Sociology 731

John DeLamater

Spring 2010

LITERATURE REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

Purpose The purpose of this assignment is for you to become knowledgeable about the literature in a subarea of contemporary social psychology.

Like all fields, social psychology continues to evolve, with old themes giving away to new ones, the development of new research methods, etc. In preparing the syllabus, I tried to locate the best recent material. You'll note that many of the review articles and chapters were published in 2003-2008. They were probably written 12 to 18 months earlier. So the material on the syllabus is at least five years behind contemporary work in some areas.

Selecting a topic Select a topic for your review which interests you, one you want to learn more about. Your topic should be at least as focused as one of the topics we devote one week to in class. It can be more narrowly focused if your interest is more specific than that.

You could select a topic such as occupational roles, relationships, social support, influence in groups, or collective behavior. You could select a basic concept, such as role, social network, or leadership. Or you could organize your review around a question/hypothesis. For example, what evidence is there to support the assertion that relative income determines the division of household labor? Feel free to consult with me about other possibilities.

"Doing" the review The most important step in doing the review is to consult relevant Abstracts (e.g., Psychology Abstracts, Sociology Abstracts) and databases (e.g., PsychINFO, Social Sciences Full Text, and perhaps Medline). Your search will identify many articles. Based on the abstract of the article, you will be able to decide that many of them are not directly relevant. Locate and read the articles whose abstracts are promising.

Another step is to locate and read relevant review articles. Likely places to start are the Annual Review of Sociology, and Annual Review of Psychology. Depending on your topic, other volumes in the Annual Review series may be relevant, such as Anthropology or Political Science. These articles are often good for identifying emerging themes and major trends. Thus, they may

give you some perspective on what you find in the journals.

Another step is to consult recently published scholarly volumes on your topic or closely related ones. These may be edited works or volumes reporting theories and bodies of research. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology is one example. There are other edited volumes titled Advances in . . .. There are also numerous annual volumes published by JAI Press titled Research in . . ., e.g., Research in the Sociology of Education.

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Review Assignment, Con't

Finally, be sure you review each issue of major journals for the last three years. This is the best way to locate the most recent articles. In social psychology, you will want to consult The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Social Psychology Quarterly, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. You will want to consult other journals, depending on your topic. Journal articles about contemporary (social) issues may be found in the Journal of Social Issues, Social Forces, and Social Problems. For research on social interaction and relationships, consult the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Personal Relationships, Symbolic Interaction. For social science research on health, consult the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Et cetera.

Writing the review Your review should summarize the literature on your topic. If you can synthesize or integrate some of the literature, that is, point out connections between different concepts, viewpoints, or research paradigms, so much the better. I also want you to evaluate the literature you discuss. What are the strengths and weaknesses of specific viewpoints or research paradigms? How does this recent literature extend our knowledge? Do the contemporary themes and trends move us in a good direction, or do you think (some of) this contemporary work is heading toward a dead end? What are the needed next steps in developing theory or research in this area?

I would like the review to be between 12 and 15 pages in length. This assumes that the review is typed, double-spaced, yielding about 250 words per page.

Timetable Please meet the following deadlines.

Monday, March 8th: Submit a one to two paragraph description of your topic. Indicate your focus and the principal sub-themes or issues or ideas. Include a beginning list of readings. (10 percent of evaluation of paper).

Monday, March 22nd: Submit an outline of the paper and a relatively complete list of readings. (10 percent of evaluation of paper).

Monday, April 12th: Submit a semi-final draft of your paper. The text and references should be complete. I will read these drafts and return them with comments by Monday, April 26th. (30 percent of evaluation of paper).

Monday, May 3rd: Final paper due. (50 percent of evaluation of paper).

Feel free to submit materials before the date(s) given above.