{"id":15441,"date":"2023-04-18T18:07:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T18:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/a-synthesis-across-sources-to-identify-some-overall-patterns-claims-themes-terms-debates-etc\/"},"modified":"2023-04-18T18:07:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T18:07:13","slug":"a-synthesis-across-sources-to-identify-some-overall-patterns-claims-themes-terms-debates-etc","status":"publish","type":"questions","link":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/a-synthesis-across-sources-to-identify-some-overall-patterns-claims-themes-terms-debates-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"a synthesis across sources to identify some overall patterns, claims, themes, terms, debates, etc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your first writing assignment focuses on one of the central skills of the course: reviewing scholarly<\/p>\n

literature. As we have read and discussed, such a review is critical to designing, executing and<\/div>\n
eventually reporting on any kind of sociological research project. It provides the foundation of what is<\/div>\n
already established about our topic, and allows us to formulate further research questions in the<\/div>\n
context of existing literature. Therefore, our first formal assignment will be a brief review of the<\/div>\n
literature that we have read together. You will use some or all of that review in many of the other<\/div>\n
assignments later, including in the formal research report at the end of the course.<\/div>\n
Guidelines (based on steps and distinctions discussed in class sessions):<\/div>\n
Drawing *only* on the seven articles we have read in the course, and thoughtfully considering all<\/div>\n
seven, review the literature on the sociology of poverty and the narrower literature on beliefs,<\/div>\n
narratives, and framings of poverty in the US.<\/div>\n
\u2022 This requires stepping back from the literature to develop a synthesis across sources to identify<\/div>\n
some overall patterns, claims, themes, terms, debates, etc.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Organize your review around those patterns, claims, etc., rather than organizing it by article.<\/div>\n
That means you should *not* summarize one article and then the next, but instead synthesize<\/div>\n
the articles into themes, patterns, claims, etc. If you think about the grid worksheet from class,<\/div>\n
that would mean reading across the rows for what arises in more than one article.<\/div>\n
\u2022 As you work on this task, the following resources should be helpful: 1) the grid worksheet;<\/div>\n
2) the outline worksheet; and 3), as models, the literature reviews within our readings *and*<\/div>\n
the sample literature review from a past course topic.<\/div>\n
\u2022 The task is limited to the literature; you should not yet extend beyond it to ask questions<\/div>\n
about later events or suggest future research questions. We will do that in later assignments,<\/div>\n
but first we\u2019ll focus on the foundational skill of careful synthesis of existing literature.<\/div>\n
You should write for an audience that has not read the articles you review (just as the literature<\/div>\n
reviews in our various readings did not assume you had read all the other literature they reviewed).<\/div>\n
And you should offer an argument for which the literature provides evidence, which may include<\/div>\n
claims about the literature and claims about the broader topics it addresses.<\/div>\n
\u2022 In the first paragraph you should state that argument\/preview those claims; then organize the<\/div>\n
rest of your review into sections and sub-sections (with some headings) that develop your<\/div>\n
argument\/claims and support them with specific citations from the literature reviewed.<\/div>\n
\u2022 The final paragraph should be a brief conclusion summarizing the key claims and argument.<\/div>\n
Format and requirements:<\/div>\n
\u2022 About 3 pages of double-spaced text; plus a references section with full citations to all seven<\/div>\n
of the articles using ASA Style; in-text citations should also be in ASA Style.<\/div>\n
\u2022 1\u201d margins; 12 point font; pages numbered; carefully edited and proofread.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Uploaded to Lyceum as PDF (it\u2019s easy to save other formats as a PDF after you write).<\/div>\n
\u2022 Due by date\/time noted on syllabus; 1 point\/day late deduction if not submitted on time.<\/div>\n
Evaluation criteria: Rubric available on Lyceum, and includes degree to which requirements above<\/div>\n
are met, with main focus on clarity, specificity, and accuracy of claims\/argument based on synthesis<\/div>\n
across sources; as well as writing mechanics, writing organization, academic integrity, & formatting<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your first writing assignment focuses on one of the central skills of the course: reviewing scholarly literature. As we have read and discussed, such a review is critical to designing, executing and eventually reporting on any kind of sociological research project. It provides the foundation of what is already established about our topic, and allows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"disciplines":[681],"paper_types":[],"tagged":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/15441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/questions"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/15441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=15441"},{"taxonomy":"paper_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper_types?post=15441"},{"taxonomy":"tagged","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tagged?post=15441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}