Lit Reviews for Sociology, Psychology, & CSD
Students often panic when assigned a Literature Review for a Sociology, Psychology, or CSD class. Deciding on a topic, figuring out where to find appropriate articles, figuring out what types of articles are appropriate, and taking a point of view require learning new skills and techniques.
But students can learn them easily by breaking them down into simple steps and performing them bit by bit.
(Barbie and I both find that a delicious coffee, tea, or chocolate accompanies these activities very nicely.)
- Select a Topic – (Duke University)
- Refining a Topic – (Duke University)
- Find Background Information
- Find Primary Sources
- Find Primary Sources - great information on finding primary (historical) sources in libraries (UC Berkeley)
- Using Primary Sources on the Web – gives advice on finding and evaluating primary (historical) sources found on the Internet (History Section of ALA)
- Find Books on Your Topic
- Find Journal Articles (especially with PsycINFO)
- Locate other relevant information as necessary:
- Government Documents
- Current News
- Statistics University of Michigan Libraries
- Search the Internet and the World Wide Web (Binghamton University Libraries)
- Web Searching Strategies (Binghamton University Libraries)
- Evaluating Sources (North Carolina State University Library)
- Write Your Paper – (and Cite Your Sources Binghamton University Libraries)
Other excellent tutorials developed by university libraries:
Writing in Sociology
by University of North Carolina
The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It
by University of Toronto
Succinct suggestions for thinking about and reading for a literature review.
Very important, at the end, the article states, “A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another.” You must make a point!
on September 30th, 2008 at 11:12 am
A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man\’s mind can get both provocation and privacy.