Below you will find a copy of my guidesheet
for the ‘Review of the Literature’ project.
I make this the final project in ENG102.
It is the SLO that must be assessed for the GEAR process. At the end of the guidesheet
you will find functioning links to sites that I have found of much assistance
as I teach this project.
ENG 102 with Norm Gayford: Fall 2008 Paper #4: Final Project: Review of the
Literature
Purpose: ‘Review of the Literature’
with focus on baseline book/text, chapter, writer or sub-topic
Length: 4-6 pages
Due Date: ‘Working’ First Draft Due 3 December (Wednesday)
This project should be a culminating
‘study’ in which you focus on a topic in your chosen field, or a topic explored
in one or more of the books we are reading. Find at least five professional
journal articles/studies on a specific problem or issue within the field or
topic. You may call upon specialized dictionaries and specialized encyclopedias
or databases. Additionally, you may use at least one or more authoritative websites,
IF you thoroughly investigate and present each website’s authority. Your
paper’s purpose is to
• define and clarify a problem or
issue in the field; give this section a heading such as the ones below:
INTRODUCTION PROBLEM/ISSUE BACKGROUND
• summarize investigations to give
readers an idea of the current research; give this section a heading such as
the ones below:
METHODS/SUMMARIES METHODOLOGY SUMMARIES
• identify relationships,
contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the field; give this section a
heading such as the one below:
DISCUSSION
• suggest steps to address those
relations, contradictions, gaps, or inconsistencies; give this section a
heading such as the one below:
RECOMMENDATIONS
Make sure to give each ‘section’ of
your paper its own heading. You may work with a study partner if you wish. In
that case, each of you would post a copy of the ‘review of the literature’ in
her or his portfolio.
Your paper will
• define and clarify the problem
that current/past research is investigating;
• summarize previous investigations in order to inform the reader of the state
of current research;
• identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the
literature; and
• suggest the next step or steps in solving the problem. (American
Psychological Association [APA], 1994, p. 5)
Items to discuss, to note, and to
draw conclusions about:
1) Look for specific definitions
that writers may be presenting. Talk about whether or not writers are defining
their terms in the four articles that you have chosen. Draw a conclusion about
the place and use of definitions within those pieces and how definitions—or the
lack of them—affects your view of the field.
2) Describe and discuss the
method(s) that you see each writer employing. In other words, what method(s) do
you see employed in each of your four chosen articles? Is there a consistency
of method across the articles, or does method vary
widely? Which method works best for you as a reader? Be specific in your
discussion.
3) Ask this: What kinds of
assertions writers are making? Are the assertions supported by, or drawn from,
specific evidence that has been presented? To what degree does the work of each
writer—the writers of the four articles you’ve chosen—vary on the scale from
strongly opinionated with little evidence, to strongly evidenced?
4) Do you notice any trend(s) or
pattern(s) in the five articles that you’ve chosen through research? To what
degree, if any, do the articles match, or connect with, or give evidence of,
any trend or pattern that you’re finding?
5) What gap(s)—if any—do you find in
the material that each of the four articles presents?
Creating Strategies for Research: Websites (some of which you should mention in your
Research Log)
http://www.genesee.edu/library/databases/dbaz.cfm
Periodical Databases in GCC Library – write about what you are learning by
using some of these databases. Which did you choose? Why did you make those
choices?
http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest
This is a good-humored introduction to basic
web-search strategies. It will help you list a set of search possibilities.
http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html
This is an excellent primer on how to choose search
engines that best serve your online research strategy - Write about what new
things you have learned about Internet searching by using this site.
Determining Website and Source
Authority
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html
Evaluation Criteria (posted by New Mexico State University)
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.html
Cornell University’s “Five Criteria for Evaluating Web pages”
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/evidence.html
University of North Carolina: Evaluating Sources
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html
University of California at Berkeley: “Critical Evaluation of Resources”
Help with Writing a Literature
Review
The links below take you to a
variety of authoritative links, from across the planet, each of which has put
up some helpful information on how to write a ‘review of the literature’. For
those of you who want to see more help, I urge you to consult these then ask me
more questions in class.
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html
The Literature Review: A Few Tips from U Toronto
http://web.pdx.edu/~dbls/HowtoWriteLiteratureReview.htm
Selected Links to Resources on Writing a Literature Review
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/tse-portal/literaturereview/junghyun-an-literature-review/literature-review.html
Literature Review
http://www.gwu.edu/~litrev
Tools for Preparing Literature Reviews