Hello Turtles,
I am currently in the initial stages of my literature review, and so far have found massive quantities of related material, which I knew would happen, and which is fine, because I get a sick thrill out of sorting things. I'm a sorting fool!
So I went into the library with a single yet carefully thought-out Post-It note, my intended keywords underlined (but shown here in italics):
-I need manuals (lexical and semantic) to analyze/break down the language I do find. Or even a discourse analysis manual.
-I need teen/young people psychology books. Try also adolescen* and pubert* and motivat*
-I need to analyze their attitudes and perceptions...effective motivational language for different age groups.
After Marisa (the librarian) showed us some search refinement tips, I started with my other basic terms, civic engagement and Internet, which produced several relevant articles right away. I then added more terms from my Post-It note and got some nifty titles such as:
"User-generated content on the internet: an examination of gratifications, civic engagement and psychological empowerment"
"Not Your Parents' Presidential Debates: Examining the Effects of the CNN/YouTube Debates on Young Citizens' Civic Engagement"
"Adolescent Civic and Political Engagement: Associations Between Domain-Specific Judgments and Behavior"
"Teens Find Online News Stressful and a Reminder of Danger"
The last one was a gas because it was so tragic. And there were many, many more articles that fit my topic, so despite the soporific temperatures of that computer room, I stayed until Marisa kicked us stragglers out. I also have two "civic engagement and young people"-type survey books at home, which I mentioned in my abstract (my first post). I want to do some more digging (and sorting, of course), as the abstracts I read promised some very intriguing information.
Stay tuned, keyboard cat!