1. Literature Review
Assignment overview
You will complete a 600-1000 words literature review in which
you discuss
four
of the most relevant sources in your research. You will
complete an MLA-formatted works cited page.
Assignment Preparation and Process
you will
summarize the prominent “conversations” about your research
topic and analyze how these ideas inform your argument, but it
differs in sophistication. The key here is to look for
connections
between your sources and write about them in conjunction with
one another. Think about the salient points of the authors.
How are the authors’ points similar to
one another? On what do they differ?
remember:
a. A lit review requires a synthesis of different subtopics to
come to a greater
understanding of a larger issue. Like a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces
(main points of the argument) must be put together to reveal the
whole.
b. Use the knowledge you have gained from class to summarize,
paraphrase, and directly quote where appropriate. Use
attributive tags to introduce your sources and indicate all
summarized, paraphrased, and quoted material.
c. Keep your own voice out of the literature review. In most
genres of writing, your voice should come across to the reader.
The literature review, however, is about the opinions of others
—
not your opinion.
1. To get started, first choose

2. four
of the most relevant sources in your research thus far( the
sources you will use are in the attachment matrix). As you are
researching, look into the bibliographies of the articles you
have found. Who seems to be a prominent author/researcher
associated with your topic? To whom do other authors and
researchers often refer to in their own studies? What sources
were particularly helpful to further your working thesis? What
sources might be in disagreement with your working thesis?
2. Introduction: Include your
working
thesis statement. Remember, this is a working thesis and may
change as you continue your research.
3. Establish main
points. For instance, if you’re researching the effectiveness of
viral videos, you
could have three main points: 1. Viral videos are effective when
the ad is not the focus of the
video, 2. When the video becomes viral naturally, and 3. When
the ad embedded in the video relates to the target audience
4. use the synthesis matrix (see attachment).
5. Body: Use the information gathered in the matrix to organize
your lit review Also keep the following questions in mind as
you write your literature review in paragraph form.
What seem to be the gaps or unanswered questions in his
research and/or conclusions? In other words, what does he not
address or seem to dismiss or ignore that you think is relevant?
How does this particular source fit into what has already been
said? What is its relationship to the other sources? For example,
does it build on the work of another author? Does it answer a
question raised at the end of another source?
As you read the sources, what seem to be the overall patterns
that emerge? For example, what seems to be common
knowledge among the authors?
Do the authors address different perspectives on the same
question?

3. Do they come to similar conclusions?
In other words, what kind of picture c
an you get about the authors’
conversation?
6. Conclusion: You may conclude with a short summary, though
this is not necessary.
Formatting your literature review
You should use MLA documentation style to cite your research
sources in your literature review. Refer to
Jeff Howard’s essay on MLA guidelines and
the various online sources for information about this
documentation style. The OWL at Purdue is a good one
(owl.english.purdue.edu).
I will use the following criteria to grade your lit review:
You have chosen four relevant sources
You have used the synthesis matrix
You include a thesis statement as introduction
You discuss the sources in conjunction with each other. You are
not merely summarizing sources as separate entities.
You include a works cited page in MLA format
You use proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling
Your review is organized appropriately
again, use the attachment matrix and find the research question
and the sources in it and use them in the essay, don't use any
other unnecessary sources.