Coping with Psychological Impacts of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injuries: A
Order Description
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Scholarship entails comprehensive understanding of at least one academic community’s historical and current treatment of the pertinent topic. In order to argue the legitimacy of the current study, a thorough understanding of what that study will add to the most current literature on the topic is necessary. Literature will be critically analyzed, synthesized, and integrated to produce a story that brings the reader along to understand where the study fits into the current debates and academic edges concerning the topic. Existing and historically seminal literature will provide a contextual framework within which the research design is situated. Additionally, a part of the literature review will provide an academic foundation for the methods and research design chosen. This chapter should be written in past tense.
INTRODUCTION
_____ Begins with the purpose of the chapter, how it fits in the dissertation, and the organization of the chapter
_____ Frames the review by restating the topic and research questions
SEARCH STRATEGY
_____ Describes the strategy used to collect relevant literature
_____ Indicates which search engines were used
_____ Lists which search terms were used
_____ Indicates strategy for identifying historically seminal (classic) studies and theorists’ writings
_____ Justifies most appropriate time interval for current sources (last 2–3 years? Last 5 years?)
_____ If applicable, explains the lack of currency of the most recent publications
_____ Reviews strategy for focusing in on empirical research that most closely resembles the current study
[REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH AND LITERATURE]
(The rest of the literature review should include logical headings that aid the reader in understanding the content and organization of the chapter. The actual headings will differ for each student’s work.)
_____ The review is an integrated, critical analysis and synthesis of the relevant research and other scholarly literature published on the topic
_____ Includes the most current scholarship and important historical theory and research, when appropriate, to situate the topic
_____ Synthesizes prior research to illustrate what is currently known about the research problem
_____ Compares and contrasts different theories and research results
_____ Evaluates previous research and related theory
_____ Integrates various studies and theories to relate a story of the historical and current state of knowledge on the topic
_____ Addresses how the proposed research fits in the context of research to date
_____ Draws mostly from published journal articles in peer-reviewed journals or sound academic books containing primary material; provides justification for using other sources
_____ Has a specific organization for the review. For example, organizes the review around major ideas or themes or organizes the review historically
_____ The literature review needs to be comprehensive, covering the most important theories or research findings upon which the research problem (and hypotheses) was based.
_____ Relates the study to previous research
_____ Identifies how the study will extend current knowledge
_____ Defines the most important aspects of the theory that will be examined or tested (for quantitative studies)
_____ Substantiates the conceptual framework for the study (for qualitative studies)
_____ Clearly relates the review of the related research and literature to the Statement of Problem as expressed in the
_____ research questions
_____ hypotheses (quantitative)
_____ population
_____ context/setting
_____ Includes a discussion of differing and common methodologies previously used to study the research problem, including their strengths and limitations
_____ Includes a literature-based description of the research variables (quantitative studies) or central phenomenon, situation, or factors of interest (qualitative studies)
_____ Includes literature pertaining to the population and context or setting
_____ Reviews literature related to research method and research design, including major and foundational sources in that design and its application to the research problem
SUMMARY
_____ Summarizes key points of the relationship between the study’s research question(s) and the literature
_____ Summarizes the study’s contribution to the literature
_____ Bridges to Chapter III by summarizing literature-based arguments for choosing a particular methodology
_____ Conforms to the recommended length of 30–50 pages for Chapter II
