PSC313 Election Process of Voting Paper

PSC 313 Election Process of Voting Paper

PSC 313 – Elections and Voting Behavior

Literature Review Assignment

As we discussed in class, for your final paper you will be writing a literature review on a topic we covered in class, or another topic related to elections and voting behavior that you may have discovered through related readings or other political science classes. A literature review is a descriptive summary of research on a topic that has previously been studied. The purpose of a literature review is to inform readers of the significant knowledge and ideas that have been established on a topic. Its purpose is to compare, contrast, and/or connect findings that were identified when reviewing researchers’ work. Oftentimes, literature reviews are written to ground a study in a particular context of what is known about a subject in order to establish a foundation for the topic (or question) being researched.

The purpose of this assignment is to facilitate your ability to research a topic of study so you can learn to (1) identify and formulate an inquiry question that defines what you’d like to learn, (2) apply your knowledge on reading research that you’ve learned in class, (3) analyze information found in political science journal articles, and (4) synthesize new knowledge into a written literature review.

Assignment Description:

For this assignment, you are asked to complete a literature review on a political science (elections and voting behavior) topic of your choice. You are asked to locate at least 10 journal articles on your topic and write a 10 – 12 page (double spaced) literature review on the articles you’ve selected.

Steps to complete your literature review:

 1. Choose a political science topic that you are interested in studying.

 2. Formulate an inquiry question that specifically describes what you would like to know about your topic.

3. Go to the library to search for and locate journals that include your topic’s information.

4. Find articles, read the abstracts, and skim the articles to determine if they correspond well to your topic AND inquiry question.

5. Select at least 10 journal articles.

6. Read your articles and begin to sort and classify them according to their findings.

 7. Organize your articles by sorting and classifying their findings in a meaningful way, always considering your original topic and inquiry question.

8. Write an outline for your literature review.

9. Write your review.