Research Methods Sept 2010 Literature review A literature

Research Methods Sept. 2010

Literature review A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. Literature reviews are secondary sources, and as such, do not report any new or original experimental work. The body of texts are from academic-oriented literature, such as journal articles and dissertations. Its ultimate goal is to bring the reader up to date with current literature on a topic and forms the basis for another goal. Literature review will generate a bibliography.

MLA citation 1. Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper. 2. Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. 3. Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. 4. Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a hanging indent.

MLA citation Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). Author names are written last name first; middle names or middle initials follow the first name: Burke, Kenneth Levy, David M. Wallace, David.

MLA citation Book: Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Book without author: Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993. Magazine: Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call. " Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70 -71. Journal: Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu. " Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 15. 1 (1996): 41 -50.

Qualitative researches aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed, rather than large samples. SURVEY INTERVIEW

Survey l Sample size l Medium: paper questionnaire, online survey (survey monkey, google spreadsheet) l Survey questions: - factual: how many hours do you stay on Facebook every day? - explanatory: why do you like Lady Gaga? - likert scale: strongly agree, disagree, strongly disagree

Interview l Sample size l Medium: face-to-face, phone, email, etc. l Interview questions: l closed questions: do you go back home every week? l open-ended questions: Could you describe one day of your school life?

Share your research topics

Homework Read DK p. 38 -80 – cite at least 4 kinds of sources in MLA style, as you would in a Works Cited list. Search for images/pictures for constructing your paper argument.