Political Science
Writing political science: design, cases, and normative claims
APSA style, research design and case selection, directional hypotheses, and the split between normative and empirical writing in political science.
- Usual citation style
- Chicago 17th edition (notes–bibliography)
- What you will be writing
- Empirical journal articles in comparative or international politics · Normative political theory essays · Qualitative case studies and process-tracing analyses · Policy analyses and think-tank reports · Dissertation prospectuses and research designs · Conference papers for association meetings
FIELD CONVENTIONS
What political science expects of a manuscript
Generic writing advice stops here. These are the conventions reviewers in this field actually apply.
- APSA style follows Chicago author–date
- The American Political Science Association style manual is built on the Chicago author–date system, with in-text parenthetical citations and a references list. Drafting in Chicago author–date puts you close to compliant before any journal-specific pass.
- Subfields have genuinely different norms in the same journal
- A formal theory paper leads with a model and proofs, a quantitative paper with an identification strategy, and a political theory paper with a conceptual argument and no data section at all. Writing to the wrong subfield’s template is a common reason a submission reads as misplaced.
- Case selection has to be defended, not just described
- Qualitative and comparative work states why these cases — most-similar, most-different, deviant, or typical — and what the choice can and cannot support. An unjustified case set invites the criticism that the finding was selected rather than discovered.
- Hypotheses are stated as directional expectations
- Empirical papers derive expectations from theory and state the direction: increases in X should raise the probability of Y, and here is the causal logic. Observable implications are listed explicitly so a reader knows what evidence would count against you.
- Normative and positive claims are kept visibly separate
- “States comply with this treaty” and “states ought to comply” are different sentences requiring different justification. Political theory argues normatively by design; empirical work that slides into ought-claims in the conclusion draws immediate objections.
- Replication and data access are part of the manuscript
- Many journals require deposited replication files, and qualitative work is increasingly expected to document its sources and coding decisions. Write the design section as if someone will attempt to reproduce it, because they might.
THE FRICTION
Where the writing actually slows down
What gets in the way
- One department containing several subfields with incompatible writing conventions
- Case selection justification written after the cases were chosen for practical reasons
- Political theory papers where the argument has to carry the whole paper without data
- APSA formatting details that differ from generic Chicago author–date
- Turning a book-length dissertation argument into a 10,000-word article
How the workflow runs in Copyeditor
- Design the paper for its subfield — Plan mode structures a theory paper, an empirical paper, or a case study differently, so the shape matches the argument you are actually making.
- Write the design section carefully — Ask mode helps state expectations and case selection logic precisely, which is where reviewers concentrate their objections.
- Cite in Chicago author–date — Chicago is one of the four supported styles, and it is the system APSA is built on, so the bibliography builds itself as you write.
- Revise and export — Edit mode for compressing a dissertation chapter to article length, grammar review and the AI-detector preview before submission, then Word or PDF export.
CITATION SHORTCUTS
Chicago formats you will need most
Questions from political science writers
Is APSA style supported?
Not as a named style, but APSA is based on Chicago author–date, which Copyeditor formats. That gets you most of the way; a final pass against the APSA manual remains manual.
How do I justify my case selection?
State the comparative logic explicitly — why these cases vary or hold constant on what matters — and say what the design cannot show. Naming the limits preempts the standard objection.
Do political theory papers need a methods section?
No. The argument is the method. What they need instead is a clear statement of the position being defended and honest engagement with the strongest objection to it.
Can Copyeditor help compress a dissertation chapter into an article?
Yes — Plan mode for the new structure, Edit mode for cutting, and paraphrase for tightening. Which argument survives the cut is your call.
Guides worth reading next
Making the case that your study is worth doing and can be done
A specific question, a method that visibly fits it, and evidence that you can finish the work.
Turning a topic into a claim someone could argue with
One arguable sentence that tells the reader what the paper will defend, and why.
Building a literature review that argues instead of lists
Organize by theme, say what the sources mean together, and end on the gap your study addresses.
Matching the strength of a claim to its evidence
A hedge states how confident you are. Used well it makes a claim more defensible; stacked without thought it makes a sentence say nothing at all.
Neighboring fields
Academic writing in sociology
Sociology reviews are organized by theoretical position — what a perspective predicts, where it fails, what your work adds. A chronological march through recent papers reads as a coursework summary rather than a contribution.
Academic writing in economics
Economics introductions run four to six pages and tell the reader the question, the data, the identification, the headline estimate, and the contribution — in that order, before any suspense can build. Withholding the finding for effect is read as a sign the finding is weak.
Academic writing in law
US legal writing uses the Bluebook; the UK and much of the Commonwealth use OSCOLA, and other jurisdictions have their own guides. Copyeditor formats APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE only — legal citation stays a manual job, so treat this page as guidance on the writing, not a promise about the footnotes.
Academic writing in history
Citations go in footnotes, with the full form at first use and a shortened form thereafter, and a separate bibliography at the end. Author–date is rare in history because a note can carry commentary alongside the reference.
Built for the paper
you are actually writing
Structured drafting, citations that build their own reference list, and an Authorship Certificate that records how the document came together. Copyeditor is in beta — apply and we’ll reach out as spots open.
