Literature Review

 

Academic journals in every field often solicit review articles from experts in particular fields. Investigative journalists as well as researchers often go through these reviews before beginning research studies and/or writing editorials on a contemporary issue.

 

Prompt: For this assignment, you will first (1) pick a topic that you are interested in. The topic can be (2) narrowed down to a problem in a specific field or a controversial issue.  (3) Research that issueusing only academic sources, and (4) gather 4-5 sources that best capture all the complicated facets of the issue. Then, you will (5) write a 6-8 page double-spaced review of your findings.

 

Your guidelines for formatting should follow the guidelines of whichever publication might publish it. In most cases, it will be MLA or APA style. You may include visual evidence as well if you choose (chart, graph, etc.)

 

 

Some basic guidelines:

 

–You are not arguing or picking a side in this review. You are basically informing your reader of  the historical conversation of a current PROBLEM – what the experts have reported about the issue over the past 10 years (longer than that is not current). Because of that, the research you review should be in chronological order.

 

–Your Introduction should introduce the issue and provide some evidence that this is worthy of further research, that this is something the audience should care about it.  Convince the audience that it’s a problem.Include quotes from authorities, statistics, etc.  The body of the essay discusses each “conversation” on the topic and its implications.

 

–Your audience for a literature review are policymakers or lawmakers. You don’t want a lot of emotional appeal, just striking facts.

 

–Explain the relationships between the research teams’ findings and/or differences with how the issue is presented by news media.  Organize the body of the review to reflect the clusters or subtopics you have identified, using headings to organize, if you like.

 

–Use topic sentences at the start of paragraphs and sections to highlight similarities and differences and points of agreement and disagreement in the studies.

 

–Conclude with an overview of what is known and what is left to explore. Consider recommending future studies.

 

Note: Your research and work in this essay will prepare you for the next major assignment, the Op-Ed, and it will make it much easier to write.

 

Your review needs to include an updated Annotated Bibliography and a Works Cited page.