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C.A.R. Part #4 - The Lit Review


Description

 The Literature Review sets the context for your C.A.R. It is basically the "book report" section of your project and contains a review of all the previous studies and writings that have been conducted or completed about your research question. It is your job to track down as many newspaper articles, magazine articles, on-line articles, books, interviews, and studies that are about your topic... read them... summarize them... and then present them in a coherent (and logical) mini-report. What previous work informs your understanding of the problem? What theories or predictions about outcomes come from past studies? How is what you plan to do similar or different from what others have tried in the past? The Literature Review is the most difficult – and the most time consuming – part of any C.A.R. project.

Dr. Hartnell's Helpful Hints

1. Put YOUR last name and the page number in the upper-right corner.
2. The words Literature Review (in bold) appear at the top of this page. They are centered on the page. Your paper should already be set to "double-spaced", which means all you need to do is hit the "Enter" key ONCE to ensure the proper spacing between the words Literature Review and the start of your text.
3.  Hit "Enter" again to begin the text of your Literature Review.

4.  DO indent the first sentence of your Literature Review and all paragraphs throughout.

5. The Literature Review is double-spaced, left-justified, and begins on its own page, regardless of how long the Introduction runs. (In other words, even if the Introduction runs one full page and two lines of a second, the Literature Review begins on a new page. This is true for all the major sections of your C.A.R. written report.)
6. The Literature Review will be the section of your paper that is the most heavily cited since it contains reviews and analysis of the work of other researchers. (Please click here for a refresher on when and how to properly cite your sources.)
7. Don't forget that the margins throughout must be the default setting that appear when you open a new Word Processing Document. DON'T try to cheat and alter them.
 8. LENGTH: The Literature Review should be no fewer than 5 pages in length and contain no fewer than 10 sources. You may (and most likely will) exceed these limits.

Sample C.A.R. - The Literature Review


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[Click the button above to download a copy of this sample Literature Review]

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