Fueled by the words of the grade above me, I started AP Research terrified of the literature review. However, after reading samples and listing the skills we need, I feel confident in my understanding of a literature review. By threading sources into my own narrative, I have to set up the context and current conversation of the topic I am researching. The literature review combines different seminar skills we learned such as putting sources in conversation, choosing subtopics, integrating quotes, forming an argument, and writing a research question. The format is similar in that we will use subtopics to guide our paper, but also explicitly connect the ideas. I also have to define important or ambiguous terms as they come up. For example, in my literature review I will have a subtopic that defines children versus adults and will then have to relate that to film. A huge thing that I noticed about the literature reviews is how important your unique voice is. This will be challenging to me, since I often times, do not like the way I write. However, I can picture how proud I will be once I thoughtfully craft my own literature review.
As of right now, one of the best sources I have found is "Boundary Crossings: Transitions from Childhood to Adulthood." Although this source is from a geography journal, it has many insights on defining children and adults. While other sources focused on 18 being the legal age of adulthood, this sources stressed the fluidity and possible recursiveness of childhood. It defines child as 5-16, "youth" as 16-25, and adult 25 and older. While this adds to some of the confounding variables of defining the audience, it gives insight to the fluidity of these states. Maturity, Responsibility, Transportation, and Work were all topics that I took from the article to enhance my searches and hone in on themes. This source is one of the few solid sources I have that defines children and adults in an academic way. I think what it fails to acknowledge though are attributes like imagination and perception. These are other topics I have been researching. One specific quote I took away was "Rather than conceptualising childhood as a fixed or static category that we grow out of, it is important instead to understand childhood as a process that shapes up throughout the life course." I think this can be related to the ability for children's movies to speak both to children and adults.
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Grace, I think your analysis of the source is really insightful and shows a level of thoughtfulness that will produce an excellent research project. I like how you're using this solid source to come up with new search terms. I think the source speaks to the complexity of even labeling someone a child or adult, which automatically renders the genre of "children's movies" more complex.
ReplyDeleteLast years seniors were lazy trash. They were definitely not as awesome as us. By slowly working on the literature review everyday and through Mrs. Haag’s amazing guidance, I am sure that there is nothing for you to worry about. So there is no need to worry. You got this. I see that you have been having some trouble coming up with specific topics.
ReplyDeleteThis is a incredibly difficult task. Maybe something you could look at is the Social Cognitive Theory. Last year, I used the Social Cognitive Theory by Albert Bandura to show how children exposed to gender stereotypes in video games grow up to be more keen to operate on these gender stereotypes. Since this theory talks about how media influences children, maybe it could help point you in a useful direction. There are more theories that you could look at regarding film and children, so have you considered looking at psychology as one of your subtopics? I hope that you can find a clear direction to go into soon. Good luck with your research. Keep being awesome!
That source sounds like you hit a gold mine. Good job! My question is are you going to focus on all "child, youth, and adult" from the source or are you going to combine child and youth to keep the scope narrow? Also one thing you are going to have to do is find some source that can connect your source on the transitions between childhood and adulthood with movies. Maybe focus on one aspect from the source, such as "maturity" and look for papers analyzing the maturity levels within children's movies. You sound like you have a great handle on the literature review and know how to rock it.
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