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Research
Seminar
2001-2002 |
+version 18 July 2001
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Instructor |
Professor Eliot
Cohen. Office hours (Rome 709)
are held several times a week by appointment, and are posted at
"Cohen's Corner" on the SAIS website. Go there
for further information. Sign up for a time slot, either in person, or by calling Ms.
Thayer McKell (Rome 709) at 202.663.5774. My office telephone number is 202.663.5781, and my email address is
ecohen@jhu.edu.
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Course concept |
The seminar introduces second year master's degree
and Ph.D. students to central problems of research. The approach is empirical
and historical: students will read practical guides and deal with issues of argument and
verification by examining cases in the study of military affairs. The seminar
will meet during both the fall and the spring, when students will present preliminary
reports to the group. By the end of the second semester students will have
written a paper of publishable length and quality on a topic of their choice, cleared with
the instructor.
The research seminar is a year long course for which
credit is given in the spring semester, following the submission of the paper.
The class will meet ten times in the fall, and six times (possibly fewer) in the
spring. Three optional sessions on social science methodology will be set up
for Ph.D. students and others who may be interested in this subject.
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A note on electronic sources |
There
is a protected page, which may be accessed using a username and password
that will be distributed in class. To read the .pdf documents
found there and on this syllabus you will need the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™.
The page has |
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Requirements |
1. Students will write a paper of publishable
length and quality on a subject cleared by the instructor. Paper
requirements are:
The topic must be related to Strategic
Studies, non-trivial, and admit of more than one plausible initial hypothesis;
The subject must be researchable, chiefly through
documentary sources;
The paper must include footnotes, prepared
according to a standard system identified in the text, and an annotated bibliography;
The essays length may be between 5000 and
10,000 words (25-50 pages of text, beyond footnotes and bibliography).
2. To help prepare for the course, students will
prepare a concept memo and a formal prospectus, using the Strategic Studies
prospectus format.
3. Students are also required to
take the library's database orientation (not the overall
library orientation), and to have the library instructor confirm that with
an email to me.
Books required for purchase are:
Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff, The
Modern Researcher. 5th edition. (New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1992).
Thomas Mann, The Oxford Guide to
Library Research Methods (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1998).
William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The
Elements of Style. 3rd edition. (New York:
Macmillan, 1979).
William M. Arkin, The Internet and
Strategic Studies, SAIS: Center for Strategic Education,
1998
Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers
of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations 6th edition (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1996) or any other standard style guide.
Books recommended for purchase:
David Hackett Fischer, Historians'
Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought (New York: Harper
& Row, 1970).
Mysteries that you may enjoy reading, and
that speak to the subject of research:
Josephine Tey, Daughter of Time
(New York: Macmillan, 1988)
Naguib
Mahfouz, Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth (New York: Anchor,
2000)
Agatha
Christie, Five Little Pigs (New York:
Berkeley, 1999)
Akira
Kurosawa, Rashomon (film)
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Additional
resources |
For additional resources, go to Cohen's
Corner.
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6
September |
Organizational meeting
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13
September |
Getting it right
Barzun and Graff, The Modern Researcher,
Chs.
1-3, 7, "Research and Report: Characteristics,"
"The ABC of Technique," "The Searcher's Mind and Virtues,"
"Truth, Causes, and Conditions," pp. 3-47, 154-180. 82 pages.
Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Michael
Howard and Peter Paret eds. and trans. (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1984), Bk II, Chs. 5, pp. 156-69. 14 pages.
Case: S. L. A. Marshall and the ratio of
fire
S. L. A. Marshall, "Combat Behavior of Infantry
Companies," in Peter Karsten, ed., The Military in America: From the Colonial Era
to the Present (New York: Free Press, 1986), pp. 338-49. 12 pages.
Roger J. Spiller, "S. L. A. Marshall and the Ratio
of Fire," RUSI Journal 133 (Winter 1988): 63-71. 9 pages.
Frederic Smoler, "The Secret of the Soldiers Who
Didn't Shoot," American Heritage 40:5 (March 1989): 36-45. 10 pages.
Martin Blumenson, "Did 'Slam' Guess at Fire
Ratios? Probably: A Legend Remembered," Army 39 (June 1989):
16ff. 4 pages.
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20
September
concept memorandum due |
Posing the question
Fischer, Historians' Fallacies, Ch. 1,
"Fallacies of Question Framing," pp. 3-39. 37 pages.
James G. Roche and Barry D. Watts, "Choosing
Analytic Measures," Journal of Strategic Studies 14:2 (June 1991):
165-209. 45 pages.
Case: How important is logistics?
Martin van Creveld, Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1977). Read pp. 1-3, 231-7 first, to see van
Creveld's conclusions. Then read chapters 3 ("When demigods rode
rails"), 4 ("The wheel that broke"), and 7 ("War of the
accountants"), pp. 75-141, 202-30. 96 pages. |
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27
September |
No class
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4 October
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Establishing the facts
Barzun and Graff, The Modern Researcher,
Chs.
5, "Verification," pp. 96-133. 38 pages or Allan
Nevins,
The Gateway to History, rev. edition. (Chicago: Quadrangle,
1962), Ch. 7, "Pilate on Evidence," pp.
189-225. 37 pages.
David Hackett Fischer, Historians' Fallacies:
Toward a Logic of Historical Thought. (New York: Harper & Row, 1970).
Chs. 2-3, "Fallacies of Factual Verification," "Fallacies of Factual
Significance," pp. 40-102. 63 pages.
Case: Understanding combat
John Keegan, The Face of Battle (New York: Viking, 1976), Ch. 1, pp.
15-78. 64 pages.
Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic (New York:
Vintage, 1999), Ch. 8, pp. 157-89. 33 pages.
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11 October
first draft of prospectus due |
Finding the facts
Barzun and Graff, The Modern Researcher,
Ch. 4, "Finding the Facts," pp. 48-95. 48 pages.
William M. Arkin, The Internet and Strategic
Studies, SAIS: Center for Strategic Education, 1998. 49 pages.
Philip C. Brooks, Research in Archives: The
Use of Unpublished Primary Sources (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1969), chapters 2, 6, pp. 14-35, 83-92. 32 pages.
Thomas Mann, The Oxford Guide to Library Research
Methods (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). (skim)
Barry Watts, "Unreported History and Unit
Effectiveness," Journal of Strategic Studies 12:1 (March 1989):
88-98. 11 pages.
Ralph Bennett, Ultra in the West:
The Normandy Campaign 1944-45 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1980), Preface, Ch. 1 ("How it Was Done, and "Examples of Ultra
Signals,") pp. viii-xv, 1-26, 276-91. 50 pages.
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18 October
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Making an argument
Barzun and Graff, The Modern Researcher,
Chs.
6, "Handling Ideas," pp. 134-153. 20 pages.
Fischer, Historians' Fallacies.
Ch. 6, "Fallacies of Causation," pp. 164-186. 23 pages.
Case: Why did the Wehrmacht fight?
Edward Shils and Morris Janowitz, "Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in
World War II," in Morris Janowitz, Military Conflict: Essays in the Institutional
Analysis of War and Peace (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1975): 177-220. 44 pages.
Omer Bartov, Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War
in the Third Reich (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), chapters 2-3,
"The Destruction of the Primary Group," "The Perversion of
Discipline," pp. 29-105. 77 pages.
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25
October |
No class
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1 November |
Strategy and social
science
Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading,
Mass: Addison-Wesley, 1979), Ch. 1, "Laws and
Theories," pp. 1-18. 18 pages.
Harry Eckstein, "Case Study and Theory in
Political Science," in Fred I. Greenstein and Nelson W. Polsby, eds., Strategies
of Inquiry (Handbook of Political Science, Vol. 7) (Reading, Mass:
Addison-Wesley, 1975), Ch. 3, pp. 79-92. 14
pages. If possible read the entire chapter, pp. 79-132.
Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought:
Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1982), Ch. 2, The place of biology in the sciences and its conceptual
structure, pp. 21-82. 62 pages.
John J. Diulio, No Escape: The
Future of American Corrections, Ch. 6, "Social Science and
Corrections," pp. 212-265. 54 pages.
Case: Why are we surprised?
Richard K. Betts, "Analysis, War, and Decision: Why Intelligence Failures
are Inevitable," in Klaus Knorr, ed., Power, Strategy, and Security: A
World Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), pp.
211-239. 29 pages.
James Wirtz, "Intelligence to Please?
The Order of Battle Controversy During the Vietnam War," Political Science
Quarterly 106:2 (Summer 1991): 239-64. 26 pages. |
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8 November
prospectuses due (electronically) |
Non-linearity, operational
analysis and the social scientist
James Gleick, Chaos: Making A New Science
(New York: Penguin, 1987), "The Butterfly Effect," pp.
9-32. 24 pages.
Alan Beyerchen, Clausewitz, Nonlinearity, and the
Unpredictability of War, International Security 17:3 (Winter
1992/93): 59-90. 32 pages.
P. M. S. Blackett, Studies of War:
Nuclear and Conventional (New York: Hill and Wang, 1962), Part II,
Chs. 1-3, "Recollections of Problems Studied, 1940-45," pp.
205-234. 30 pages. or James Digby, "Contributions of RAND to
Strategy in the 1950s," in Andrew W. Marshall, J. J. Martin, & Henry S.
Rowen, On Not Confusing Ourselves (New York: Westview Press, 1991), Ch.
2, pp. 17-28. 12 pages.
Case: Pre-invasion bombing strategy, 1944
Gordon A. Harrison, Cross-Channel Attack
(Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, Office of the Chief of Military History,
1951), pp. 207-30. 24 pages.
Walt W. Rostow, Pre-Invasion Bombing
Strategy: General Eisenhower's Decision of March 25, 1944
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), pp. 1-87. 87
pages. Read the appendices if you have the time.
Solly Zuckerman, From Apes to Warlords
(New York: Harper & Row, 1978), Ch. 12, "Preparations for
Overlord," pp. 216-45. 30 pages.
Charles P. Kindleberger, "World War II
Strategy," Encounter 51:5 (November 1978):
39-42. 4 pages.
Lord Zuckerman, "Bombs & Illusions in World
War II," and C. P. Kindleberger, "A Rejoinder," Encounter
52:6 (June 1979): 86-89. 4 pages.
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15 November |
Prospectus reviews
Barzun and Graff, The Modern Researcher,
Chs.
9-15, "Organizing: Paragraph, Chapter, and Part," "Plain
Words: The War on Jargon and Clichés," "Clear Sentences:
Emphasis, Tone, and Rhythm," "The Arts of Quoting and Translating,"
"The Rules of Citing: Footnotes and Bibliography," "Revising for Printer
and Public," "Modes of Presentation," pp. 201-390. 191 pages.
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22
November |
No class
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29
November
assignment |
Prospectus reviews
George Orwell, "Politics and the English
Language," in Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus, eds., The Collected Essays, Journalism
and Letters of George Orwell, Vol. IV, In Front of Your Nose, 1945-1950.
(New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), pp. 127-140. 14 pages.
Reading period assignment: Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, entire. 85 pages. |
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Studies home page |
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copyright © Eliot A. Cohen
2001 |
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