What Is Literature Review in Essence - Research Paper Example

 “A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period” (Literature Reviews). It is not possible to prepare a thesis or academic paper without proper references from other published articles. On the other hand, it is also not possible to prepare a thesis fully with the help of published articles. A literature review collects main points from other published articles and then analyse it. In other words, “A literature review is not an annotated bibliography in which you summarize briefly each article that you have reviewed” (Rallis) Purpose of literature review “One of the most important parts of a thesis is the literature review” (Example of Literature Review – Importance on Research Papers) Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas; information seeking: (the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books) and critical appraisal: (the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies) (Taylor) Importance of Literature Reviews “Dissertation proposals cannot be completed without a literature review part” (Richard) Literature reviews demonstrate skills in different spheres: How you can find interesting material for your project; How you may connect the works of different authors with your own project; How you are able to present your ideas in a right order with a few number of mistakes; How you can underline the importance of your topic and prove it with the help of interesting literature sources. (The Importance of the Literature Review in Your Dissertation) How to conduct a literature review The various steps before producing a literature review are: Identify your research question, Identify and locate appropriate information, Read and critically evaluate the information that you locate, File and store your readings and notes, Plan, organize and write critically about the literature that you have located (Getting Started on your Literature Review) The following questions need to be answered before starting a literature review; What has been done in your field of research? What principles of selection are you going to use? How are you going to order your discussion? Chronological, thematic, conceptual, methodological, or a combination? What section headings will you use? How do the various studies relate to each other? What precise contribution do they make to the field? What are their limitations? How does your own research fit into what has already been done (Writing literature reviews) Examples of literature reviews From “Can Small-City Downtowns Remain Viable? A National Study of Development Issues and Strategies,” Journal of the American Planning Association 65 (1999), 270-284: Downtowns play a critical role in the health of most freestanding small cities in the United States. The downtown constitutes a sizable share of a city's tax base--often more than any other district in the city--as well as the site for major public investments over the years. Given that most downtowns are situated where the city originated and contain many of the oldest and most recognizable buildings, they also embody the heritage of a community. For generations the downtown has served as the traditional gathering place for parades, festivals, celebrations, and other community events. And perhaps most importantly, the very identity of a small city is intertwined with the image projected by its downtown, to an even greater extent than holds true for a large city. Taken together, these factors clearly demonstrate that the downtown represents the heart and soul of most small cities. Despite this importance, most of the professional and scholarly literature on downtown development has neglected small cities. Frieden and Sagalyn's (1999) widely cited book Downtown, Inc. concentrates on large-scale projects in Seattle, Boston, St. Paul, and San Diego, while Loukaitou-Sideris and Banerjee (1998) profile Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego in their book on downtown design. Almost all the examples provided in Whyte (1988), Abbott (1993), and Robertson (1995) are from large cities, and Brooks and Young (1993) use New Orleans as their case study. The Downtown Development Handbook (McBee, 1992), considered by many to be the bible of downtown development, is heavily dependent on projects in large cities to illustrate key points. Articles addressing a particular downtown development strategy such as retailing (Robertson, 1997; Sawicki, 1989), stadiums (Noll & Zimbalist, 1997; Rosentraub, Swindell, Pryzbylski, & Mullins, 1994), pedestrianization (Byers, 1998; Robertson, 1993), and open space (Loukaitou-Sideris, 1993; Mozingo, 1989) all emphasize large cities as well. The professional magazine Urban Land has published numerous articles on downtown development in recent years, most of which feature a single large city (e.g., Holt, 1998; Howland, 1998; Lockwood, 1996).... The scant literature on small-city downtowns does include a few noteworthy items. Francaviglia's Main Street Revisited (1996) provides an excellent overview of the origin and evolution of downtown street patterns and architecture and how these relate to today's image of "main street." While much of his discussion is relevant to cities of 25,000 to 50,000 population, the primary emphasis is on even smaller towns. Kenyon's (1989) study of 21 small cities in Georgia ranging in population from 3,000 to 43,000 demonstrates how the social and community significance of downtowns has exceeded the more traditional commercial function. Finally, the National Main Street Center has produced two useful volumes (1988; Dane, 1997). The earlier work reports on a national survey of downtown development in which nearly half the cities surveyed had less than 50,000 population.  The latter volume contains four-page profiles of 44 successful downtown development initiatives across the country; 41 of these profiles feature cities with less than 50,000 population, including 12 in the 25,000 to 50,000 range. The remainder of the professional literature on small-city downtowns tends to be nonanalytical and descriptive, and presents development efforts in one downtown (e.g., Means, 1997; Meek, 1995; Ryder & Gray, 1988; Seachord, 1997; Suchman, 1998).... REFERENCES Abbott, C. (1993). Five downtown strategies: Policy discourse and downtown planning since 1945. Journal of Policy History, 5, 5-27.  Breen, A., & Rigby, D. (1994). Waterfronts: Cities reclaim their edge. New York: McGraw-Hill.  Brooks, J. S., & Young, A. H. (1993). Revitalizing the central business district in the face of decline. Town Planning Review, 64, 251-271.  Brown, J. R., & Lauber, M. (1995). Comeback cities. Urban Land, 54(8), 46-51, 83.  Byers, J. (1998). The privatization of downtown public space: The emerging grade separated city in North America. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 17, 189-205.  Carson City, Nevada. (1992, September). Downtown master plan element. Carson City: Author.  City of Auburn, New York (1991). Auburn comprehensive plan. Auburn: Author.  Dane, S. G. (1997). Main Street success stories. Washington, DC: National Main Street Center.  Diaz, K. (1996, December 22). Minneapolis maps out downtown's future. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, pp. B1, B3.  Du Fresne, K. (1997, September 21). Coalition will address downtown parking. Nevada Appeal, p. A3.  Francaviglia, R. V. (1996). Main street revisited. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.  Frieden, B. J., & Sagalyn, L. B. (1989). Downtown, Inc. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.  Gillette, H. (1985). The evolution of the planned shopping center in suburb and city. Journal of the American Planning Association, 51, 449-460.  Holt, N. D. (1998). Remaking downtown Denver. Urban Land, 57(4), 54-58, 113.  Houstoun, L. (1990). From street to mall and back again. Planning, 56(6), 4-10.  Howland, L. (1998). Resurgence in downtown Washington. Urban Land, 57(3), 80-84, 97.  Jouziatis, C. (1998, April 7). Suburbs strolling into the past. USA Today, p. 3A.  Kenyon, J. B. (1989). From central business district to central social district: The revitalization of the small Georgia city. Small Town, 20(2), 4-17.  Knack, R. E. (1998). Downtown where the living is easy. Planning, 64(8), 4-8.  Kunstler, J. H. (1993). The geography of nowhere. New York: Touchstone.  Lockwood, C. (1996). San Francisco reclaims its downtown waterfront. Urban Land, 54(10), 63-67.  Lockwood, C. (1997). Putting the urb in the suburbs. Planning; 63(6), 18-21.  Lorch, B. J., & Smith, M. J. (1993). Pedestrian movement and the downtown enclosed shopping center. Journal of the American Planning Association, 59, 75-86.  Loukaitou-Sideris, A. (1993). Privatization of public open space: The Los Angeles experience. Town Planning Review, 64, 139-167.  Loukaitou-Sideris, A., & Banerjee, T. (1998). Urban design downtown. Berkeley: University of California Press.  McBee, S. (1992). Downtown development handbook. Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute.  Means, A. C. (1997). Downtown revitalization in small cities. Urban Land, 56(1), 26-31, 56.  Meek, M. (1995). Bonaparte, Iowa, organizes a comprehensive volunteer effort to save its downtown. Small Town, 26(3), 4-9. Milder, N. D. (1987). Crime and downtown revitalization. Urban Land, 46(9), 16-19.  Miller, T. K. (1998). Sports venues bring economic energy back downtown. Urban Land, 57(2), 53-55.  Mozingo, L. (1989). Women and downtown open spaces. Places, 6(1), 38-47.  National Main Street Center. (1988). Revitalizing downtown 1976-1986. Washington, DC: Author.  Noll, R., & Zimbalist, A. (1997). Sports, jobs, and taxes: The economic impact of sports teams and stadiums. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.  Robertson, K. A. (1993). Pedestrianization strategies for downtown planners: Skywalks v. pedestrian malls. Journal of the American Planning Association, 59, 361-370.  Robertson, K. A. (1995). Downtown redevelopment strategies in the United States: An end-of-the-century assessment. Journal of the American Planning Association, 61, 429-437.  Robertson, K. A. (1997). Downtown retail revitalization: A review of American development strategies. Planning Perspectives, 12, 383-401.  Rosentraub, M. S., Swindell, D., Przybylski, M., & Mullins, D. R. (1994). Sport and downtown development. Journal of Urban Affairs, 14, 221-239.  Ryder, B., & Gray, K. (1988). Developing a downtown design assistance program in Pullman, Washington. Small Town, 19(2), 4-13.  Sawicki, D. S. (1989). The festival marketplace as public policy. Journal of the American Planning Association, 55, 347-361.  Seachord, D. (1997). Bringing investment back downtown: A case study of Puyallop, Washington. Small Town, 28(2), 22-29.  Snepenger, D. J., Reiman, S., Johnson, J., & Snepenger, M. (1998). Is downtown mainly for tourists? Journal of Travel Research, 36, 5-12.  Suchman, D. (1998). Rebuilding downtown Grand Forks. Urban Land, 57(2), 80-83, 94.  United States Census Bureau. (1997). 1990 to 1996 cities and places population estimates. Available www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/cityplace.html  Wausau Center. (1996). Annual report. Wausau, WI: Author.  Whyte, W. H. (1988). City: Rediscovering the center. New York: Anchor. (Prof. Steinberg) From Vaughan Dickson and Tony Myatt, “The Determinants of Provincial Minimum Wages in Canada,” Journal of Labor Research 23 (2002), 57-68: In the last few years, prompted largely by the work of Card and Kruger (1995), numerous articles on the employment effects of minimum wage legislation have appeared. This renewed interest in how minimum wages affect employment leads naturally to another question: What factors determine the minimum wage? Despite the ubiquity of minimum wage legislation, this question has received surprisingly little attention. One reason may be that in the U.S. the minimum wage is legislated at the federal rather than at the state level of government. Since this federal wage changes only occasionally, most U.S. studies have been limited to cross-sectional studies that focus on how the characteristics of the states, and the party affiliation of legislators, influence the vote on proposed changes in the federal minimum wage (Silberman and Durbin, 1970; Kau and Rubin, 1978; Bloch, 1980; Seltzer, 1995).[1] However, as pointed out by Baker et al. (1999), Canada offers some unique advantages for minimum wage studies: Since the Canadian minimum wage is under provincial, not federal jurisdiction, there has been substantial variation in the level and timing of changes in the wage across provinces, thus providing the opportunity to explore a relatively rich panel data set. To date, only one... study (Blais et al., 1989) has investigated the determinants of provincial minimum wages using a pooled data set extending across eight years (1975 to 1982) and nine provinces.... As noted, U.S. studies have usually been cross sectional and have examined what variables influenced congressional voting for increases in the federal minimum wage.[3] For example, Bloch (1993) related state wage levels and proportions of unionized employees to votes by senators to amend the 1977 and 1989 Federal Labor Standards Act and thereby increase the minimum wage. For each year he found only the union variable increased the probability of an in-favor vote - and only for Republicans, since Democrats almost universally support minimum wage increases. An earlier contribution is Silberman and Durden (1976) who examined congressmen's votes for the 1973 amendment to increase the minimum wage. Using variables for each congressional district, they found larger political contributions by unions and larger proportions of low-income families increased the probability of an affirmative vote, while larger campaign contributions from small business and larger proportions of teen-age workers reduced the probability. Kau and Rubin (1978) expanded Silberman and Durden's analysis to five separate cross sections covering five legislated increases in the federal minimum wage between 1949 and 1974. They found that higher state wages and a measure of the congressperson's liberalism were always positively and significantly associated with votes for, while percentage of blacks in the state was negatively related, but not significant, in all the cross sections. Unionization in the state's work force and political party of the legislator were never significant; the latter result probably occurred because northern and southern Democrats typically voted on opposite sides. More recently, Seltzer (1995) explored support in both the House and Senate for the 1938 introduction of the federal minimum wage law. He found variables representing small business and low-wage workers decreased support for the bill, while ideology (liberals for, conservatives against) was also important. To anticipate future problems, Seltzer emphasized that not only are some variables inevitably theoretically ambiguous (a low-wage worker may rationally support or oppose minimum wage increases depending on whether job loss is expected), but also the coefficients on some variables must be interpreted cautiously. For example, should the coefficient for a variable measuring teen workers in the labor force be interpreted as their demand for higher wages, or does the coefficient better reflect the demands of well-organized firms that disproportionally hire younger workers? In contrast to the U.S., Canada presents a better opportunity to study variations in minimum wages across jurisdictions and time, so it is perhaps surprising that the only study, to our knowledge, that examines Canadian minimum wage determination is Blais et al. (1989). They related the minimum wage, measured as the minimum wage divided by the average manufacturing wage, to the percentages of union workers, women, and 15 to 19-year-olds in the labor force, the current year unemployment rate, the inflation rate, the percentage of employment in small firms (less than 20 employees), and a "convergence" variable that measures average manufacturing wages in a province divided by average wages in Canada. This model was tested with ordinary least squares for a pooled sample covering nine provinces for the years 1975 to 1982, with no fixed effects for provinces or years. All variables had negative coefficients that were significant at the 5 percent level, except for the union variable which was, unexpectedly, negative and insignificant.... REFERENCES Abizadeh, Sohrab and John A. Gray. "Politics and Provincial Government Spending in Canada." Canadian Public Administration 35 (Winter 1992): 519-33. Akyeampong, Earnest B. "Working for Minimum Wage." Perspectives on Labour Income. Statistics Canada Catalogue 75-001E (Winter 1989): 8-20.  Baker, Michael, Dwayne Benjamin, and Schuchita Stanger. "The Highs and Lows of the Wage Effect: A Time-Series Cross-Section Study of the Canadian Law." Journal of Labor Economics 17 (April 1999): 318-50.  Blais, Andre, Jean-Michel Cousineau, and Kenneth McRoberts. "The Determinants of Minimum Wage Rates." Public Choice 62 (July 1989): 15-24.  Bloch, Farrell E. "Political Support for Minimum Wage Legislation: 1989." Journal of Labor Research 14 (Spring 1993): 187-90.  Card, David and Alan Kruger. Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.  Cox, James C. and Ronald L. Oaxaca. "The Political Economy of Minimum Wage Legislation." Economic Inquiry 20 (October 1982): 533-55.  Fortin, Pierre. "Unemployment Insurance Meets the Classical Labor Supply Model." Economics Letters 14 (1984): 275-81.  Kalt, Joseph P. and Mark A. Zupan. "Capture and Ideology in the Economic Theory of Politics." American Economic Review 74 (June 1984): 279-300.  Kau, James B. and Paul H. Rubin. "Voting on Minimum Wages: A Time-Series Analysis." Journal of Political Economy 86 (April 1978): 337-42.  Mueller, Dennis. Public Choice II . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.  Peltzman, Sam. "Toward a More General Theory of Regulation." Journal of Law and Economics 19 (August 1976): 211-40.  Salop, Steven C. and David T. Scheffman. "Raising Rivals Costs." American Economic Review 73 (May 1983): 267-71.  Seltzer, Andrew J. "The Political Economy of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938." Journal of Political Economy 103 (December 1996): 1302-42.  Silberman Jonathan I. and Garey C. Durden. "Determining Legislative Preferences on the Minimum Wage: An Economic Approach." Journal of Political Economy 84 (April 1976): 317-29.  Simon, R.J. Public Opinion in America, 1936-1970. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1974.  Sobel, Russell S. "Theory and Evidence on the Political Economy of Minimum Wage." Journal of Political Economy 107 (August 1999): 761-85.  Stigler, George. "The Theory of Economic Regulation." Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science 2 (Spring 1971): 3-21. (Prof. Steinberg) A Sample Literature Review If scientific advancement depends upon both consumer demand and scientific curiosity, then the attitude consumers have toward genetic engineering and cloning must be weighed and examined. Therefore, the question arises, “How do consumers form their opinions about cloning?” As a Communications major, I am aware that popular culture is one powerful way that ideas about controversial topics are communicated. Therefore this question becomes more specifically: What can popular movies (like Jurassic Park) tell us about people’s attitudes toward cloning and the forces shaping those attitudes? Once this question is answered, we may be able to judge more accurately Silver’s claim that consumer demand for genetic engineering will inevitably support scientific advancement in the field. Cloning has long been a topic of the popular media, including print fiction and especially film. Recent examples include 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park, 1999’s Austin Powers II: The Spy Who Shagged Me, 2001’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, 2002’s Spider-Man, and, most recently, last summer’s The Island. These films—with their stories of dinosaurs gone wild, people as slaves, and clones for profit—have been box-office hits (Battaglia; Briggs and Kelber-Kaye; Lemonick; Vergano and Wloszczyna). Each one carries a similar message to our society and about our culture. As Dan Vergano and Susan Wloszczyna state on USAToday.com, “Movies always have reflected our changing fears and obsession with things scientific.” In turn, films like these all serve to perpetuate such fears and obsessions, warning the public about the out-of-control implications of a science “gone haywire” (Lemonick). All these sources, found in academic journals as well as on commercial websites, highlight the warnings conveyed in popular media about what scientific progress might mean for our society. While some sources present these warnings simply as reflections of sentiments prevalent throughout society (Lemonick; Vergano and Wloszczyna), other researchers provide more complicated discussions about the cultural and political impulses behind them. Briggs and Kelber-Kaye state that these warnings reflect conservative beliefs Contributed by Susan McKenna, Research Literacy Center, and Marcia Curtis Dean’s Book Course Resource about the politics of cloning: “Those stories that become consumable by a large popular audience provide a good guide to the more conservative cultural narratives of the present”(93). Examples of these “conservative cultural narratives” prove easy to find. A website forfamily.org not only examines the message films communicate but expresses its own similarly dire predictions. Beginning with a discussion of cloning in films, it ends with a warning to its visitors about “killing human embryos,” “severe, life-threatening abnormalities,” and general “biological and moral disaster” (Earll). Interestingly, even those writers and researchers who find in cloning films more optimistic visions for society’s future attribute the optimism not to a trust in science but to faith in science’s limitations and the uniqueness of each individual (Battaglia; Briggs and Kelber-Kaye; Kakmi). As film scholar Dmetri Kakmi, for example, suggests, some films convey the hopeful message that not everything is under scientific control: “The system [cloning] does not take into account the unquantifiable, mysterious aspects of what it means to be fully a human being” (90). Works Cited Battaglia, Deborah. “Multiplicities: An Anthropologist's Thoughts on Replicants and Clones in Popular Film.” Critical Inquiry 27.3 (2001): 493-513. Expanded Academic ASAP.InfoTrac. DuBois Library, UMass Amherst. 12 August 2005 . Briggs, Laura, and Jodi I. Kelber-Kaye. "There is No Unauthorized Breeding in Jurassic Park: Gender and the Uses of Genetics.” NWSA Journal 12.3 (2000): 92-113. Expanded Academic ASAP. InfoTrac. DuBois Library, UMass Amherst. 12 August 2005 . Earll, Carrie Gordon. “The Road to Human Cloning.” 23 March 2001. family.org. 12 August 2005 . Kakmi, Dmetri. “The Mystery of Being in Gattaca.” Australian Screen Education 35 (2004): 88-90. Communications and Mass Media Complete. EBSCO Databases DuBois Library, UMass Amherst. 12 August 2005 . Lemonick, Michael D. “Cloning Classics.” Time 8 Nov. 1993: 70. Expanded Academic ASAP. InfoTrac. DuBois Library, UMass Amherst. 12 August 2005 . Silver, Lee M. Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform theAmerican Family. 1997. New York: Perennial-Harper, 2002. Vergano, Dan, and Susan Wloszczyna. “Genetics Take Starring Role on Silver Screen.” USA Today 17 June 2002. 12 August 2005 . (A Sample Literature Review) Conclusions Literature review is an essential part of a thesis paper or dissertation. It is not possible for everyone to create something entirely new. Literature review analyses and summarises other’s ideas. In that respect it is different from a research paper which will uses references to support our own ideas. Works Cited 1. “A Sample Literature Review”. 26 September 2009. 2. “Example of Literature Review – Importance on Research Papers”. 26 September 2009. 3. “Getting Started on your Literature Review”2009. 26 September 2009. 4. “Literature Reviews”. 2007. 26 September 2009. 5. Rallis, Helen, Mongan. 2008. 26 September 2009. 6. Richard. 2008. “Literature Review Example and its Importance”. 26 September 2009. 7. Prof. Steinberg G. “Sample Literature Reviews”. 26 September 2009. 8. Taylor, Dena. “The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It”. 26 September 2009. 9. “The Importance of the Literature Review in Your Dissertation”. 2008. 26 September 2009. 10. “Writing Literature Reviews”. 2009. 26 September 2009. Read More