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Literature Review

 

Literature Review Guidelines

Purpose: The literature review is a necessary component of the senior project to ensure that students are making research a vital part of their decision-making. The literature review is a process check to ensure that students are on the right track and to create the next steps they need to take to have a successful presentation.

Logistics:

  • The Literature Review will take place in classrooms with the student’s assigned panel. The student will sit at the table and share what research they have done using their annotated bibliography.
  • Students will dress in normal school attire.
  • Each student must have an appropriate number of credible sources to support decision-making and problem-solving in their project. Include a minimum of
    • 2 interviews with an outside expert or one interview and one personal communication (email/text)
    • one scholarly or peer-reviewed research article
    • 2 general information sources 
  • The approved Proposal Letter and Annotated Bibliography must be submitted to each panel member prior to the Literature Review interview.
  • The Literature Review panel will be the same panel for the final presentations. 
  • Students may not complete their senior presentation without successfully completing their Literature Review.
  • The Literature Review panel will notify the student’s Advocacy teacher if they have successfully completed the review.
  • If a student does not successfully pass the Literature Review, they will be responsible for reconvening their panel together on their own time to make another attempt.
  • Each student will be given 10 minutes to review their annotated bibliography and answer questions similar to the following:
    • What is the strategy used to research your project?
    • How do the sources you found contribute to the project?
    • How do you know that your sources are credible?
    • How has your mentor helped guide you to appropriate sources and information?
    • What role has your outside expert had in your decision-making of where to find research and how to apply it to your final product or service?
    • How are you going to apply what you learned in the research to your project?
    • What will your methods be to complete your project?
    • Summarize your research.

 

Name: ____________________________ Project Title: _____________________________

 

Advocacy Teacher: _______________________ Mentor: ___________________________

 

Present your annotated bibliography and your senior project progress to your faculty mentor and panel. 

Score

Expectations
 

Passing (must check off all boxes) GREEN

Students will…

  • Have their Proposal Letter approved
  • Bring three copies of their Proposal Letter and Annotated Bibliography
  • Bring evidence of contact with their mentor and outside expert (email, note, or letter from their outside expert confirming contact)
  • Create an Annotated Bibliography that 
    • Includes a minimum of 2 interviews with outside expert or one interview and one personal communication (email/text), one scholarly or peer-reviewed research article, and 2 general information sources 
    • Includes comprehensive annotations for each source
    • Uses correct grammar, punctuation and format of MLA citations
  • Demonstrate knowledge of topic and research through the oral presentation of the letter and annotated bibliography
  • Demonstrate that the project is “senior-project worthy” in size and scope
 

Partially Passing (Fail) YELLOW

Students are partially successful with the above items and need to revise or complete their annotated bibliography or be able to answer basic questions posed by their panel about their project.
 

Fail RED

Students have not turned in their annotated bibliography or come prepared for discussion of their topic with the panel.

 

Comments:

Possible Panel Questions

  1. What is the strategy used to research your project?
  2. How do the sources you found contribute to the project?
  3. How do you know that your sources are credible?
  4. How has your mentor helped guide you to appropriate sources and information?
  5. What role has your outside expert had in your decision-making of where to find research and how to apply it to your final product or service?
  6. How are you going to apply what you learned in the research to your project?
  7. What will your methods be to complete your project?
  8. Summarize your research.
 
Annotated Bibliography

Your Annotated Bibliography should include (at a minimum): 

  • 2 interviews with an outside expert OR one interview and one personal communication (email/text)
  • one scholarly or peer-reviewed research article
  • 2 general information sources  (wiki, YouTube, etc.)

Include the following in EACH entry of your annotated bibliography:

  1. Cite sources using MLA style. Please use MyBib.com to create your citations, but be sure to double-check your citations for mistakes (it’s only a software program, after all). Use the link shorturl.at/vOS58 to access the Purdue OWL for additional help with citations.
  2. Summarize: Describe the main ideas, arguments, etc., and identify the intended audience. Identify the observations or conclusions of the author. 
  3. Evaluate: Explain the author’s expertise, point of view, and any bias he/she may have. Compare to other sources on the same topic that you have also cited to show their strengths, weaknesses, similarities and differences. 
  4. Reflect: Explain why each source is useful for your research topic and how it is relevant.

 

Formatting: 

  • All lines should be double-spaced. Do not add an extra line between the citations.
  • Indent all lines of the citation after the first line (hanging indent) and indent all lines after the first line of the annotation.
  • Entries should appear in ALPHABETICAL ORDER based on the first letter of the entry.

Sample MLA Annotation: In the sample annotation below, the writer includes a summary, an evaluation of the text, and a reflection on how it applies to her own research. (Italics, bolding and underlining are for demonstration only – don’t mark your annotations this way.)

"Single-sex schools good for girls' confidence." Age [Melbourne, Australia], 11 Jan. 

2019, p. 2. Global Issues in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A568970553/GIC?u=wylrc_wyomingst&sid=GIC&xid=c0f1c298. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.

This article cites a study done by Terry Fitzsimmons from the AIBE Centre for Gender Equality in the Workplace at Queensland University, which says that while girls’ confidence usually decreases compared to boys’ around age nine and doesn’t increase until old age, girls who attend girls-only schools do not experience this drop in self-confidence. This implies that girls-only schools are better for girls’ education because the drop in self-esteem corresponds to lower scores in several school subject areas. This article is credible because it cites two separate studies done by university researchers. Both studies used approved research methods and were peer-reviewed. In addition, the researchers involved in both studies are considered to be on the cutting edge of research on this topic.  The information in this article is useful for my research because it not only gives a background of previous research, it gives an example of how educating girls separately is good for their confidence.

Peer Reviewed Sources


What does peer reviewed mean?

Who are the "peers" in "peer review"?

Before it can be published, a peer reviewed article has been carefully reviewed by a board of other scholars in the same field of study as the author.

So the "peers" in "peer review" are fellow scholars and researchers.

Also known as...

Sometimes these articles are referred to as "refereed." 

Why? This is because the author's peers act as referees; they point out possible errors to make sure the final article reflects solid scholarship and advances understanding of the topic.

 

You can locate peer reviewed sources in google scholar. Google scholar

Once you have opened google scholar, type into the search bar key words about your topic and hit enter. This will bring up a list of peer reviewed articles related to the key words you entered.

Example:

Peer Reviewed Article using mybib.com

 

Ilgen, Daniel R., et al. “Personal Characteristics, Knowledge of the Veterinary Profession, and Influences on Career Choice among Students in the Veterinary School Applicant Pool.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, vol. 223, no. 11, Dec. 2003, pp. 1587–1594, avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/223/11/javma.2003.223.1587.xml, 10.2460/javma.2003.223.1587. Accessed 3 Jan. 2021. 

This article discusses research used to determine common characteristics among people 

who chose to enter the field of veterinary medicine. It further discusses the skills, 

aptitudes, knowledge and attitudes people should possess when applying to veterinary 

schools. This article is significant to my senior project as I am considering a career in the 

field of veterinary medicine. The article gives me a sound idea of what would be 

expected of me in college and as a professional in the field, such as being able to cope 

with loss, being sympathetic to pet owners, making medical decisions that are 

emotionally taxing.

 

Personal Interview Sample: 

Doolittle, Doctor. How to Talk with Animals. 30 Oct. 2022.

 I met with Dr. Doolittle to determine if it is possible for all veterinarians to talk with 

animals. Dr. Doolittle’s response was, “Well, if you are meaning can all veterinarians 

speak the same language with animals as I do, then my answer would be of course not, 

how silly!” “But! If you are asking if we are all capable of communicating with animals, 

then it would depend upon the person. If you have nearly endless patience, know the 

animal well, and can tell when they aren’t feeling well or they hurt somewhere, if you can 

distinguish their different moods, then yes, you could communicate with animals as I do.”

 

Video example

Nat Geo Wild. “Reading a Dog’s Signals | Dog Whisperer.” Www.youtube.com, Nat Geo Wild, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za7SvC5t_pw. Accessed 15 Nov. 2022.

The video demonstrates an example of how to read a dog’s behavior and how to respond 

so that the dog does not feel threatened and becomes aggressive. In the field of veterinary 

medicine, it is important to be able to read when an animal is agitated, afraid, or in pain 

because all of these factors could lead to a dog becoming aggressive.