Unit 2 Literature Review

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ENG 107: Synthesis and Research Writing Bloomfield College Professor Jennifer C. Guercio Unit 2 – Literature Review Purpose and Focus of Analysis In the preliminary stages of any significant research project, students and scholars are expected to carry out an extensive review of the literature relevant to their project. This is true in any discipline. Scholars and students are expected to know what accredited scholars and researchers have published on a subject. A literature review provides an analysis of this research. In this assignment, you will do a review of literature on a topic of current interest in an academic field. Your discipline will determine which conventions you will follow most closely, so be prepared to review…show more content…
Popular magazines and material written for the general public will not work as sources for this assignment primarily because these kinds of sources do not describe existing research in an appropriate level of depth and complexity. In class, we will talk at length about the differences between popular and scholarly sources, but in general, you should plan to use the electronic databases that are available through the library. We will talk about how to use those as well. You will need to find a minimum of 6 scholarly articles on your topic, though you may certainly include more. Keep in mind that these articles should be recent; in general, none should be older than 2007 (5 years old). If you have trouble finding scholarly sources, ask a reference librarian for help with databases and with other research tools to use. Choosing the Sources You are likely to discover a huge number of sources published on your topic within the past five years. Therefore, you will need to select the sources that most directly address the issue you want to highlight in this…show more content…
• Describe individual studies or articles with as much or as little detail as each merits according to its relative importance in the literature, remembering that the space you devote to the article connotes its significance. (Note: Literature Reviews do not contain many direct quotations.) • Include in each of your descriptions an indication of the significance of the article relative to other available research (is this the only one on this topic? the clearest explanation of the phenomenon? the most recent work?). • Assess the research as a whole, providing a detailed analysis of trends, points of concurrence and disagreement, and a careful explanation of the overall significance. CONCLUSION In the Conclusion, you should • Explain what conclusions you have drawn based on your research. For example, is there consensus in the field? If so, on what points is there general agreement? Did you find disagreement or conflicting

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