Sample LitReview Essay

8/6/2019 Sample LitReview Essay

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What is a Literature Review Essay ?

Independent Literature Review essays like any other essay (see The Essay) are an

educational exercise. They are stand-alone assignments generally given out by teachersto ensure a focus on more theoretical aspects of an undergraduate course - e.g. asking youto consider an argument or assertion in ways that involve a discussion of principle or theory.Skills learned on this task are good preparation for authentic academic literature reviews,such as book reviews [see sample Book Review].

Literature Review essays also offer good preparation for doing background reviews of theliterature for original investigative research projects. Your teacher will often expect youto begin your review by consulting a more general textbook. Such textbooks are veryuseful in helping you shape a literature review, as they:

highlight the range of perspectives or areas of emphasis researchers have developed,offer pointers to any differences among interpretations, &contain comprehensive bibliographies

You might then move on to look at articles or books which take divergent perspectives onthe issue in question. A typical approach might be to:start with a general topic, whether chosen or assigneddo a preliminary (perhaps guided) literature search to narrow down your topictry to identify points of difference between your selected sources, to get some

comparative dimension to the review - differences in either perspective, point of emphasis, conclusion, etc.As with the academic essay, your writing up of the Review is designed to show the reader that:

you have understood the main theoretical positions covered in your course, &you are able to integrate that material into a coherent academic text (a review essay).

Example 1 offers an excellent example of a textbook approach to reviewing the literature,following theories of developmental psychology from Piaget, through to the feministCarol Gilligan.

Example 1: Textbook review of 3 authors' work

Sexual Attitudes in Perspective, by Robert T. Francoeur [Extract, reviewing theories in Developmental Psychology]

Task: Here are some questions to bear in mind when reading the review:


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1. From the introduction, do you know how many different sub-topics will be reviewed?

What are they?2. How does the writer organise his discussion of each psychologist ?3. Skim-reading: Read these sections quickly, reading each opening paragraph and after

that only the paragraph-initial sentences carefully. Were you able to follow the writer's promised points ? [see Commentary]4. Can you tell whether Kohlberg or Gilligan agree with Piaget?

Can you tell whether the author of the review, Francoeur, agrees with Piaget, Kohlberg or Gilligan?

Now read the review

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INTRODUCTION: Sexual Attitudes in Perspective by Robert T. Francoeur

How do we develop our attitudes, values, and stereotypes about what is proper andexpected behavior for men and women? Where do we get our ideas and beliefs about the

purposes of sexual intercourse, sexual behavior, the role and position of the child in thefamily, the role of the family in society, and countless other sexual issues?

In part, the newborn infant learns about gender roles and what is right or wrong in sexualrelations through conditioning by his or her parents and by society. Sociologists call thisconditioning process socialization, or social scripting. They study the processes wherebyeach newborn infant is introduced to the values and attitudes of his or her social group;sociologists start their examination with the family and branch out to include the broader community as well. Psychologists talk about the process of psychological conditioningand learned responses. Anthropologists speak of the process of enculturation and studyhow the infant becomes a person who can function within a particular culture, more or less adopting the values and attitudes characteristic of that culture. Educators talk aboutvalue-oriented education and values clarification. Religious leaders speak of divinerevelations, commandments, and indoctrination with moral principles and values. Each of these perspectives gives us some clues as to how we develop as individuals with differentsets of values and attitudes about sexuality and other aspects of human life.

Before we explore the contrasting views on specific controversial human sexuality issuescontained in this volume, we should try to understand our own views, and those of otherswho take positions that are different from ours, by reviewing some key insights into our development as thinking persons. We can start with the insights of three developmental

psychologists. Working from that base, we can move to a cultural perspective andconsider some socioeconomic and ethnic factors that help shape our attitudes about sex.To fill out our picture, we can briefly examine two religious perspectives that play a


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major role in the attitudes and values we adopt and come to defend with both tenacity andemotion.

THE INSIGHTS OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Jean PiagetAccording to the theories of Jean Piaget (1896-1980), the famous Swiss developmental psychologist, we begin life as completely amoral, totally self- centered beings. For thefirst two years of life, we are only concerned with our basic survival needs. The need for food, comfort, and security make us oblivious to the values of our parents. We do notunderstand nor do we care about what our families or culture have to say about our futureroles as males or females and the kinds of relations and behaviors we might engage in.However, our parents are already conditioning and scripting us for our future roles.Parents and other adults generally treat boy and girl infants differently.

By age two, the child enters a stage of development Piaget calls the egocentric stage. For

the next five years or so, the child has only a very general idea of what the rules are. Asthe child becomes aware of these rules, he or she tries to change them to accommodate personal needs and wants. A child's world is centered on itself. The child manipulates theworld outside, then adjusts to the demands and expectations of parents and others.

By age seven, the child is ready to enter a new stage of development, which Piaget callsthe heterogamous stage. In this stage, morality and what we see as right and wrong is

based on outside authorities and a morality based on rules and laws. Guided by parentsand other authority figures, the child begins to assert some degree of logical and moralcontrol over his or her behavior. Between the ages of 7 and 12, the child begins todistinguish between valid and invalid ideas. Authority becomes a dominant concern,regardless of whether it is a parent, teacher, or older child who exerts it. The child oftenaccepts an idea, attitude, or value without question, and issues tend to be seen in terms of

black and white. There is little understanding of what is moral because of the totalacceptance of the morality imposed by others.

As a young person enters the early teen years, he or she begins to comprehend values andapply them in original ways. This marks a transition, a turning point before one acceptsfull moral responsibility for one's life.

Finally, usually sometime after age 12, the young person starts moving into what Piagetcalls an autonomous stage. At this level of moral development, we start thinking andacting as adults. We accept personal responsibility. We think in terms of cooperationrather than constraint. Peer interactions, discussions, criticisms, a sense of equality, and arespect for others help us develop this sense of morality and values. We begin to seeother perspectives on moral and ethical issues. We may question and struggle to verifyrules and ideas. If we find a rule morally acceptable, we internalize it, making it anintegral part of our values.

Lawrence Kohlberg


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Lawrence Kohlberg, another influential developmental psychologist, built on Piaget'smodel of moral development and expanded it with further insights. Instead of Piaget'segocentric, heteronomous, and autonomous stages, Kohlberg speaks of preconventional,conventional, and postconventional stages. He then divides each of these stages into twosubstages.

On the level of preconventional morality, the child responds to cultural rules and thelabels of good and bad. This level is divided into two stages: (1) punishment andobedience orientation and (2) instrumental relativist orientation. At this level, the childexpresses a total respect for the authority figure and has only a very primitive sense of morality. On the second level of preconventional morality, the child is concerned withsatisfying its own needs rather than the needs of others or of society.

When we reach the level of conventional morality, our sense of values is characterized byconformity to and maintenance of the moral conventions that are expected by one'sfamily, group, or nation (stage 3)-regardless of the consequences. When we first begin to

think in terms of social conventions, we are labeled a good boy or nice girl if we conformour behavior to familial and societal norms. As we reach stage 4, our understanding of conventional morality matures, and we develop a sense of law and order, focusing onfixed rules and upholding the social order. On this level, moral behavior consists of respecting authority and maintaining the social order so that society can functionsmoothly.

Finally, Kohlberg describes a postconventional morality, which is very similar to Piagetsautonomous stage. At this stage, an individual tries to define his or her own moralityapart from that of authoritative figures. Stage 5, the social contract stage, is reached whenan individual puts an emphasis on what is legally binding, but realizes that laws maychange to meet social demands. The last stage of moral development is the level of universal ethical principle orientation. At this level, a person's conscience serves as the

judge for moral dilemmas. Abstract qualities such as justice, human rights, respect for thedignity of human life, and equality become important in making decisions. For some

people, adherence to an inner conscience may require them to break a law for a higher purpose.

While Kohlberg's theory is more detailed, it overlaps in many ways with Piaget's model.In a revision of his work, Kohlberg implies that a higher stage, such as stage 5 or 6, is notnecessarily better than a lower stage, and that most people do not reach the sixth stage. Infact, Kohlberg's research suggests that most people seem to get "'stuck" in stage 4, wherelaw and order is the overriding orientation. What connections, if any, can you see

between these two models of moral development and the value systems based on either afixed or process world view?

Carol GilliganIn 1982 Carol Gilligan, a Harvard psychologist, criticized Kohlberg's theory and itsconclusions, and by implication the model suggested by Piaget. She suggests that thesetheories break down when applied to the ways in which women deal with moral issues.


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Studies have shown that when female solutions to hypothetical moral dilemmas areevaluated using Kohlberg's scheme, women appear to be "'stuck" at the second level, thatof conventional morality, where moral decisions are made in terms of pleasing andhelping others. Gilligan rejects this conclusion. She contends that women are notdeficient or immature in their moral development but that the standard against which they

are measured is biased. Kohlberg's model was derived from a 20-year study of moraldevelopment in 84 boys and no girls, although the model has been generalized andapplied to the moral sensitivity of both men and women.

As a result of some pilot studies of moral reasoning in women, Gilligan suggests thatthere is another, equally valid, moral perspective besides Kohlberg's "justice and rights"framework. She calls this second perspective the "care" perspective because itemphasizes relationships and connections between people rather than an abstracthierarchy of rules and rights. This framework stresses nurturance and responsibility toand for others. For Gilligan, the justice and the care perspectives of morality are different,

but neither is superior to the other. Neither is more or less mature. Both are necessary for

human survival.Gilligan points out that the two moral frameworks are gender related, but not gender specific. For the most part, women seem to be more comfortable within the care

perspective, and men within the justice and rights perspective. However, in someinstances, women reason from a justice/rights view and men from a care view.

SOCIAL AND ETHNIC FACTORS IN OUR VALUES

In our personal development, socioeconomic and ethnic factors play a major role in thesexual values and attitudes we incorporate into our lives. Etc..

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From: Francoeur, R. T. (Ed.). (1994). Taking sides: Clashing views on controversialissues in human sexuality (4th ed.) (pp. xiv-xvii) Guilford, CT: The Dushkin PublishingGroup.


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Example 5: A very competent HKU Social Science student literature review

TASK : As you did with Example 3 (Language & Gender), compare:the writer's argumentative structure, &her critical strategies and tone regarding other studies

Literature Review by a 1st-year Social Science student

THE CHOICE OF MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN HK SECONDARY SCHOOLS:A BRIEF CRITICAL REVIEW

Kam Kwok Fei, Iris

The debate over the medium of instruction in the Hong Kong educational domain has along history. The subject is a crucial one because it is directly linked to the qualitative

aspect of education. It has been a major area of concern of most educationists andresearchers.

As early as Hong Kong became the colony of Britain there have been government reportsover the language issue. Like the Brewin Report in 1902, it gave an undue emphasis onEnglish teaching with an attempt to gain imperial interests (see Fong, 1991). It is acommon practice for a colonial government to cultivate her language to be superior.English as an instructional medium was quite a firm language policy of the governmentuntil the eighties when reports and researches found that the effectiveness of Englishmedium in teaching was undesirable. According to Lo (1991), the presentation of government publications typically Llewellyn Report and Bumey Report suggested thatthe government tended to change its attitude from supporting the English medium at itsearly position to encourage the use of the Chinese medium at a later period. Becausethese publications primarily pinpointed the ineffectiveness of using English as themedium of instruction in secondary schools.

There are also papers and researches examining the place of mother tongue and Englishin this bilingual society. As stated by Gibbons (1989), English enjoyed an extraordinaryhigh status in Hong Kong where over 98 per cent of people are of Chinese extraction.English is influential both within and outside the territory. English is the major languageof official communication within the civil service. There are only a small number of

people who are able to speak and write effective English. They are usually regarded aselites and are examples to many of the ordinary citizens. Externally, English is the maininternational language of activities like banking and international business. A goodcommand of English is essential to attain personal, economic as well as socialadvancements. Under such circumstances, Fu (1987) described `English is the passport, itis the prestige, it is the profession and parents wants their children to get on the boat andto stay there.' (1987:29) His comment exactly reflects people's attitude towards English.


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In addition, Phillipson (1992) claimed that English performed a crucial role in periphery-English countries. He argued that English bore a social stratification function. A good

proficiency in English was a necessity for upward mobility and privileged position in asociety.

A study done by Chan (1986) has highlighted the present status of Chinese and Englishlanguage in Hong Kong. He concluded that the place of mother tongue depended quiteheavily on the business, academic and professional values people held of that particular language. He also developed a behaviour determinants model in which language choicewas made. The model was divided into internal and external factors. The internal factorswere those like the decision makers' beliefs and values while the external ones took intoaccount the legal historical as well as political contexts of a society (see Chan, 1991).

Researches that were mentioned were not comprehensive. They only gave a general picture of language use pattern in Hong Kong. There were no logical and convincingexplanations of why English was so dominant throughout the territory. The study by Tam

(1987) was influential in the sense that he examined the influence of various institutionson individual's language choice. Although it can be found from the EducationCommission Report Number One (1984) that individual school authority has the freedomto decide which medium of instruction is to be used, the decision is actually influenced

by the demands in the society. Tam claimed that it was due to the strong parental preference over English of its high market value. This explained why the number of Anglo-Chinese secondary schools significantly outnumbered that of Chinese middleones. Most importantly, he put the whole language choice issue into a conflict

perspective which was somehow political. He argued that individuals tended to learn in alanguage that was used by the ruling class and could improve their chances to power and

prestige. Chinese language does not enjoy a high status as English does is probably due tothe inequality of social and economic opportunities attached to it. By that, Tam's studyconcluded that the language policy and practices in the government business and tertiaryinstitutes had enormous effects on individual's choice of medium of instruction.Language choice thus is not solely made in the educational domain. Rather, it is the resultof the interplay of the social economic and political forces in the society.

The whole issue is related to the question of who chooses the language to be used. Thedecision is clearly in the hands of the power-holder in the society, that is the state or thegovernment. According to Landis (1992), there is an unbalance of power and authority inevery groupings of people. Some lead, some follow; some make decisions, others takeorders. Conflicts always arise over these differences in power relationships and interests.Chapman (1986) claimed that all social institutions in a capitalist society strive to fulfillthe interests and needs of the ruling class. Schools in the education system thus were

provided by the state not to give child equal opportunities, but to meet the need of capitalist employers for a disciplined and skilled workforce. Schools were seen as amechanism for social control to help maintain political stability. As a corollary toChapman's saying, Meighan (1986) mentioned that language issue was related to thedistribution of power, resources and opportunities. English education therefore, modeledintricate social patterns among different groups in the society. A person with good


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English is going to possess far more power and enjoy a high status than those who knowlittle about the language.

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References

Chan, J. (1986). "The place of Mother tongue in a Bilingual Society", New Horizons, No.27, pp. 6-12.Chan, J. (1991). "Choice of Medium of Instruction: A Challenge for the School in the90's", New Horizons, No. 32, pp. 11-17.Chapman, K. (1986). The Sociology of Schools. London: Tavistock, pp. 31-51.Education Department (1965). Education Policy. Hong Kong: Government Printer, p.113.Do. (1984). Education Commission Report No. 1. Hong Kong: Govt Printer, p.40.Fong, Y.W. (1991). The Education System Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Society of

Educators, pp. 226-227.Fu, G. S. (I987). The Hong Kong Bilingual. In R. Lord and N.L. Cheng (eds), LanguageEducation in Hong Kong. HK: Chinese University Press, pp.27-49.Gibbons, J. (1989). The Issue of the Language of Instruction in the Lower Forms of HongKong Secondary Schools. In C. Kermedy (Ed.), Language Planning and EnglishLanguage Teaching. Hong Kong: Prentice-Hall, pp. 123-134.Landis, J.R. (1992). Sociology: Concepts and Characteristics. Belmont: Wadsworth, pp.14-15.Lo, L.F. (1991). "The Medium of Instruction Issue Re-visited", Educational ResearchJournal, Vol.6, pp.63-67.Meighan, R, (1986). A Sociology Of Educating. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp.260-277.Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 16-37.So, W.C. (1992). Language-based Bifurcation of Secondary Schools in Hong Kong: Past.Present & Future. in .K.K. Luke (Ed.), Into the Twenty First Century: Issues of Languagein Education in Hong Kong. HK: Linguistic Society of Hong Kong pp. 69-95.Tam, T.K. (1986). "The Impact of Governmental and Institutional Language Policy andPractices on the Individual's Choice of the Instructional Medium in Schools in HongKong", Educational Research Journal No. 1, pp. 35-40.Tollefson, J.W. (1990). Planning Language, Planning Inequality. London: Longman

pp.201-212.Submitted: 3rd November 1993 .

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