s. It accomplished this after more than three decades as the minority party. However, unlike its Democratic predecessor, there is little evidence of a dramatic partisan realignment in support of the Republican Party in the last quarter of the twentieth century. (Research Question)How, then, do we account for the success of the contemporary Republican Party in the aftermath of Democratic dominance?
(Introductory Literature Review)Scholars have pointed to a number of factors to explain the Republican resurgence in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably the strength of the party’s conservative grassroots and the failings of the Democratic Party itself. But neither variable on its own can account for the party’s sustained success. To be sure, both factors played a role in the party’s resurgence. (Thesis/Argument) Underlying the Right’s ascendancy, however, as well as the party’s ability to capitalize on Democratic missteps, was the less well analyzed effort to unify the party by centralizing and professionalizing its operations. While the Goldwater campaign demonstrated, as numerous scholars have asserted, the potential strength of the grassroots Republican Right, it also revealed that electoral victory in the future would require more coordinated and professional leadership.
PART II: Overall Outline
Outline:
Title: Do Americans Vote?
I. Introduction
Topic: Who Votes, Who Doesn’t?
Question: Has Voting Declined in the US?
Introductory Literature Review: (Introduce Schools of Thought)
Burnham: Decline in Voting
McDonald and Popkin:VotingHasNOT Declined
John Doe: Voting Rates have Increased.
Thesis: (Argument): Voting Rates have Neither declined, nor increased, but haveremained Steady among working class voters in both the North and South since 1966. Therefore, class does not appear to be a variable that impacts voting behavior in either region.
Roadmap:
Outline Paper:
Review Different Literature Schools of Thought (Burnham, McDonald and Popkin, John Doe)
Methodology:
Look at Turnout in Congressional Elections between 1966 and 2006
Statement of Sources
II. Literature Review
Burnham
Summary: Decline in Voting: Selective Class Mobilization: Poor don’t Vote
Critique
John Doe
Summary: VotingHasNOT Declined: How voting is measured is the problem
Critique
McDonald and Popkin
Summary: Voting Rates have Increased in the South:
(Critique) Optional
Support
Transition:
III: Argument/Analysis
Demonstrate that Voting Rates have Remained Steady since 1966
Analyze Congressional Races in North and South: 1966-2006
North:
Randomly analyze voting patterns in ten Northern states based on income.
Examples:
Massachusetts: 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006
Pennsylvania: 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006
South:
Randomly analyze voting patterns in ten Southern states based on income.
Examples:
South Carolina: 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006
Florida: 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006
IV: Conclusion:
Review/Restate Overall Argument
PART III: Reference List of Sources
References:
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