This order has been set on revision status. Please press the "Confirm" button to tell us you are aware of this, and that you will complete it within the time provided.

Sean Murphy

POLS 2101; Introduction to Political Science

LITERATURE REVIEWS

 

Assignment Requirements:

 

I.�� Your first step is to identify a specific topic in which you are interested, and that you find personally compelling. Please use our iCollege dropbox in order to propose your preferred topic for a Literature Review to me-- as soon as possible any time prior to the first scheduled Test.

**Instructor�s note: Although traditional Literature Reviews has focused on scholarly books and/or articles published in academia, the 21st century information age has created the possibility of that relatively high quality, reliable information may be published on the Internet regarding important political science topics and questions-- by non-scholarly experts in the field beyond academia.� Thus, although a prudent amount of caution is in order when selecting sources from the Internet for this assignment, students are advised to consider reviewing �expert� sources not published by scholarly presses or journals.� Relevant government institutions, officials and/or higher ranking political leaders may very well publish �expert� information on your particular topic.� Even so, students are strongly encouraged to critically evaluate, and reflect on, the potential reliability/ credibility of each source chosen for review (e.g.: Wikipedia is not �peer-reviewed.�� Thus, information from that website is generally considered unreliable for purposes of college-level, academic papers!)

 

n  �Literature reviews �

 

�  Are an integral part of Political Science research, helping you become fully conversant with a topic.

 

�  ARE NOT SIMPLY AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY LISTING A SERIES OF PUBLICATIONS ON YOUR TOPIC THAT YOU FOUND WITH A KEYWORD SEARCH USING AN INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE!

 

�  Present a survey of scholarly articles, books and other sources that provides a summary, synthesis and critical evaluation of key ideas and public knowledge on a topic. (This should be the last part of your paper.)

 

�  Present a big picture or overview of significant� scholarly� work done on a topic.

 

�  Enable you to gain deep understanding and insight by standing on the shoulders of giants (scholars and/or policy experts on your topic).

 

�  Take time, patience, a clear mind and good organizational skills

 

�  .� In addition to submitting your final paper (at least six (6) typed pages in length) sometime prior to the deadline published on our syllabus schedule (and our iCollege class calendar) using our class account at www.turnitin.com,

 

II. Suggested Steps in Writing this Literature Review

 

�     Students writing a Literature Review should first propose their preferred, individually compelling political science topic-- using our iCollege dropbox-- sometime prior to our first scheduled Test.� I would suggest that you carefully reflect on those issues or topics that are most important/relevant to your personal life.� For many of my past students in this class, a productive first point of reference would focus on your future career plans.� For example, if you plan to become (or already are) a nurse, your topic for this paper was logically focus on publications evaluating the potential effects of implementing the recent US healthcare reform law or, perhaps, scholarly publications comparing recent US healthcare law/policies with the laws/policies of other industrialized, Western democracies.� If a student was planning to pursue a career in international business or, if a student had a spouse, relatives or a close associate from another country (with an international background) that student may choose to explore a topic more focused on Comparative Politics or International Relations.� Once you have a general idea of the general orientation of a topic you may choose for this assignment, I strongly encourage you to review some of the articles published in any of the academic journals most relevant to the general topic you are considering.� Please see; http://www.apsanet.org/otherjournals, most journals provide a search option where you can search archived articles by topic. The first part of your paper should consist of a topic overview, in which you explain the primary concerns, problems and debates that characterize public discourse on your topic.� Fundamentally, it is important to define the exact parameters of your topic, as precisely as possible.

 

�         Students who choose to do a Literature Review for this assignment are strongly encouraged to use any of the following to help you locate, evaluate and/or choose high quality, reliable published literature on your topic:� Google scholar (https://scholar.google.com.au/), any scholarly journal relevant to your topic-- http://www.apsanet.org/otherjournals, or a GPC research librarian at-- http://depts.gpc.edu/library/index.html. �When evaluating individual sources that you may choose to review for this assignment, the student is expected to be critically selective in choosing those sources that publish the most relevant, essentially important public knowledge about your chosen topic.� Ask yourself if a potential source is academically reputable, is the individual or organization who produced the publication a renowned expert on the topic, is the information published by the source likely to be considered by other scholars as objectively reliable, and a valid representation of the true?� You should avoid selecting random sources for review as a result of a single, isolated keyword Internet search.�

Once you have chosen at least 8, high quality, reliable sources with findings or conclusions that could be categorized into at least 2 alternative theoretical perspectives (do this before you begin writing your paper), you will still need to critically analyze the substance of most of your individual sources (reviewed within the text of your paper).� Specifically, please identify any assumptions which that author seems to take for granted regarding your topic.� I will be looking for you to also discuss the apparent explanatory logic advanced by that particular author (does the author�s proposed explanation provide an accurate [valid] representation of the true nature of your topic in the real world?) .� If a particular source does not seek to explain anything about your topic, that should be a hint not to include it in your paper.� Please also consider the potential validity (accuracy) of the evidence that a particular author uses to support his or her findings/conclusions.� At first glance, it may appear that a particular source does not necessarily employ any Political Science methodology to evaluate their evidence in arriving at their findings/conclusions.� In all cases, simply ask yourself how a particular author has critically evaluated/ analyzed/or reflected upon the implications of the evidence they used to support their findings/claims/or conclusions in the publication (If any, this is their methodology).� It is not necessary for a student to review all of the above components for each of your sources reviewed in your paper.� Please do attempt to critically evaluate at least 2 of the above suggested components for each publication that you review.

 

�         You will be expected to use our iCollege dropbox tool in order to propose at least 2 alternative theories, perspectives, theoretical camps or schools of thought on the topic, whose various publications you wish to critically compare and contrast in your paper-- by the dates listed on our syllabus schedule.� The 2nd, fundamentally important priority for your Literature Review is to organize the sources that you plan to review for this assignment into at least 2, alternative schools of thought/ theoretical camps on the topic.� Legitimate sources for this assignment will produce findings/ arguments/ conclusions that take one perspective or another regarding the fundamental problems or questions inherent to your topic.� Toward the end of your paper, when critically reflecting on the available literature on your topic (overall), you should seek to identify points of agreement, points of disagreement, as well as points that are generally overlooked in the overall literature that is available on your topic.

 

�         In conclusion, prior to the project�s final due date (as listed on our syllabus), students writing a Literature Review will be required to propose some specific scholarly publications that you wish to critically compare and contrast in your paper.�

As the last section of any acceptable Literature Review, the student should take more of a �big picture� perspective on the overall published knowledge about their topic.� Beyond identifying general points of agreement, disagreement and any possible oversights in the literature as a whole, you should seek to conclude with a critical appraisal of the overall state of the available published knowledge on your topic.

 

�     REVISE - refocus and rewrite different sections of your paper as you continue to work on the assignment. This will help you further refine your topic. coherence, accuracy, clarity, grammar, APA citation conventions�

 

III. A good literature review demonstrates�

-- TOPIC INTRODUCTION-- the exact parameters of a well-defined topic generally relevant to political science inquiry is introduced

-- THOROUGHNESS � you have looked at key scholars and studies, current and classic research, you have explored key aspects of the topic.

-- QUALITY & RELIABILITY � publications� are mostly peer-reviewed journals, produced by reliable experts on the topic or are scholarly publications..

-- SYNTHESIS � you can connect research studies and ideas to each other and use them to elaborate and support your thesis.

-- OBJECTIVITY � you show no bias in selecting, interpreting the research you have reviewed; you consider all aspects of a topic and not just those that support your thesis.

 

A. Research Tips

1.      Talk to a Research Librarian at one of GPC�s libraries to help do effective searches.

2.      Use keywords from abstracts and descriptors from search results to expand your search.

3.      Become best friends with relevant databases. A GPC Research Librarian will help you identify databases and journals that are most relevant to your topic area. Browse these to find out how they are set-up, and what search functions they offer.

4.      Try different databases.

5.      Begin with the most current research. These will give you the latest perspectives on a topic, and will point you to key studies you ought to read.

6.      Explore bibliographies of books and articles you read � what works and scholars are often cites? This gives you a good idea of who and what is relevant and important in the field.

7.      Look for review articles as they will have done a lot of reading and synthesis for you � there is no need to invent the wheel; use your time better to analyse, trace patterns, find new insights and add to these reviews with later studies.

8.      Identify landmarks � are you getting a sense of who are the key scholars, how they are aligned with respect to each other in the positions they take on the topic? What are the main theories relevant to this topic, what are the key studies everyone refers to? What are the current debates?

9.      * Wikipedia is not a reliable reference, although it can be a handy reference for ideas of what to search for in more reliable sources!

10.  OP-ED�S AND/OR BLOGS ARE NOT RELIABLE SOURCES OF VALID POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH!

11.  Work in Stages

�  FIRST PASS is a broad and general survey to orient yourself to the field and topic, to find out the main theories/frameworks, the key scholars, and their principal publications.

�  SECOND PASS - a more detailed, selective process of reading books & articles you have narrowed down as most relevant. You take notes and make summaries of your readings.

B.            �READING � ANALYSIS � SYNTHESIS

Information is useless if it is not easily recalled and accessed. Make sure you have a good system to manage the notes you take and to keep track of your references. This makes it easier to analyse and evaluate the information and to synthesize it to find patterns, connections and trends.

 

�         Make notes as you read

Scan articles for an overview - check out abstract, headings

Group articles in categories - theories, methodology, topic aspects Make notes � these can go on your 3X5 cards or excel sheet:

1.      citation

2.      main point

3.      definitions, key terms

4.      fundamental assumptions

5.      theoretical framework

6.      the quality, reliability of evidence supporting the author�s conclusions

7.      methodology � quantitative, qualitative etc, basic profile of study

8.      key findings & position - note any important statistics

9.      notable points - landmark study, flaws, gaps

10.  links to other articles

11.  questions that come up as you read

12.  quotations you might use � only brief ones.

 

�         Evaluate what you read

1.      Are there alternative explanations for results?

2.      Do researchers make unwarranted assumptions?

3.      Do they ignore certain results? (e.g., usually those that do not support their hypothesis)

4.      Do they inappropriately interpret results?

5.      What is especially relevant or innovative?

6.      How is this study useful or important?

HINT: Authors often discuss limitations, unexplored issues, and suggestions for future research in their Discussion section.

 

C. Writing tips

Evidence - use in-text citations

Quotes - only if you must, to emphasize a point. Keep quotes very brief and incorporate them into your sentences using quote marks to indicate them.

Selectivity � present only points directly relevant to the review�s focus

Paraphrase - use your own words to avoid plagiarism discussion of the studies you have read � this can be organized chronologically, thematically or methodologically. YOUR CHOICE OF WHAT ORGANIZATIONAL PATTERN TO FOLLOW DEPENDS ON THE TOPIC.