Amor Chavez Castillo
ENGL 1302-231
Dr. Nelson
10 March 2024
The Process of Writing a Literature Review
Through the progress of completing my literature review, I became more knowledgeable
and experienced on what it means to correctly synthesize information from different academic
journal articles. Despite the process being tedious, I was able to guide myself and organize the
information with the “Article Analysis Worksheet” (Nelson). It allowed me to organize the eight
articles I was going to use for my literature review essay by providing information about the
studies’ “background, exhibits, arguments, methods, and theories” (Nelson, “Article Analysis”).
Having this outline helped gather the specific information I needed from every article. This
process did not just help me to complete my essay, but also allowed me to apply my knowledge
in other courses. The process helped me complete a research assignment for my Philosophy
course by having to go through journal articles. It helped me become familiar with searching for
journal articles on John Locke’s Personality Theory and being able to understand them by
organizing the information found in the articles. Despite successfully completing my literature
review, it would not have been possible without applying what I learned through the annotated
bibliography.
To complete the annotated bibliography, I had to learn how to concise the information on
the lengthy journal articles I had found on my topic to successfully build a summary for them
(Chavez Castillo, “Annotated Bibliography”). Keeping in mind that only the most important
should be kept for the synthesis helped me keep my review straight to the point. It allowed me to
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complete my “Article Analysis Worksheet” with a lot of information for each of my eight articles
without being as repetitive as possible (Chavez Castillo). Applying this facilitated the overall
process of my writing. It prepared me for the following assignment which allowed me to gather
my thoughts and develop an outline for my draft.
Creating a literature analysis essay helps me organize the ideas being portrayed by all
eight of my sources. It helps me find similarities and differences between the scholars. For
instance, in my essay it allowed me to find similarities and differences in the ways scholars
researched the effects internet use has on society such as the ways they organize their
information and how they collect it (Chavez Castillo, “Literature Review”). Knowing this helps
me understand the things shared by scholars and the conclusions they collectively agree on. By
knowing that researchers have found that internet use causes negative effect on mental health, I
can build a stance for my upcoming writing assignment (Chavez Castillo, “Literature Review”).
Building the research analysis allowed me to organize all the information I had gathered and
categorize it for easier access when writing my final draft (Chavez Castillo, “Article Analysis
Worksheet”). Using a research analysis does not just help me in this specific assignment but in
others too. In any sort of writing assignment which involves sources with a lot of information,
making a research analysis helps writers gather ideas in the sources. This makes it easier to find
similar or different viewpoints to strengthen their position about controversial topics. By being
knowledgeable on the steps I can take to create a research paper, I can write papers for my
courses such as future Philosophy, History, and Health Sciences courses I will be taking.
Conferencing with Dr. Nelson helped me strengthen my essay before the final draft was
due. Because I was so used to going over my own writing, I could not see my mistakes prior to
my conference. For instance, Dr. Nelson recommended I make some changes to the introduction
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by changing one of my sentences into a statement all the scholars were discussing or would agree
on (Draft 1). This helped me improve the approach I took when introducing the topic of my
essay. Another change that I made to my essay was correctly citing information from other
scholars. Dr. Nelson told me to include the page number and author’s last name inside the same
parentheses at the end of my sentence (Draft 1). With these recommendations, I was able to
prevent undergoing plagiarism in this essay and upcoming ones. Without the help of my
professor, my research analysis would not have been as smooth.
Another activity that was effective in improving my draft was peer review with one of my
classmates. Through this, my partner recommended I included transition words throughout my
body paragraphs (Sanchez). I applied their recommendation by adding transitions like “although,
additionally, furthermore, and despite” (Chavez Castillo, Literature Review). Because of these
changes, I was able to improve the flow in ideas in my essay to make it easier for my readers to
understand and follow along.
The overall most challenging aspect of the literature review was going through all eight
of my sources to complete the “Article Analysis Worksheet.” Going over the articles to find
specific information with relevance to the worksheet was very time consuming and frustrating
yet it made it easier for me to find the similarities and differences between the articles (Chavez
Castillo, “Article Analysis Worksheet”). Because of this, the least challenging aspect was
completing the “Synthesis Outline Worksheet” since I had already done most of the work in the
previous assignment (Chavez Castillo).
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Works Cited
Chavez Castillo, Amor. “Article Analysis Worksheet.” 19 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas
A&M International University, Homework Assignment.
Chavez Castillo, Amor. “Behind the Scenes of Researching the Impact Internet Use Has on
Society’s Mental Health: A Literature Review.” Final Draft. 9 Marcg 2024. ENGL 1302,
Texas A&M International University.
Chavez Castillo, Amor. “Synthesis Outline Worksheet.” 26 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas
A&M International University, Homework Assignment.
Chavez Castillo, Amor. “The Impact Internet Usage Has on Society’s Mental Health: An
Annotated Bibliography.” Final Draft. 9 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M
International University.
Nelson, Sharity. “Article Analysis Worksheet.” 19 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M
International University.
Nelson, Sharity. “The Impact Internet Usage Has on Society’s Mental Health.” Draft 1. 4 March
2024. Professor Comment. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.
Sanchez, Amsi. “The Impact Internet Usage Has on Society’s Mental Health.” Draft 1. 4 March
2024. Peer Comment. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.
