A literature review involves reviewing and synthesizing research on a particular topic and identifying gaps in current research, i.e. what is current research missing, neglecting or ignoring in relation to your topic?

In your final assignment for this class, you will write a literature review on the topic you proposed in your Annotated Bibliography and Method papers. Here, you will bring together your research proposal to make a coherent argument about where you situate yourself within previously existing scholarship on the topic.

You need at least 7 peer-reviewed sources (1 in the intro, 1 in the method, 4 from your annotated bibliography paper) for this paper and at least one new source in the literature review section (i.e. 4+1). 

The peer-reviewed research you summarize and synthesize for this assignment has to involve library research and will use the Communication and Mass Media Complete library database, Academic Search Ultimate, and/or Google Scholar.

Conference papers will not be counted as a peer-reviewed source. 

You may use as many other sources as you choose to write the introduction or in support of the argument but 7 peer-reviewed sources are the minimum you will need to write this paper. 

Please be sure to cite all claims you make in this paper. If you’re unsure about whether a sentence you wrote requires citing, cite it!

• As always, start your literature review with the library databases or Google Scholar. You may use previous sources from your annotated bibliography and method papers, provided these were approved by me in your comments back on the Annotated bib paper. If not, please be sure to sign up for a time to meet with me so we can work on your sources. If your topic is not well researched within the communication field, please talk to me. We may need to figure out if this is because the topic is not related to a communication research problem.
• This is one of the hardest and most time-consuming sections of your project, so be sure to give yourself enough time.