Week 3 Written Assignment This week you will be completing the following for your research project: 1

Week 3 Written Assignment

This week you will be completing the following for your research project:

1. The Literature Review (this is the body of the paper). You will build on the literature review over two weeks.

2. This portion will be a minimum of 5 pages. If you end on page 5, it must have ¾ content.

    All work is prepared in APA 6th ed. Formatting.

Week 3 Written Assignment - Grading Rubric

Research Paper Guidance

What is a review of the literature?

According to Taylor (2012) of the University of Toronto, a literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers (Peer Reviewed). Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries

Annotated bibliography- is a brief summary of each journal article you are using, but should still follow through themes and concepts and do some critical assessment of material. Use an overall introduction and conclusion to state the scope of your coverage and to formulate the question, problem, or concept your chosen material illuminates. Usually you will have the option of grouping items into sections—this helps you indicate comparisons and relationships. You may be able to write a paragraph or so to introduce the focus of each section

Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas

1. 1. information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books
   2. critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

A literature review must do these things

1. 1. be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing
   2. synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
   3. identify areas of controversy in the literature
   4. formulate questions that need further research

Ask yourself questions like these:

1. 1. What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to define?
   2. What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies )?
   3. What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?
   4. How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure I've found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I've used appropriate for the length of my paper?
   5. Have I critically analyzed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?
   6. Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?
   7. Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?

Adapted from

Taylor, D. (2012, May 13). The literature review: a few tips on conducting it . Retrieved from http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review