Literature Survey

OK I have been asked to provide an example of the ‘Literature Survey’ [Review of the Literature] paragraph for your research essays. Here is an example. Note that this is an example; it is generic and does not have the specific detail from each ‘item’ I expect from your Assignment 3: The Review of the Literature. It is an example of what I expect to read. I do not want you to copy these slavishly. I have not clearly divided the items into groups, which I expect you to do. I have only written about 5 items; I expect you to write about all ten [at least] items in their respective groups. Where it says “…(citation)” this is where I expect you to put in the citation in the APA in-line short citation form of …(Surname, date, p. xx). Read them and then think about what you want to say about YOUR literature survey. This is 417 words.I shall work on a better version of this – a Review of the Literature for a presentation on Aghia Sophia that I am working on.Literature SurveyMy first source (citation) sets out some of the fundamental information that is required to understand my research topic. For the most part, it explains the concepts central to my research in simple layman’s terms which was exceptionally useful for me as I delved deeper into the topic. With some of the basic terminology and basic evidence in hand, I was than able to review and take notes from my second source (citation) which was more of a challenge for me. The author of this source writes from a perspective expecting the reader to be knowledgeable about the subject and so he does not always explain every new term when it is first introduced. This meant I had to read some paragraphs several times to really understand that the development of the thesis statement was really about. However, on the other hand this article provided me with some very clear examples – clear data really – that were very useful in constructing my own argument as I got to grips with actually answering my research question. The third source (citation) was hard; it is full of evidence that I wanted to use – numbers, graphs and citations to other experts – but this meant that it is very dense as a source: there is just so much in there was it was very slow going trying to read it, understand it and then to get all the information I needed from the source but turned into paraphrases so that I was not copying word for word. The title of my fourth source (citation) got me all excited when I found it; I thought this was going to be the answer to all my prayers as the title suggested that it was everything I wanted and needed. In this however, I was severely disappointed. The references in this source were very few in number and when I tried to follow one of them up, I could not find from where the author had taken his information. On account of this, I have restricted my use of this source severely. The fifth source (citation) I used at the start of my research is one which is ‘light’ on ‘hard data’ but it provides interesting opinions supported with ‘soft evidence’ about my topic and the author’s take on the subject. I do not always agree with him, but reading this source has made me think about my research and has developed what I think about it. It has helped me reach my own conclusions.