ROOSEVELT THINKS | POLICY RESEARCH
Literature Review Template
Citation Quality Control
A Campus Network Founder once said, “Colleges are already effectively think tanks; they just
aren’t effective think tanks.” All the resources that you could ever need to write a great policy
memo are on your campus. Before you begin your research, speak with a librarian to ensure you
are best utilizing all of the resources at your disposal.
Diversify Your Sources
Good research cites a variety of sources. Make sure you have a plethora of sources that you are
getting your information from and that said sources are reliable (see below). You are basing
your entire policy solution on this research; it had better be rock solid.
Evaluate Your Sources
Below is a list of questions to keep in mind as you evaluate your sources:
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Who is funding the piece?
What are the author’s motivations behind writing the piece?
How old is it?
What kind of source is it?
What are you not being told?
Is there a political leaning or affiliation attached to the piece?
Who is the target audience?
Review of Sources
Academic Journal 1:
Bibliographic Information (Chicago format):
Purpose of source:
Brief summary of article:
Academic Journal 2:
Bibliographic Information (Chicago format):
Purpose of source:
Brief summary of article:
Think Tank Publication:
Bibliographic Information (Chicago format):
Purpose of source:
Brief summary of article:
Popular Press Article 1:
Bibliographic Information (Chicago format):
Purpose of source:
Brief summary of article:
Popular Press Article 2:
ROOSEVELT THINKS | POLICY RESEARCH
Literature Review Template
Bibliographic Information (Chicago format):
Purpose of source:
Brief summary of article:
Government Source:
Bibliographic Information (Chicago format):
Purpose of source:
Brief summary of article:
Problem Statement Revision
Answer the following five questions to refine your initial draft of the problem statement. Be sure to
include citations.
1. In 2-3 sentences, describe the current problem and its effects. Be precise and concise.
2. Identify at least three distinct negative consequences of the status quo policy failure.
Quantify these failures and their impact.
3. What legislation and non-governmental policies are currently in place to address the
problem that you have identified? What are the strengths of these policies? What are the
weaknesses of these policies? Why are they ineffective?
4. Have other states or geographic regions outside the scope of your research implemented
policies to solve a similar problem? What were the effects of these policies?
5. Identify at least three stakeholders. Explain why each is a stakeholder and what change
(if any) they want to see from the status quo.