original source: http://www.uccs.edu/~smarshal/id26.htm Additional Guidelines for Literature Review Reasons for Literature Review: 1. Can help Identify a Testable Hypothesis Once you have identified a broad problem area - practical or theoretical - the next step is to review the literature on the topic. Examining both the theoretical and research literature on a topic usually will help you narrow your topic and identify a testable hypothesis. If you are having trouble with a research hypothesis, you can: a. Replicate a study: A case in which you will try to mimic the original study in all important respects; purpose of study to see if the same types of results will emerge. b. Modified Replication: a replication with some major modification such as examining a new population or using an improved measurement technique. c. Study Designed to Solve a Conflict: Published reviews of research often point out such conflicts and offer possible explanations of them. d. Arrive at a New Idea: After reviewing the research, you may arrive at a creative idea that is not a direct extension of existing research. This is rare for a novice researcher. 2. Identifying Measuring Tools (Instruments) You may identify instruments that were used successfully by other researchers and, also, avoid those found to be seriously flawed. 3. Helps to Avoid Dead-Ends: Your research idea may have already been thoroughly investigated and shown to be not useful. 4. Aids in Writing Research Reports: Paying pay careful attention to the style and organization used by authors of published research, you will learn about organization and structure of written reports. 5. Helps with Citations: If you are researching in a Sociological or Social Science journal or article, you can gain useful information regarding the proper format for citations in your area of study. 6. Helps to Demonstrate Relevance of your Hypothesis: A proper literature review enables you to show those who are reviewing your research that you were able to locate research relevant to your hypothesis, to use it in planning your research, and to cite it appropriately in your review of literature.

Writing Literature Reviews - Additional Thoughts 1. Usually best to begin by naming and describing your broad problem area. This would include conceptual definitions of major terms if you believe your audience may not know their meanings. 2. Good to establish the importance of your topic. You can do this by showing that your topic was important enough to be investigated by others: Vispoel and Austin (1995). A recent electronic search of the PsycLIT data base suggests that, in the past 5 years alone, authors of nearly 2,000 published articles and reports drew on some facet of attribution theory (i.e., the word root attribution appearing in the title or text) in attempting to examine motivation- related effect. . . . Numerous critiques, syntheses, and meta-analyses of attribution research further attest to the breadth and depth of literature in this area.. . . (p.378) You may also establish the importance of a topic by citing statistics that indicate how many people are affected by a particular problem (for example, how many cases of rape were reported last year) or how many people are in the population of interest (for example, how many children enrolled in special classes for the gifted). 3. Next, write a topic-by-topic description of relevant research, and provide major and minor subheadings to guide a reader through a long literature review. For example, some of the major and minor- subheadings used by Urdan and Machr (1995) in their review of research on social goals in achievement are: The Nature of Goals (Defining Goals Within Achievement Goals Theory, Other Definitions of Goals, Focus on Two Goals), Social Goals: Their Nature, Consequences, and Antecedents (Direct Examinations of Social Goals, Consequences of Pursuing Social Goals, Antecedents of Social Goals, Summary) 4. Best to group references together when they have something in common. Also, point out conflicts in the literature. These principles are followed by Urdan and Machr (1995). Research has demonstrated that conformity to peers is typically stronger during adolescence than during childhood (Berndt, 1979; Coleman, 1961; Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986). Coleman argued that conformity to peers is stronger than conformity to parents during adolescence, but that claim has been qualified (Berndt, 1979; Epstein 1983) and disputed (Berndt & Park, 1989) by others. For example, Epstein (1983) found that. . . . (p. 227) 5. Should indicate the results of the research you are citing and not just describe the research methodology. In fact, it is often not necessary to discuss methodology; should you elect not to do so, your readers are likely to assume that you believe it was reasonably strong. However, if you hold the opposite belief, you might wish to point out specific weaknesses with statements such as: �In a preliminary pilot study with 14 registered nurses as subjects, Doe and Smith (1996) found. . . .�

Partial Literature Reviews from Several Papers EXAMPLE 1 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE This chapter will briefly review specific factors that are relevant to educational aspirations and/or deviant behavior. Researchers as well as theorists continue to strive for answers to such questions as, Who are juvenile delinquents? Are there special characteristics associated with delinquents? Do delinquents vary among themselves; and if so, How do they differ? Although multiple predictive variables tend to reoccur throughout much of the research, many theorists do acknowledge that not any one variable, or theory, exclusively explains all of delinquent behavior. Using several current studies of delinquency, we will discuss common social factors that are associated with delinquent behavior: Social structural factors include age, gender, and ethnicity; social bond factors include school, family, economics, and religion; and the social psychological factor includes purpose of life. Social Structural Factors Age One of the strongest, but not inclusive, variables used to explain delinquent behavior is that of age. When Gottfredson and Hirschi (1986) examined all offenders, they found that the relationship between crime and age is such that the tendency to commit criminal acts reaches a peak in the middle to late teens and then declines rapidly throughout life (U.S. Department of Justice, 1985b:346). Furthermore, based on data sources from England, Wales, France and the United States over the past 150 years, they (1985) contend that: 1) the frequency of criminal acts rapidly rise through the teen years, 2) twenty years old is the age at which criminal behavior peaks. (This continues through all social structural factors)... Social Bond Factors ...Within the life-course tradition, Moffitt (1993) theorizes that the ALs develop "strong attachments to work and family for the same reason they desist from delinquency: Youthful delinquency followed by adult bonding to work and family constitute a sequence of normal developmental stages (for males)." Furthermore, other research of criminal behavior suggests the same conclusion of maturation (see Empey and Erickson, 1972; Murray and Cox, 1979). Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that "maturational reform is so pervasively observed, even among serious delinquents that it is the dominant explanation of change in criminal activity during the teen years" (1986:221)... EXAMPLE 2 Criminal History ...The connection between crime and substance abuse is well documented, but nowhere is it more obvious than in data on recidivism rates. Statistics show that the more prior convictions an individual has, the more likely it is that the individual is a drug or alcohol abuser (Belenko & Peugh, 1998). Among state prison populations, 41 percent of first offenders are regular substance users, compared with 63 percent of inmates who have two prior convictions and 81 percent of those who have five or more convictions. Some 39 percent of regular substance users in state prisons have two or more prior incarcerations, compared with only 21 percent of state inmates who are not regular substance users (Belenko & Peugh, 1998). Policies Another contributing factor to prison overcrowding is �get tough� policies that can range from tougher laws such as Three Strikes laws to mandatory sentencing for specific crimes. In many states, most notably California (Vitello, 1997), Three Strikes laws have been established to give judges and/or prosecutors more sentencing power when dealing with repeat offenders. Some states have a type of graduated scale for implementation of Three Strikes laws, in that the second felony conviction can net an offender a sentence which is double that of the recommended sentence of a first conviction (Vitello, 1997). Typically, a third felony conviction can, and often does, land a repeat offender in prison for life. These longer sentences and mandatory life sentences can have a definite effect on prison populations for years to come. Drugs It is difficult to talk about �get tough� policies without going back to the issue of drug abuse. For years, federal, state and local officials have consistently stepped up law enforcement, prosecution and punishment in response to citizen concerns about crime and violence (CASA 1998). Beginning with the heroin epidemic of the 1970�s and continuing through the crack-cocaine explosion in the 1980's... EXAMPLE 3 Literature Review Much of the research discussed the role of women in the Catholic Church since it is a current topic of controversy within the faith. Other articles examined and discussed the roles of women in various Protestant faiths. These topics will be dealt with in a later section of the literature review. Importantly, one of the articles, �Gender and Religious Work� (Heyer-Gray, 2000) went beyond an explanation of the roles of women and dealt with why the role of women in the church is an important topic. The author of the article, Heyer-Gray, examined the roles of women in the church as related to feminism and how the roles of women within a larger framework are devalued. This is a very important topic to consider since according to Michael Kimmel, gender is �. . . one of the primary axes around which social life is organized� (Kimmel, 1993 :vii). Heyer-Gray examined how religious work is �gendered� and how it is important in discussions of the goals of feminist movements (2000). Heyer-Gray, highlighted three key feminist themes that she felt were areas of concern in the roles of women in various churches (2000). Her first concern was �...rendering visible those kinds of work that in fact sustain our everyday worlds�our households, our communities, our churches�but that are often difficult to �see� or discern even occasionally for those who actually do the work (Heyer-Gray, 2000)...

Grading Grid

for Research Project

Total 175 points toward Total of 700 for the Course

CONTENT (60%)

Literature sources

Conceptualization & operationalization of concepts

Develop hypothesis & follow it through to end

Limitations of study

Sampling techniques - what you did and what you would do given time/money\

All "For this Report" notations

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS (15%)

Univariate analysis (5 variables)

Bivariate analysis (2 tables/charts/graphs)

SECTION STRUCTURE (15%)

Headings when appropriate

Synthesis of Sources for Literature Review

Tables/Charts/Graphs - proper formatting

Citations/Reference format

Appendix - Survey and Codebook

Overall presentation

GRAMMAR / PUNCTUATION (10%)

Proper quotes/citation within text - direct and indirect

Grammatical issues (punctuation, spelling, etc.)

POINTS GIVEN FOR EXCEPTIONAL WORK

WORK THAT EXCEEDS MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

1 points will be awarded for each of the section groupings shown below. You have the opportunity to earn an additional 3 points toward total project points.

Sections: Introduction & Literature Review

Methods & Results

Discussion & Conclusions