Fall, 2006 (Roos, Soc. 311)

Assignment 2: Analytic Literature Review (due Monday, October 2nd)

This assignment will give you an opportunity to move further ahead on your final project. Take the dependent variable you used in Assignment 1 and do an analytic literature review of at least two to three research articles (or books) that have addressed the issue you wish to examine (you'll need three to five for your final paper). [For example, if you want to look at the effect of motherhood on wages, wages would be your dependent variable. Ideally, you'd like to find other research that looked specifically at the effect of motherhood on wages, but the best place to start is with the dependent variable, then narrow it down.] Note: articles must be research articles from scholarly social science journals (not magazines, newspapers, or websites). Or you may use scholarly books (not popular books).

Your task for Ass. 2 is to research the dependent variable you have chosen for your final project, and then summarize what you find in 2 to 3 double-spaced pages (NO MORE THAN 4!). I will give you an overview of electronic and nonelectronic resources available through the Rutgers Library (and I'll give you some hints about how to modify your search with your independent variable). Read through Appendix A in Chambliss and Schutt (to help you to find information), and Chapter 10 (to help you evaluate the research articles you find). More generally, Ch. 10 will help you throughout the semester to better plan and write your final project.

For this step in the research process, present your writeup as follows:

First, in an initial paragraph, repeat your theory and hypothesis statement from Ass. 1, and specify which is your dependent variable and which is your independent variable. [You can change your variables if you want, but you might want to check with us re your revised hypothesis.]

Second, summarize each relevant article (or book) in its own paragraph (see exhibit 10.2 on p. 260 as a guide about how to read a research article). At the minimum, answer these questions about each article (in prose language): 1) what is (are) the research questions addressed? 2) what data are used? 3) what sample is used? 4) what dependent variable(s) is (are) used, and how is it (are they) measured? 5) what are the independent variables used, and how are they measured? 6) what data analytic techniques are used? 7) what are the key findings?

Third, provide a reference for each article and/or book (on a separate page, with a title "References"). Use the format specified in the references for Chambliss & Schutt (p. 307). Here is an example for a book:

Becker, Howard S. 1963. Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: Free Press.

Example for a journal article:

Aseltine, Robert H., Jr., and Ronald C. Kessler. 1993. "Marital Disruption and Depression in a Community Sample." Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 34 (September):237-251.

Example for an article in an edited volume:

Adler, Patricia A. and Peter Adler. 2000. "Intense Loyalty in Organizations: A Case Study of College Athletics." Pp. 31-50 in Qualitative Studies of Organizations, edited by John Van Maanen. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Proper citation is very important because not citing your sources amounts to plagiarism. So be careful about getting and listing the full citation. Also, a word about quotes: use quotations on rare occasions. Rather, paraphrase the author's words, giving full information on the source. For example:

"Roos (2006) argues that Putnam's account about lack of community involvement has not taken sufficient account of the dramatic changes since 1970 in female labor force participation, nor the restructuring of the U.S. economy." [and then give full citation to Roos (2006) in the references section]

Finally, for each article/book you review, include the title page and table of contents (for a book) or the first page (of the article). Turn these xeroxes in with your assignment.