Studies in International Relations involve a wide spectrum of topics that range from sociology to political science. Because of the range of topics in international relations courses, the area of study is unique and demanding. As an international relations student, your lecturer expects you to be familiar with everything including historical aspects of international relations, economics, sociology, anthropology, human rights, political theories, and current affairs. Markedly, the interdisciplinary nature of the study of international relations blends the fields of history, economics, and political science to analyze topics, such as worldwide poverty, security, human rights, globalization, and social ethics.
Professors test your familiarity of the different areas of study by assigning essays on international relations. Being an interdisciplinary field, it means that there is a wide set of guidelines followed when writing international relations essays. Lecturers may assign you the writing form of an assignment as a part of your course to examine what you know about the area of study, your ability to relate concepts, and your ability to apply theories in international relations into practical life experiences. It is important to keep the noted lecturer objectives in mind when planning and writing international relations essays because they help you understand your professor’s expectations and course grading expectations. You need to have a concrete idea of what to write about before beginning your writing journey.
This guide includes powerful international relations essay tips and will provide step-by-step tips and prompts that will help you understand the way to write your international relations essay and why some elements in the writing process are important. Besides, the guideline will help hone your essay writing skills; thus, it can be used as a guide for your other essay assignments.
The writing process begins the minute you read your assignment and ends when you submit it for grading. Pre-writing tips are guidelines to use in the intervention stage of writing; they help you do the following:
You can use a variety of prewriting techniques, but not all of them may work well for you or for a particular area of your international relations course. You can try out several prewriting techniques until you find the ones that work for you. The common prewriting techniques include:
Once you have chosen a preferred prewriting technique, the next important steps entail selecting a topic for your essay, note taking, and planning for your essay outline.
There is no secret formula to identifying and choosing an appropriate topic in the international relations field of study. However, the following key guidelines should be considered when choosing suitable essay topics:
Possible topics for your international relations essay include:
A common issue evident among students and seasoned writers is omitting or underusing a useful tool in their writing process, namely an essay title. When stuck, it is common for students to give up on generating a title for an essay or they merely label the essays by assignment numbers and sequences. The title of an essay helps in preparing readers to understand and believe the paper that is to follow. The first aspect in drafting an essay title should involve outlining the functions of the title. A good essay title:
When crafting the essay title, you need to think of title writing as a process and allow yourself to stretch your thinking during that process. Your title should have a hook that attracts the readers to your essay. This hook can be a collection of keywords from your essay or a quote that introduces your topic or the tone of the essay. Moreover, the title should have one or two key terms that provide the reader with a sense of the content and the angle of your essay. In other words, the title you choose for your essay should provide the reader with an overall overview of the essay even before the essay is read in depth. Despite the recommended short length, the title should summarize the entire essay in a few words.
An appropriate outline of the international relations essay should have at least an introduction, main body, and a conclusion. The outline should appear as indicated below:
Introduction. The introduction should occupy approximately 10% of the entire essay and it should explain how your essay interprets the title, issues it explores, and the conclusions that you draw from the essay discussion. The introduction should make the target reader interested in your essay, should tell what you are writing about, and must explain why the essay topic is relevant or why you have written the essay. An important aspect of the introduction part of the essay involves getting the readers interested in your work. Creating interest in a reader is what differentiates a B grade essay from an A grade essay. Therefore, choose your words carefully and meet all the introduction requirements. In this case, provide:
Body. The main body of the essay should take up 80% of the essay content because it forms the main part of the essay. The content of the essay, at this point, is presented in paragraphs where each paragraph provides a unique theme or element of the essay. In this regard, you should ensure your paragraphs are thematic and based on major arguments. Depending on the ideas and themes you intend to explore in your essay, the number of paragraphs may vary from three to four. However, a one-page essay may only require one or two paragraphs for the body section of the essay. Each paragraph of the essay should develop and explore the major essay arguments and must have a topic sentence that presents your claims as well as evidence that supports claims made in each topic sentence.
You should consider the following elements when writing the body of your essay in international relations:
If the body has three main paragraphs, the first paragraph should focus on the strongest argument in the essay. The topic for this paragraph should be stated within the first several sentences (the topic sentence) and appropriate content should be used to support the topic sentence. You should then provide a clear transition to your next paragraph. The second paragraph should contain the second most significant point of your essay. Similar to the previous paragraph, ensure you provide a topic sentence and supporting evidence. The weakest argument should be presented in the last paragraph and should tie into the essay’s thesis.
Conclusion. Similar to the introduction, the last part of the international relations essay should slightly mirror the introduction and summarize the arguments you made in your previous paragraphs. Moreover, the conclusion should echo your thesis statement and provide a description of how you proved your thesis. You should be careful not to introduce new points and arguments in the conclusion section. However, you can provide an action plan where possible.
Proofreading and referencing constitute the most essential post writing process. These tips ensure your essay is appropriate and capable of helping you attain a high grade. Proofreading refers to the process of reviewing your essay to ensure it is free of grammar, sentence structure, and tense mistakes. It also involves reviewing the essay content to ensure it is coherent.