Research topic – a topic that has space for doing an original research study! for example the success of Trump in the 2016 US election. What accounts for the electoral success of Trump? Who supported Trump and why? How does Trump support intersect with class, gender, education? How has the Trump movement (and its supporters) been framed by the mainstream media? Alternatively, your research might involve filling in a gap in our understanding of a long-existent phenomenon. Perhaps there are not yet any studies on the relationship between social media use and levels of political participation?
In addition, the research question you ultimately develop must be answered with empirical evidence
literature review, the research paper is an 8 page academic literature review related to your research topic. (typed, double-spaced, 12-pt Times Roman or equivalent font, with proper margins)
Please note that a literature review is not the same as an annotated bibliography – it requires much more than a simple summary of a few articles. A literature review is itself a research paper.
Finally, remind students that this assignment calls for an academic literature review – peer-reviewed academic articles, books, etc., should be the focus
The Process:
- Start by identifying the key articles and books that have been written on the topic that you are interested in
- Next: organize the academic literature thematically
- What debates have developed around the research topic?
- Where is there consensus?
- What are the major disagreements between authors?
- And finally, critically interrogate the literature for gaps and shortcomings:
- What questions have not yet been answered (or even asked) about the topic at hand?
- It is only after all of these steps have been undertaken that the literature review is actually written
The Structure of the written product:
- An introduction
- A). Very briefly summarize the topic being explored (just for context)
- B). The bulk of your introduction summarizes your assessment of the existing academic debate (this assessment is the point of your literature review – your thesis)
- What are the key debates in the literature?
- What has the literature answered well?
- What is underdeveloped or missing from the debate?
- What has to happen next to advance the debate (this will lead into the research question for your larger proposal)
- A body that provides evidence to support your thesis (i.e. prove to the audience that your view of the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of the existing literature is correct)
- The body of your literature review should organize the literature thematically
- And place the major articles inside of those themes
- Rather than simply listing one source after another
- Your voice and your ideas should be at the forefront
- Even though you are summarizing other people’s work
- And place the major articles inside of those themes
- The literature review should build towards a conclusion
- The conclusion should reflect your plan for what has to happen next
- The questions that have to be answered and the research that has to be undertaken to advance the debate
- In other words, your review of the literature leads towards your research question (the one you will develop further in your proposal)
- And it should be clear how answering that question will advance our knowledge of the topic
Moving Beyond the Literature Review
- Your literature review allows you to situate your research in an existing conversation
- It allows you develop a refined research question whose answer can contribute to the conversation
- What happens next?
Hypotheses
- Having developed a clear research question
- Your research proposal will ultimately contain one (or several) hypotheses
- Tentative answers to your research question
- Answers that you will then test against the evidence
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