Literature Review: Assignment Template Title page:
Title of paper
Course name, number and assignment due date
Instructor’s name
Abstract: (optional)
Provide a justification for the review of the literature in your chosen topic. For example, you might provide some referenced statistics as it relates to your topic to demonstrate why we need research on this topic;
State the purpose of your lit review, and then go on to state your research question. For example, you might state, “Given the extent of this problem, it is important to better understand xx. This literature review searched the key terms [insert key terms here], mostly within the [enter field of study, i.e. medical journals, psychology journals, etc] and seeks to answer the following research question [enter your research question here].
Now state some of the key findings from your literature review that answer your research question;
Finally, state the gap you found in the literature. This is usually a gap that the researchers have noted in more recent research (i.e. ~2016-2019).
Introduction;
A good way to start out is to begin with a justification for the research (as stated in the abstract above) that has taken place on this topic. For example, if you are writing about post-traumatic stress disorder you might start out by stating how many people in military personnel suffer from PTSD in Canada, or how many firefighters in Canada suffer from PTSD (properly referenced and related to your specific topic). You might then add statistics related to how much this costs the military or fire departments across Canada in terms of lost wages, health care, etc. Again, this material is properly referenced. Then you should link these statistics to a justification for the research.
Define key terms next (properly referenced). You will want to draw upon two or three definitions from the literature, but then state which one you will utilize for the purpose of this literature review.
Now state what it is specifically you have focused on for the lit review. This is a good place to state your research question that formed the foundation for your lit review. You might even state which key words you utilized in your search for literature.
State related areas to your topic that will not be explored in your literature review, due to space/time limitations and relevance. This is called establishing the boundary for your literature review.
Provide an overview of the general findings of the literature review (2-4 sentences), including the gap that has been identified.
Oftentimes the introduction restates much of what appears in the abstract, but with more depth. In other words, the abstract is a summary of what appears in your introduction.
Main Body;
You can organize your research in various ways. What I mean by this is that you will have a variety of paragraphs headed with sub- headings and introductory sentences. For example, using the PTSD topic, you might have a paragraph subtitled (Societal costs associated with PTSD). Your first sentence would then state something to the effect that, “A variety of researchers have sought to better understand the societal costs related to PTSD. Some researchers have specifically focused on costs to health care of PTSD. The most salient pieces of research in this area began to appear in the literature in approximately 19xx. Jones and Smith (19xx) have researched extensively on this topic.” Then go on to describe some of their salient research pieces in this regard. Then describe what other researchers have done in this area. Did any of these latter researchers build their work off Jones and Smith (19xx)? If so how?
Focus each paragraph on telling me who the main researchers are, where they did their research (e.g. Canada, U.S.A., Europe), with whom (e.g. firefighters, police officers, paramedics), how they did their research (methods – interviews, focus groups, surveys; how many people did they interview; over what time period did they gather data), what where their main findings, and conclusions drawn.
For each piece you draw into your literature review make sure you describe how each piece is similar and dissimilar and how the various pieces of literature are linked and again answering similar questions already listed previously. This is where to apply critical thinking. Do the findings make sense to you? Do you see anything that they should have added to their paper that might have helped with clarity? Do they provide enough information for you to understand their methods? In other words, you want to connect the various studies you have included in your literature review by comparing and contrasting the various methods, results, and conclusions.
Conclusion:
The purpose of the conclusion is to provide a summary of what appears in the body of the lit review. Do not add new material or new references here. Yes, it is okay to refer to some of the more salient research you reviewed.
Discuss the gaps in the literature. The best way to do this is to look at recent research (~2016-2019) and see what questions the researchers state still need addressing. Good researchers always suggest areas for future exploration; however, if they made that suggestion in 2005, you can rest assured that
someone has most likely taken up their call for more research in that area. But that is your responsibility to search to see if someone did, and if there is now an extensive body of literature, then keep searching the more recent literature (as suggested above);
Re-state your newly revised or modified research question based upon the literature review (if applicable).
References
Keep an APA Manual, 7th edition open on your computer desktop or a physical copy open beside you, as you research and write your literature review;
Doi numbers are the standard now. More recent research papers (after 2000) have doi numbers, so please make sure you include them in your reference list;
All references that appear in your reference list must appear in the body of your paper. If you end up not using a reference in the body of your paper, then do not include it in your list;
If you need assistance, please see the librarians. They are very helpful and can even help you with the style of literature review writing.
RESM 2100 RESEARCH METHODS, SPRING 2022
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION AND GUIDELINES
Assignment 1: Literature Review
Due Date: see course schedule (25%) (~ 7-9 pages, excluding reference list). This assignment is graded out of 30 and is worth 25% of your final grade.
I cannot stress strongly enough that you are writing a literature review, not an essay and not a bibliography. A literature review focuses on previous research and shows how your study will contribute to the field and fill a gap in knowledge. Please make sure you know what a literature review is. We will review what a literature review is, in class. However, I strongly suggest you do some extra research on your own. A literature review has a very distinctive style of writing. It is more than just listing the authors at the beginning of the sentence – and in fact, a literature review becomes quite boring to read if every sentence begins with the name(s) of the author(s).
The purpose of a literature review is to provide a critical overview of previous research related to your topic (research question) to demonstrate where you will situate your proposed research project and how it will address gaps in the research. In contrast, an essay provides an overview of research related to your topic to prove a point (e.g. emergency workers suffer from higher than average levels of workplace stress). For this literature review you will be expected to utilize a minimum of 10 academic, peer reviewed journal articles and a maximum of 2 non-academic sources.
Assignment guidelines:
Remember that the purpose of a literature review is to demonstrate the context for your own research and should lead your audience to understand WHY your research question is a relevant one to be examined. It should be written in a literature review style, which means it provides a review of the most relevant research that has already been undertaken on your topic.
Within your research question there will be terms for you to operationalize. These terms are often good places to start for literature reviews as you’ll refer to previous research to formulate those definitions.
When trying to find sources for your literature review, use the reference pages of other sources. Your literature review should be a mix of new sources and foundational theory work that will likely go back a number of decades.
When organizing your literature review, use key themes and findings to create your headings and subheadings.
Remember that you always want to examine your sources critically, synthesize the different works together, and show how they connect to your own research. Ultimately, you are looking for the strengths and weaknesses of other research and how it relates to your own.
RESM 2100 RESEARCH METHODS, SPRING 2022
You should always include a brief summary of each source to give context to your analysis. Mention methodology, sampling, key issues, terms, concepts, findings, etc. But be sure to NOT create a bibliography, which is different from a literature review.
When synthesizing the sources, you should:
Compare and contrast the various views of the researchers:
Identify pieces of research where the researchers have similar and dissimilar views;
Demonstrate how the various pieces of research are connected or not connected, to
one another, as the case may be;
Use exemplary or key theoretical studies;
Critique the various methodologies used;
Demonstrate and point out the gaps in knowledge
Make sure that you fully explain the significance of each piece of research you include in your literature review as it relates to your research question.
Assignment Steps:
The first step is to develop a research question. We will be reviewing research questions in class.
Once you have developed a research question, you should now start exploring the literature and
looking for gaps in the literature (because this is where you will want to situate your research).
When examining sources to determine which you will use, scan them quickly for content and
make notes of the main concepts. Make note of the way different researchers have conducted their research. To see how these sources relate to each other, you could also create a table showing the key components of each source. But this latter step is for your purposes only and does not form part of the literature review.
Before starting to write your literature review, read the materials that have been provided to help you with this assignment, watch the videos, and read the chapter I have provided on how to write a literature review.
When writing your literature review, remember that you need to include:
An introduction: includes a brief summary of research that has been done on the topic, a statement of why more research on this topic is important and/or necessary, as well as a general research question that you used to guide the literature review.
The body: provides an overview of the most relevant research (in your opinion, but based upon your review of the literature) that is broken down into the various themes you have found while undertaking your literature review. Each of these themes will be properly identified through the use of headings and subheadings (see APA heading guidelines available online). Toward the end of this section you will identify a gap in the literature that you have identified and re-state a new, more focused research
question that you will use to guide a future (hypothetical) research project.
The conclusion: includes a brief summary of 3-5 key pieces of research that you see as
being most relevant to your future research project, a restating of the gap in the research, and a more focused research question that reflects a gap in the literature that you have found.
Grading Rubric for Literature Review
RESM 2100 RESEARCH METHODS, SPRING 2022
Criteria
0-2 Marks
3-5 Marks
5 Marks
Research question (5 marks)
Student has not demonstrated adequate understanding of how to write a relevant research question;
Student has demonstrated S adequate understanding of how to write a relevant research question;
Student has demonstrated exceptional understanding of how to write a relevant research question;
Justification for research (5 marks)
Student has not identified a justification for the research, or the justification is inadequate; student has not identified a gap in the literature;
Student has identified an adequate justification for the research; student has identified a weak gap in the literature;
Student has identified a strong justification for doing the research; Student has identified an appropriate gap in the literature;
Critical discussion: (10 marks)
Student has not presented a critical discussion of relevant literature, and or critique is inadequate; Student has not compared and contrasted the literature, nor demonstrated how and where literature is linked.
Student has presented some critical discussion of relevant literature; Student has somewhat compared and contrasted the pieces of literature, demonstrating some linkage in the literature.
Student has presented a strong critical discussion of relevant literature; Student has done excellent work comparing and contrasting relevant pieces of literature, and strongly demonstrated how and where the literature is linked.
Quality of sources: (5 marks)
Student has not utilized the minimum number of relevant sources; sources are inappropriate or irrelevant;
Student has utilized less than 12 relevant sources; however, sources that are identified are mostly relevant; Sources utilized demonstrate a good level of research.
Student has utilized a minimum of 12 relevant sources (~10 academic, peer reviewed and ~2 non-academic). Sources utilized demonstrate an excellent level of research.
Style: (5 marks)
Student has not written the literature review in an accepted style.
Report is disorganized and lacks clarity.
Student has written the literature review mostly in an accepted style. Report demonstrates good writing organization and clarity.
Student has written the literature review in an accepted style. Report demonstrates exceptional writing organization and clarity.
