This is no magic bullet in the form of a guidline that I can offer here. Good writing is a matter of constant practice. It is a skill that must be honed and where the consequences of failure are quite considerable. If we are unable to express the ideas that we feel and think about most deeply we are in sense imprisoned in our own little world. Imprisioned in a world that we have created and one where we are unable to invite others to join us. Good writing is compounded in that there is no one skill in good writing. It is requires a series of related but analytically distinct capacities. For example we have all read articles that are clear, gramatically strong, and deal with interesting topics, but the article bores us stiff. Similiarly we have read articles that hold our attention but fail to convince us in argumentation. And yet again we have read articles that convince us analytically but the writing is tedious and off-putting.

I will suggest several reference works that offer some useful guidlines in writing, but perhaps the most fruitful approach here is to read and ponder good writing. Why does this article or book work? How does this author seem to envelop us in the world that they are creating? For example, in the later part of the twentieth century a rereading of Charles Dickens is particularly appropriate. Hard Times, David Copperfield, or Oliver Twist have much to tell us and, he tells us in a beautiful prose. Hobbes, particularly in book II of the Leviathan has a beautiful clarity and power of analysis or Mill's On Liberty is a powerful and eloquent defense of liberty. While we can never emulate or reach the heights of Lincoln's Gettsburg Address a close reading can rub off on our own more meager efforts.

Several works that offer useful guidelines in writing are:

• Diane Schmidt, Expository Writing in Political Science
• Sharone Friedman and Stephen Steinberg, Writing and Thinking in the Social Sciences (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1989)

Research Guides and Handbooks
The following works provide a general introduction to political science and its bibliographic sources

• Holler, Frederick L. Information Sources of Political Science (Santa Barbars, Ca.: ABC-CLIO, 1981)
• Englefield, Dermot and Garvin Drewery eds., Information Sources of Poltics and Political Science (London: Butterworths, 1984)
• Searing, Susan Introduction to Library Resources in Women's Studies (Boulder: Westview Prtess, 1985)
• Sources of Information in the Social Sciences: A Guide to the Literature 3rd ed. (Chicago: American Library Association, 1986) Vose, Clement, A Guide to Library Sources in Political Science (Washington, American Political Association, 1975)

Style Manuals for Citation of Materials I won't dictate that you use a particular style manual, but you must select and consistently follow one in your research papers. Two well known sources are.

• A Manual of Style ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), pp. 485-510.
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1983), pp. 118-133.

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