You will develop a condensed literature review (7–10 pages) on a topic relevant to a current issue, problem, innovation, change, or trend in Higher Education – Adult Education. 

 A literature review is not a summary of individual sources in a list, such as in the form of an annotated bibliography. Instead, the literature review should integrate in-text citations within the paragraphs to support your analysis of the scholarly readings you selected. 

Critical thinking: Be sure to analyze and evaluate the articles, not just report what was written. What should you add?

Integration: Integrate information from across the sources in your review. Look for themes and commonalities. Do not just review one article after another in a linear fashion. Use headings and subheadings to organize your paper around themes you identify.

Review of the rubric: Apply critical thinking to analyze scholarly articles and point out conflicting evidence or perspectives. Apply critical thinking to evaluate scholarly articles and identify criteria used for evaluation. Synthesize information to identify missing information that limits understanding of the topic.

Critical Thinking Examples

Apply principles of critical thinking to analyze scholarly articles and point out any conflicting evidence or perspectives. For example:

• "Articles X and Y (citation) promote a constructivist approach, which is in direct contrast to the behaviorist approach advocated in article Z (citation)."

Apply principles of critical thinking to evaluate scholarly articles and identify the criteria used for the evaluation. For example:

• "There is a weakness in the inference made by the author (citation), as the conclusion of XXXX was not clearly supported by the data."
• "The author (citation) never clearly defined the concept of XYZ."

Synthesize information gathered in a review of scholarly literature and identify any missing information that limits understanding of the topic. For example:

• "The five articles addressed how schools are approaching XXX, but they all focused on suburban, public schools. More breadth of scope is needed to fully understand the implications of the issue."

Instructions

Start with a title page and organize your paper with the following guidelines:

• Title page: Use [Chosen Topic]: Literature Review as your paper title.
• Introduction: The opening content should directly follow the title of the paper (repeated from the title page) and provide an introduction of your chosen topic and overview of what will be included in your paper.
• Overview of topic: Begin the body of your paper with an overview of the topic you chose for this review. Your topic description can begin with a broad consideration related to education. Write in third person and include literature support.
• Topic relation to specialization: Provide a detailed description and examples of how the topic you chose to review specifically relates to your specialization. Write in third person and include literature support.
• Review of the literature: The literature review should include a minimum of five references from peer-reviewed journal articles related to your education specialization.
  • Keep in mind, as you review your articles, the process of questioning. For example, how the articles present similar or contrasting information about your topic, how well the articles support your perspective on the topic, and if you discovered something new about your topic through your literature review.
  • Continue to write in third person and leverage the literature.
  • Apply principles of critical thinking to your analyses and evaluations of the literature you review.
• Conclusion: Your conclusion should emphasize the main themes in your paper and provide a synthesis of the literature reviewed.
• References: Include a minimum of five different scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles (related to your field of specialization) that are also cited in the paper. Your citations must have references, and your references need to be included within your paper as in-text citations.

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Sources: A minimum five peer-reviewed scholarly sources.
• APA formatting: Follow current APA style and formatting for in-text citations.