Section 2: Professional and Academic Review – The purpose of the Literature Review is to ensure the student has a strong understanding of practitioner experience and research on the topic. contributing towards 100 (quantitative) to 120 (qualitative) pages total minimum length for Sections 1-5.
The introduction paragraphs should give a brief overview of the problem/opportunity and introduce this Section as a review of the literature related to this problem. Next, include a paragraph identifying how the search was conducted (sites used, etc. – see the ADPE Template for further details) and the references count for articles, books, dissertations, within the last 5 years, and percentage requirements. Finally, it should give an overview of the structure of the Section.
Number of Sources/ Length of Section:
To do a thorough job of reviewing the literature, students should have included 30-50 references in their literature review. There should be a minimum of 100 references listed for the entire document. To demonstrate a thorough review of the related literature, students should include:
Minimum of 100 references are included in the literature review
Literature review should be at least 30 pages
Quality of Sources:
Although there may be a few exceptions, sources should be split evenly between 50% popular/professional sources and 50% academic sources. Popular/professional sources include magazines, websites, associations, etc. that related to the organization, or the issues/opportunities being studied. Academic sources should be peer reviewed articles. All sources should focus on the last 5 years of the projected final defense date. The exceptions may include a few older articles, possibly seminal work in the area or related to a specific theory.
Popular and Professional Sources (50%) of the references
Academic (scholarly) Sources (50%) of the references
Majority (50%+) of the sources are written within 5 years of final defense date.
Sources that fall outside of these parameters add value to the review
A paragraph in the introduction of Section 2 outlines:
· how and where literature included in all five chapters of your
dissertation was searched;
· the key search terms used;
· the number of total references in the five chapters
· the number (%) of popular/professional sources by types, for
example books, dissertations, projects, websites, professional
journals
· the number (%) of academic/journal articles
· percentage of all references within 5 years of the final defense
date year (must be 50% minimum of the total).
(Note, this statement will need to be updated again after you have
completed Sections 1-3, and at after completing Section 5)
Content and Organization of the Section:
In addition to researching the popular/professional and academic literature surrounding the specific area being researched, students also need to review other related topics, for example the literature surrounding the selected research design, literature related to the theoretical or conceptual framework, the participant population, etc. How the student organizes Section 2 will depend on the topic and the study. The student and the mentor should agree on the outline of the literature review. The literature review should be checked to ensure originality.
The literature review covers all areas necessary to the study
Literature is organized in a way that is logical and easy to follow.
Each topic or subtopic of the literature review is covered sufficiently to
demonstrate that the student adequately understands the topic.
Update the Table of Contents for Section 2 by adding the subsection
titles and page numbers.
The literature review section is submitted through Turn-It-In
Writing style:
The literature review must be written based solely on the popular/professional and academic literature. There should be no interpretation of the literature and no opinion stated about the literature. Almost every sentence should have at least one citation. Additionally, students need to be synthesizing the material instead of just paraphrasing or quoting in most cases. Be sure there are little to no direct quotes throughout the project.
Section 2 reflects a review of the literature without opinion or interpretation
Information in the review is appropriately cited per APA 7th ed.
Literature review includes synthesis and paraphrasing, but the most
frequently used is synthesis. No more than 5 references included any
single citation for ease of reading. Select the most essential and recent
references to include in the citation.
Use www.reciteworks.com to check that all citations have a matching
reference and vv., and to correct any errors in either.
