8 pages
ASA format
Please no paper that has been written becasue it will be submitted to Turnitin.com whicjh will check for plagiarizing .
Research Methods
Literature Review Assignment
Hard copy due in class on April 17; Electronic copy due on TITANium before class on April 17
The purpose of this assignment is to facilitate your ability to research a topic of study so you can learn
to (1) search and locate literature (e.g. journal articles) using library and internet resources; (2) analyze
the information found; (3) synthesize new knowledge into a written literature review; (4) establish
context for your analysis, and (5) identify and formulate an inquiry question that can be developed into
a research plan. Thus, writing a literature review helps you develop and demonstrate two valuable
skills:
Research: the ability to scan the literature efficiently to identify a set of useful articles and/or
books and to obtain those materials.
Critical Evaluation: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify and synthesize unbiased
and valid studies.
Literature reviews are routinely included in the opening sections of scholarly research reports. A
successful literature review must be defined by a guiding concept such as your research objective, the
problem or issue you wish to discuss. Typically, a more narrow focus is advisable; however, it is
possible to be too narrow. A literature review is not just a descriptive list of the material available or a
set of summaries.
BEFORE you submit your first draft on the course website, have you…
1. Included your full name in the header along with the page number?
2. Used academic language and tone?
3. Grammar/spell-checked your document?
4. Checked document for clarity and conciseness?
5. Checked your in-text citations for errors?
6. Reviewed your references for errors?
7. Formatted according to your major’s style?
8. Included all parts above into ONE document?
9. Saved your file in an acceptable format ( or x)?
10. Titled your file correctly?
a. Ex. SP2013_Soc302_Lastname x
CHECKLIST
Each box (□) item should begin on a new page, but all boxes should be part of one document.
□ LITERATURE REVIEW
o Minimum 8 FULL pages; maximum 12
o Minimum 12 primary, scholarly sources; no maximum
o Use of ASA formatting
and citations
□ REFERENCES
o Use of ASA formatting
Research Methods
Literature Review Assignment
Guide for writing your literature review:
1. Introduction (without this heading)
Introduce the focus of this review to your audience. This paragraph:
a. states the topic and inquiry questions for this review
b. tells the reader specific information on how many articles you reviewed and how you
sorted the articles into common themes based on findings (results).
2. Body (without this heading)
Before you begin this section, be sure that you have sorted your articles into different themes
based on the articles’ findings (sometimes called results). After you sort your articles, it is
important to give your sorted groups a descriptive name. The names of the sorted articles will
become your headings for each of the paragraphs that you write in the body of your review. Be
sure to use ASA format for your headings. The body of your literature review will include:,
a. Theme 1: a paragraph or several paragraphs that describe the first theme that you
identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve selected.
b. Theme 2: a paragraph or several paragraphs that describes the second theme that you
identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve selected.
c. Theme 3: a paragraph or several paragraphs that describes the third theme that you
identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve selected.
… …
3 Summary (without this heading)
This is the last paragraph of your literature review. In this paragraph, it is important to briefly
summarize the main findings from the articles that you reviewed and to point out the gaps in
the literature and how your proposed research study would link to and/or address these issues.
4. References
This is the last few pages of your review. It serves as a listing of all references that you
mentioned in your paper. Please make sure that only references cited in your document are
listed here. Please use ASA style when completing this list.