PSYC-2500: Literature Review Assignment
As you have previously learned, a literature review is summary of the research that has previously been completed on a specific topic. A literature review provides a thematic summary of the research and your papers should be organized by subtopics and not by article please do not summarize each article in individual paragraphs. Since each article has a literature review (the introduction), youll have several examples by which to organize your paper.

The purpose of a literature review is to gather and summarize the important knowledge and ideas that have already been established in the scientific community about a topic. The literature review is the first place that researchers start to explore their research question and to learn what has previously been studied. By understanding what has already been researched, a researcher can also hone their own research question and topic as well as get ideas about how to conduct their own research study.

The main objectives for this paper are to:
1.) Identify and formulate an inquiry question
2.) Read, analyze & interpret journal articles
3.) Apply the summary skills and research skills that youve already learned in this course 4.) Synthesize the knowledge about the topic of your choice in a written literature review. 5.) Practice APA citation style format

Assignment Description:
For this assignment you are asked to complete a literature review on a topic/research question of your choice (please see Angelas video on Choosing a Research Topic & Developing a Research Question. You are asked to locate at least 4 psychology journal articles on your topic and write a literature review on the articles you’ve selected.

Steps to complete your literature review:
1.) Watch Angelas video Choosing a Research Topic & Developing a Research Question.
2.) Identify and refine a topic in the field of psychology if you need help, ask Angela
3.) Locate at least 4 journal articles from the KSU library related to your topic/question.
4.) Ask the Librarian in our weekly module if you have questions or have difficulty finding articles
related to your topic.
5.) Read the articles youve selected thoroughly and take notes on major themes and findings
6.) Create an outline for your literature review by theme/topic
7.) Write your literature review and include APA formatted citations (at least 4 different citations to
4 different articles must appear).
8.) Provide a Reference page for all of the articles you cited
9.) Read your literature review for coherence, clarity, scientific language and revise as needed.
10.) Edit your final draft and submit your paper in D2L in particular, check for writing style,
succinctness, and APA formatting

Outline for writing the literature review:
1. Introduction
The introduction is used to establish the context of your review to the reader.
a. Define the topic of your study and provide any background information that helps
your reader to understand the topic. Do not use first-person narrative in your
introduction do not use I or refer to our class.
b. Explain your reason (perspective) for reviewing the literature on this topic.
c. State your inquiry question.
 
2. Body
This section of your paper begins with an explanation of how you have organized your literature review and describes findings from articles that provide answers to your inquiry question.
Before you begin this section, be sure that you have sorted your articles into different themes based on the articles’ findings (Note: you may have multiple articles for one theme). After reading and sorting the articles, it is important to think of a thematic name of your sorted articles. The themes will become your subtopics for each of the paragraphs that you write in the body of your review.

To write the body of the literature review, include the following:
a.) Write an introduction paragraph for the body of your review. This
paragraph tells the reader specific information on how many articles you reviewed and how you sorted the articles into common themes based on the findings (results).
b.) This will be a paragraph that describes the first theme that you identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve selected.
c.) This will be a paragraph that describes the second theme that you identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve selected.
d.) This will be a paragraph that describes the third theme that you identified and compare, contrast and/or connect the articles you’ve selected.

3. Summary
In this paragraph, it is important to summarize the main findings from the articles that you reviewed and to point out the information that you found particularly important to know that answered the inquiry question that you established in the first paragraph of your review. Try to conclude your paper by connecting your inquiry question back to the research youve conducted.

4. References
This is the last page of your review and should be titled References that is centered. It serves as a listing of all references that you mentioned in your paper. Please use APA format when compiling this list.

PLEASE NOTICE ** there is no word count for this assignment so if you need less or more feel free to do so.