Assignment #2 includes revisions to Assignment #1 and the addition of the literature review table and outline of a literature review. The revisions to Assignment #1 should follow the same directions as in the instructions for Assignment #1, including page length and formatting for the sections of Assignment #1. The literature review table (a template is shown below) should be added at the end of Assignment #1 (i.e. after your Proposed Methods or, if you had a list of references, after the reference list). It would be a good idea to separate the table from the rest of the paper with a section break on the next page so that the table format will not interfere with the rest of the paper. (These instructions include such a section break.) In the new section, it is suggested that you use landscape orientation to fit the content. The table can be single-spaced.
Grading Rubric
Paper Section Possible Points
Research Aims (Revised) 2
Description of Problem Area (Revised) 2
Literature Review Outline 4
What You Hope to Learn (Revised) 2
Proposed Methods (Revised) 2
Literature review table 4
Writing Assessment 4
Total points 20
Use the following headings for Assignment #2:
Research Aims
Description of problem area
Literature review outline
Description of what you hope to learn if you carried out this research study
Proposed Methods
Literature Review Table
Additional instructions for Assignment #2 are as follows. Do not include instruction text in your papers.
Instructions for Literature Review Table
Conduct a search of the literature that has been done on your topic. The purpose of a literature review table is to help you a) keep track of important references, b) decide on the relevance of other research to your topic, and c) critically assess other research. A literature review will also help you refine your research questions and methods. For this assignment, complete the literature review table (template provided in these instructions). This table would be the basis for completing a full literature review paper on your topic, however this assignment does not include writing the literature review. There is no minimum or maximum page limit for the table. The table should have at least 15 references. At least 10 of those references should be articles from published peer-reviewed journals. You may use bullets or other format to briefly summarize the reference information.
Consider:
• The purpose of a literature review is: 1) to describe previous research and explore how your study might fill a gap in knowledge, 2) to critique the state of knowledge about a research topic, 3) to provide justification for conducting the research, and 4) to explore and consider methodologies used by other researchers in your topic area. In other words:
• Theory or theories about your topic
• Program evaluations if your topic is evaluative in nature
• Demographic characteristics, descriptions, or predictive factors about a population of interest
• Similar explanatory or exploratory research about your topic
• You should aim for studies that are directly relevant to your project, keeping in mind that you might not find other research specifically addressing certain populations or services. Closely related research is still valuable if it sheds light on your topic. It is a learned skill to develop a discriminating eye for what to include in a literature review.
• Articles that summarize previous multiple research studies in your topic area are very helpful, such as systematic reviews and meta-analyses of your topic area.
• While reading abstracts and skimming through articles, deciding on what to include, keeping in mind that most social work research builds on what has preceded it; therefore, look for recently published articles, as they will more likely have considered the most recent data and findings on your subject.
• If including a reference about a theory related to your evaluation, find an original source and avoid a textbook reference for a description of the theory if there are original sources
• Do not rely on one author’s description of another essential study or its findings. Look up the original article, confirm that the information is accurate, and cite the original article
• When completing the table, use quotes if directly quoting the author, however paraphrasing is fine.
Literature review outline
The purpose of developing a literature review outline is to organize the literature review (if you were going to write it) into meaningful sections. In contrast to your table, a fully written literature review is not an annotated review, i.e. a brief description of each reference. Instead it should have a narrative style that connects the literature to your research topic, and makes clear to the reader why the references you have selected are important. Having a logical structure will allow you to be more convincing about the importance of your topic and also provide justification for your research questions and methods. Not all literature reviews in published articles have specific section headings, although they have to well organized in order to be approved for publication. An example of a literature review outline on a study of parents’ experiences with low-cost mental health care for their children (the former “California Healthy Families Insurance Program”) is as follows .
Description of Healthy Families Insurance Program
Factors Related to Low Utilization of Children’s Mental Health Services
System and Family Factors Related to Parental Help Seeking
Cultural Factors in Engaging Latinx Families
Literature Review Table
Full Reference (use APA) Methods/Purpose of Study Key Findings and/or conclusions How do these findings relate to your topic (such as outcomes chosen to study; important methods, data instruments; conclusions that would inform your own project; and/or limitations of the research)
124
Long term investments