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Building a Literature Review

Building a Literature Review. Tolerance in American Culture a Social Psychology Perspective. The Process. Develop a Research Question Build a Database Prepare an Outline Write a Rough Draft Revise your work. Your Research Question…. …provides the main focus of your paper

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Building a Literature Review

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  1. Building a Literature Review Tolerance in American Culture a Social Psychology Perspective

  2. The Process • Develop a Research Question • Build a Database • Prepare an Outline • Write a Rough Draft • Revise your work

  3. Your Research Question… …provides the main focus of your paper …should not be too broad or too narrow. …identifies key concepts …needs to interest you!

  4. Bad Examples Too Broad • Does marriage make a person happy? • Why do people discriminate? • How does violent media affect people? Too Narrow • What is the best combination of exact ages for two people to be married and also be happy for most of the marriage? • Does exposure to negative racial stereotypes by parents between the ages of 4 and 10 cause bigotry in adulthood? • If an adolescent plays violent video games for 6 hours per day for more than a month, will they be more likely to engage in violent behavior at school?

  5. Good Examples • What is the relationship between age at marriage, marriage longevity, and marital satisfaction? • Does exposure to other cultures and values in childhood affect racial biases? • Will playing violent video games cause an increase in aggressive behavior?

  6. Forensic Research Questions • What is the impact of peer pressure and gang involvement on adolescent violence? • How does racial biasing affect eyewitness identification and testimony? • How do police interrogation techniques influence the memory and recall of suspects? • What impact does socioeconomic status have on crime rates in urban areas?

  7. Building a Database • Come up with a list of key terms about your topic. • Be skeptical of your results! You have to filter out the junk to find the things you need. • There is no indication whether the article is about your terms or simply mentions them. • It is often not clear what kind of article is found (experimental, theoretical, review, etc.) • If the article you want is not available online, use interlibrary services! • Use other literature reviews about your topic to enrich your understanding.

  8. Using Other Literature Reviews • They typically highlight important areas and foundation work: • Broad findings • Important methodologies • Refinements to theories • Challenges to theories • Where the deficits are • This gives a solid starting point for your own literature review, what areas you want to discuss, and how much empirical support there is. • Remember that literature reviews are secondary sources! If you find research in a lit review that interests you, locate the primary source. It is your responsibility to cite primary information accurately.

  9. What You Want Original Research Only use Peer-Reviewed journals!! These terms will help to link your article to other ones with a similar focus. If the abstract contains participants, it is probably an empirical study

  10. What You Do Not Want Books are secondary sources. Focus on empirical articles and primary sources of information. Do not summarize books. Do not cite other lit reviews in YOUR lit review! Use other literature reviews to help your understanding and research of your topic, but be original and write your own review!

  11. Do not summarize comments Do not summarize reviews of books Do not summarize Abstract Collections

  12. Organizing Your Paper Title Page Broad Introduction Introduce your topic and areas of focus Thesis sentence Main Body Elaborate on core concepts Trace development of topic Discussion of sub-topics Broad Conclusions Review of what you have learned Importance and/or impact of topic Reference List

  13. Main Body Structure • Your paper should focus on the concepts and ideas, not the articles themselves. • Develop the key points you are making/addressing that answer your research question. • These points should be supported by the evidence you have found. Look for articles that “go together” in terms of their major points. • Arrange your articles so that there is an orderly progression of ideas. • Look to move from general points to specific points, or initial observations to current knowledge.

  14. Subtopic Ideas • What have been the major developments of the theory? • What does the evidence for and against the theory show? • Are there gender or age differences? • How does this theory extend into other domains? • Refer to the lit reviews you found on your topic for other ideas/areas to address.

  15. Main Body Flow Topics & Subtopics Primary Article (e.g., Basic paradigm and concepts) Subtopic 1 (e.g., Self-monitoring and friendships) Subtopic 2 (e.g., Self-monitoring and romantic relationships) Primary Article (e.g., Police Interrogations and Methodologies) Subtopic 1 (e.g., Interrogating children and adolescents) Subtopic 2 (e.g., Interrogating mentally ill) Primary Article (e.g., Treatment of sex offenders) Subtopic 1 (e.g., Identification using actuarial risk assessments) Subtopic 2 (e.g., effectiveness of outpatient care vs. continued hospitalization)

  16. APA Style Refresher • Do not mention the titles of the articles, instead follow normal APA procedure for in-text citation. • Participants v. Subjects • Verb Tenses • Spaces after a period (new rule!) • Numbers (revised!)

  17. Pronoun/Plural/Gender Agreement • The student placed their book on the table. • The students placed their book on the table. • The student placed his or her book on the table. • His or her, he or she

  18. Active and Passive Voice • An experiment was conducted by B&B. • B&B conducted an experiment. • B&B concluded that heat affects aggression • It was concluded that heat affects aggression. • Participants were shocking confederates. • Confederates were shocked by participants.

  19. Anthropomorphisms • An experiment, table, or chart may “show” or “indicate.” • An experiment cannot attempt to demonstrate, control unwanted variables, or interpret findings, nor can tables or figures compare. • Experiments, results, and the like, may not demonstrate, prove, suggest, imply, verify, confirm, or conclude! Only the authors can.

  20. Commas • Between elements • Height, width, or depth. • To set off nonessential or nonrestrictive clauses • Switch A, which was on a panel, controlled the recording device. • To separate two independent clauses joined by a conjunction • Cedar chips covered the floor, and paper was available.

  21. APA 6th Edition http://www.apastyle.org/manual/whats-new.aspx http://apastyle.apa.org/learn/ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

  22. New Title Page

  23. New Heading Format

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