Day 8: Literature Reviews

The Literature Review should cover the existing literature on your topic. The purpose of the Lit Review is to determine what knowledge already exists that will help 1) you address (argue/solve) your problem, and 2) the reader understand your study. Make sure to select relevant sources, summarize and critique them [This is where your summarizing and critiquing skills are necessary), synthesize their ideas, and cite your sources appropriately in text and in the list of references at the end of the assignment according to the style in your field.

Materials:
Handout 2

These sample outlines will give you a more concrete framework for your outline. Don't FORCE your paper to fit it perfectly--it's just a place to start. The literature review goes in "establishing the issue".

Synthesizing sources in a literature review. power point slides
  • Synthesis: to combine separate elements to form a whole
  • A literature review should show that you have understanding about other works that are related to your research question.
  • In a lit review, such understanding should be demonstrated by1) Making connections and clarify relationships among the ideas of the source materials and 2) Organizing the text topic-by-topic instead of source by source
Examine two samples of source synthesis
  • What are the organizing principles of text A and text B?
  • Which text synthesized the sources better?
  • What are some characteristics that make a good source synthesis?
Summary of Synthesis strategy:
  1. organize all the information by topic instead of sources
  2. present the recurring ideas among sources.
  3. clarify the relationship between ideas in those sources

Practice:
Use these practice sources for the research question: “Are richer people happier.”
Fill out the practice grid.

SAMPLE

Unity through synthesis:
For each main idea that recurs among the sources, create a topic sentence that both
1) Synthesizes the literature to be discussed
2) Describes the literature to be discussed
E.g. 1) Much of the literature points out that whole capital punishment does not stop crime, most Americans still believe that it does stop crime.
E.g. 2) Not only does the literature agree that capital punishment does not stop crime, Prejean, Fitzpatrick and Marshall also suggests that capital punishment may in fact cause more crime.