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