Literature Review

 Write a critical review essay (4 – 6 pages, double spaced) of the 3 - 5 scholarly sources you will engage in your final project proposal.  A critical review focuses on arguments you find in previously published studies. At the same time, you should have in your mind how those arguments frame your own project.  Your essay should have a clear structure, including an introduction that identifies the main point you draw from your sources and conclusion and links the review to your proposed project.

You can think of this review as a prelude to your own research. Along these lines, you might think of the critical review ending where your project begins. For example, you might review a series of sources in order to identify an argument that you will apply and test with your own research.  Conversely you might review a series of sources in order to identify an argument you will criticize and qualify with your own research. Or, you might array a series of arguments in order to identify a lacuna that your research fills. The review must include at least one sentence in the “They say / I say” form. The “I say” element should be phrased to indicate the provisional status of your expected argument. (e.g. “I hypothesize,” “I investigate how,”). More pragmatically, your critical review is a draft of one section in your final research proposal.  

Pay close attention to citation and bibliographic formatting, which will be evaluated as part of grading.