Identify a question that you have about the particular communication phenomena. 

Literature Review Paper Instructions

Stepping-stone two: Literature review

100 POINTS

The primary purpose of a review of literature is to provide a rationale for the proposed research question(s) and/or hypothesis(ses).  A review of literature should represent a synthesis of existing theory and research literature that argues for the research question(s) and/or hypothesis(ses).The process of constructing a literature review acquaints the researcher with the studies already done in a particular area and allows the researcher to build/extend the existing knowledge.  The key to writing a good literature review is synthesis.The following questions may help to guide your reading and paper organization processes:

Which research articles come to similar conclusions?

Which research articles disagree with one another or have contradictory findings?

Are certain theories consistently used to frame studies on the topic?

How does your thinking about the topic relate to, differ from, and/or add to the previous literature?

Guidelines:

Identify a topic for research that focuses on communication behavior (i.e., verbal and/or nonverbal messages in some capacity).  Identify a question that you have about the particular communication phenomena.  (You may have a question in mind OR you may find a question by examining the literature and identifying gaps.)make sure that your topic is in fact appropriate to the Communication discipline.  This will likely be the topic that you presented in your topic proposal.  The project should build upon the research that you have already started.