8100 Blog Post #2, Galvan, Chapter 1 Activity 2

2/12/2017

Read the first sample literature review (Review A) near the end of this book and respond to the following questions. Note that you will want to read this review again after you have learned more about the process of writing a literature review. The questions below ask only for your first, general impressions. Later, you will be able to critique the review in more detail.

Have the reviewers clearly identified the topic of the review? Have they indicated its delimitations? (For instance, is it limited to a certain type of individual or certain period of time? Does it deal only with certain aspects of the problem?)

Yes, the topic of review was cyberbulling. Their particular area of study is for cyberbullying among college students in the United States, but they reviewed all types of bullying and all age ranges of adolescents, not just college students,

Have the reviewers written a cohesive essay that guides you through the literature from subtopic to subtopic? Explain.

The reviewers did a nice job of starting the review with the emotional hook of suicides resulting from bullying, then discussing the differences from traditional bullying to cyberbulling. From there they began to review the statics of how widespread cyberbullying is. This section looked at cyberbullying among adolescents of all ages and all studies available, not just those in the United States.

Have the reviewers interpreted and critiqued the literature, or have they merely summarized it?

In the article, the reviewers looked at several different studies and gave the statistics that were found in each study, but then critiqued them showing their weaknesses like the lack of the target sample "more research utilizing a college-age sample is necessary to better understand the prevalence rate among this population" (Schenk, A. M., & Remouw, W. J., 2012, p. 126).

Overall, do you think the reviewers make an important contribution to knowledge through their synthesis of the literature? Explain.

Yes, overall this is a good review of the literature on cyberbullying, with a focus on college age students. The gap in the literature is shown as numerous studies from a variety of countries and age ranges were reviewed, but showed there were few studies specifically focusing on college students in the United States. I did have a little trouble following exactly the college focus for a while that was in the title of the article, but I believe there point was to show the lack of research in that area. The other confusing aspect to me were the sections about the Impact of Cyberbully victimization and the methods for coping with cyberbullying. I was having trouble following the prevalence then the other sections seemed a little out of place.

Galvan, J. L. (2013). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (5th ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.

6 Comments

Cybele Wu link

2/13/2017 06:23:21 pm

Keri:

You said that you had a hard time following the college age focus. I think this is why I felt that there was not enough focus on future research. Perhaps it is not really future research that is the issue but, rather staying with focus. It seemed to jump around so much that it seemed that the college age was not really the focus.

I agree that those sections do seem out of place. Perhaps if those areas were in a different order, it would have had a better flow and would of kept the focus on college age.

Cybele

Keri

2/13/2017 07:21:37 pm

Thanks Cybele,

I do think the reviewers looked at a lot of research and really examined what was there, not just summarizing it, but I think the focus got lost along the way. It seemed it started out as cyberbullying among college age so they wanted to talk about the two types of bullying, traditional and cyberbullying. Then they went to the prevalence in great detail, and basically showing there were few reports for their age range. I guess they then lost me in the transition to the subtopics of victimization and coping.

I guess most importantly, it makes me think of the importance of how to organize the main topics and subtopics to flow for the overall impact in my literature review. I know my main topic has many subtopics, almost seems overwhelming at times. I'm sure I will reorganize it many times before a final copy is complete.
Keri

Ms. Niki

2/13/2017 09:44:12 pm

Hi Keri,

You brought up an excellent point regarding the hook on the students who took their life as a result of cyber bullying and feeling they had no other way to cope. The fact that the study is on children and young adults, there is a responsibility to guide and provide protection to the youth along with providing knowledge on how to be model citizens and aware of the consequences for failing to do so. The essay goes on to mention how this is affecting students around the world and an issue that is not going away, but increasing with the ease and use of advancing technology. Additionally, as the study showed a lack of research on collegiate students, there is an underlying message to increase the surveys for that age group, because they may have more means and ability to access technology over the primary and secondary students.

Thank you for sharing,

Niki

2/14/2017 07:35:04 pm

Hi Niki,

You reflected on two good points. First that because the object of the bullying is a young audience, we have a responsibility to them and the public to make sure they know how to cope but also bring awareness to the problem that is ever increasing.

The second point that caught my attention is the reason that more needs to be studied in college age students is because of their access to the technology that can assist in the bullying. I hadn't really thought of it that way, but it is a very valid point.

Thanks,
Keri

Shari Howington-Carlin

2/14/2017 07:27:31 am

Hi Keri,
You made an excellent comment about the writer's use of suicide as an emotional hook to capture the readers attention. From a writers perspective, that is a useful tool.
I too, was seeing lack with regard to some of the more specific information but as you also noted, in the comparing and contrasting results, they stated that the need for more research in this field is obvious.
I did notice that they connected (outlined) the information well and you brought that into the light. The more I read about literature research, the more I am aware of how important it is from a writers perspective, not just a scientists perspective. Thanks for sharing.

Shari :-)

2/14/2017 07:31:52 pm

Hi Shari,

Yes, that emotional hook gets just about everyone. It does help you endure the numbers when you have first read about the person. I like how you mentioned the importance of reading with a writer's perspective and not just a scientist's perspective. As we have read in Galvan's text, he discusses the importance of knowing the audience of the literature review and writing accordingly. That can't be stressed enough!

Thanks for your comments,
Keri

8100 Blog Post #2, Galvan, Chapter 1 Activity 2

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Author: Keri Duncan

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