Annotated Bibliography

Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don’t Understand. New York: Harper Collins, 1990. Print. This is a non-fiction book written by Deborah Tannen, a sociolinguistics professor at Georgetown University. Tannen discusses the differences in communication styles between men and women. More specifically, what each gender is seeking from communication. It gives insight into how these different communication styles create misunderstanding between the two sexes. This book is very relevant to my problem-posing question because it discusses in detail not only how men and women communicate differently, but why.

"Brain Connectivity Study Reveals Striking Differences Between Men and Women." Penn Medicine. University of Pennsylvania, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. This article published by Penn Medicine discusses new developments on the differences between men and women’s brain biologically. An associate professor of radiology and his colleagues discovered “greater neural connectivity from front to back with one hemisphere in males” and “…in females, the wiring goes between the left and right hemispheres”. This evidence supports the general behavior difference in women, like communication. This article relates to my problem-posing question because it gives a biological and physiological standpoint on explaining the differences in communication styles between men and women.

Northwestern University. “Boys’ and Girls’ Brains Are Different: Gender Differences in Language Appear Biological”. Science Daily, 5 Mar. 2008. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. This article on Science Daily discusses research found by Northwestern University. Research findings in children suggest that the area in the brain for language works harder in girls than in boys. These findings support the common theories of language barriers between sexes. These differences were found in MRI scans which measures boys and girls ages 9 to 15. This study and article is relevant to my research because it supports the hypothesis that there are biologically differences between the genders in language. It also explains shows how young these developments begin.

Burman, Douglas D., Bitan, Tali, and Booth, James R. “Sex Differences in Neural Processing of Language Among Children”. Neuropsychologia 46.5 (2008): 1349-1362. Science Direct. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. This is a research study published explaining the findings on the differences in language in young children. This study is very similar to the one discussed in the other citation, but goes into more specific detail about the differences. This is relevant to my research because it is a primary source of a study and not a discussion of it. 

Berl, Rachel. “How to Improve Communication with your partner”. U.S. News. U.S. News and World Report, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. This is an article published by U.S. News online that discusses the differences between the sexes in communication. It talks about how you can communication better with the opposite sex and suggests how to understand these differences. This article is relevant to my research because it gives a more general insight on the issue. It also shows how this is a relevant and important issue between men and women.

Miller, Ann. “Men and Women’s Communication is Different-Sometimes.” Communication Currents 6.1 (2011). n. pag. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. This scholarly article discusses how men and women are not so different when it comes to communication styles. It describes how in certain circumstances and environments they will interact differently, but in others they will interact similarly. It also gives insight into these differences between cultures. This gives a different insight into my research, which is essential in answering it fully. Looking into the differences between cultures to better explain the communication differences between sexes is also very important.