Week 4 - IDT 8092

This was a better week for me. The second draft of my literature review went better than the first. I felt like I was able to get in a groove and really think about how all of the information was fitting together.

My Approach

This was my approach as I went from first draft to second draft. I went back through my paper and made an outline using the section headings. I made the outline on scratch paper and spread it out on my desk so I could visually see the structure of my paper.  (My revised outline was close to the initial outline I submitted, but it did change slightly.) Once I had my outline on scratch paper, I went back through my articles and the notes I took for my annotated bibliography. As I was reviewing articles and notes, I was referring back to my outline to see how it fit in. In some cases I realized I hadn't included the article in a particular section. In some cases I realized I needed an entirely new section based on what I uncovered in my articles. That was basically it. Reviewing articles, thinking about how it fit into my outline, and visually trying to think about the entire flow of the paper. I was in a groove.

Helpful Tips

In addition to having a plan for organizing my thoughts and ideas, the other big thing that helped me last week was looking at other literature reviews. I looked at three completed dissertations and specifically focused on how they did their lit reviews. Although the topics were different, just seeing the flow and how they presented a review of the research was REALLY helpful.

Reviewing two of my classmates lit review drafts was also helpful. Looking at how someone else approached the task of writing a lit review was a valuable experience. And, looking specifically for APA formatting issues was a great task for reinforcing APA. I'm not sure I'll get to the point where I don't need the manual, but I am getting much better at recognizing how to handle many of the common items. Page 177 and 202-206 of the APA Manual were my friends this week. I still struggle with how to do citations with multiple authors (page 177), and how to reference non-journal articles (pages 202-2006 - books, reports, etc.).

This week I'm incorporating ideas from my classmates and Dr. Weaver and doing some final editing. There is still a fair amount of work to do, but...

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!