Find a professional journal (hard copy or online) in a career that interests you (for example, the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; Journal of Biomechanics; Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators; International Journal of Sports Medicine). Write a literature review that includes answers to the following questions:
Be sure to use APA format, as specified in the APA 5th edition handbook. Format guidelines are also available at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/apa/index.html
What was the purpose or the main topic of the article?
How was biomechanics important in this article? For example, were biomechanical instruments used to measure the data? Was the author’s information based on biomechanical principles? If so, which principle?
How can you relate this information in your career choice?
A literature review is a summary of all the literature on a given topic. You will be finding at least one quality article from a professional journal (hard copy or online) in a career that interests you (for example, the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation; Journal of Biomechanics; Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators; International Journal of Sports Medicine). Your article must answer the following question:
How is biomechanics used in physical activity professions?
Your goal is to continually refocus your research so that you have a point of reference for selecting the pertinent sections of the literature.
The essential steps involved in a review of the literature include:
1. Defining the research problem/topic as precisely as possible
2. Pursuing the secondary sources
3. Selecting and pursuing an appropriate general reference
4. Formulating search terms
5. Searching the general references for relevant primary sources
6. Obtaining and reading the primary sources, and noting and summarizing key points in the sources.
Remember that a literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another. Your ultimate goal is to synthesize the material into a cohesive portrayal of where the research is at this point in time and how it can help in your research planning or education practice. The paper, including all citations, headings and the reference page(s), follows APA format. The reference page contains a bibliographic list of the sources of information you used and cited in your paper.
