Literature Review

A Literature Review is a coherent essay of a literature review that evaluates the information
within any published literature related to the topic or research question you choose. It is meant to
analyze published literature related to the topic you choose to review. Your review should
reflect upon what has already been written about (methodical or theoretical), what the existing
literature contributes to the field, and how your topic corresponds with the literature. If your
topic exposes a gap in the existing research in your field, make note of that in the literature
review.
Purpose of a literature review: To know what others have discovered before you begin your
investigation of your own, to ground your study in a particular context of what is known about a
subject in order to establish a foundation for the topic (or question) being researched.
Purpose of this assignment: To facilitate your abilities to research a topic of study so you can
learn to (1) identify and formulate an inquiry question that defines what you’d like to learn, (2)
know how to search and locate literature (e.g. Journal articles) using library and internet
resources; (3) analyze information found in educational journal articles, and (4) synthesize new
knowledge into a written literature review and (5) establish context for your inquiries.
Assignment Description:
For this assignment you are asked to complete a literature review on an educational topic related
to a skill (basic or sport) of your choice. You are asked to locate at least 10 educational journal
articles on your topic and write a 5 -6 page literature review on the articles you’ve selected.
Steps to complete your literature review:
1. Choose an educational topic, related to a skill (basic or sport) that you are interested in
studying.
2. Formulate an inquiry question that specifically describes what would like to know about
your educational topic (You may have to refine your inquiry questions after you know more
about your area through reading the literature).
3. Go to the library to search for and locate journals that include your topic’s information.
4. Find articles, read the abstracts and skim the articles to determine if they correspond well to
your topic AND inquiry question.
5. Select at least 10 journal articles and photocopy them for your project.
6. Read your articles and begin to sort and classify them according to their findings.
7. Organize your articles by sorting and classifying their findings in a meaningful way, always
considering your original topic and inquiry question.
8. Write an outline for your literature review.
9. Write your review.
10. Revise your review.
11. Create PowerPoint
12. Each group member must complete a Group Performance Appraisal Form
Outline for writing your literature review:
1. Introduction (without this heading)
Write an introduction paragraph for your review. This paragraph
a. states the topic and inquiry questions for this review
b. tells the reader specific information on how many articles you reviewed and
how you sorted the articles into common themes based on findings (results).
2. Body (without this heading)
Before you begin this section, be sure that you have sorted your articles into different
themes based on the articles’ findings (sometimes called results). After you sort your
articles, it is important to give your sorted groups a descriptive name. The names of the
sorted articles will become your headings for each of the paragraphs that you write in the
body of your review. The body of your literature review will include,
a. Theme 1: a paragraph or several paragraphs that describe the first theme that
you identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve
selected.
b. Theme 2: a paragraph or several paragraphs that describes the second theme
that you identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve
selected.
d. Theme 3: a paragraph or several paragraphs that describes the third theme that
you identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve
selected
3 Summary
This is the last paragraph of your literature review. In this paragraph, it is important to
briefly summarize the main findings from the articles that you reviewed and to point out
how your inquiry questions were answered or not answered, what the gap is (what if my
questions are all answered – you then need to identify new inquiries so that you will
contribute to the field)..
4. References
This is the last pages of your review. It serves as a listing of all references that you
mentioned in your paper. Please make sure that only references cited in your drafts will
be listed here.