The literature review process was brand new for me. I had never heard of this type of writing, and initially it sounded like a research paper because of all the research involved. I was completely wrong. This process of writing and completing a literature review has made me look at not only writing differently, but life. I feel like I have just accepted what people have said without looking into it. One stat here and one stat there may have been shared. However, I didn't care enough really to ask them to provide more evidence for what they were saying. This has led me to the conclusion that one must take more care for the words uttered, and be able to provide sound "evidence" for the ideas presented.
Throughout the research process, I learned way more about citing than I cared to. I also saw how many ideas really didn't have more than one author talking about the idea, therefore making it more of a personal view. (What would I have done without a mega search engine of peer-reviewed sources???) Learning to write a literature review has been the biggest confidence booster I have had in a while. It has helped me feel 1) more scholarly and 2) like I know how to find the information I need to present an idea to assist in possible change.
I am not sure why this type of writing was not introduced in college. I feel that it is more satisfying than a research paper by far. One is learning far more by taking a concept and using current research to support it. Reasoning is sharpened, time management is challenged, and most of all the writing style will help with childish banter within a paper. Synthesizing the information that is found was another huge obstacle for me. I was so used to finding and quoting. This is what is being taught. I do not feel that research papers are not important, but I do feel that should be used in a different manner and far less and that more attention should be given to literature reviews.
I would not have made it without Roxanne De Leon, who was very encouraging and helped with every stage of this paper. I am very grateful for her guidance. Her attention to every detail in my paper heightened my own editing skills and just made me feel like a better student all around. I was not expecting this to happen by just writing a paper. I guess this is what real learning is all about.
I guess that leaves me skeptical of current practices within school and me spending countless hours at the drawing board, or should I say editing board.
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