Short Literature Review (READ 3 articles and write a summary)

Running head: SUBTOPIC TITLE

1

SUBTOPIC TITLE

2

Subtopic Title

Peter T. Anteater

University of California, Irvine

Author Note

Peter T. Anteater, Department of Criminology, Law and Society/Earth System Science/East Asian Studies/Economics/Global and International Studies/Mathematics/Psychology, University of California, Irvine.

This short literature review is being submitted in initial/final draft form on August 29, 2020/September 9, 2020 in order to fulfill the final grading requirements of the School of Social Science’s 172AW course titled “American Culture: Media and Social Problems” (70180) instructed by Dr. William J. Dewan and assisted by Michelle Kim Gardner in Summer Session II. My student identification number is 123456.

Correspondence concerning this short literature review should be addressed to [email protected].

Abstract

Don’t indent this paragraph. Here you should write a short, 150 to 250 word summary of the literature review ensuring that it is presenting the problems at stake in these studies (i.e. the ideas, objectives, research questions and/or hypotheses) and what was done in order to solve these problems (i.e. which methods). Do not make citations in the abstract, since in order for it to be a good abstract, it should be able to stand on its own without any citations. Then, summarize the key findings and conclusions. Most importantly, provide a quick gloss of what these studies implicate (i.e. what the the authors discuss and recommend in order to solve these problems). Finally, you will want to choose some keywords that best represent your topic. I have literally put all of the possible keywords down below; so now all you have to do is delete the ones that do not apply to your literature review. You will have exactly three keywords, except for those with the subtopic Youth Offenders/Homeless Youth and Suicide, you will have four. Ident the keywords and “keywords” should be italicized, as follows.

Keywords: youth, suicide, LGBT, minority, family factors, bullying, offenders, homeless, prevention

Subtopic Title

It is completely inappropriate to give a heading for your introduction, since we all know that the first paragraph is going to be the introduction of your paper. It does, after all, come first! However, you should start off your paper with a punchy introduction line that really brings the reader in and makes them interested to keep reading your paper. Ensure that there is a topic sentence and a thesis. Please, please include a thesis, or else your paper will have no direction and will look like a string of summaries. I suggest this link for tips on how to write a good thesis statement for the introduction. Following the thesis, state the parameters of the literature that you will include. Basically, what is included in these studies and what is not included. The next part of the introduction should highlight the major themes that you are fixing to discuss and analyze. Finally, provide reasons why this research is important, but do not give your personal opinion why or be melodramatic. But be specific, concrete and use only scientific language. There are no word minimums for each section, but introductions of this sort are usually about a page double-spaced, or approximately 250 words.

For the rest of the content in this template, I will borrow from other APA guides I’ve found online (which will be linked) and Dr. Dewan’s instructions. I implore you to use this Word Document template alongside the provided Easy APA guide so that there are no hiccups in your final grades for the short literature reviews! If you have any questions about how to type out numbers or dates or any little thing that might come up, the answer is likely already there in the guide. However, if you must, reach out to me and I can certainly help you find the information you need. I wish very much to give you all perfect scores on your APA formatting (and elsewhere) on your final grades. Also, for the sake of everything that we find dear, please read Dr. Dewan’s instructions carefully.

Main Body Heading 1

How you arrange your main bodies is completely up to you. Just remember, synthesize, don’t summarize.

Subheading 1. Neither of us would recommend subheadings (at all) for a short literature review such as this. In fact, we strongly recommend against it. However, if you seriously insist, for whatever reason, then you should at least do it right. Anyway, this is how it should look.

Subheading 2. A second subheading, just in case! Again, none of us recommend that you do this. It is really so unnecessary for this assignment. But hey, if you want it, you do you. Again, not recommended. Not at all. Not one single bit.

Main Body Heading 2

There is no minimum or maximum amount of headings to include. Simply include as many as you feel necessary in order to get your point across, or don’t use any at all! Free will is so amazing after all isn’t it? I checked and there’s not any philosophers enrolled in this class, so I’m hoping there won’t be much pushback on that statement. Any who, as long as you have a solid thesis statement, write a strong synthesis of the three journal articles, and address all aspects of the rubric, you will do just fine with or without headings. I would highly suggest at least having a heading that separates the introduction from the main body, and then separate headings for the conclusion and reflection, which you will see goes as follows.

Main Body Heading 3

What the heck, let’s toss another main body in the mix! Three articles, three main bodies right? Sure, well, not necessarily! Like I’ve said, the amount of main bodies that you have and how your literature review is organized is entirely up to you, however, the most successful reviews are usually ordered thematically. If you want to be rebellious (and I encourage you to be if so desired) then there are examples of other ways to organize your literature review at this link.

Conclusion

Quickly review what has been said in this short literature review, restate how your thesis was corroborated along the way, and end with some suggestions for research possibilities that your topic might take in the future. This should be about half a page, or approximately 150 words.

Reflection

Don’t forget about this final little piece! This needs to be two paragraphs, and no, unfortunately, it does not count toward your 1,500 words. Remember, two whole paragraphs! And none of those baby paragraphs (like this one) that only have five sentences or less. I like me at least a good, solid, hunky seven sentence paragraph.

After this will come the references. At the end of this paragraph, insert a page break, and center the heading. Write “References” in bold, press enter, align left again, and list your three references (note: you should ONLY have three) in alphabetical order. I know we usually ignore the references at the bottom but pay attention to the ones I’ve put below. I’ve put some clues inside there to help you better understand how to format them. The one tricky part is the indentation that comes beginning with the second line of a reference, which you can do by pressing the enter key, and then tab. Look for the Microsoft guide in the course files on the Canvas page if you are having an issue. I also want to note that you should not have any links at all anywhere in your document! Not even for your email address or the DOI numbers. NOWHERE! If Word wants to link it, don’t give into the pressure, click backspace and undo it! I know that I have included links in this document, but I am not turning this in for a grade, I am just doing this to help all of you my dear students. Speaking of links, click here for help with composing the references for your three journal articles, and click here for help with doing in-text citations. Happy writing!

References

Dewan, W.J. (2010). The article title doesn’t get any special formatting: But if there’s a colon

capitalize that in sentence case like I just did here. Journal Name and Volume Number is Always in Italics, 17(1), 36-55. doi:10.1080/15567030802462911

Doe, J.D., Figgins, J.A., & Smith, J. (1999). But we don’t italicize the journal issue number:

Don’t ask us why. Journal Issue Goes Inside Parentheses, 22(5), 183-205. doi:10.1080/15567030802462911

Gardner, M.K. & Anteater, P.T. (2000). The author names don’t always have to be alphabetical:

Follow the way they are listed on the article itself. Journal Name is Always Capitalized, 9(3), 23-39. doi:10.1080/10723030802533853