Rev 2024
13
Chapter Two: Review of Literature
(Introduction) The document is written with indented paragraphs. The first section is an introduction to the chapter. Begin each chapter with an opening introduction section. However, the introduction does not have a heading. It just appears immediately after the chapter title. This introduction is a 30,000-foot view of your study or the chapter. As you close this section, allude to your theoretical framework.
Overview
This section is a concise description of the chapter’s important topics and why these topics are included.
Organization of the Chapter
This section identifies the major sections of the chapter. For example, this chapter is organized into seven major sections. These sections include . . .
Methodology
This section is not the study’s methodology, but it is the methodology of the search methods that you used, the data based you searched, the span of years, the types of materials you sought and found, etc. Include the keywords that were used in your search and the terms you excluded.
Historical Perspective of the Topic
Provide a brief history of the topic and the issue as it relates to your study. This section should be concise and no more than two pages or a maximum of three. This section provides background information and sets an understanding of the progress on the issue. What are the major issues, controversies, etc. which influence your dissertation topic? Include background on all relevant variables. Remember that you are not writing an exhaustive history of your issue/topic. Do not include every item since Adam and Eve! Include the significant events.
Rev 2024
14
Theoretical Framework
Identify the theoretical framework, the brief development of the study, and why it is appropriate for this study’s framework. People who are much smarter than me experience difficulty explaining the role of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks. I began as a Chemistry teacher and learned that analogies helped explain abstract ideas to students. Here is my attempt at explaining the theoretical and conceptual frameworks with which you will interact throughout the study. The theoretical framework is not just an item to throw into Chapter Two. It is pivotal to the questions you will ask, how you will analyze your data, and how you will reach conclusions about your findings. The theoretical framework is the foundation of the study, much like the foundation of a house. It has been tested over time and can carry the load of the study. You have untested ideas. You point to the theoretical framework to support your ideas for the study. The theoretical framework has been examined by experts in the fields and carries a certain gravitas. The conceptual framework emerges from the literature review. At the end of the study, you will look back to these frameworks and explain how your findings aligned, did not align, or new ideas not found in the literature review emerged. Some describe it as the lens through which you will construct and analyze your study.
Topic 1
Consider that your study focuses on identifying the supports needed to support student-athletes’ school attendance and receive free and reduced meals. You would begin Topic 1 with a thorough discussion of student attendance. Use headings liberally to guide your reader. Review the headings section in the 7th edition. Include current empirical literature. You will seek sources published in the last ten years. You may need older sources for the historical perspective, the theoretical framework, or a seminal piece of research related to your topic. Carefully monitor your use of dated references. On average, a minimum of 80% of sources will be from the past ten years. Empirical articles do not include a newspaper, a dictionary of any type, Time magazine, a blog post, Bloomberg, Wikipedia, etc. You will find these empirical works through the C-N library, databases,
Rev 2024
15
Google Scholar, and other scholarly sources. Address the significant variables. You must show the literature’s analysis and synthesis and not just address articles as if moving through a list of studies. In moving from one section to another, use transitions! As you have discovered, everything on the internet is not valid. You will find studies that possess inherent weaknesses. Include strengths or weaknesses of the articles that you include.
Wright (2015) stated the importance of school attendance to academic achievement. Wheatley (2017) and Killingsworth (2014) reported that students with 90% or greater school attendance scored on average 10 NCEs above similar peers on the Stanford Achievement Test in Reading. Adding to this work, Johnson (2015) reported a positive effect on math achievement on the TNReady test for students who missed less than ten school days per year (2019).
Topic 2
Perhaps this section would discuss the research (conceptual framework) around participation in organized sports, its effect on schooling, and the influence on attendance.
Topic 3
This section discusses the federal free and reduced meal program, its influence on schooling, and its effect on school attendance.
Topic 4
Discuss current effective supports to improve school attendance
Topic 5
Based on current research, how do these factors interact?
Gaps in the Literature
At this point, you have provided what is known about your topic. Now build your case for your study. Where is the gap? You have to make the argument that, while much is known about the topic, there is a specific niche that your research will fill. A similar study may have been conducted but not in a rural school or in a high poverty district or with Hispanic families in rural Georgia, or some other study recommended that this study be conducted.
Rev 2024
16
Summary
Include a short, concise summary of the chapter and allude to the next chapter and what it will provide.
