Henry Buhl Library: POLS 277: Research Methods: Develop your Research Design

Tools for Developing your Research Design

Defining your Terms
Selecting your Method of Measurement

Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
"is the definitive historical dictionary of the English language."

The OED can be a valuable resource when defining variables for research.

Encyclopedia of Research Design
A collection of entries covering how to plan and conduct empirical research, including the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Need some help with research terminology or deciding which method of data collection you should use? This encyclopedia can help. Check it out!

Need some guidance writing your own literature review?

Start by examining other literature reviews. This can be a great way to see how others have organized their work.

For additional tips on organizing and writing your own review

The Writing Center -- Literature Reviews
Provides an introduction to what a literature review is and tips for writing and organizing a literature review (from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
Temple University Writing Center - Writing Literature Reviews
This site provides users with suggested steps for writing literature reviews, as well as questions to ask yourself while reading sources and organizing your literature review.
Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue
Provides more than 200 resources about academic writing in general, covering topics such as developing a thesis statement and issues of style and language.

"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."

Source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 2012. "Literature Reviews."
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/ (February 25, 2013).