The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success Name: _Jade Rutledge__

Excerpted from ​Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2012). The literature review: Six steps to success (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.

STEP 1: Select a topic

Exercise 1.1: Discovering the Subject of your interest or issue of concern

1. What is your personal interest or issue?

My interest is social justice through changing policy and interpreting the law.

2. What are the component parts of this interest?

- leadership
- public policy knowledge
- understanding in economics and politics

3. Why did you become curious about this question?

I have long been interested in a career where I would be able to make people lives easier while also
breaking down oppressive forces after seeing how socioeconomic factors that greatly affect the
treatment those less fortunate receive.

Exercise 1.2: Understanding the Personal Viewpoint

1. What previous knowledge do you have about your interest?

I have general knowledge of the political election system and little public policy knowledge.

2. What personal experience do you have that influences you about this issue or interest?
My mother is a grant and policy maker and we speak often on the disparities of poc in the government
positions that should be these to voice the opinions of people however they are not represented
as much as they should.

3. What are your beliefs, biases, and opinions about this interest or issue?

- I believe that some people in politics will say what they want people to hear in order to get
election but don’t act on their promises.
- some changes in policy would not be made if these was not pressure from the public

4. How will you identify and isolate your personal bias, opinion, feelings, and intuition to preserve
a neutral position as a researcher?

I plan to have internal consistency reliability questions and if I find these is low reliability I will change
my data procurement strategies.

Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2012). The literature review: Six steps to success (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: Corwin Press.
Exercise 1.3: Limiting the interest of your study

Remember to write your answers in detail so that you end up with a useful reference page.

1. Clearly identify the subject of study interest

How does a students attendance to low income/failing elementary and/or middle schools affect their
success in high school.

2. Are you looking at individuals, groups, organizations or producing a product?

Individuals

3. Specifically name the individuals, groups, organizations or product that you plan to study.

I plan the gather my data from groups of students who represent the population of the school.

Exercise 1.4: Choosing the perspective for the study

1. What academic field best lend themselves to your subject and perspective for research? (If you
are still considering more than one perspective, choose a suitable academic field for each
perspective)

Sociology best lends itself to the research that could be conducted because it is the study of human
behavior and interaction.

2. What are the specific knowledge areas of this academic field that will best help in exploring and
defining the research subject?

- The sociology of education: ​examines how social institutions and individuals' experiences within
these institutions affect ​educational​ processes and social development.

3. What knowledge competency do you have in this academic field?

- The only knowledge I have comes from my personal experience of attending public schools.

4. What additional knowledge of this academic field do you need to acquire to have a solid
foundation to address this interest?
- under the same sociology aspect of this field it would be helpful to understand societal functions
and how a school could have low tests scores and not others.

Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2012). The literature review: Six steps to success (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: Corwin Press.
Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2012). The literature review: Six steps to success (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: Corwin Press.