Introduction & Literature Review
Final Paper
Introduction & Literature Review
Overview:
The purpose of the final paper is to write the beginning two sections of a mini research paper: the
introduction and the literature review.
The Introduction is the first section of a psychology/social science research paper. This is your
opportunity to introduce the topic, research question and hypothesis(es) to the reader. The
Introduction should be about your topic generally and should include some statistical information
to provide context to the reader. For example, if you are interested in identifying an intervention
program to reduce obesity among school children, then in your introduction you should mention
1) the issue (childhood obesity), 2) the evidence (childhood obesity statistics), and 3) the dire
consequences if this issue is not addressed (health issues, lack of focus in school, bullying, death).
The Introduction also sets up the literature review for your reader (which is basically part 2 above
– the evidence). Thus, it is important that you immediately engage the reader and get him/her
interested in your topic and why it is important to study.
The purpose of a literature review is to set up the rationale for a research paper. Think of a literature
review as the supporting evidence to back up your research question(s) and hypothes(is/es). The
literature review provides background information on what has already been done with respect to
your topic of interest, what the existing gaps in the literature for your research topic are (what is
missing and what we still need to know) and the importance of your research topic (why do we
need to know this information, why should we care)? After a critical synthesis of research studies
relevant to your topic, you should have a nice segue into the purpose of your specific proposed
research study/questions and hypothesis.
Instructions:
Your introduction should be a minimum of 3 paragraphs long (1 page, double-spaced). The first
paragraph should introduce your topic (e.g., childhood obesity), maybe provide some definitions,
if needed. The second paragraph should introduce some statistics about your topic (e.g., percentage
of children who are obese in the United States, health issue rates). The third paragraph should be
about the dire consequences of not studying your topic (e.g., what will happen to children if we let
them become obese? They could experience bullying in school, have all kinds of health issues,
probably die earlier than their non-obese peers). For more information about what to include in
your Introduction, please refer to the Library Guides at the University of Southern California:
https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/introduction.
Your literature review should include a synthesis of at least 7 empirical articles from peer-reviewed
journals (could be the same articles from the annotated bibliography assignment) (must not be
published earlier than 2010). The review should not be a list of article summaries, but instead
should discuss the articles by common themes or variables (can be discussed in terms of
similar findings, dissimilar findings, etc.).
You must use APA style and the paper should be 10-12 pages long, using 12-point Times New
Roman Font, double spacing, and 1-inch margins all around.
Guidelines:
• Review of Literature
o Capture the Major Themes of the Literature Review
• Be sure that you include all themes you uncover, all perspectives you uncover.
o Follow a Logical Flow
• Is there organization with the literature review? The literature review should
start talking generally about a particular topic, then flow appropriately to the
next topic. Each topic should have some connection with the topic before and
afterwards, so it’s not just a listing of research topics.
• Appropriate transitions from one topic to the next. A transition sentence
should connect the previous topic to the next, or some transition words should
be used in between studies to connect one to the next
o Highlight the Most Important Studies
• There should also be appropriate research on each of the sub-topics.
• You will not have enough space to elaborate on every article related to your
topic. Pick 5 to 7 of the most salient and important studies to include. and even
if you do, this is probably does not tell the most meaningful story. You will
want to elaborate where necessary.
o “Critical synthesis”
• Your literature review will be a synthesis of information, you will need to talk
about the articles in a way that connects them to each other, and connects them
to your study… remember, this is not a summary, or report, but you are
engaging in a dialogue. It should be interesting.
o Discuss why further research is needed
• Reintroduce the open question- why it has not been sufficiently addressed
• Present specific research questions/ hypotheses
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