For this assignment, you are required to choose a substance use or addiction-related topic of interest and review the current literature (ONLY academic, research-based, peer-reviewed). In this paper you should focus on material from the last five years, as relevant to the issue you are investigating. Older sources may be used only if they are clearly meaningful and influential. The best sources for the lit review are research (journal) articles – . Do NOT include newspaper articles, opinion pieces, blogs, agency website info, etc.
Use 5-7 high-quality research-based resources (no more, no less). Try to make your topic as specific as possible.
This assignment MUST include the following elements:
A clear, neutral introduction and conclusion. Your introduction will contain one sentence that summarizes the themes you perceive, in the same order they are presented in your paper.
A thematic review of the articles, using subtitles to name each. You might have three or four main themes in this paper. Themes will come from the articles, and they cannot be determined in advance. However…
Every literature review needs one common theme called “Gaps in the Literature”. This will be the last theme you present in your paper, and must include a social work perspective. Not sure what this means? Refer to: https://www.casw-acts.ca/files/attachements/code_of_ethics_values_principles_0.pdf
So… your paper will have a title page, introduction, three or four themes that are clearly evident by subtitles, a final theme that reviews “Gaps in the Literature” from a social work perspective, a conclusion, and a reference list – all in APA 7th ed. format.
You might refer to the information at https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/literature-review/ . Please ensure that you have completed a thematic literature review (reviews of papers are integrated by theme; each theme references two or more articles) and NOT an annotated bibliography (each paper reviewed separately).
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The literature review is NOT an argumentative essay, in that it is not supposed to make a point or prove one. The literature review for the purposes of this course simple is a summary of the current state of knowledge on a particular issue.
Some general topics (also feel free to choose something outside of this list):
Trauma and substance use (e.g. childhood sexual abuse and substance use, PTSD and substances, violence and drug use, sex work and drug use, shame/guilt, etc.)
Cultural/Spiritual issues (e.g. drug use in a specific community: Aboriginal, South Asian, people who are deaf, gay men; mindfulness meditation, Eastern perspectives on addiction, etc.)
A specific child/youth issue related to addiction (e.g. youth prevention strategies, prenatal exposure to drugs, education re. FAS/FAE, access to alcohol/drugs, etc.)
A specific drug or any other focused issue (e.g. social media or Internet addiction, food addiction, any clinical issue related to drug or alcohol use, alcohol and anxiety, raves in BC, etc.)
A specific aspect of harm reduction (e.g. needle exchange, peer involvement, supervised injection sites, HIV prevention for a certain population, etc.)
You will be graded as follows: Relevance of selected articles /5; Grammar, Spelling, and Writing Style /5; Review of Research, Themes and Discussion /15; Summary and Conclusions /5.
