University of Georgia Economics 4850

Final Project Scoresheet

- All parts will be graded for clarity and professionalism.

- I don’t expect great spelling and grammar, but I do expect to be able to understand the sense of what you are writing and I also expect that your writing will be thoughtful and cohesive.

- I want to have a sense that you are using what you learned in this class effectively.

- Plagiarism will be dealt with harshly.

Deadlines [25]

5 points each (1 each week from weeks 10-14)

Abstract [5]

This is a paragraph describing the purpose of the paper and previewing the findings.

- Is the paper summarized?

- Is the abstract understandable and well-written? (I would emphasize good writing in this part more than in other parts of the paper.)

Introduction [20]

Motivation [5]: Why your topic is an interesting or relevant topic of study. (Attempt to limit to 1-2 paragraphs.)

- Do I have a sense of why this is an interesting topic?

Problem Statement [5]: What question your research seeks to answer.

- Do I understand what the paper is researching?

Literature review [10]: What have past papers related to your topic found.

- Do you reference at least 4 papers in the literature?

- Do I have a sense of how your paper relates to the existing papers?

Data and Methodology [15]

Data description (can include statistics) [5]: What data you have and where they came from.

- Do I understand what variables you will be using?

- Do I have a sense of where the data came from?

- Do I know how any constructed variables were created?

- Do I have a sense of what the data look like (summary statistics preferably in a table)?

Model description [5]: Show your specifications (the equations you will estimate).

- Do I understand what the outcome and treatment variables are?

- Do I understand what method (OLS, fixed effects, 2SLS) will be used?

Is the equation correct and / or consistent with the notation in the book?

Identification strategy (why is “all else equal”) [5]: Why your methodology is appropriate and includes controls that will mitigate selection bias or omitted variable bias.

- Do I have a sense that you understand selection and / or causality in your context?

- Do you address how your methods seek to overcome these factors?

- Are your methods appropriate for your setting?

Empirical Results [20]

Table of regressions [10]: A professional looking table presenting your coefficients and standard errors (or possibly t-statistics).

- Do you have a table of results?

- Is your table clear?

- Is your table detailed?

- Does your table look professional? (e.g. the table should not be a screenshot)

Coefficient interpretation [10]: An accurate description of your primary findings with respect to your coefficients and their significance.

- Do you accurately interpret the coefficient on your treatment?

- Do you accurately describe the significance of your treatment?

- Do you accurately describe the coefficients and / or significance of any controls?

Conclusions [5]

How your findings compare with what you expected to find and what other papers have found.

- Does your conclusion make sense and is it consistent with your findings?

References [10]

Proper format [5]: See the Blackboard link to the correct style.

Right quality and quantity [5]: It should include at least 4 academic papers.