Without the resources of Pepperdine Libraries, I have an extremely hard time imagining my Political Science Honors Thesis existing in its current form today. From the days of searching through databases such as JSTOR, Sage Research Methods, to Academic Search Complete, I was able to gain access to entire body of Political Science literature at the whim of my fingertips. Over the course of the past semester and a half, I was able formulate the research question for my thesis, collect a wide range of academic resources, and gain the help of expert librarians to narrow down and carry out my research.
The beginning of my thesis started in early September, and when I had one of my biggest challenges, and that was to narrow down my research interest of “congressional legislation and politics” to something that was practical to research and write about with limited undergraduate resources. At the beginning, I started using the Pepperdine Libraries InfoGuides, which directed me to the most useful databases for conducting my research. With my initial research, and many conversations with my thesis advisors, I finally narrowed down my topic to political framing theory and tying it to recent gun control legislation. My final research questions were the following: First, what are the particular elements of a political action frame used towards arguments regarding gun control policy during the summer 2013? Second, what elements of those frames can lead to a formation of a positive or negative public opinion of said legislation? After formulating my research questions, I was able to use library resources to find potential answers.
My thesis is heavily focused on using previous academic literature as a way to support my research, and I then u...
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...blic opinion of the “Manchin-Toomey Background Checks Gun Control Bill”. I used an eBook, “The Stata survival manual”, from Pepperdine Libraries, to quickly learn how to use the Stata software program to quickly calculate and present the data I collected.
In conclusion, the time I spent writing my Political Science Honors Thesis was not an easy process, but it was a detailed and through process that benefited my final piece of work, and with the resources from Pepperdine Libraries, I was able to achieve a piece of research I am highly proud of. Over the course of a semester and a half, I was able to learn about and overcome the challenges of conducting original academic research, and with the resources from Pepperdine Libraries, I believe that I have created a piece of research that can be expanded upon by future researchers interested in political framing theory.
Fields, Gary. "New Washington Gun Rules Shift Constitutional Debate." Wall Street Journal. 17 May. 2010: A. 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Mintz Eric, Close David, Croc Osvaldo. Politics, Power and the Common Good: An Introduction to Political Science. 2009. Toronto: Pearson Canada. 15,147,183.
A growing number of publicized tragedies caused by gun violence have caused a great stir in the American community. Recently, President Barack Obama has made proposals to tighten the regulation of and the restrictions on the possession of weapons in America to lessen these tragedies. Should the legislative branch decide in favor of his proposals, all American citizens who do or wish to own the type of weapons in question or who use current loopholes in existing policy would be directly affected. His proposals, which are to “require background checks for all gun sales, strengthen the background check system for gun sales, pass a new, stronger ban on assault weapons, limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, finish the job of getting armor-piercing bullets off the streets, give law enforcement additional tools to prevent and prosecute gun crime, end the freeze on gun violence research, make our schools safer with new resource officers and counselors, better emergency response plans, and more nurturing school climates, [and] ensure quality coverage of mental health treatment, particularly for young people,” have been cause for a large amount of recent debate (whitehouse.gov).
Shapiro, Ian, Rogers M. Smith, and Tarek E. Masoud, eds. Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics. Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press, 2004.
The American Academy of Political and Social Science The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science,(2013)
Wilson, H. (2007). Guns, gun control, and elections. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Jones, W. T. Masters of Political Thought. Ed. Edward, McChesner, and Sait. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947.
- Look over scholarly articles, books, etc and determine what respected political scientists would have done
Rosen, Gary. "Yes and No to Gun Control." Commentary 110.2 (2000): 47. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Jones, W. T. Masters of Political Thought. Ed. Edward, McChesner, and Sait. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947.
Baum, Dan. "Why Our Gun Debate Is Off Target." The Wall Street Journal. N.p., 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.
O'Brien, Dan and Betty Stanton. "Gun Control: Exploring the Issues." Inside Homeland Security. 2013: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
In their turn, J. M. Bruce and C. Wilcox (1998) provide the complete analysis of the types of legislation referred to gun control and their differences across the states. They refer these differences to the cultural, demographic, and social peculiarities of each state (Bruce & Wilcox, 1998).
Up until this year, before taking the class intermediate composition, I thought I was a terrible writer. I was right. Writing isn’t something that I enjoy doing, nor am I good at. Writing is difficult for me because I’m not very good at explaining things in a professional manner, that can be easily well written. While writing you are expected to make little to no mistakes, which is not something I’m great at. I am so much better at explaining things with verbal words rather than written words. I had not taken any extra writing classes before this year rather than the mandatory ones. Like I had stated before, I hate writing, with a passion. I dread writing anything, especially an essay for school, like this one. I’m
In recent years, political discourse about gun control and the Second Amendment has become increasingly volatile. Gun lobbies such as the National Rifle Association are more organized and aggressive and their issue agenda has evolved as new and more powerful weapons and militia appear. On the other side of the debate, the critical wounding of James Brady gave gun control advocates a visible martyr with strong ties to Republican conservatives. In sum, gun control and the right to bear arms have become hotly disputed issues where political alignments are constantly shifting.