PSY 322 Literature Review Guidelines and RubricOverview
Writing the Literature ReviewWhen writing a critical literature review, you will need to summarize, evaluate, and offer critical comments on the ideas and information that the author(s) presents in the literature.
Your goal should be to read and understand the literature, analyze the findings or arguments, and evaluate and comment on the literature. Please note that unlike the Annotated Bibliography, in which you listed the sources you are planning to use, your Literature Review must be a written paper that incorporates your responses to the questions below. For additional information on writing a Literature Review, you may review the following article: How to Write a Literature Review
Reading the Literature
- Allow enough time to understand it.
- Read the literature without taking notes to gain an overall impression of its main idea.
- Read the literature again, analytically highlighting important ideas and making brief notes of main ideas and the main topic.
Ask yourself these questions:
Be sure to address the following issues within your literature review:
- Name of article and journal cited in proper APA format
- Where did you find this article? How did you know that it was a reliable and valid site?
- What is the issue that the article is specifically addressing? Is this a significant problem or issue related to the concepts and theory in this course? Why or why not?
- What references did the author use in this article?
- Did the article contain research? What data was used? What instruments, if any, were used to collect data?
- What were some of the conclusions, if any, to the research in this article?
- Was the article reliable and valid? Explain.
- Was this article well written? Thoughtful and reflective? Applicable for the classroom teacher?
- What were the limitations in this article? Any variables?
- Any other thoughts, comments?
What to Submit
Your Literature Review should be at least two pages (four pages maximum), double-spaced, use 12-point Times New Roman font, and contain citations in APA format.
