The literature review serves as an important purpose in any dissertation, research article, report or proposal. It supports the need for the study and convinces readers that the content area has been reviewed in depth, and there is clearly a research problem to be addressed and a gap in knowledge needing to be filled. A literature review should contain current and classic references, cite experts in field and synthesize the relevant literature while identifying the strengths and weaknesses of previous studies.
Consider a research interest within your degree program.
Select four recently published research articles related to your research interest; two quantitative and two qualitative research studies.
You may substitute a mixed methods study for one of the qualitative or quantitative studies. Ensure that each of the studies you selected was published in a peer reviewed journal.
Review the Literature Review presentation to understand synthesis of literature.
Write a synthesized 1,400-to 1,750-literature review in which you compare and contrast the four scholarly research articles. Identifying common topics in the articles will make it easier to compare and contrast one author from another.
Consider the following while constructing a logical and critical literature review (the word 'consider' is a critical thinking prompt and the discussion should not directly answer the questions nor should the questions be used as subheadings in your paper):
What research methodology was used? Why was that methodology used?
What paradigm did the researcher(s) use? How do you know?
What is already known about the research topic you are interested in?
What is not known about your topic; where is there a gap in the literature?
What further research might be worth pursuing in this area?
Format your assignment according to APA guidelines and organize using the common topics or areas of interest as subheadings in your paper.
Refer to your analytical framework for common topics or areas of interest that became apparent as you were reading.