Friday, 3/18

Drafting a Literature Review

Sample Lit Review

Subject headings Topic

generalizations Mix of direct and

indirect citations Making connections

between sources

Direct Citations

Deborah Brandt asserts, “Literacy sponsors are positive or negative influences on a person’s literacy” (338).

Indirect Citations

Some sources suggest that literacy sponsors can have positive or negative influences on a person’s literacy (Brandt; Wardle; DeVoss).

ExampleTexting Arvin

Ronnie and Sam’s relationship has been tumultuous since the beginning. In the Jersey Shore house, many of the roommates believe that Ron and Sam should no longer be together (Mike; Snooki;Dina; Pauly-D). When Sammi and Ron broke up the last time, rumors were started that Sammi was texting another man named Arvin (Mike). When Mike ran into Arvin at Karma, he proceeded to tell Ron about Sammi’s supposed infidelity, claiming, “Yo, my dude, Arvin just came up in Karma and said, ‘Why is Sammi with Ron? She told me to meet her here,’” clearly accusing Sammi of being unfaithful. A few days later, Mike brought up the subject again, this time directing it at Sammi, telling her, “You’re sketchy, and I don’t like you. I don’t like you at all,” once again expressing his distaste for Sammi and his desire to break up the Sammi-Ron relationship.

Other roommates at the Jersey shore are not so sure that Sammi was being unfaithful. Jwoww for example comforts Sammi by stating, “The only thing that you can argue is that you’re hitting up dudes, saying, ‘Yo, I’m single, I wanna do me.’ If I knew Tom was gonna be there, I’d bring ten Rogers to the same place.’” By using the example of her own relationship, Jwoww shows that she supports Sammi and her situation. Likewise, Snooki chimes into the conversation and tries to comfort Sammi, stating, “You didn’t do anything wrong. Mike is a scum bag.” At this point, it seems like the house is divided, with the girls supporting Sammi and the boys supporting Ron.

Drafting Choose one of your subject headings. Write a generalization about this heading.

• Example from a student writing about the influence of the SAT on college students’ performance:

• “The stress associated with taking the SAT can lead students to perform poorly.”

• Her subject heading was “Stress and SAT.” This topic generalization clearly introduces the main ideas that she will cover in this paragraph.

• It may help to use indirect citations to connect sources. Share.

Drafting

Get more specific, using indirect citations to make connections between sources. – Example: Many scholars discuss the

benefits of word processing programs such as Microsoft Word (MacArthur; Lewis).

Drafting

Summarize the main argument of one of your sources. Feel free to borrow from your annotated bib and precis. – Example: More specifically, Lewis asserts that

special keyboards, such as IntelliKeys, enable the user to program the keyboard to appear in any order that is desired (19).

– Expand with a direct quote or two (use your precis Share.

Drafting Now summarize another source, showing the

connection between them. (Create a “conversation.”)– Example: Lewis defines speech recognition

software, or voice-input, as software that recognizes the voice of the user and records the words as text (19). According to MacArthur, dictation and speech recognition can be very beneficial to students with difficulty in basic writing skills but the limitations of speech recognition software are much greater than dictating to a human.

Share.

Drafting

Repeat the process for each of your sources you listed under your subject heading.

Incorporate quotes where necessary or relevant.

Remember to show the connections.

Drafting

Now pull all the threads together: identify the areas of agreement and disagreement, and use them to support your argument. – Example: Both MacArthur and Lewis indicate that

word prediction software was created for individuals with physical disabilities, but MacArthur claims that the benefits of word prediction technology is promising for students with severe disabilities in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Drafting

Repeat for each of your subject headings.

Generalization Source Source Source Analysis

Subject heading

Intro and conclusion

Intro– Use what you have from annotated bib– Refer to your subject headings– Point vaguely to gaps

Conclusion– Sum everything up– Identify gaps in more detail– This will eventually be the transition into your own

research