Literature Review

  The following is an outline of critical thinking questions to ask when reviewing empirical studies for your final literature review paper. Once, you choose a topic to research, you will conduct a literature review of the relevant information that is currently out on the topic you will investigate. The literature review will be used in your final paper, after the introduction of your topic. Once you select your empirical studies to dissect, the following questions should be asked and answered in your paper. Your literature review paper must include a minimum of 3-4 empirical studies, and be a minimum of 3 pages in length. I. Introduction Section of Research Article: a. Who are the researchers or authors of this paper? What year did this study get published? b. What journal was this study published in? What institutions are the researchers or authors affiliated with? c. What is the primary research topic the researchers are trying to answer? d. What hypotheses were presented? e. Did the authors give an overview of the current research and the direction it is in? Did they give an in-depth overview of the literature (i.e., name other studies who found related evidence) or did they simply summarize what information is available? II. Method Section: a. What type of method or design did the researchers use? b. Was the design effective? Was it appropriate for what they were trying to c. measure? Why or why not? d. How did the researchers accurately measure what they intended to measure? e. Is the sample diverse or limited? f. List the conditions or variables used in the study and how exactly were they measured? III. Results: Here you will explain the results of each article presented. First state their findings, then include your interpretation of these findings and what they actually mean to the topic relating back to the research question at hand. a. Were the results statistically significant? Was a change or difference observed in the data? b. What were the researchers’ conclusions? How did this relate back to their hypothesis? Middlesex County College PSYC 123: Introductory Psychology Fall 2020 c. How were the statistical results presented? Were there tables, graphs, or charts used? Were they effectively used and easy to understand? IV. Discussion: This is the last portion of your article review. It is important to summarize the main findings from the articles that you reviewed and to point out the information that you found particularly important. Also discuss whether your inquiry question that was stated in the first paragraph was answered by the researchers. a. Where their weaknesses or limitations presented in the discussion section? If so, what were they? b. What were some strengths of the study? How did the researchers accurately measure what they intended to measure? c. What are some improvements that can be made for the future? d. How would you change the study to improve it?