Hi, I have a Research Proposal LAB assingment that is due this Saturday, May 11th. For my last LAB, my assignment was a small scale literature review. I wrote one, but it was not enough for my professor, I have attached that small scale literature review to here, “Beyond the Pixie Dust” Here is her feedback from that assignment: BODY: The body of your literature review is where you demonstrate your synthesis and analysis of the literature. Do not just summarize the literature; also, don’t organize your literature review by source—that is, one paragraph for source A, one paragraph for source B, etc. That approach doesn’t tell your reader how to put those facts together, it doesn’t highlight points of agreement or contention, or how each study builds on the work of others. In short, it does not demonstrate critical thinking. Instead, organize the body by theme:
The first paragraph in the body of the literature review is an introduction, describing how you will organize the review (e.g. by theme, which should be based on the articles’ key findings / results;
the rest of the body of the review should include 3-5 paragraphs that describe the various themes that you identified comparing, contrasting and/or connecting the key findings of the articles you’ve selected for the review. Please note that in your discussion of key themes and findings across articles, you are to synthesize rather than summarize these articles, focusing on their commonalities and differences based on key findings, research design, also gaps or controversies identified in these articles.
Remember that you are not to merely summarize the findings of these sources you reference; you are to critically synthesize and assess the scholarship, which requires that you examine their methodological approach, the types of questions they focus on, how they go about answering them (research methods, sampling strategy, who/what they included and why; and how these approaches inform your research approach. If you do not include these crucial aspects, it is not a literature review but a summative essay, which is something entirely different.
You cannot have a limitations section; you have to discuss the limitations of this scholarship as you are introducing it, not at the end before the conclusion; in this discussion you still avoid talking about the research methods they used, which I remember emphasizing during our meeting. I said: focus your “reading” of these articles on the research methods as this is what I will be looking for in assessing your ability to do this research
Please note that for the final project, the literature review section includes 10 empirical articles, and if you submit a version of this literature review, you will not secure a passing grade for the final.
Conclusion is underdeveloped
CONCLUSION: Summarize the major findings of the sources that you reviewed, remembering to keep the focus on your topic. Evaluate the current state of scholarship in this area (ex. flaws or gaps in the research, inconsistencies in findings). Identify any areas for further research. Conclude by making a connection between your topic and some larger area of study such as the discipline.
References are not properly formatted following ASA style
Now moving on to this Research Proposal that is due Saturday, I have the instructions here: Assignment: As your final project, you will write a research proposal on a topic of your choosing. Writing a research proposal is a complex tasks that entails the following skills and competencies:
Ability to apply basic research skills and thinking in designing a comprehensive research study;
Proficiency in conducting a comprehensive review of the literature (“lit review”) to ensure a research problem has not already been answered [or you may determine the problem has been answered ineffectively] and, in so doing, become better at locating scholarship related to your topic;
Competency in the practice identifying the logical steps that must be taken to accomplish one’s research goals;
Ability to critically review, examine, & consider the use of different methods for gathering and analyzing data related to the research problem; and,
Nurture a sense of inquisitiveness within yourself and to help see yourself as an active participant in the process of doing scholarly research.
Guidelines: Your research proposal must include the following components (see previous modules for required readings and templates)
Introduction: As with any introduction, you must (a) introduce your research topic, research question, (b) the rationale for doing this research (the “gap” in the literature, the problem or puzzle you are trying to solve, what are the theoretical / empirical motivations for this study), and (c) a general overview of what is to come in the proposal.
Literature Review: By reviewing the literature you are building a story about what has been done and what needs to be done; here you are to identify key debates, themes, and findings of PREVIOUS RESEARCH that will inform YOUR RESEARCH / provide rationale for doing your study. In reading and summarizing individual articles/sources in your literature review, you are to answer the following questions: (a) What question is the author trying to answer? (b) What theories is she informed by (summarize)? (c) What data or methods does the author(s) use? (d) What are the key findings? (e) What further research/limitations does the author(s) point out? How does your research fit in?
Description of Methods: In discussing your methodological approach, address the following questions: What sources or data would you need to answer those questions? What methods do you propose using to find the sources or collect the data? What methods do you propose using to analyze them? Why are those sources, data, and methods best suited to answering each of the research questions that you posed above? In your description of your research methodology, you should identify a) the methods you will use (diary studies, focus groups, interviews, surveys, etc) and how your methods are appropriate / fitting for your research question; b) sampling strategy and procedure (who will be included / excluded in your study and why; how many and why; probabilistic vs non-probabilistic sampling and why; recruitment strategy. HERE YOU MUST CONSULT AND REFERENCE REQUIRED READINGS, at least 5 required readings, to illustrate comprehension and ability to apply methodological insights into your research design.
Project Summary / Conclusion: This is where you provide a brief summary of your whole project, including what you are looking for (research topic and research question), why it is significant (rationale for further research, based on lit review insights), how you will go about it (methodological considerations), and what outcomes you anticipate.
**Just to note, I am a Sociology major, I would appreciate if this essay was written ASA, but it isn’t required, I could always revise that myself.
My research question is: How does the portrayal of the manic pixie dream girl in popular media contribute to the gender stereotypes against women?
