Instructions:
Directions: Students will conduct and write a literature review. While literature reviews are expected to be extensive and exhaustive, students will not have the time to conduct a full literature review within the timeframe of this course.
Step 1: Writing a Research Question
The research process begins with topic generation. Before you can even begin to conduct a literature review, you must decide on a topic. What are you interested in? What do you want to know more about? What are you passionate about? Developing a research question involves three important steps:
1. Identifying a topic
2. Refining your topic
3. Narrowing your topic
Before you write your research question, you will need to do some preliminary background research to determine two important things:
1. What has already been done on the topic?
2. What are the issues surrounding the topic?
Use the library databases to search for your important topic concepts to find scholarly, peer-reviewed research on your topic. Stay away from books as they are not always peer-reviewed and take longer to read. Focus directly on journal articles as they contain primary research using research methods. Refer to the mini-lecture titled, “How to find scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles.”
After reading the current research on your chosen topic, think about what you have read and how you want to conduct your research. This will help you develop your research question.
Here are the pre-literature review steps, this doesn’t need to be written-up for the assignment purposes but will aid you in figuring out your topic and research question. Complete the following activity to assist you in topic generation and research question development:
It’s important to remember that a research question must be both measurable and doable. Writing a research question involves the following steps:
1. Define the topic area
a. In 1-2 sentences, define your area of interest. Be sure your topic is related to criminology.
2. Describe the problem
a. In 1-2 sentences, describe the problem you aim to address.
3. Specify the gaps and justify the investigation
a. Identify areas of under investigation/weakness. What do we need to know more about?
4. Create a research question
a. Try writing a research question. Stay away from closed-ended question like yes/no questions.
5. Assess and refine
a. Is it measurable?
b. Is it doable?
c. Does it require empirical evidence?
d. Is it related to criminology?
To develop a research question, you need to think about the answers to each of the following questions:
1. Who? Are you interested in a specific group of people? Can your topic be narrowed by gender, race, socioeconomic status, sex, or something else?
2. What? What are the issues surrounding your topic? Are there any subtopics you discovered in your background research? Did you find any gaps or questions that seem unanswered?
3. Where? Can your topic be narrowed down to a specific location or area?
4. When? Is the topic current or historical? Was there a causative event that lead to the development of your topic?
5. How? What kind of primary sources or data do you need? What method did you discover in your background research that is utilized to explore your topic?
6. Why? Why are you interested in this topic? Why should others be interested in this topic?
Developing a research question is one of the most important parts of the research process because it helps to define your frame and focus. Every part of a research paper will seek to accomplish a specific goal in order to answer this question. A research question is NOT a hypothesis. A research question is a question that research intends to address. A hypothesis is a prediction about the relationship between two or more variables. A research question should be:
1. Specific. What exactly do you want to accomplish?
2. Measurable. How will your measure your concepts?
3. Realistic. Is it possible to answer your question?
To develop your question, identify the important concepts related to your topic and construct a question you want to answer making sure that it is specific, measurable and realistic. Make sure that your question is neither too narrow, nor too broad.
Once you have identified a topic and created a research question, you will need to identify a list of terms to conduct your search for research. Once you have your list of terms, search for scholarly, peer-reviewed research using the USF library databases to begin your literature review.
Students will conduct a thorough literature review on their topic. Remember, the research question is what you are seeking to answer in your research project, not the literature review. You are not looking to answer any question but rather providing a state of the literature. Students should write a literature review using at least 20 scholarly, peer-reviewed sources. Use APA citation style.
Explanation:
The literature review is the most important step in the research process. A literature review is a detailed review of the state of the research on a given topic or area of study. Conducting a literature allows the author to thoroughly understand the full extent of the research that has been conducted and the results of that result for a given area of study or topic. A scientific researcher must include a literature review so that readers can understand what has been done, how it has been done, what other findings exist, the limitations of the research, and the gaps.
A literature review is a synthesis of the research and can be organized in three distinct ways: thematically, chronologically, or descriptively. Each way of organizing a literature review requires different methods of conducting a review and varies according to the purpose and framing of the paper.
A thematic literature review would organize the findings into themes and discuss all the relevant research on a given theme before moving to the next theme. A chronological literature review would discuss the research in a given order such as by year or by order of discovery. A descriptive literature review would describe the area of study ensuring that all important points were discussed.
A literature review is NOT a summary of the research but rather a synthesis of what we know, what contradictions/similarities exist, what methods have been used, what statistical techniques have been utilized, and the impact that the research has made. Organization is key to conducting a great literature review and requires the writer to develop a purpose for conducting the research.
There are many ways to organize the research. Here are a few examples:
1. Create a table with the following column headings:
a. Author Names
b. Year of Publication
c. Data Source
d. Technique
e. Key Findings
f. Limitations
2. Write an Annotated bibliography
3. Write key findings on note cards and organize them according to similarities, differences, and gaps.
In addition to organizing the research, you have to determine the best way to frame the literature. Think of the literature review as a story where you provide the necessary information in a given order so as to give the reader a full understanding that makes sense and flows effortlessly. Framing a literature review aids in organizing the information and guiding the reader through the information so that when they have finished reading the literature review they have a very solid understanding of the state of the research on the given area of study.
It is important to understand that a literature review does NOT include your own ideas, thoughts, judgements, beliefs, or opinions. It is strictly a report of what has been done, what we know, and what we didn’t include. It is also important to ensure that you are only including the right information from a research article. A research article is organized in the following way:
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Literature Review
4. Research Design
5. Analysis and Findings
6. Conclusion
7. References
This is not exactly how it will be labeled in every research article but more a guideline. The headings may vary some but the information will always be organized in this order. Some research articles will condense the Research Design and Analysis and Findings and others will not. Below is an explanation of the goal of each section so that you can learn to identify each section without relying on the headings or labels used. Each section of the research article has a specific goal and is written in a specific way:
1. Abstract-always written last but placed first in the research article. Think of this as an overview or summary. The goal is to provide a 100 to 200 word description of the article. Many times, it is a cut and paste paragraph constructed from sentences written in each part of the paper. Always read the abstract first to decide whether or not the paper is even worth reading. If it is relevant to your topic, it may be relevant. If it isn’t, save the time, discard it.
2. Introduction-generally written after a literature review. It is where you get to hook the reader. The first few sentences should pull the reader in and make them want to keep reading. Think of this as inciting alarm in the reader that, 1. A problem exists, and 2. You have the answer. In the introduction you may say something like, “Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in women over 40.” Or even, “87% of all inmates housed in a correctional facility have a mental health diagnosis.” (those are false statements used for emphasis). The introduction is the place where you can report data and facts to get the reader to see the significance and prevalence of the issue.
3. Literature review- this is the first step in the research process and the most important. The literature review provides a synthesis of the research that has been conducted on a given topic or area of study. It explains the state of the research. It is easily identifiable because the authors will discuss other research and research findings.
4. Research Design- This is the part of the research process where the researcher develops a method of study for the given area or topic of study. They outline how they conducted the research and identifies the steps they took to collect data. It generally identifies the variables, hypothesis, and the way the data is collected.
5. Analysis and Findings- This is generally the most difficult section to read as it discusses statistical techniques or the qualitative findings. This is the section of the research that discusses the analysis used and the findings from the data. It is the place where the research question is answered. It is the outcome of the research conducted.
6. Conclusion- this is where the author wraps up what was done and identifies the overall finding. It also identifies the places that the research fell short and the limitations of the data. Lastly, the researchers identify the area that the research should focus on in the future.
The only part of a research article you should use information from to write a literature review is the Research Design and the Analysis and Findings.
Helpful Info and Tips:
1. If you find a research article that was very helpful or similar to the research topic and design you are focused on, review the reference page to identify other sources you could read to use in your research.
2. If you keep finding references or mentions of a certain piece of research or author in many of the research articles you are reading, look it up and be sure to include it.
3. If you mention something, whether that be a particular concept or term or a historical event in the literature review, be sure you provide a thorough explanation of it. You can’t just say something in passing without fully reviewing the event or idea or term.
4. Think about the whole picture, what is important to know about the topic, are their any historical connections to the topic or significant ideas or previous contributions that the reader must know, if so, think about adding a Historical Framework section to the article or Policy Implication.
5. Literature reviews are emotionless. They are written in neutral tones without bias.
6. Research is written formally, without the use of I, he/she, me, or you. It uses person-first language and refers to categories rather than individuals. For example, we would not say “some people prefer to go to the beach but tall people like going to the pool.” Rather, “Certain individuals have a preference for frequenting larger bodies of water while individuals who are taller in stature are more likely to frequent pools.”
7. The correct way to cite other research is to use the in-text citations. For example, we would not say, “According to Justice Quarterly, Homicide rates have returned to pre-covid levels.” Rather, we would say, “According to Hall (2023), Homicide rates have returned to pre-covid levels.” Additionally, we would not say, “According to Correctional Education and Recidivism: Toward a Tool for Change, 98% of those currently incarcerated will be returned to the community at some point in the future.” Rather, “According to Hall (2023), 98% of those currently….”
8. We do not refer to authors by their first names or their identifier. For the purposes of research, they are just their last name.
9. If you are citing an author for multiple works in a given year, add a lowercase letter starting at a, after the year. For example, Hall (2023a), and Hall (2023b). Use that same letter in your reference page.
10. Reference pages should always be in alphabetical order.
11. It is helpful to get in the habit of citing your refences as you use them rather than at the beginning or ending. It ensures that you are only citing the ones you actually use.
12. Please do not use citation machines, they are almost always wrong. The common issue is that you may enter the information incorrectly, or you may have the source type wrong. The other most common reason they end up being wrong is formatting. Formatting does not copy and paste well, and people that are new to citing sources don’t pick up on the minute details for citations. Get into the practice of citing your sources using APA style by learning how to cite in APA. Once, you know, you know. Formatting matters for citation styles.
13. Even though you view journal articles online or digitally, they are not an electronic source but a journal. Electronic sources refer to digital media such as videos, audio files, websites and other mediums. Journals, while available through the library website, are actually in a printed edition on a shelf.
14. Books are not scholarly, peer-reviewed sources. While they may be non-fiction, they do not go through the peer review process. Books are rarely used as a reference for scholarly research.
15. The word research is often thrown around and used to refer to simple inquiry at times. This is not the same use as scientific research, which is what a research project involves. Research is a scientific process, most people that say, “I did a research project, or I did some research” did not actually do scientific research. Be cautious with the term. Scientific research and research are intended to mean the same thing in the academic world, but in the social world, reading Wikipedia is sometimes referred to as “research” which it is not. Scientific research relies on empiricism and involves the scientific method.
16. Writing a literature is a big task, organization is key. Don’t bounce around from article to article. Read one article, extract the important information and record it either in a chart or annotated bibliography and then move to the next. Organize the findings as you go.
17. Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a great resource for citing sources using APA citation style. The website, found here, provides examples and the rules for formatting all types of situations.
18. There is no length expectation for a literature review nor a number of articles to include. Literature reviews are expected to be extensive and exhaustive. What that means is that a literature review should cover all the relevant research for at least the last century, roughly.