Econ 3100- E01 Project
The purpose of this research project is to allow you to explore an area of interest in the field of
economics of race and gender. You have substantial freedom about topic choice and format, but I will
give some suggestions below You can choose to either write a 1200 – 1500 word research paper or to
do a recorded presentation. I will give more guidance on the format at the end of this document.
Timeline (some deadlines):
1. Topic Selection (Earlier is better, April 14 deadline): Submit a ½ page to 1-page typed description of
your paper topic. This should include your research question, some motivation for why you want to
look at this question, and a brief description of your approach. You should cite at least two sources
besides the textbook that you have found to use in your paper. If doing a quantitative paper, you
should identify what dataset you plan to use for your paper. These are important steps to check the
feasibility of your project (I may ask you to revise the topic or to clarify your plan before accepting a
topic.)
2. Optional Rough Draft (April 28 at latest): Submit a paper copy of your rough draft for comments and
feedback. This is optional. I will not rewrite your paper or proofread line-by-line but I am willing to
give feedback about content, organization, and style.
3. Individual Appointments: If helpful, I can make time available to discuss your papers. Please send
me a message if you are interested in meeting and we can arrange a time These appointments are
optional.
4. Research Project Due (Saturday May 4): Submit a final copy of your paper/project online via
CANVAS. Please don’t be late! If you submit your paper late it may affect my ability to give you a
grade by the university deadline.
You have two options for topic choice:
Option #1: Do a literature review paper about a specific topic related to gender and/or race
differences in the economy. This paper must investigate the issue deeply and go far beyond our class
discussion.
You may write in response to readings, lectures, class discussions, current events, or any other ideas you
might have. Most students will choose to do the literature review option. If you choose this option, you
need a clear research question and you will rely on published research to help answer this question. In a
literature review you organize, evaluate, identify patterns, and synthesize the literature. Your job is to
prioritize what to include and what not to include. You must organize the literature by big ideas and
evaluate the research that you are reading. For the literature review option, you need to cite 6+ high
quality sources and at least 3 should be from academic journals. Two important points:
• A LITERATURE REVIEW IS NOT AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY! Your paper should be organized
by ideas and not one resource at a time.
• Even though you are using published research, follow the normal rules of citations to avoid
plagiarizing. In general, you will want to summarize and cite rather than filling your paper with
quotations. Read the handout and see me if you have any questions.
Econ 3100- E01 Project
You have broad choice about your specific topic. Take this assignment as a chance to explore
something that you find interesting. Some ideas that might help you in deciding:
• Pick a subtopic that we only touched on briefly and develop it much more fully.
o For example, the textbook just barely touches on the effect that gender identity and
sexual preference have on labor market experiences. You could take this topic and
develop it much further.
o Look more deeply at the effect of mass incarceration on labor force participation and/or
family formations
• Take a basic topic that we looked at in-depth but explore a different group or country. For
example you could look at the determinants of female labor force participation in another
country (such as Mexico or France), gender and human capital development in another country
(such as Ethiopia) or examine the wage gap for a specific group that we did not consider in class
(racial minorities in Germany, for example).
• Develop a topic that is related to the course, but we did not cover at all:
o Discrimination in another specific areas besides the labor market: consumer market,
financial markets, housing market, education, or law enforcement. (pick one or two)
o In depth analysis of skin-color and discrimination
o Economics of marriage and family formation in other marriage systems: for example,
polygamy, or marriage systems that use dowry or bride price.
o Rising opioid abuse and labor force participation by gender and/or race
These are just a few examples. Feel free to explore and choose something that you find interesting.In
your paper/presentation make use of economics vocabulary and economics tools from this course. Your
paper will be graded mostly on the relevance of your topic, the depth of your analysis, the accurate use
of ideas and vocabulary from the course, and logical structure and organization.
Option #2: Use a data set and econometric methods to write a quantitative paper. This would be a good
choice if you have some existing data skills and are interested in improving your skills by engaging in a
practical project. If you choose this route, please let me know early in case you need assistance.
Some possibilities for this project are:
• Use the regression methods outlined in week 14 to do a labor market study about racial or
gender discrimination. To do this need individual data that includes earnings, education, age,
sex, race (if relevant), and other variables for individual workers. Data is available for the US
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This type of data is available for many other countries as
well.
• Get data about the occupational distribution and calculate the Duncan Index then analyze how it
has changed over time.
Econ 3100- E01 Project
• Use Duncan index to measure segregation in another area such as housing or education.
As said above, you can choose between writing a paper or doing a recorded presentation. For both
formats you must do your own original work. Do not use a paper or presentation that you have
submitted to another course. Academic dishonesty will result in a zero with no option to redo the
assignment. If you have any questions or doubts about this, please feel free to contact me.
Below I give more specifics about the two formats:
1) Paper
• Minimum 1000 - 1500 word = approx. four to six pages double spaced 12 point font with 1”
borders (no penalty for longer papers, I reduced the page length compared to previous
semesters)
• Tables, charts, data, images, and citations are not part of the word count.
• You need 6+ resources, at least three of which should be research published in academic
journals. See the end of this document for guidance about how to find sources.
• You can use any of the standard citation methods that you want (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) . I
don’t have a preference about the method you use as long as you are consistent.
• Grade will be primarily about the content of your paper, organization, depth of analysis and the
degree to which you utilize learning from this course in your paper.
2) Recorded Presentation
• You can choose this alternate format if you prefer this to writing a paper. This method is not
necessarily easier as your presentation has to be substantive and well put together. I am
allowing this method in case some students have creative ideas that cannot easily fit in a paper
format.
• Presentation should be about 10-15 minutes. There is no penalty for going over time as long as
your presentation is crisp.
• You need 6+ resources, at least three of which should be research published in academic
journals. See the end of this document for guidance about how to find sources.
• You can use any of the standard citation methods that you want (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) . I
don’t have a preference about the method you use as long as you are consistent. Put your
citations on the last slide of your presentation.
• Grade will be primarily about the content of your paper, organization, depth of analysis and the
degree to which you utilize learning from this course in your paper.
• My suggestion is that you create a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation and then do a recorded
narration of it. This way we can see your data, images, and explanations as well as your own
audio explanation of the topic. It’s likely you would need 10-20 PowerPoint slides to cover the
topic completely. The exact number is not very important as long your presentation is clear and
offers sufficient depth.
• If you have another idea about doing a recorded presentation or video, please let me know so
we can discuss if it will work or not.
Econ 3100- E01 Project
• The following link explains how to record a narration in PowerPoint:
0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c You can then export your narration as a video to be
submitted on Canvas. I have used this quite a bit and can assist you if you run into trouble
• The following link explains how to record a narration for Prezi:
I am not a MAC person, so I won’t be able to offer help if you choose this route.
Where to go for more resources and information:
1. The textbook: Contains most of the relevant economic models for looking at gender issues. Also at
the end of each chapter, there are number citations of papers and books that relate the topics discussed
in the textbook. In addition, there are articles that are suggested for further reading.
2. News sources: Articles from newspapers and magazines are good for introducing your topic and
explaining the importance of the issues involved. Some suggestions: Economist, Wall Street Journal,
any major newspaper…. Reading news articles can also help you to choose a topic because you will
be more aware of current events. (you can usually access current articles directly from the publisher’s
websites but for older articles you will probably have to go through the UCD library website)
3. Academic journals: There are many good ones. Some that often talk about gender/race issues are:
Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Human Resources, Review of Economics and Statistics.
There are many others but these ones tend to be more accessible to undergraduates without advanced
training in statistics and mathematics.
4. World Development report on Gender:
5. Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics
a good start.
How to access academic papers and articles through UCD library:
1. Go to the Auraria Library Site
2. My favorite method to access academic articles is to use a database called the “Web of Science”
(also known as Web of Science) To access this just follow the steps below. You will need your
student ID # to log in as an off campus user.
a. Go to the Auraria Library Site
b. Click on the “Research Tools” tab and select “Databases”
c. Select “Web of Knowledge” from the list of databases. (At this point you will be asked
to login)
d. You can then do a topic search or if you know exactly what you are looking for you can
input the author last name and name of the journal.
e. The beauty of this search system is that you connect both forwards and backwards to
articles that have cited or are cited by any article that you select.
i. For example, if you start with a very important article on the racial wage gap,
you should be able to link to most other important papers on that issue.
f. There are links to download pdf files for most articles
3. There are many other ways to access articles through this site. You can search for them any way
that you know. It is much more effective to use a database such as JSTOR or Web of Science
rather than doing random searches.
Econ 3100- E01 Project
4. Major news sources can also be found through database searches.
5. You can talk to me or send me an email. I may be able to point you in the right direction or give
you the name of a major researcher on your topic.
