The objectives of this assignment include: a) developing students' familiarity with on-line library journal resources in the field of international development - broadly conceived; b) the development of writing skills; and c) providing an opportunity to engage in a practical way with the methodological issues that should be considered when reading academic, research-based articles. Scope: Using on-line journal resources from the York Library, select two recent academic (2005+) journal articles from two different journals related to a similar development topic. Students are encouraged to select articles that innovatively integrate quantitative and qualitative methods. In this assignment you should: a) Compare and contrast the research methods used in each of the articles and discuss the comparative strengths and weaknesses of each article's methodology. You should pose the following questions: to what extent the methods used in each article might complement each other? What other methods might be useful in illuminating different aspects of the topic? How should we have proceeded with regard to selecting research methods if we had conducted this study? Selected journal articles should also be submitted to the instructor. It is recommended that permanent links of the journal articles be made and sent to the instructor via Moodle. It is mandatory that students consult with the instructor on the articles chosen for the review to ensure that they are appropriate for the assignment (at least 15t days in advance). The instructor will reply to individual students providing a short assessment of the chosen articles. Length: 6-8 double-spaced pages Organization: The assignment should be written in an essay format. However, please consider that there is no need for a thesis statement since the focus is to assess the methodology and research methods used by two scholarly articles. Overall, the paper should be organized as follows: a) an opening statement describing the objectives and methods of the articles being reviewed; b) an essay body, carefully assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the methods (were the methods appropriate considering the unit of analysis, the socio-cultural setting, and the research objectives?); and c) a concluding remarks.