Essay Sample on a Literature Search

Description of the search strategy

A literature search is a critical aspect of learners academic lives. With the advancement of technology, the search has become easier. The search for literature is meant to enable the researcher to identify information that is relevant to the topic that he or she is pursuing. The search involves the use of keywords. Keywords are words entered in search engines so as to identify the articles relevant to the research topic. The topic itself may be used as words to up the search term(s). When keywords are entered in search engines, the searches identify the search terms (i.e. key words) in different parts of the article e.g. the title, abstract, summary, or the author.

The search engine that I used in searching for articles on loneliness is Google Scholar. The first key word I entered in the search box of the search engine was loneliness. Upon clicking the search icon, it returned 435,000 results on the topic. To narrow down the results, the search term was reworded to loneliness and anxiety. Tapping the search box returned 176,000 results related to the search terms. In order for the search to give the most recent articles on the topic and further reduce the search results, the search was limited to articles published from the year 2011. Using this criterion saw the search results reduce to 23,700. Only downloadable articles in pdf format were chosen. The articles appearing on top of the search results were chosen because keywords frequently appear in them and thus are the most relevant.

Other combinations of words used in order to obtain the best and most relevant results on the topic include loneliness and self-esteem, loneliness and depression, and stress and loneliness. After identification of the relevant document, I downloaded and examined the full text for the presence of research questions and hypotheses. Those with research questions and hypotheses were included in the final list of the articles that were used for the assignment. Those missing research questions and hypotheses were discarded. To further limit the articles to the required number, five, I picked the most recent ones i.e. those which were published in the last five years. Also, only scholarly articles, those with more than ten references in the bibliography, those without typographical errors, and those providing in-depth information on the topic were selected.

The search engine used, Google Scholar, is highly reliable. This is because the articles found are peer reviewed. Moreover, most of the articles have the author name and publishers name. Therefore, they are credible.

Articles used

Article 1

Citation

Vakoufari, M., Christina, A., & Mavroidis, I. (2014). Self-esteem and Loneliness as Factors Affecting Distance Learning Students. European Journal of Open, Distance, and E-learning, 17(2), 100-116.

Research questionsIs there a correlation between self-esteem and satisfaction, self-esteem and academic performance, self-esteem and academic drop out with the course?

Is there a correlation between self-esteem and social presence?

Is there a correlation between loneliness and social presence?

Participants

The participants comprised of students aged between 31 and 40. The majority of them were postgraduate students (61.4%).

Design

The design of the study was correlational.

Measures

The measures used included State Self-Esteem Scale, Social Presence Scale, and UCLA Students Loneliness Scale.

Conclusion

The researchers concluded that self-esteem plays a significant role in learners academic success. It was also concluded that loneliness and self-esteem are not associated with the social presence in blended distance learning environments.

Article 2

Citation

Panicker, J. A. Y. A. S. H. R. E. E., & Sachdev, R. (2014). Relations among loneliness, depression, anxiety, stress and problematic internet use. International Journal of Research in Applied, Natural, and Social Sciences, 2(9), 1-10.

Research questions

What is the relationship between depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress variables associated Problematic Internet Use?

Does Problematic Internet Use among students significant gender differences?

Participants

The research participants consisted of 84 students taking science courses in junior colleges in Ulhasnagar. 59 of the participants were Males while 25 were females.

Design

The design of the study was quantitative descriptive design.

Measures

The measures included Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Online Cognition Scale.

Conclusion

The psychological variables like loneliness were found to be associated with problematic internet use.

Article 3

Citation

Caputo, A. (2015). The Relationship Between Gratitude and Loneliness: The Potential Benefits of Gratitude for Promoting Social Bonds. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 11(2), 323.

Research questions

What is the relationship between loneliness, social desirability, life satisfaction, gratitude, and subjective happiness?

Participants

A participants comprised of 197 participants.

Design

An online survey design was used.

Measures

The measures consisted of Three-Item Loneliness Scale, Gratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item Form, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Subjective Happiness Scale, and global life satisfaction scale.

Conclusion

Gender differences in loneliness indicate that women have a higher vulnerability to loneliness than men. Therefore, women thinking about the world may depend on how they are socially connected with others.

Article 4

Citation

Bonetti, L., Campbell, M. A., & Gilmore, L. (2010). The relationship of loneliness and social anxiety with children's and adolescents' online communication. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13(3), 279-285.

Research questions

What are the age differences in the use of online communication among children and adolescents?

Does gender differences exist in the use of online communication among children and adolescents?

Participants

The participants comprised of 626 students aged between 10 and 16.

Design

The design used was a cross-sectional survey.

Measures

The measures consisted of UCLA loneliness scale and Social Anxiety Scale.

Conclusion

The lonely used patterns of online communication that are distinct from those who did not report being lonely.

Article 5

Citation

Dempsey, L. (2012). Does Loneliness Moderate the Relations Between Interpersonal Events and Affect, Stress, Enjoyment, and Bodily Pain? (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University).

Hypotheses

The hypotheses for the study were:

The positive affect and enjoyment appraisals of lonely individuals resulting from the positive interpersonal event will differ from those of non-lonely people.

The researcher also predicted a diminished positive affect and enjoyment following positive events during lonely episodes across all participants.

Participants

The participants consisted of 123 chronic pain patients.

Design

The design used was multilevel modelling design.

Measures

The measures used included Positive and Negative Affect Schedule scale and Inventory of Small Life Events scale.

Conclusion

The results of the study reveal that lonely individuals and those experiencing lonely episodes have more negative consequences in their lives compared to those who are not lonely.