Literature Review
Purpose: To explore the research published in your discipline on your selected topic identified in the Annotated Bibliography and to inform the reader of the current state of the research on that topic.
Audience: Fellow researchers in your field who are familiar with the topic but who would like to learn more about the published research. Because your audience is familiar with the topic, that means you do not need to define terms or include other information that the audience could reasonably be expected to already know.
Learning Objectives:
Locate and analyze 6 academic research articles about a single topic;
Synthesize all eight 6sources into a cohesive, coherent essay organized by topic rather than by source.
Identify a consensus of scholarly opinion on your topic, as well as trends and gaps in the research; and
Use appropriate documentation style and formatting.
Process: The following should be your process for completing this assignment:
1.Your research question should already be confirmed.
2. Research your topic and question thoroughly, drawing on those peer-reviewed sources that are the most relevant, timely, and informative. For your Annotated Bibliography, you found 8 peer-reviewed sources, and for this assignment you should use eight 8 or more peer-reviewed sources. You may find you need to swap out some sources for this assignment in order to produce a coherent view of your discipline’s view on your topic.
3. Read and take notes on your sources. Be sure to read each source more than once and to make critical notes as you read, identifying any connections you notice between/among the sources.
4. Use the literature review worksheet to identify the different topics your sources discuss. Remember, your essay must not name or cite any of your sources in the first (topic sentence) or last sentence of any of your body paragraphs. Organize by topic, not by source.
Each of your body paragraphs must provide citations from at least two different sources, and those citations must relate explicitly and directly to the topic sentence you provide.
5. Draft an outline for your literature review, providing the topic sentence for each paragraph, and the citations that demonstrate how your sources address the topic of your topic sentence. Think about ways you might categorize or organize your sources so they work together.
6. Draft your literature review.
7. Revise your literature review to its final form using the feedback you receive from peer review. Be sure to include an APA-style title page.
Format: The literature review should be approximately 6 pages, or 1,500 words, typed, double-spaced. The title page and bibliography page do not count toward this requirement. The assignment must conform to formatting guidelines (12 pt., Times New Roman, 1” margins, proper heading, etc.) and use APA style or the documentation style of your field.
.
