AN APPROACH TO COMPLETING A PROPER LITERATURE REVIEW

EDD 8442 MC1: ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The Literature Review Formula

Statement

One of the most important skills you must cultivate and continue to develop in a doctoral program is writing clear, concise literature reviews. To do this well, you must be able to select appropriate and relevant articles, books, and other resources, to extract important information, to summarize and synthesize that information in a cogent and coherent manner, to abide by APA requirements for form and style, and to put all of this material together in a logical and organized presentation.

Literature Review: The Outline

I. Main TopicA. Subtopic

1. Detaila. Subdetailb. Subdetail

2. DetailB. Subtopic

Literature Review: The Outline (and levels)

CENTERED UPPERCASE HEADING [level 5]Centered Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

[level 1]Centered, Italicized, Uppercase and

Lowercase Heading [level 2]Flush left, Italicized, Uppercase and

lowercase Side Heading [level 3]

Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. [level 4]

The Literature Review: The Outline (with levels)

I. LITERATURE REVIEW SAFE SCHOOLS HEALTHY STUDENTS [level 5]

A. Background on Safe Schools Healthy Students Grants [level 1]

1. Preamble [level 2]

The Literature Review: Level Heads (from Outline) with Paragraphs

LITERATURE REVIEW SAFE SCHOOLS HEALTHY STUDENTS [level 5]Background on Safe Schools Healthy Students Grants [level 1]

Preamble [level 2]Since 1999, the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human

Services, and Justice have collaborated on the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative. The SS/HS Initiative is a discretionary grant program to provide students, schools, and communities with federal funding to implement an enhanced, coordinated, comprehensive plan of activities, programs, and services that focus on promoting healthy childhood development and preventing violence and alcohol and other drug abuse. Eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) or a consortium of LEAs, in partnership with their community's local public mental health authority, local law enforcement agency, and local juvenile justice entity, are able to submit a single application for federal funds to support a variety of activities, curriculums, programs, and services (http://www.sshs.samhsa.gov/).

Five Elements [level 3] This plan focuses on five elements:

Element 1: Safe school environments and violence prevention activities [level 4]

The Literature Review

The Title The AbstractThe IntroductionThe BodyThe References

The Title

When creating a title, you should think in terms of arranging key words.

Each title should have 3-4 key words arranged to the left of the colon; it should have several explanatory words about “method” to the right of the colon.

The Title should be no more than 15 words long [ideally, no more than 10 in the main/ no more than 5 in the subtitle; this varies, though]

The Title

Examples: 1. Ethnicity, Peer Harassment, and Adjustment in

Middle School: An Exploratory Study2. Making Schools Work for Everyone: Study Circles

in Montgomery County, Maryland3. Culturally Competent Schools: Guidelines for

Secondary School Principals4. Black Adolescent’ Racial Socialization Experiences:

Their Relations to Home, School, and Peer Self-Esteem

5. Peer-Migratory Experiences of Newcomer Female Youth: Self-Esteem and Identity Development

Your Title

Possible Samples:

SUBJECT KEYWORDS: A Critical Analysis of x

SUBJECT KEYWORDS: A Systematic Review of the Literature

SUBJECT KEYWORDS: A Review of Related Literature

The Abstract

The abstract is an extended titleIt is used to index articlesIt should be in complete sentences. (in

contrast to the title, which is NOT in complete sentences)

You are ONLY discussing literature, so there will be no methods, results/ findings, or conclusion

The Abstract

Your abstract should be 2-3 sentences at most.

The Abstract

Sample: This study explores the relationship between parental racial

socialization messages and area-specific self-esteem (i.e. home, school, peer self-esteem) among black adolescents.

This study focused on the psychological consequences of immigration. It was designed to assess the relative significance of a range of variables in predicting the ethnic identification, personal and ethnic self-esteem, and psychological health of members of a variety of immigrant groups to Australia.

This study applies a critical approach to x, y, and z topic. Themes of a, b, and c emerge from the literature.

The Abstract: A Student Sample

The purpose of this assignment is to examine the different factors that influence the seamless implementation of technology in the classroom. The goal behind professional development in the area of technology is to improve teachers’ attitudes towards the resources available. New technologies continue to intrigue educators, and school leaders must work to actively engage classroom teachers. It is imperative that teachers become believers in the new and innovative tools if they are committed to implementing them in a successful manner.

The Introduction

Your introduction should be 3 paragraphs.

Your thesis statement should be at the bottom of the third paragraph.

The Introduction

A student sample in one paragraph…Engaging students with technology is pertinent in

today’s technology savvy society. Wide varieties of new technological tools are constantly being made available, and school leaders and educators are actively working to determine what resources to utilize and how to effectively implement them. The evolution and the availability of new technologies: multimedia-authoring software, SMART Boards, and the Internet have enhanced the learning experience for students of all ages; correspondingly, teachers are encouraged to be creative facilitators in the classroom setting. The cited authors state that there are many dynamics that influence the seamless implementation of technology in education. The dynamics include: teacher attitudes, student learning styles and needs, and professional development opportunities for teachers. The synthesis of the following articles helps to support the growing need for technology-themed in-service opportunities.

The Introduction

A Student Sample in 3 paragraphs: The curricular integration of the mathematics and science fields has been a

topic of educational reform since at least 1905 (Berlin & Lee, 2005). It has had fluctuations of interest over the years with a recent increase in popularity (Czerniak, Weber, Sandman, & Ahern, 1999). In order to fully understand integration and incorporate it in a school setting, a historical review is necessary. A historical review will highlight forces working in favor of this reform and reasons why mathematics and science should be integrated through instruction.

The implementation of an integrated mathematics and science curriculum will encounter certain barriers that will limit its success (Pang & Good, 2000). Such barriers include lack of resources, teacher development, school policies, and contextual factors. Additionally, a practical definition of integration is required in order to facilitate research with regard to the advantages of an integrated program and document improvements in mathematics and science achievement levels.

This author will discuss past and current literature pertaining to the implementation of an integrated mathematics and science program. A working definition of integration will allow for the identification of barriers to the program and possible solutions to these barriers. Furthermore, the advantages of integration programs and improvements in mathematics and science achievement as a result of these programs will be discussed.

The Body

This should be a collection of all the information in the literature.

You are “reporting” on what the literature says.

You should have no vested interest in how this plays out

You should not choose sources based on your level of agreement

The Body

It should follow the map that you established in your outline:

I. Main TopicA. Subtopic

1. Detaila. Subdetailb. Subdetail

2. DetailB. Subtopic

The Body Paragraph

Element 2: Alcohol and other drug prevention activities

Many factors in the mental health sphere affect students learning (Adleman, Reyna, Collings, Onghai & Taylor, 1999). The nexus of psychology and education, as defined in Adleman & Taylor (1994) have set the stage for the present discussion in multiple meta-studies such as Kann, Kinchen, Williams, Ross, Lowry, Hill, Grunbaum, Blumson, Collins & Kolbe (1998), Padina (1998), and Weinberg, Rahdert, Colliver & Glantz (1998). Emerging from these studies is a collective correlating assertion that there is firm link between alcohol and other drug prevention activities and actual prevention (White & Pitts, 1998). Though children at various ages react differently to intervention (Albee &Gullotta, 1997; Botvin, 1995; Glantz & Hartel, 1999), there have been examples of successful, replicable interventions to perpetuate hope for sustained recovery and positive social outcomes (Durlak, 1997; Franklin &Streeter, 1995). A systems approach to intervention has led to success (Holder, 1998), though replicability often remains elusive due to the transitory nature of the education population (Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber & White, 1999), uneven funding (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1999; Chen & Rossi, 1992), and lack of consistency with evaluation instruments (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1998). Overall, training and exposure lead to better habits, especially as they are related to themes of optimism, hope, and self-esteem (Carvajal, Clair, Nash & Evans, 1998). As these themes carry through community-based initiatives, there has been an overall decrease in substance abuse and drug use in high risk adolescents (Chou, Montgomery & Pentz, 1998).

The Body Paragraph

A student sample: The standard-based movement has also resulted in

a dramatic increase in the number of published documents related to the integration of mathematics and science. Berlin and Lee (2005) state that 401 citations were identified between 1901 and 1989, while 449 citations were identified between 1990 and 2001. Indeed, more articles were published in a 12 year period that in the previous 89 years. Additionally, the last 12 years saw a dramatic increase in journal articles targeting secondary mathematic and science teachers. This increase is directly correlated with the increase in departmentalization at the middle and high school levels. As secondary education has become more subject specific, a larger emphasis has been placed on the need to integrate mathematics and science instruction (Czeniak, et al., 1999).

References

Anderson, L., Adelman, N., Finnigan, K., Cotton, L., Donnelly, M. B., & Price, T. (2002). A decade of

public charter schools: Evaluation of the public charter school program 2000-2001 evaluation

report. Retrieved August 15, 2005 from the SRI International Web site:

http://www.sri.com/policy/cep/choice/yr2.pdf. (Online source)

Best, J. W., & Kahn, J. V. (1998). Research in education (8th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. (Edited

book)

Bolman, L. & Deal, T. (1997). Reframing organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (book)

Dressler, B. (2001). Charter school leadership. Education and Urban Society, 33(4), 170-185.

(Journal article)

Edwards, B. (2005). How are California’s charter schools performing? Retrieved August 25, 2005

from the EdSource Web site: http://www.edsource.org/pub_abs_charters05.cfm (online journal

article)