LITERATURE REVIEW PROJECT INTRODUCTION
The literature review project is the largest assignment in the course and is divided into three parts to make it more manageable and give opportunity for more feedback and adjustments along the way. The three components (all graded) are
1. Research proposal – topic choice is first step (cannot be submitted without topic approval from instructor)
E-mail topic to instructor.
Identify your topic specifically and clearly.
Provide brief rationale for topic choice.
Follow etiquette. (see Moodle for handout)
Include course and section in signature block.
If instructions are not followed, instructor will not reply.
2. First draft of report (cannot be submitted without the research proposal being submitted previously)
3. Final copy of the literature review (cannot be submitted without the first draft being submitted previously)
Research Project Proposal (5% of the course grade)
The research project proposal will be submitted through filling out a form on Moodle that will guide you through the information necessary. You will be able to re-open the form as many times as you would like before the submission deadline while working on the proposal.
To start working on the assignment, you need to take the following steps:
1) Choose a topic for your literature review project. A literature review provides a summary and analysis of texts of various kinds about a specific issue or topic. For this assignment, you need to choose a topic that was in the news and online/offline discussions within the past six months. The issue needs to be significant and controversial, so that there will be multiple viewpoints on it coming from various sources. Preferably, the topic should be related to Canada, Alberta, Edmonton, or NAIT. A topic that is relevant to you as a student would work well; however, remember that this is not an opinion piece, but a review of the opinions others have on the topic. You have to choose a topic that is both controversial and narrow enough so that you can compare texts about the topic, but substantial enough to have attracted plenty of attention, opinion, and analysis in magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. You will also need to obtain my approval of the topic, which is the purpose of the e-mail.
2) Once you have chosen your topic, do a library and online resources search for relevant sources. They can be articles, videos, blog posts, social media posts, websites, and other texts. Ensure that you find at least 10 diverse sources to note in your research proposal (you will be reading them in-depth later in the term, but for the proposal, you would need proper APA references for each source). Of the 10 sources:
• no more than 3 can be dated older than 6 months ago but no older than 3 years ago (these would provide a background for the issue, for example),
• no more than 2 can be videos (if a video is used, ensure it has text either shown or spoken in it),
• no more than 1 can be in a language other than English,
• at least 3 need to originate from Canada.
• at least 4 should be peer-reviewed
For your final report, you will read 15 or more sources. Note that you do not have to use all of the sources you list in your research proposal while writing the final report. If you are unsure about any of the sources, feel free to send me a quick e-mail.
3) Once you have established that there are enough sources on your topic, think about the structure and overall content of your report. Your research paper will categorise and summarise the important themes and perspectives that appear in these texts. Additionally, it will discuss the techniques that the authors use to present their arguments and convince their audience. The final report will be around 15 pages (7 500 words) long. Think about the following questions:
• Why is this an interesting and significant topic?
• How does it relate to current concerns?
• What are you hoping to achieve for yourself (in terms of improving your writing and critical thinking skills) when you write the paper?
• How will you approach the topic, and what is your plan/timeline for completing your formal report? Be realistic about how much time you will spend on each phase (planning, research, first draft, revisions, final version).
• What resources are you planning to use? Be specific about the details, e.g. the library databases that you will be searching, relevant web resources, and search terms. You should review Kent Lewis’s introductions to the chapters on “Questions” and on “Argument” before determining your topic because the Literature Review has a strong focus on analysis of argument or persuasive writing.
• What assistance or guidance will you need from me as you are going through the report-writing process?
4) Once your topic has been approved and you have analysed the questions above, you are ready to complete the Research Proposal Questionnaire on Moodle.
The guidelines for your first draft and the final report are posted on Moodle as well. The crucial first step, however, is a successful, clear, and detailed proposal.
