For your final paper in this class, you will write a literature review. A literature review is a critical analysis of a specific topic in a discipline (or across disciplines). The objective is to understand what has been said and argued about the specific topic, and then, most importantly, provide a claim about this pre-existing academic literature. In other words, you are demonstrating your knowledge of the significant literature within your topic and evaluating it critically. This means formulating your own argument.

A literature review:

• Identifies areas of prior scholarship to set your subject in the context of previous studies.
• Places each work in the context of its contribution to knowledge of the subject under review.
• Describes how each study relates to the other.
• Identifies gaps in previous research and emphasizes new ways to interpret the subject.
• Proposes areas for further research.

I have taken the above bullet points from the University of the Creative Arts (the first link below). I suggest perusing these online sources, especially if you are not yet familiar with literature reviews:

https://guides.lib.fsu.edu/litreview_arthum

https://libguides.usc.edu/c.php?g=235208&p=1560698

The paper should be 7-10 pages in length, double-spaced, twelve-point Times font, with standard margins and no space between indented paragraphs. For footnotes and bibliography, use the Chicago Manual of Style (please e-mail a librarian to help you if you have never used citations). Any images should be embedded in the paper at the end (after the bibliography) and captioned properly with in-text “fig.#” numbers.

Here is a recommended schedule that might be a good pacing of this assignment:

Step One (June 6-18): TOPIC

Think about and home in on a specific topic to work on. This is important: make sure it is not too broad (like “Surrealism” or “Matisse”) but also not broad enough (essentially, any topic that is so esoteric no literature yet exists).

I encourage you to employ your pre-existing interests when thinking about a topic. For example, I’m interested in French Surrealism’s anti-colonial stances. This would be the start of a good, focused topic. You could also pick a specific work of art or exhibition, if it is well-known enough to have substantial writing on it (though be careful here not to pick an object that is too famous, like Picasso’s Les Demoiselles, in which case the literature will be far too copious).

Run your topic by me ASAP and before you move to step two.

Step Two (June 19-July 3): SOURCES

The next step is to find and consolidate your sources. Aim to have at least 8-10 academic essays—and try to find the most significant sources on your topic (this will usually be based on the critical prestige of the journal and perhaps the author). Please: no blogs, museum posts, or popular magazines. These need to be scholarly sources in peer-reviewed journals.

Use the front search page of the CCNY library and/or Worldcat to make searches related to your topic and track down journal articles in the City College library databases, like JSTOR. The NYPL also has a great online database with access to many scholarly journals (you just need an account, which is free).

Step Three (July 4-15): READ

Once you have all your sources compiled, become familiar with them. Get a good perspective of the lay of the land. As you read, start to note patterns and approaches, which will help you in organizing your research.

It is likely there will be one (perhaps more than one) canonical essay that is often referred to by other sources and their authors. Pay attention to this source and its arguments, as you will likely want to engage it in some way through your own writing and argument. Begin to see the sub-themes and sub-arguments, and also try to see if something is missing, which may open an opportunity for your own contribution.

At this stage, it is also a good idea to start outlining and brainstorming the structure of your essay. Do you already have a provisional thesis? Then place it in the intro of your outline and begin organizing the roadmap for the body of your essay and envisioning how you will provide evidence for your arguments as clearly and convincingly as possible. Above all, make sure that you set yourself up for a focused paper in your outline. Do any sections feel like they might balloon into unwieldy proportions? If so, then refine the scope of that section so that you do not lose the thread of your paper and argument. Here is are some general tips on outlining I came up with, which I recommend looking at this point: OUTLINING PAPERS

Depending on your topic, there will be different ways of ordering the literature. Perhaps it will be by different theoretical approaches. Perhaps it will be by different focuses, on certain works or themes in an artist’s body of work. Perhaps it will be chronological, whereby the literature changes over time in certain ways. It is up to you to find the best way to order your sources and give the best overview of the academic writing on your topic.

An annotated bibliography of your sources is due on or before July 15

Step Four: (July 16-27): WRITE

Once you have compiled, read, and grouped your sources, you will be ready to start writing. The bullet points for this on the University of the Creative Arts website are quite good, so I’m quoting from there again (with a few additions of my own):

• Introduction: an overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, and a glimpse of your argument.
• Organize your review: group authors who draw similar conclusions and then compare and contrast different authors’ views on an issue.
• Be critical: note areas in which authors are in disagreement. You need to consider each author’s arguments and how they support this with evidence (such as case studies, narratives or statistics). Ask yourself if the author is objective. Are they biased? Has information been ignored?
• Link your own arguments into your critical analysis and use quotes if needed. Less is more in a literature review.
• Relate your own study to previous studies. Show how your study fits in with the reviewed literature and identify gaps in research.
• What is your conclusion? Which arguments are the most convincing and why, and which make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of this subject?
• Identify gaps in the literature and emphasize new ways to interpret the subject.
• Proposes areas for further research and backup the need for this will compelling evidence/observations.

I have a handy academic writing tips worksheet, which I recommend reading as you write: Tips for Academic Writing

Step Five: (week 15 to due date/May 11-18): REVISE

Revise and proofread your draft. Make sure the organization is fluid and clear. Make sure there are no grammatic or formatting errors. Make sure your argument is well stated and precise: arguments should always be stated in an initial way in your introductory paragraph and then further refined and built on throughout the essay, and finally brought home in the conclusion. Lastly, it is always a great idea to have some else read your text—I encourage students to peer review their work at this stage.

The paper is due as a PDF over e-mail by  August 3 (or any time before). Please name your file: lastname_firstname_finalpaper