ABSTRACT
The literature review, viewed as unimaginable drudgery by many first-time student researchers, is actually a powerful activity that can make the research design process much easier. Using past research to provide meaningful conceptual definitions, variables—and protocols for incorporating them into a research project—this chapter also explores how to find authoritative and relevant articles using a college library database. Organizational writing tips for the literature review are provided, along with examples from quantitative content analysis studies.
