Your final paper will be an APA 7th Edition -formatted Literature Review. It should be organized in the following order:
Title Page
Abstract
Introduction
Significance (of the problem)
Problem Statement
Literature Review
Conclusion
References
The title page, abstract, and introduction should be self-explanatory. Here are some tips for the other sections
Significance: The significance of your problem should tell us why we need to research this issue. Why is it important? Does it have the potential to change patient outcomes or improve population health? The significance of an issue may vary with the time and needs of society. Be sure to include statistics and information from the literature demonstrating why this is important. This section answers the “so what” question: why this is important to study.
Problem Statement: This is your research statement. It should be stated objectively to avoid researcher bias. You have already identified your problem or area of research earlier in the class. At this time you will write it a formal manner. Be sure to include your research question using the PICO format.
Literature Review:
The literature review is not an itemized list with specific data cited from papers you discovered in the published literature (unless rare research), but a synthesis of the research that has been done in the area of your selected topic. You want to summarize for the reader, critically evaluate, and synthesize your findings.
This summarizes what you have discovered in your literature review search. Your summary should inform the reader of what has been studied, the types of designs used (qualitative, quantitative), the data collection methods (surveys, instruments used, variables), data analysis methods (statistical models), and software (NVivo, SPSS, SAS) mostly reported.
You may present your findings (organize) your literature review in any manner you think flows well for the reader. But remember you should not be listing each article one by one, but rather comparing and contrasting. What was similar about the studies? What was different? How are they related?
You have been using the Synthesis MATRIX GRID this semester. This will be helpful for you as you critically review the research articles. It will help you synthesize the published literature and come to conclusions.
Conclusion: You should include a brief overview of what you found in the literature about your specific problem. Your conclusion should include a discussion of an identified gap in the literature that demonstrates a need for further research.
Please note the articles included in the Literature Review should be closely associated with your problem. You will have too many articles if you are too broad or vague with your search terms.
Rubric
