1

Draft 1.1: The Literature Review

Your Draft 1.1 Literature Review is due on Raider Writer by Friday, February 26 at 11:59:59 p.m.
Please use proper APA/MLA in-text citations and do not forget to include your References (APA) or Works
Cited (MLA) at the end of your assignment. Failure to do this will result in a significant loss of points.
So, lets get two things out of the way first: first, the literature review is NOT a summary or analysis of a work
of fiction. Second, the literature review is also NOT called a literary review.
A college-level literature review is a synthesis and analysis of several current scholarly articles (a.k.a. the
literature) that focuses on a scholarly question or problem. In other words, a literature review shows your
readers that you have read and now understand what scholars already know about a research topic.
As stated earlier, the literature that you read for this assignment will not come from works of fiction. It will
come from the scholarly sources that you used on BA3 and other sources that you have found since then. Those
include: peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters. You will not use book reviews, magazines,
newspapers, podcasts, Wikipedia, your grandmother, or any of the non-scholarly sources listed on the BA3
handout. On the literature review, you will use 8 scholarly sources. Just like BA3, you will lose points for
each non-scholarly source that you cite. If you have questions about the scholastic veracity of any source you
encounter, consult your BA3 handout or e-mail me.
IMPORTANT: Unlike a researched persuasive essay, a literature review does NOT ask you to take a position
or argue a point of view. Rather, the purpose of a literature review is to examine the research that has already
been done, synthesize and paraphrase the main ideas presented in those studies, and critically analyze their
findings. As a result of writing the literature review, you will bring a more informed understanding of your
chosen topic and thereby pose a more intelligent research question.
Literature Review Thesis Statement
A thesis statement for a literature review is NOT argumentative. Rather, your thesis statement will discuss
common themes that you have found in your scholarly sources, which is very similar to what you did in BA2.
Noticed that I used the plural themes here. Whereas in BA2 you focused only on one theme, you may find it
necessary to mention two or three themes in your literature review thesis statement. As always, though, do not
be too broad.
The following thesis would be inappropriate for a literature review because it tries to argue a point and does
not discuss the research: Parents should limit their children to one hour of television a day to help combat the
childhood obesity.
While this sample thesis statement would work for the researched argument assignment that you will do later in
the semester, it will not work for a literature review because it does not focus on the ideas discussed by scholars
in the literature. Students who do not do well on this assignment make this mistake consistently.
Remember, a literature review shows your readers that you have read and now understand what scholars already
know about a topic.
Heres an example of an effective thesis statement for a literature review:
Current research on childhood obesity and television focuses on the time children spend watching television,
the content of the television shows and commercials, and the food children typically consume while watching
television. Through previous research has suggested that limiting television was the key to helping children

maintain a healthy weight, new research shows that changing the content of childrens television shows and
commercials to reflect a healthy lifestyle is also key.
Lets break this thesis statement down so that we can understand why its effective. First, the thesis statement
explicitly states the themes that the writer encountered while reading the scholarly literature. In this case, there
are three themes that the writer encountered: content of television shows and commercials, food consumed
while watching television, and time spent watching television. Based on this, we can conclude that the writer
will explore these themes in more depth throughout the rest of the literature review and show us what scholars
have to say about these themes.
Second, the thesis statement does not make an argument. Rather, it focuses on the WHAT the research says. In
particular, I like how the last sentence of the thesis statement shows how current research relates to the older
research that came before it.
SUPER IMPORTANT: Many students assume that when they write the first version of their thesis statement,
its finished and cannot be changed. What happens, then, is that students end up writing a literature review that
is not congruent with their thesis statement. So whats the solution? Revise your thesis statement as you are
writing your essay. If you find that what you are saying in the later parts of the literature review does not match
your thesis statement, then just change your thesis statement to reflect this.
Literature Review Introduction
In the introduction, you should define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus providing an
appropriate context for why you are reviewing the literature. For example, what is the research problem/topic
you are writing about? Why is this topic important? Many students find it helpful to write their introduction last
once they have already written the literature review so that they can properly introduce their essay. After all,
how can you introduce something you havent said yet?
This sample introduction comes from a student in a previous semester who earned an A on the literature
review:
According to the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, there are 1.5 million children adopted in the United
States each year. In recent years there has been a shift in the choice between open or closed adoption.
Researchers are beginning to challenge the idea that closed adoption is the only effective practice. This
questioning affects 1.5 million children and their families. Even though many researchers claim closed adoption
is the most traditional and logical choice for adoption cases, more and more researchers are encouraging to
consider open adoption for all cases. While some researchers are still against open adoption, others are
discussing how open adoption is becoming more common and how most people tend to prefer it.
This is a nice introduction because it gives us relevant context for why this issue is important (1.5 million
children are adopted each year). After this brief context, the student immediately begins talking about the
research and talks about the implications for the research. Finally, the thesis statement concisely states what
the student will discuss in the literature review. The thesis statement does not make an argument; it focuses
solely on the research.
Literature Review Body Paragraphs
The body paragraphs are where the bulk of your assignment will come from. Like BA2, each of your body
paragraphs needs: (1) a topic sentence (the most important sentence in your body paragraph) (2) concise
paraphrase and/or quotations to show your reader what scholars are saying about the topic at hand and (3) the
synthesis.

For those who are more visually inclined, follow this process for writing your literature review body
paragraphs:
Topic Sentence

Paraphrase (or quotation) of

the literature (two or more
sources)

Synthesis (in your own

words)

Also like BA2, the biggest mistake students make is they focus too much on summarizing the research rather
than synthesizing. Again, we are grading you primarily on your ability to synthesize this information, just like
we did on BA2.
Here is an example of an effective body paragraph for a literature review essay:
Because theories of career development were developed from a male perspective, little scholarly attention has
been paid to the effects of harmful masculine stereotypes on males career decision-making. Some researchers
have recognized that gender-role stereotyping takes a significant toll on boys as well as girls (Gysbers et al.,
1998). One clear example of this is the influence of sports as a major socializing experience for boys (Skovholt,
1990). In football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, and other sports, there are winners and losers, and boys are
taught to compete and win. Winning in sports is perceived as necessary to maintain the athletes masculine role
(Smith & Inder, 1993). Therefore, when boys grow up, they translate the values of the sports field into the
workplace and judge their success by their ability to compete, win, and acquire status. Of course, not every boy
can win, and the research here has shown that the outcome of failure can be a diminished sense of self-worth.
I have color coded this paragraph to facilitate your visual conception of how a body paragraph in a literature
review works. The yellow topic sentence clearly states what the writer will be focusing on in this paragraph.
The writer then follows the topic sentence with two sentences of paraphrase (blue). After the paraphrase, the
writer includes one sentence of synthesis (grey) to help guide the reader. Then, the writer includes one more
sentence of paraphrase (blue) to support the synthesis in the previous sentence. Finally, the writer provides two
solid sentences of synthesis (grey) to help the reader make a connection between all three sources.
Keep in mind that this is just one way to organize your body paragraphs for the literature review. There are an
infinite number of ways to combine paraphrase/quotations with synthesis effectively. The point here is that you
have to have paraphrase (or brief quotations) of the literature followed by synthesis to write an effective
literature review body paragraph.
Heres another example of an effective body paragraph for a literature review with the same color coding as the
last paragraph (yellow = topic sentence, blue = paraphrase/quotations, grey = synthesis). Notice how the writer
uses brief quotes and paraphrase this time to concisely explain the literature:
Current research supports change-talk, or dialogue between counselor and client that is oriented towards the
advantages of behavior change, as one effective technique for therapists to assist clients in exploring their
feelings and thoughts about change. For instance, researchers in support of change-talk find the technique
effective because it provides many different ways for the client to think about change: In general, summaries
are collection of change statements the person has made: disadvantages of the status quo, reasons for change,
optimism about change, and desire to change (Miller & Rollnick, 2002, p. 90). Barron (2007) agrees, arguing
that change-talk helps clients sort through their options so that they can clarify ambivalence and examine each
side of the conflict surrounding change. Changing ones behavior requires self-efficacy or belief in ones ability
to enact change. These researchers illustrate the importance of change-talk as a viable technique in helping

clients increase their own self-efficacy so that they can make meaningful changes to their lives. Specifically,
they show that change-talk is useful in helping clients examine all possible consequences of their desired
change so that clients can make informed decisions.
Literature Review Conclusion
As with your BA2, you need to restate your thesis statement in the first sentence of your conclusion. Do not
copy and paste the thesis statement from your introduction into your conclusion. Find a new way to restate
your thesis statement in the first sentence of your conclusion paragraph. A good literature review conclusion
will also succinctly summarize the big picture ideas youve been discussing throughout the literature review.
Finally, tell your reader the consequences/results of this research. In other words, how has this research, as a
whole, changed the way that we think about your topic? Heres a sample conclusion:
Adoption has become very common in the U.S. Traditionally, closed adoption was the only practice. Now most
researchers are advocating the open adoption should be evaluated and considered for all adoption cases, and
open adoption is becoming a more common practice. Even though there is very little data about the benefits of
open adoption collected to set standards on the practice, open adoption is continually growing, which indicates
that the research discussed in this essay is valuable in helping us understand how open adoption may benefit
childrens lives. Thus, more researchers are being encouraged to conduct studies in this area.