Literature Review of the use of Social Media to engage consumers and protential consumers
For your literature review you will want to narrow to the use of social media to meaningfully engage consumers (and potential
consumers). Identify what the “leaders” have been doing and how they have been measuring engagement. You may also want to narrow to
a certain customer segment (generation segment, psychographic, etc.) and/or social media platform suites.
LITERATURE REVIEW ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
The purpose of this Literature Review is for you to create a scholarly piece of graduate-level research and writing, which conforms
to current APA format. Competency in APA format is required of all Business graduates of Liberty University, as set forth by policy
of both the Graduate Faculty and the administration.
You will research and write a literature review on the topic approved by your instructor (Research Topic Selection/Approval
Assignment). Do not “recycle” any work from any previous courses you have taken. Your Literature Review will be a comprehensive
thematic review of the scholarly literature related to your topic and will lay the foundation for your small-scale research
projects. You will also submit this Literature Review as a required portion of your Qualitative Research Prospectus and
Quantitative Research Prospectus assignments. You are expected to take the feedback you received on the Literature Review and make
any necessary revisions prior to submitting the content as a part of those assignments.
What is a Literature Review?
“A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular
subject area within a certain time period.
A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both
summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a
reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it
might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature
review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant” (The Writing Center, para. 2).
How is a literature review different from an academic research paper?
“While the main focus of an academic research paper is to support your own argument, the focus of a literature review is to
summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others”(The Writing Center, para. 3). The academic research paper also covers a
range of sources, but it is usually a select number of sources, because the emphasis is on the argument. Likewise, a literature
review can also have an “argument,” but it is not as important as covering a number of sources. In short, an academic research
paper and a literature review contain some of the same elements. In fact, many academic research papers will contain a literature
review section. However, it is the aspect of the study (the argument or the sources) emphasized that determines what type of
document it is.
Why write literature reviews?
“Literature reviews provide you with a handy guide to a particular topic. If you have limited time to conduct research, literature
reviews can give you an overview or act as a stepping-stone. For professionals, they are useful reports that keep them up to date
with what is current in the field. For scholars, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the credibility of the
writer in his or her field. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research paper’s investigation. Comprehensive
knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to most research papers”(The Writing Center, para. 4).
What is the format for literature reviews?
“Just like most academic papers, literature reviews also must contain at least three basic elements: an introduction or background
information section; the body of the review containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or recommendations
section to end the paper.
• Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the central theme or organizational
pattern.
• Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized thematically (see below for more information on each).
• Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what you have drawn from reviewing literature so far. Where might the discussion
proceed?”(The Writing Center, para 12).
These 3 elements (intro, body, conclusion) are not the heading titles that you should use, but should be present/evident in the
structure; for a thematic literature review, please either use the headings listed in the section below, or create subtopic titles
for the headings.
What is a thematic literature review?
“A thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue.
Sometimes, though, you might need to add additional sections that are necessary for your study, but do not fit in the
organizational strategy of the body. What other sections you include in the body is up to you. Put in only what is necessary. Here
are a few other sections you might want to consider:
• Current Situation: Information necessary to understand the topic or focus of the literature review.
• History: The chronological progression of the field, the literature, or an idea that is necessary to understand the
literature review, if the body of the literature review is not already a chronology.
• Methods and/or Standards: The criteria you used to select the sources in your literature review or the way in which you
present your information. For instance, you might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed articles and journals.
• Questions for Further Research: What questions about the field has the review sparked? How will you further your research
as a result of the review?”(The Writing Center, para 14).
Important Points to Consider
The paper is to be written in strict conformance to current APA standards, and contain at least 10 pages of content (excluding the
title page, abstract, and reference page) use at least 20peer-reviewed references (you should already have 5 from the Research
Topic Selection/Approval Assignment).
**It is highly recommended that each student download and read the instructions to avoid any stress created by issues that are the
result of waiting until the last minute.
• A SafeAssign draft submission link will be provided for you to use to improve your Originality Score, prior to your final
submission.
Three current APA headings should be used throughout the paper, as this is a graduate-level Literature Review.
Some students do not fully understand the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is when you take a source or
someone else’s idea and say it in your own words. When you paraphrase you must still give the author’s name, date, title of the
source, the scholarly journal where it came from, and the exact website address or book.
However, when you directly quote a source, it must have quotation marks around the quote, or (if 40 words or more) it must be set
in block quotation format. Give detailed information of where you acquired the quote.
For the purpose of this academic paper, please adhere to the follow rules when quoting or using a source:
• Do not directly quote more than 120 words from any 1 source.
• If the source is 2,000 words or less, do not directly quote more than 50 words from the source.
• Do not use the same source more than a total of 3 times within the whole document, for quoting or paraphrasing.
• Quotes must contain the section (if provided) and paragraph or page numbers of the quote and this information must be
placed in the references section.
• In all instances, be sure to use the APA guidelines for citations and references.
The paper must not be a series of quotations.Please email your instructor with any questions regarding the Literature Review.
Reference
The Writing Center, The University of North Carolina. (n.d.). Literature reviews. Retrieved from
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/