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Format of Literature - Review Sheet | SOCI 437, Study notes of Introduction to Sociology

Material Type: Notes; Professor: Marullo; Class: Cbl:Proj Dc:Urban Res Intshp I; Subject: Sociology; University: Georgetown University; Term: Unknown 1989;

Typology: Study notes

2009/2010

Uploaded on 02/24/2010

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Department of Sociology
Georgetown University
SOCI 437-01: Senior Seminar Professor Marullo
Lit Review Guidelines
This is where you demonstrate that YOU are the expert on your topic. For readers
knowledgeable about your topic, you need to convince them that you are familiar with the latest
research and nuances of theoretical debate on your topic. For those less familiar with your topic,
you need to provide enough background information so that they can understand what your
research is about. For both types of readers—those familiar with your topic and those less so—
you need to convince them why your work is important enough for you to undertake it and for
them to read it.
There are three kinds of literature for you to include in your lit review: theoretical, previous
research, and programmatic or applied scholarship. The theoretical work will frame your
topic within one or more broad sociological perspectives (conflict, functionalist, symbolic
interactionist) and provide a model of how you believe the world works with respect to your
research topic. This level is rather abstract, at the level of concepts, and describes how you
expect the concepts to be related to each other. As a mental exercise to get you thinking in these
terms, ask yourself: what would Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber think about the
problem I am studying and how would he explain what I am seeing. By way of practical advice,
you should look at the theoretical references cited by other researchers in articles related to your
research project as a means of discovering the theoretical literature related to your project.
The previous research done on your topic, or related to your topic, is important for you to know
and understand because it makes clear what you are contributing to our knowledge of the topic
in light of what is already known about it. Your work can be seen as an extension of previous
work in terms of population studied, new time and place coverage, or new conditions into which
relationships are being extended. The research you draw on may share similar content, or
methodology, or research interests. The burden on you is to indicate what you have learned from
this previous work and to explain how/why what you are doing is different from the previous
research.
The scholarship of application is all-too-often given short-shrift in the scholarly journals, but
for your project is it quite crucial. You want to see how others have applied their learning to
your topic, or how previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of a particular practice
or program. You may use others’ research for evaluation tools or survey instruments that you
have adopted for your study. The application may be in the area of policy research, which
examines the outcomes of different policy approaches to your topic. You may want to explore
“promising practices” from other programs in order to provide guidance as to what your
community partner may find helpful for organizational improvement.
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Department of Sociology

Georgetown University

SOCI 437-01: Senior Seminar Professor Marullo Lit Review Guidelines This is where you demonstrate that YOU are the expert on your topic. For readers knowledgeable about your topic, you need to convince them that you are familiar with the latest research and nuances of theoretical debate on your topic. For those less familiar with your topic, you need to provide enough background information so that they can understand what your research is about. For both types of readers—those familiar with your topic and those less so— you need to convince them why your work is important enough for you to undertake it and for them to read it. There are three kinds of literature for you to include in your lit review : theoretical, previous research, and programmatic or applied scholarship. The theoretical work will frame your topic within one or more broad sociological perspectives (conflict, functionalist, symbolic interactionist) and provide a model of how you believe the world works with respect to your research topic. This level is rather abstract, at the level of concepts, and describes how you expect the concepts to be related to each other. As a mental exercise to get you thinking in these terms, ask yourself: what would Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber think about the problem I am studying and how would he explain what I am seeing. By way of practical advice, you should look at the theoretical references cited by other researchers in articles related to your research project as a means of discovering the theoretical literature related to your project. The previous research done on your topic, or related to your topic, is important for you to know and understand because it makes clear what you are contributing to our knowledge of the topic in light of what is already known about it. Your work can be seen as an extension of previous work in terms of population studied, new time and place coverage, or new conditions into which relationships are being extended. The research you draw on may share similar content, or methodology, or research interests. The burden on you is to indicate what you have learned from this previous work and to explain how/why what you are doing is different from the previous research. The scholarship of application is all-too-often given short-shrift in the scholarly journals, but for your project is it quite crucial. You want to see how others have applied their learning to your topic, or how previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of a particular practice or program. You may use others’ research for evaluation tools or survey instruments that you have adopted for your study. The application may be in the area of policy research, which examines the outcomes of different policy approaches to your topic. You may want to explore “promising practices” from other programs in order to provide guidance as to what your community partner may find helpful for organizational improvement.

Format of Literature Review The basic format of the literature review section can be summarized in the following outline form: I. Introduction : General problem area, your problem statement (specific), and why it is important II. Literature review essentials A. Your thesis and rationale

  1. Brief review of debates is good, but keep it brief.
  2. Historical development of theoretical debate is good, but keep it brief.
  3. Neither should be long, nor should they substitute for your own analysis. B. Your argument explained C. Tied to body of theoretical literature
  4. Theorists who support or foils who oppose your thesis
  5. Any areas of critical testing among opposing theorists? (strongest case) D. Subproblem areas: same format
  6. Argument
  7. Theorists who support or oppose
  8. Specific hypothesis

See schematic models below


III. References : This would ordinarily go at the end of your paper, but since this is only a lit review, include your references here as a separate section. Please use proper ASA style formatting of references, both in the text and here in the bibliography. At this point, you should have about a dozen citations to include in your lit review roughly one-third each in the areas of: theory, previous research, and application. These should mostly be taken from scholarly journals (the first two areas especially) rather than internet sites (more likely focusing on the third area).