Spring, 2003 (Roos, Soc. 502)

Assignment 5: Analytic literature review (due April 3rd)

Now is the time for you to craft the literature review that will constitute a good chunk of the introduction for your final paper. You have several weeks to accomplish this, so make substantial progress. If you do it right, you'll be able to weave your literature review into your developing paper without too much angst.

To write an analytic review, don't just review what X, Y, and Z say about your topic. There is nothing more boring. Rather use previous literature to develop your own argument. Evaluate (don't just describe) how others' work helps you to organize your own ideas. How do you build on previous research? How does previous research lead you to expectations about the relationships among your variables? Ultimately, you'll use your review to develop your own framework toward the end of the introduction, structure how you talk about methods in the methods section, and frame your results in the analysis section. So this step in the process is a very important one.

Continue on in your spare time running data that will be relevant to your final project. Try out some of the techniques we've been talking about in class. For example, if you expect to do a logistic regression, try a practice run using your dichotomous variable with OLS regression. There is one additional assignment before the final paper: Assignment 6 will ask you to choose among the remaining techniques (factor analysis, logistic regression, multinomial logit), use it to address an important substantive issue, and write up the results.

This might be a good time to check out recent sociology journals (e.g., American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Work and Occupations) to get ideas on technique, journal etiquette, and so forth. I have several recommended articles on the syllabus about writing and/or doing analytic reviews. This would be a particularly good time to check them out:

Research and Writing Citations (for your writing pleasure):

Becker, Howard S. 1986. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Clarke, Lee. 2000. "On Writing and Criticism"
[click here]

Jasper, James M. 2002. "Why So Many Academics are Lousy Writers." Chronicle of Higher Education. Tuesday, March 26th.
[click here]

Rosenfield, Sarah. 1998. "Some Things to Think About While Reading Papers"
[click here]

Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. 2000. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon.