SOAN 349: Frontiers & Borders
MW 2:45-4:00, Alumni 108
Colgate University
 Spring 2005 Professor Thomas Hall
 NEW Office:  B3 Alumni, x7042, email:  tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
 OFFICE HOURS:  M 4-5, TU 2-3, W 11-12, & by appointment
Last Updated 3-30-05
Writing A Case Study

Due Dates:
Here you have two options:
OPTION 1: a DRAFT report is due no more than 2 weeks, preferably sooner after your presentation. NOTE: for those presenting the last week you will have only ONE WEEK to do a draft. This is because I need time to read and comment, and you need time to revise, if you choose to do so.

I will read drafts, give a provisional grade if the report is complete, and if the provisional grade is less than an A comments on how to improve it.  If you are satisfied with the grade the report is done, if not you can revise it and turn the final draft in on the last day of class, April 27th.

OPTION 2: Simply turn in a final draft on the last day of class, April 27th.

WRITING A CASE STUDY:
A case study is  a term paper focused on some specific border or frontier. The key to a case study is in its name: you are presenting a study of one or more cases of a border or frontier. Your case study should be organized into the following parts:

• [1] A general, brief description of the case including [about one page]:
  • Description of the groups on the border or frontier
  • A brief time-line for the border or frontier
  • How it fits into our typology of conflicts 
  • A brief overview of what this case adds to our understanding of frontiers or borders in general.
• [2] The last part of 1 should segue, fade into, a discussion of how you see your case fitting into the general discussion, analysis, and understanding of frontiers and borders.. Also include any complexities in the components of part 1 [2 to 4 pages].
• [3] The detailed description of the case, including its history [a more detailed time line either as a chart or an appendix may be useful], which groups are on the frontier or border, how the frontier formed, how it changed through time. This will be the body of you paper and will range from 10 to 20 pages depending on how detailed your description is, and how complex the case is. Length is not the issue, thoroughness appropriate to your analysis is.
• [4] Analysis of the case. Here you use your description and history [part 3] to set up a discussion of how your case fits into the models of frontiers or borders we have studied, or how it requires that a new model be developed. This will run from 3 to 8 pages, depending on the complexity of your case.
• Appendix 1: Would this case be a good teaching case for this course in the future, and why or why not? Also is it a good case study? Again, Why or why not? A paragraph or so.
• Appendix 2: Allocation of credit among members of the group. On sentence. See below.
• This totals somewhere between 16 and 43 pages. The larger the group the longer the study should be.

Further comments:
You are NOT REQUIRED to follow this outline, but it is a good model.
Length: From the above the case study could run from 19 to 41 pages for the group. I expect most case studies to be in the 20 to 35 page range. Some may require more pages for some of the parts.

How to decide what goes in the case description:
The decision is shaped by your analysis: Does this information need to be present for a reader/listener to understand why you have drawn your conclusion? If the answer is yes, include it; if not, do not! This is where questions from LISTENERS [see Commenting on Presentations] during PRESENTATION can be most helpful. If LISTENERS are not understanding your point, you may need to include more description. Keep in mind for most of you, YOU will be the expert on your case, and may well know more about it than anyone in the class--including me, the prof!--so you are the expert.

For Parts 4 & 5 you must make similar decisions: Do I need this to make this case study make sense? If you say, "yes," it goes in. If you say, "no," then omit it.

Use your presentation to test out your ideas on the class. See if your discussions are clear. Many questions suggest more detail on the questioned topic in the final draft. See Presenting A Case Study for more details on the presentation. 

See How to Write Essays for Professor Hall for more details on writing in general. 

See Formats and Bibliographies for Papers & Theses for more details on formats, references, and bibliography. 

Your case prospectus will be the first draft of your introduction. However, it will undoubtedly need some rewriting it once you are done, when you know what you actually did and concluded.

APPENDICES:
Appendix I: There are two issues here, both pedagogical. The first is your assessment of whether this case is so good/interesting, that it should become part of the class readings. I am interested in why you think so, if you have any readings on it you would suggest. The second, is whether you think, having done it, this is a good topic for this type of course and good case study to use. I am interested whether you think, it is great, or if it is terrible [meaning too hard to get information, etc]. For both think as if you were a TA for the course and discussing with the prof. or the students things to include or not.

Appendix II: How are you dividing up the credit for the group? Here is where you will need to assess who did what for the presentations on readings, on the class report on the case study, and the final written report. It is always tempting to say everyone did equal, or equivalent work. But if it is not the case, those who did more are short-changing themselves. 
One the more difficult things you must decide, is, how much of the final writing is the equivalent of actually giving the report. You, collectively, did the work, and only you know who did what.

Send comments or questions to tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
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