1. Reading for the Term Paper
© Allen C. Goodman
February 2014

2. State and Local
In addition to the general journals, natural places to start are
Journal of Public Economics
National Tax Journal
Journal of Urban Economics
Fisher or Rosen texts for references

3. Outline Title and Journal reference Author (s) Aim of article Approach
Database
What did they find?
What did it mean?
What did you like about it?
What didn’t you like about it?

4. Set-Up
You may wish to use a spreadsheet, with labeled columns as in the previous slide.
This gives you a list of your material all in one (very big) place.
Prof. Belzer uses the Endnote® software to do a similar thing. Endnote® is free at WSU, and you might want to try it.
Most articles come in PDF form, and others can be scanned. Form a database, and keep on a flash drive.

5. Spreadsheet

6. Research = R (Theory, Data)
Theory and data go hand in hand, although the articles often start with the theory and suddenly find a perfect database. That’s not the way the world usually works.
Pay close attention to databases
Publicly available, like Census publications. Usually free.
Put together your own from various sources.
Do a survey (REQUIRES human subjects procedures).

7. Narrow the Focus !
As time goes by, your focus should narrow onto a particular topic.
That’s what you’re looking for.
Focus of the articles should narrow.
Original ideas should be popping up.
Follow them.
Try to summarize in 10-slide PowerPoint presentations.