Research Capstone

POLISCI 290 is the capstone seminar for senior political science majors at Stanford. Over three quarters, students design, execute, and write up an original research project in political science — moving from a workable research question, through literature review and research design, to data collection, analysis, and a polished honors-thesis-length manuscript. The course is structured around the working logic of academic research rather than around any single substantive subfield, and supports projects across comparative politics, international relations, American politics, and political theory.

Class meetings combine workshop-style discussion of student drafts with focused units on the craft skills the thesis demands: scoping a question, engaging a literature, defending a method, writing clearly under uncertainty. As the instructor of record and Associate Director of the Capstone Program, I work closely with each student on the substance of their project alongside their faculty thesis adviser. The course runs in three iterations (AY 2024-25, 2025-26, 2026-27) and is the principal site of senior-thesis training in the department.