Ultimate goal in the literature review is to synthesize the material you have read into a cohesive portrayal of the extent the research should inform your practice. Your paper should contain a definite central idea supported with evidence linked together in a logical sequence. Although this is not an article analysis, the reader should gain basic understanding of which evidence you found trustworthy. The review should use APA format and include approximately 10 double-spaced, typed pages, excluding title or reference pages (omit the abstract). Use subject headers to aid the reader in navigating your work. Introduction: The introduction introduces your topic and purpose while briefly explaining their significance to fellow educators or other stakeholders. Review: Inform the reader of the number of articles you reviewed, your focus question, and the parameters you used to determine which articles to include (e.g., only peer-reviewed journals, most recent, highly cited). Provide a brief sentence that explains how you organized the review. Summarize the findings of the studies, while clustering them together to illustrate important points. For the most important articles, include basic information about what the studies did to assist the reader in assessing their strength as evidence. If there is disagreement on the findings, explore some potential explanations for the differences (e.g., definitions, samples, methods) or why someone might trust one study over another. Discussion: The discussion section is similar to the conclusion of an essay. This section should do three things: (1) Make clear, brief statements to answer your research question and summarize the important points from your review. (2) Make an overall statement about the literature regarding its strength as evidence. Note any gaps that need to be filled or information that you felt was missing. (3) Discuss the extent the literature supports recommendations for practice (or does not support ANY recommendations for practice). You may address one or more the following questions, as appropriate to your topic: Might the approach or findings work for you? How similar were the samples and conditions to your context? Were the results strong enough to suggest a substantial resource allocation or any disruption associated with implementation would be worthwhile? References The reference page contains a list of the articles used and cited in your paper. Only include those cited in the text. Make sure at least 10 original research articles are both cited and included in the review section.
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