support@essaywritingexpert.orgResearch Paper
Professors Aizawa, Cox, Gregory, West
All students will write a research paper. Students can work in teams of 1, 2, or 3.
For most students, the paper should be closely related to a published research paper. It can either be an
extension of that paper, or a similar application using a different data set. In some cases, we will allow
original research papers, but you will need permission ahead of time to ensure feasibility.
Students will first submit a proposal (see below). Based on the proposal you will be assigned to one of
Professors Aizawa, Cox or Gregory. This faculty member will serve as your advisor on the project.
Important dates:
Proposal due date: October 27, 2023
Paper due date: December 15, 2023
Research advice:
For computational and programming advice, you should meet with one of the two course TAs.
For research advice, you should meet with your assigned faculty advisor. Such meetings will usually be
held outside of regular office hours, by appointment.
Proposal:
Your proposal should be a one to two page description of your proposed research project. You should
describe your problem or question, the paper or papers on which your project is based, the data you will
use to answer the question, and possibly the econometric methodology. See
“econ706_research_proposal_guidelines.pdf” for some details.
Data:
A critical issue for a successful project is data. Many excellent ideas are infeasible projects as the needed
data is not readily available. In your proposal, you should be as specific as possible about the data
source, availability, which variables are measured, and sample size. Ideally you will have the data in
hand at the time you turn in the proposal. One warning, many data sets have public use versions which
are easy to get and restricted versions that take more time. You should verify that the variables you
need are available in the public use version.
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Letters of Recommendation:
If you are asking for a letter of recommendation, the paper should be submitted at least 10 days before
the letter of recommendation is due, to allow your faculty advisor to read your paper and prepare your
recommendation letter.
Econometrics:
A reminder that this is an applied econometrics class, so the econometrics is an important part of the
paper. The methodology should be at an appropriate level—we are looking for more than cross tabs.
Also, you should be clear about the econometric details in the paper.
Economics 706 Style Guidelines:
In reading the papers, we pay considerable attention to style (correct spelling and grammar, clear
exposition, good organization). So, too, do most people: reports that are difficult to read routinely get
ignored, even if they contain good ideas. Thus, it will pay to develop the habit of working hard to craft a
clear explanation of your ideas.
See “econ706_style_guidelines.pdf” for specifics.