Non-verbal communication in friendships and romantic relationships
Literature Review Assignment Part 2 Guidelines
Overview
The Literature Review Part 2 is the second half of your original communication literature review project and builds upon your Topic Proposal and Literature Review Part 1 assignments. This assignment includes revisions from your Literature Review Part 1 assignment and a review of literature.
In addition to the cover page and two pages of text from the Literature Review Part 1 assignment, the Literature Review Part 2 assignment should be approximately 4-5 pages of new text covering the review of literature. These 4-5 pages should contain a minimum of seven scholarly sources. Every reference you cite in the paper (and only those references cited in the paper) should be included on a reference page. This means that, between the three scholarly sources from Part 1 and the seven from Part 2, this completed assignment should contain a minimum total of ten scholarly sources. You will be docked 5 points for each scholarly source under ten in your paper. As a reminder, any online sources used must be credible sources such as government sites or sites backed by scholarly research and you must write in third person.
This assignment must be handed in: (1) in hard copy in class; and (2) submitted through the Safe Assign feature on Blackboard by class on the due date. You must do both, or the assignment will be considered late until both are completed.
Literature Review Part 1 Revisions: This part of the paper should be a revised version of the Literature Review Part 1 assignment. I expect you to make a good faith effort at making all of the revisions noted in my feedback. The points you are awarded for this section will be a percentage of the revisions you completed (i.e., if you did 80% of the revisions, you will receive 80% of the points allotted for this section).
Review of Literature: This section reviews the existing research on your topic and describes what is currently known. It should focus on how past research and existing theories inform your topic. The review of literature provides the rationale for the research questions and/or hypotheses you propose. Put another way, you should think of the review of literature as one coherent argument in funnel format leading up to the RQ/H.
This section of the paper should begin with the centered heading of “Review of Literature” followed by an introductory paragraph that previews the structure of the review. The preview should match the order of the headings contained within the review of literature.
After the introductory paragraph, you should have your first main subheading. Under this subheading, you should review the literature relevant to this organizing concept. At the end of this section, you should have a transition sentence leading to the second main subheading. After the second main subheading, you should review the literature relevant to this second organizing concept. You may have additional subheadings as needed. Make sure the conceptualization of your variables is clearly stated within the relevant subheading.
Research Question and/or Hypotheses: The final part of your literature review is the formal proposal of your research question or hypothesis. You may have more than one depending on your topic; however, only one RQ or H is required. Your RQ/H should flow out of your literature review. Often it will be introduced with a phrase such as, “Therefore, the following research question is posed,” or “As such, the following hypothesis is advanced,” and should be preceded by a short paragraph summarizing the argument presented in the review of literature.
Additional Notes and Tips
Your RQ/H can be different from what you handed in for the Topic Proposal assignment; however, if it changes drastically, I recommend that you get feedback from me on your new RQ/H.
If you can’t find many studies linking the variables you are interested in, review studies that are relevant to the general area of research you are examining or review what is known about them separately and make the link between them as you lead up to your RQ/H.
Focus more on quantitative research rather than qualitative, critical or rhetorical research.
Use some organizing scheme to review the studies—do not make each study a separate paragraph, but rather weave together the articles to help create your argument.
Remember to provide transitions between each section.
Indent your RQ/H as you would a new paragraph.
Are you citing your sources properly? Do your in-text citations match (exactly) what is on your Reference page (and vice versa)? Do you include page numbers for every quote? Are you avoiding large block quotes? Have you avoided using any personal pronouns in your paper? If your answer to each of these questions is not “yes” then you can expect to lose points.
