For the midterm paper, you are required to locate and integrate four peer-reviewed journal articles related to your topic of interest. The articles should not be review articles (book reviews or meta-reviews); instead, they should ask and answer a question through hypothesis testing using data (whether quantitative or qualitative; many observations or a few case studies). This is a process that takes careful reading, writing, editing, and – perhaps most importantly – time. This process should be approached via the following steps:
Step 1 – Literature Review Matrix Worksheet. For each article, you should identify and record information for each of the five categories provided on your literature review matrix worksheet. Your responses should be handwritten, and you should also record the exact page numbers for any information recorded (quoted AND paraphrased/summarized). By completing your matrix document, you will have a better visual and organizational sense of how the individual articles relate to one another.
Step 2 – Integration (Drafting the Body of the Paper). After you have your information for each individual article, complete with year and page citations, you must now integrate the information into a flowing “narrative” that thoughtfully considers (compares and contrasts; identifies potential shortcomings with) the approaches observed across your articles. This is the core of your literature review paper.
Step 3 – Making the Work Complete. Compose a complete introduction (attention-getter; main idea/your tentative question; roadmap) and conclusion (how will your project add to or how is it distinguishable from what is already known about this topic) for your paper.
Step 4 – Revising and Polish. Take a break, then come back to your draft with fresh eyes. Review and revise – your first draft should not be your final draft.
