This section of your research paper should be 3 to 4 pages long (double spaced, standard 12 point font).

You should include:

• An introductory paragraph
• A brief description of your project
• An explanation of why this topic and your questions are of interest to researchers
• A brief summary of each study in your literature review
• Correct citations for each research study mentioned in the narrative – for example, (Smith, 1992)

You should not:

• Mention the title of your journal articles in the narrative section of the literature review. The title of the articles along with the "source" (which journal or book the article/chapter was published in) belongs in the reference section (Works Cited Section).
• Mention the first names of the authors in the narrative section of the literature review. You generally should mention only the last names of the author(s). Again, the first names should appear only in the references section. On occasion, there may be some exceptions made to this rule, but for this class I will take points off if you include the author(s) first names in the literature review.
• If you have an article containing more than three authors, you should refer to the first author and "his or her colleagues" rather than listing a long list of names in a narrative. For the citation, you should use the abbreviation "et al." which means "and others." For example, Smith and colleagues (1990) conducted an important experiment... Prior research found that gender was related to this outcome (Smith et al., 1990). If the article was written by three or fewer people list all two or three last names. For example: Smith, Jones, and Eby (1990) conducted research on...  or (Smith, Jones, and Eby, 1990).
• Use page numbers unless you are quoting directly (unless you are an international studies student who is familiar with MLA style). If you are quoting directly from one of your journal articles, you must enclose the quote in quotation-marks and provide a page number. For example (Smith, 1990 p.179). Also appropriate is (Smith 1990:179) (Smith, 1990 pp. 179-180). In other words, most styles mandate "p." for a single page, "pp." for multiple pages, or simply a colon after the year.
• If you use the author's name within the narrative, you should not repeat the name within the parentheses used for the reference. This sentence is correct: Smith (1990) conducted an important experiment about teaching effectiveness. This sentence is incorrect: Smith conducted an important experiment about teaching effectiveness (Smith, 1990).
• Repeatedly cite the same source/journal-article. In general, tell the audience once where you obtained your information, and write your review in a way that keeps information from the same source together. If you really need to speak about one article, go to the next, and subsequently return to the first, it is usually preferable to simply mention the 1st authors names again without repeating the source as it should be obvious. The only times that you should cite the same source more than once is: (a) if you are quoting directly, or (b) if the discussions about the source are so far apart in the literature review that the reader won't remember which article was referenced. Because the literature review for this class is only 3 or 4 pages long and you are only citing about 3 journal articles, it is not necessarily to tell the reader more than one time where the information came from.

Smith (1990) conducted an important experiment about teaching effectiveness. Jones (2002) also conducted an important experiment about this subject. Smith's experiment differed from Jones' research because ....

Incorrect:

Smith (1990) conducted an important experiment about teaching effectiveness. Jones (2002) also conducted an important experiment about this subject. Smith's (1990) experiment differed from Jones' (2002) research because ....

1. Your reference section should include (at minimum) the three journal articles contained in your literature review as well as any other sources you have referenced elsewhere in your paper.
 

2. Your references should be listed in an appropriate manner as discussed in class and should be in alphabetical order by the first-author's last name. Again, refer to the class notes, the example paper, and the reference sections of the articles you discussed in your literature review for examples.
 

3. Your references must include:
      (a) the authors' names
      (b) the year published
      (c) where the article/research was published - what book or what journal
      (d) the publisher and city (only if a book)
      (e) the volume number of the journal (only if a journal article)
      (f)  the page numbers (only if a journal or book chapter)
 

4. Remember, for this class you may use MLA, ASA, APA, or any other common reference format. I will not be picky about the style as long as you include the required information in a readable form and place the references in a separate section at the end of the paper (you may not use a footnote style of referencing that is common in some law related journals where numbers are placed in the narrative that refer to footnotes at the bottom of each page). International studies majors may use MLA reference formats, but sociology majors and other majors who do not use MLA should follow the general rules I've discussed here and in class.
 

5. Remember, if you include a direct quote, the page numbers are placed after the year in the narrative, not here in the reference section.
 

6. The top of this section should have the title: References unless you are an international studies major and using MLA. In that case, the title of this section should be Works Cited.