Congratulations on completing the Evaluating a Literature Review .docx

Congratulations on completing the "Evaluating a Literature
Review or Course Paper" self-assessment! Here are your
answers, assessment results, and strategies for improvement…
Your Answers
Introduction
1. Does your paper have a clear Introduction? If "Yes," answer
a through d. If "No" or "Unsure," skip to question 2.
yes
2. Does the introduction state the topic of the paper and its key
challenge?
yes
3. Does it indicate how the literature review to fonollow will
address that key challenge?
no
4. Does it give the main points of your literature review and
how they are organized?
no
5. Is it no more than one page in length?
yes
Main Body
Does the Main Body of your literature review:
1. State the theoretical framework or orientation taken in the
paper?
yes
2. Review literature directly relevant to the key concepts of
your key challenge?
yes
3. "Funnel" from the background or broad perspective down to
the research on the key challenge?
yes
4. Critique the literature reviewed? no
5. Synthesize the literature reviewed? no

6. Draw conclusion(s) about how to resolve the key challenge?
yes
Conclusion
1. Does the paper contain a Conclusion or Summary? If "Yes,"
answer a through e. If "No" or "Unsure," skip to the next
section and follow its directions. yes
2. Does the Conclusion restate the topic and the key challenge
of the paper? yes
3. Does it briefly restate your conclusions? yes
4. Does it discuss implications and/or applications of your
conclusions and findings in the literature? no
5. Does it mention further study and exploration you have
decided you need to undertake to deepen your knowledge?
unsure
6. Does it consist of one or two paragraphs, no more than a
page? yes
Self-Assessment
To help your self-assessment, the chart below highlights your
estimated skill level in organizing a literature review / course
paper (based on how many "Yes" answers you marked).
Relative Weights of Scores
Your score: 11
Number of "Yes" Answers
Percent (Rounded)
17
100% (distinguished)
16
94% (proficient)
15

88% (proficient)
14
82% (acceptable)
13
76% (adequate)
12
71% (adequate, needs improvement)
11
65% (marginally acceptable, needs improvement)
10
59% (transitional, almost unacceptable, needs significant
improvement)
9 or fewer
Needs significant improvement. Would fail "Organization"
score on Comps exam.
Obviously, this is very roughly weighted - mere percentages do
not take into account the relative importance of individual
sections of a paper. However, when it comes to the organization
of papers, the continuum from 100% to below 60% allows a
rough-and-ready self-assessment that you can use to identify
weaker areas for improvement. If you look back at the pattern
of your answers, you can add some sophistication to your self-
assessment by identifying the sections where there are more
"No" answers - areas that you need to improve. Now use the
table below to plan your strategy for needed improvements.
Your Strategy for Improving Your Literature Review
Organization Skills
Type your information in the empty boxes-they will expand to
accommodate your text. Be specific in how you will work to
improve your organizational skills.
Section
Number of "No" or "Unsure" Answers
How Will You Improve Your Skills Where Needed?
Introduction
2

Main Body
2
Conclusion
2
Self-Assessment
Evaluating a Literature Review or Course Paper
Directions: Evaluate the completed final paper you wrote for
your school's Track 1 companion course (School of Business
and Technology and the Harold Abel School of Social and
Behavioral Sciences only) or for a recent course you have taken
(School of Education and School of Public Service Leadership
only). Evaluate this paper by answering each of the questions,
using the information you obtained from presentation The
Literature Review or Course Paper.
When you are through evaluating your paper, follow the
directions to self-assess your skill in organizing a literature
review/course paper. This exercise is not graded, but it will help
you to identify the current strength of your academic writing.
Most of us think our writing is very good (except, oddly,
professional writers). Usually, it is not, and nearly always can
be improved regardless of how good it may be. Poor writing is a
leading cause of problems with the comprehensive examination
and the dissertation. Be honest with yourself, if you wish to
improve your skills.
1. Does your paper have a clear Introduction? If "Yes," answer
a through d. If "No" or "Unsure," skip to question 2.
YES / NO / UNSURE
1. Does the introduction state the topic of the paper and its key
challenge?
YES / NO / UNSURE
2. Does it indicate how the literature review to follow will
address that key challenge?

YES / NO / UNSURE
3. Does it give the main points of your literature review and
how they are organized?
YES / NO / UNSURE
4. Is it no more than one page in length?
YES / NO / UNSURE
2. Does the Main Body of your literature review:
1. State the theoretical framework or orientation taken in the
paper?
YES / NO / UNSURE
2. Review literature directly relevant to the key concepts of
your key challenge?
YES / NO / UNSURE
3. "Funnel" from the background or broad perspective down to
the research on the key challenge?
YES / NO / UNSURE
4. Critique the literature reviewed?
YES / NO / UNSURE
5. Synthesize the literature reviewed?
YES / NO / UNSURE
6. Draw conclusion(s) about how to resolve the key challenge?
YES / NO / UNSURE
3. Does the paper contain a Conclusion or Summary? If "Yes,"
answer a through e. If "No" or "Unsure," skip to the next
section and follow its directions.
YES / NO / UNSURE
1. Does the Conclusion restate the topic and the key challenge
of the paper?
YES / NO / UNSURE
2. Does it briefly restate your conclusions?
YES / NO / UNSURE
3. Does it discuss implications and/or applications of your
conclusions and findings in the literature?
YES / NO / UNSURE
4. Does it mention further study and exploration you have
decided you need to undertake to deepen your knowledge?

YES / NO / UNSURE
5. Does it consist of one or two paragraphs, no more than a
page?
YES / NO / UNSURE
Self-Assessment Exercise
To self-assess your skill at correctly organizing a literature
review / course paper, count the number of "Yes" answers you
gave (maximum = 17). Use the following chart to assess your
skill at organizing your literature review (course paper). Then
fill in the second table.
Chart 1. Relative Weights of Scores
Number of "Yes" Answers
Percent (Rounded)
17
100% (distinguished)
16
94% (proficient)
15
88% (proficient)
14
82% (acceptable)
13
76% (adequate)
12
71% (adequate, needs improvement)
11
65% (marginally acceptable, needs improvement)
10
59% (transitional, almost unacceptable, needs significant
improvement)
9 or fewer
Needs significant improvement. Would fail "Organization"
score on Comps exam.
Obviously, this is very roughly weighted — mere percentages
do not take into account the relative importance of individual
sections of a paper. However, when it comes to the organization

of papers, the continuum from 100% to below 60% allows a
rough-and-ready self-assessment that you can use to identify
weaker areas for improvement. If you look back at the pattern
of your answers, you can add some sophistication to your self-
assessment by identifying the sections where there are more
"No" answers — areas that you need to improve. Now use the
Table 2 below to plan your strategy for needed improvements.
Table 2. Your Strategy for Improving Your Literature Review
Organization Skills
Type your information in the empty boxes—they will expand to
accommodate your text. Be specific in how you will work to
improve your organizational skills.
Section
Number of "No" or "Unsure" Answers
How Will You Improve Your Skills Where Needed?
Introduction
How will you improve your skills where needed (relating to the
Introduction section)?
Main Body
Main Body section)?
Conclusion
Conclusion section)?
Make sure that you e-mail yourself a copy of your assessment
results. You will need this in order to post it to the Assignment
area in the courseroom.
Credits
Subject Matter Expert:
Jana Whiddon, PhD, LMHC, ACS
Interactive Design:
Drew Pauley
Instructional Design:

Jae Johnson
Project Management:
Alan Campbell
Running head: BIOPSYCHOLOGY 1
BIOPSYCHOLOGY 9
Abstract
The field of biopsychology focuses on the role that the brain
plays in interpreting the biological signals in the body received
through the neurotransmitters resulting in specific behaviours,
feelings and thoughts. The investigation of the connection that
the brain has with human behaviour did not start recently.
Specifically, the study seeks to understand how emotions are
linked to physical behaviours. To complete this objective,
various research studies were considered to gather as much
information as possible. There are several theories that have
focused on the hypothalamic function of the brain. For instance,
Papez’s proposal that the limbic system controls the expression
of emotions in human brains formed the basis of further studies.
In one study by DeAngelis (2011) it is stated that there are a lot
of knowledge gaps when it comes to understanding exactly how
human emotions such as fear influence their financial decisions
or how marital emotional struggle influence people’s work rate.
Further, it was established that on one particular recent
innovation in the field of biotechnology. Through bio-
enhancement, the author notes that today it is possible for
people to be enhanced and made to have a high moral authority.
The author supports bio enhancement on the basis that it will
make people better versions of themselves reducing crime and
vices in most communities. The essence of understanding the
crowd behaviour is so that it can be used in the prediction of
situations that lead disasters arising from the pandemonium
created by the uncontrollable reaction by the crowd. In essence,

the study provided a detailed account on how emotions
influence people in a large group in having them behave in a
certain way.
Background
The field of biopsychology focuses on the role that the brain
plays in interpreting the biological signals in the body received
through the neurotransmitters resulting in specific behaviours,
feelings and thoughts. The investigation of the connection that
the brain has with human behaviour did not start recently. One
early attempt at understanding it was in the pseudoscience
known as phrenology. This view perceived human faculties as
connected to bumps and indentations of the brain such that they
could be felt on the surface of the skull. When this field of
science became overly popular, scientists and experts ascribed
to a different school of thought dismissed it as lacking actual
evidence or measurable concepts. However, the idea remained
and became the basis of biopsychology (Afolabi, 2015). With
the increased new technologies and the body of knowledge that
exists today after years of research, biopsychology is today a
bona fide field of science that has led to better understanding of
the relationship between the brain and the physical functioning
of the human behaviour.
Problem Statement
In this context, the psychology behind the connection between
the brain physiology and the biology will be assessed to
understand it better. Specifically, the study seeks to understand
how emotions are linked to physical behaviours. To complete
this objective, various research studies will be considered to
gather as much information as possible (Lambert, 2018). Areas
that have not been covered yet will be outlined.
Potential Ethical Concerns
The ethical concern regarding this topic is how to control
emotions from influencing human decisions (Roseman, 2011). A
common phenomenon that happens in everyday life, is when an

unfamiliar event arises or announced and the entire crowd can
completely change. The crowd normally change by individuals
expressing different intense emotions, that sometimes can lead
to uncontrollable and violent behaviours (DeAngelis, 2011).
These types of emotions and behaviours that can disturb the
organization of a crowd can be disturbing and show a huge
concern.
Key Words
The key terms used when conducting research for this
investigation were, emotions and behaviours, emotions
impacting behaviours, emotional influence, role of brain
shaping emotions, cognitive and emotions, understanding the
interactions between emotions and behaviours theories of
emotions and behaviours. Literature Review
There are several theories that have focused on the
hypothalamic function of the brain. For instance, Papez’s
proposal that the limbic system controls the expression of
emotions in human brains formed the basis of further studies.
With years it was found that indeed, the limbic system controls
emotional expressions through a connection between the
hypothalamus and the mediated perception of emotions within
the cortex. This was supported by studies on the Kluver-Bucy
syndrome which leads t damage of the amygdala which is part
of the limbic system (Schultheiss & Wirth, 2018). This damage
resulted in patients who were hyposexual, fearless and would
put just about anything in to the mouths. Other researchers have
also focused on this area years later adding that the limbic
system is a structure of the brain that is responsible for focusing
attention and emotional events (Kippers, & Yzerbyt, 2012). One
of the primary structures within the limbic system is amygdala.
The amygdala structure plays a key part in emotions and other
reactions to stimuli (Jebari, 2014). It is important to understand
that emotions can sometimes influence decisions that can impact
behaviours directly. Below are established authors in the field
of biopsychology that have studies the specific field of

emotional connection to the human brain.
In one study by DeAngelis (2011) the topic was examining
emotions' impact. The study was selected based on the relevant
to the central topic as well as the vast experience that the author
has as a free-lance writer and editor which is over 30 years. The
topics this author writes about are articles in psychology,
health, medicine, culture and spirituality. The author is also a
member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors,
and on the advisory board of Woman Transcending Boundaries.
This study’s focus on how emotions are represented in the brain
was of particular interest to the current study.
One of the questions that the author seeks to answer in this
article is the role that emotions play in determining human
behaviour. It is stated that there are a lot of knowledge gaps
when it comes to understanding exactly how human emotions
such as fear influence their financial decisions or how marital
emotional struggle influence people’s work rate. Currently, it is
easy to point to a particular emotion as the cause of a certain
behaviour but the biopsychology behind it is still largely
unknown. The study highlights one major knowledge gap that
exists today in the field of biopsychology. This is that as much
as scientists have uncovered what emotions are and how they re
represented in the brain, the influence that emotions have on the
decision-making process of a human brain is still not known.
This field of unknown has led to a clear disjoint in the entire
field of psychology. This is because as much as scientists can
understand human emotions, predicting human behaviour is still
a foggy subject. The benefits that would accrue to the entire
world if human behaviour was remotely predictable would be
great (Sarkar et al., 2018). If scientists could figure out what
fear does to the decisions that people make or the role that joy
plays in motivating employees, then various aspects of life
would be changed to improve the overall quality of life. Thus,
studies into this area of unknowns is fundamental and should
continue to be pushed. DeAngelis (2011) notes that his
contribution to the Emotion journal will be aimed at broadening

research in the role that emotions play in decisions using real-
life situations.
In another study by Jebari (2014). The title is What to Enhance:
Behaviour, Emotion or Disposition? contained in the journal
Neuroethics. Karim Jebari, is currently a researcher at the
Institute for Futures Studies. Karim interest is related to topics
that discuss political, bioethics and the philosophy of science.
This source was selected because it breaks down the human
brain and the emotional disputations that can become possible.
This author has based the study on one particular recent
innovation in the field of biotechnology. Through bio-
enhancement, the author notes that today it is possible for
people to be enhanced and made to have a high moral authority.
The author supports bio enhancement on the basis that it will
make people better versions of themselves reducing crime and
vices in most communities. This stand will offer a fresh
perspective on the entire issue of understanding human
behaviour. Instead of focusing on the gap that exist in
understanding how human emotions influence decisions, this
author seeks to argue for ways through which human emotions
can be manipulated to make people morally upright. As would
be expected, most scientists in this field will be quick to
dismiss this perspective on the basis that it will human emption
exploitation reducing the diversity that human beings exude as a
race through emotions. On the outlook such a school of thought
seems to be out of the scope of the current study. It is still
within the scope in this manner. The author has three
dimensions from which they want to make their case. These are
the behavioural enhancement, emotional enhancement and the
enhancement of moral dispositions. From these perspectives, it
is clear that the author intends to provide empirical evidence on
how to manipulate emotions to make humans better (Schultheiss
& Wirth, 2018). This alone will help the current study in
figuring out how emotions can be manipulated to change the
decision-making process of a person and in essence answer the
central question.

A study by Kuppens and Yzerbyt (2012) titled Group-Based
Emotions: The Impact of Social Identity on Appraisals,
Emotions, and Behaviours will be considered. It is found in the
journal titled the Basic and Applied Social Psychology. The
authors often do research at the Faculty of behavioural and
social Sciences at the University of Groningen. This source is
vital to the current research because it explains how emotions
are rooted in the social identity of the individual that perceive
it. The authors in this study focused on group-based emotions in
understanding the how social identity was affected. As such, the
findings of this study could be used in this study given that
understanding how group-based emotions determine social
identity is close to understanding how individual emotion
balances (or lack of) influence the decisions made the same
individuals. The study is based on an empirical survey
involving young women and their disgust towards Muslims. The
women’s experiences were mediated through the appraisals of
the specific intergroup threats that existed. Given that this study
seeks to establish the connection that emotions have on making
decisions, this study offers great insight on how as a group,
human beings can be assessed to determine the outcome of their
collective emotion towards something or someone (Lambert,
2018). Therefore, the results of this study will go a long way in
justifying the inferences made in the current research.
A study by Saifi, Boubetra and Nouioua (2016) focused on the
emotions and behaviour modelling in a crowd in the presence of
rare events. Contained in the journal titled Adaptive Behavior,
the article analyses the emotional aspects within behavioural
and decisional circumstances that can form the shape of a
crowd. The approach to researching emotion and behavioural
issues, tend to lean more towards the patterns and emotional
simulation. The article is close to the current topic because it
explains how the impact of emotions can emerge through
behaviour and by certain emotional cycles deepening on the
individual’s experience. Similar to the previous study, the
authors in this particular study focused on crowd behaviour.

The essence of understanding the crowd behaviour is so that it
can be used in the prediction of situations that lead disasters
arising from the pandemonium created by the uncontrollable
reaction by the crowd. In essence, the study will provide a
detailed account on how emotions influence people in a large
group in having them behave in a certain way. This study
highlights the fact that people in a crowd have a different way
of behaving due to sudden emotions that is not similar to when
they are alone (Gazzaniga, 2014). This adds to this study
leading to the inference that emotions affect people differently
base don whether they are within a group or alone.
In another study by Tamir and Bigman (2018), the focus is on
how expectations influence emotions and shape behaviour.
Based on the Emotion journal, this study offers crucial insight
on emotional expectations and how they shape the overall
human behaviour. The author has vast experience in this field
exploring the instrumental functions of emotions and their role
in emotion regulation. This article explains what people want to
feel and why. This article also explains if individuals can
benefit from their emotions and how they can learn about the
potential consequences of emotions. This supports the quest for
answers regarding what emotions can be do to human beings in
terms of their reaction to different situations. Considerations
are important regarding the essence of emotions and why people
want to feel. The authors note that when human beings appear
indifferent, it is a problem versus when they show certain
emotions. Thus, to feel is human and therefore it is the duty of
scientists t find out how emotions affect our decisions seeing
that emotions are an integral part of the human life. This
particular study identified that emotions depend on what people
expect them to do. People might want to feel sad hoping to
elicit pity from others. Thus, human beings have mastered the
art of emotional manipulation based on the idea that the brain
has a systemic way of reacting to sad or joyous situations that is
universal. The degree of emotion to each situation varies but the
end result is the same in all human beings (Tamir & Bigman,

2018). Such are the inferences made in this study revealing that
there is still much to be uncovered regarding emotions than
human beings are aware of today.
References
Afolabi, O. E. (2015). Domestic Violence, Risky Family
Environment and Children: A Bio-Psychology Perspective.
International Journal of Special Education, 30(2), 44-56.
DeAngelis, T. (2011). Examining emotions' impact. Retrieved
June 15, 2018, from
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/02/journal-desteno.aspx Tori
Gazzaniga, M. S. (Ed.). (2014). Handbook of cognitive
neuroscience. Springer.
Jebari, K. (2014). What to Enhance: Behaviour, Emotion or
Disposition? Neuroethics,7(3), 253-261. doi:10.1007/s12152-
014-9204-5
Kuppens, T., & Yzerbyt, V. Y. (2012). Group-Based Emotions:
The Impact of Social Identity on Appraisals, Emotions, and
Behaviors. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 34(1), 20-33.
doi:10.1080/01973533.2011.637474
Lambert, K. G. (2018). Biological Psychology. Oxford
University Press.
Saifi, L., Boubetra, A., & Nouioua, F. (2016). An approach for
emotions and behavior modelling in a crowd in the presence of
rare events. Adaptive Behavior, 24(6), 428-445.
doi:10.1177/1059712316674784
Sarkar, A., Harty, S., Lehto, S. M., Moeller, A. H., Dinan, T.
G., Dunbar, R. I., ... & Burnet, P. W. (2018). The microbiome in
psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Trends in cognitive
sciences.
Schultheiss, O. C., & Wirth, M. M. (2018). Biopsychological
aspects of motivation. In Motivation and action (pp. 407-451).
Springer, Cham.
Tamir, M., & Bigman, Y. E. (2018). Expectations influence how
emotions shape behavior. Emotion, 18(1), 15-25.
doi:10.1037/emo0000351

The Literature Review or Course Paper (COUN)
Overview
Introduction
We'll continue with our review of scholarly communication by
focusing attention on the course paper, which is, strictly
speaking, a literature review. All scholarly works, including:
· Course papers
· Comprehensive examinations
· Dissertations
contain some form of literature review for their particular
topics.
In this presentation, we will examine:
· The development of the key challenge in a course paper.
· The central role of the key challenge in forming your literature
review and your paper as a whole.
Of course, everything we say about your selected course paper
literature review applies to the literature review, for the
comprehensive examination answers, and the dissertation. Let's
begin with some definitions.
What is a Literature Review?
Aristotle thought that it was important in defining objects to say
what they are not to help define what they are. Let's look at
what literature reviews are not.
Literature reviews are not reports. Reports are listings of facts
about some central object (topic). A report would tell you about
the object or subject of interest. Reports are organized around
the information. Academic reports, generally speaking, are not
primarily about drawing conclusions as a good academic paper
should be. Instead, reports disseminate information without
interpreting the information.
Literature reviews are purposeful writing. The purpose may
vary, but generally the purpose will be a mixture of the
following parts.
· Any well-written academic paper should have a point, the key
challenge that you are trying to prove or argue.
· Good academic writing often presents all considered sides of

an issue; Consider how this is unlike political or opinion polls.
After this balanced presentation, the literature review will draw
a conclusion or conclusions based upon the evidence and it will
defend that position(s). This process would demand any or all of
the following:
a. Analysis
b. Synthesis
c. Evaluation
· Critical thinking is the heart of good academic writing and
hence also intrinsic to the literature review.
Literature reviews are meant to accomplish three very specific
goals:
· To identify and describe existing research that focuses on your
topic. (Notice the two levels of critical thinking called for by
this goal: identify and describe, both low levels.) This will
include research or theory that supports your own main idea. To
strengthen your argument, utilize research and theory that
contradicts, disagrees, or conflicts with your main idea. This is
where the balance comes from.
· To analyze and then to evaluate how the selected literature
addresses the key challenge. (Note the two levels of critical
analysis called for: analyze and evaluate.) Some literature will
support and further the resolution of the key challenge; other
literature will not.
· Finally, to draw conclusions about resolving the key challenge
based on the literature reported and reviewed.
We'll return to these goals later. Let's look at the basic structure
of a literature review.
Basic Elements of Scholarly Communications
You'll recall, from the previous Presentation, that all writing is
structured around three basic elements:
· An Introduction
· A Main Body
· A Conclusion
The table presented earlier illustrated how these elements
function regardless of the scope of the writing. Let's look again

as a refresher.
Table 1. Elements of Writing by Scale of Assignment
Paragraph
Discussion Response
Literature Review/
Final Project
Comps Question
Dissertation
Introduction
1 sentence
1 paragraph
1–2 paragraphs
1–2 paragraphs
Chapter 1
Body
2 sentences
2 paragraphs
8–10 pages
12–16 pages
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Conclusion
1 sentence
1 paragraph
1–2 paragraphs
1–2 paragraphs
Chapter 5
As you can see in the fourth column, the literature review or
course project is longer than a discussion response, but they
share the same structure:
1. Introduction — Tell them what you'll tell them!
2. Main Body — Tell them!
3. Conclusion — Tell them what you told them! (For the
conclusion, the number of pages may be stipulated in the

assignment.)
In course papers:
· The literature review is the heart of the course paper.
· The literature review is integrated into the main body of
course papers.
· The Literature Review in Course Papers form (including
extensive directions for constructing high quality literature
reviews) is in the Resources section of this Courseroom. Use
this guidance when you construct your individual literature
reviews.
Literature reviews always attempt to address and resolve a key
challenge. Let's look more closely at what that is.
Key Challenge
Identifying the Key Challenge
Each course paper should be built around a key challenge that
· answers a single question,
· argues a single thesis, or
· solves a particular problem.
Using a course final project as our example, let's identify the
key challenge. The assignment reads like this:
For your course project, you will integrate your selected
theoretical framework with your research topic. This will
include demonstrating how your selected school of thought
aligns with your research topic, as well as how your research
topic contributes to the knowledge base.
1. Study how the assignment is written; using the skills you
developed previously.
2. Find the content issues. Write them down in a list.
3. Then find the levels of critical thinking, and write them down
as well.
4. What are you challenged to do in the assignment?
5. Take some time to reflect on the assignment. Then write
down in one sentence what the key challenge of this assignment
is.
Did you write that the key challenge is:
1. “To demonstrate how your selected theoretical framework

aligns with your research topic?”
2. “To show how your research topic contributes to the
knowledge base?”
3. “To integrate your selected theoretical framework with your
research topic?”
Feedback for answer 1:
That's part of it, but it is not the key challenge. Notice how that
clause starts with the word “including.” So this element is
included in the key challenge, but that means it cannot be the
key challenge itself.
Well, in that case you're again partly right, but you missed the
key challenge. This element is opened with the words “as well
as,” which like “including,” indicates a subordinate role for the
clause. It is included in the key challenge, but it is not the key
challenge itself.
Good for you! That's it. Integrating your theoretical framework
with your research topic includes a number of things, two of
which are spelled out for you.
An Example of Writing the Key Challenge for This Course
Paper
You can phrase the key challenge in one of three ways. By way
of example, suppose a learner is interested in social-cognitive
theory. Suppose further that she is very interested in doing her
dissertation on caseworkers who suffer burnout while working
with alcoholics, and she has come up with the following
research topic statement:
Caseworkers' burnout in alcohol treatment programs.
Recall that a key challenge:
· answers a single question,
· argues a single thesis, or
· solves a particular problem.
The key challenge only does one of these three things.
She can phrase her key challenge, then, in one of three ways —
and only in one:

· As a question to be answered: She will answer the question
“What constructs of social cognitive theory can provide an
understanding of caseworkers' burnout while working with
alcoholics?”
· As a thesis to be argued: She will argue the following thesis:
“The construct of social cognitive theory, self-efficacy,
provides an understanding of the mechanisms of a caseworkers'
burnout while treating alcoholics.”
· Or as a problem to be solved: She will contribute to solving
the problem of therapist burnout by asking, “How can the
principles of social-cognitive theory be used to reduce burnout
in caseworkers working with alcoholics?”
In your introduction to the literature review (course paper), you
will repeat the original assignment and then identify what key
challenge you have identified for the paper. There are other
points to cover in the introduction, but we'll get to that later.
Before you move on, let's have some more practice in how to
identify the key challenge. Here is another course project
assignment from a different course. Read it and reflect on the
key challenge in this one.
Practice Sample Assignment:
This course provides a solid grounding in practice theory, and
the purpose of the course project is to further explore and
understand the many connections a theory has to your field on a
practical level. For the course project, you will write a 15-page
paper analyzing a chosen practice theory and its relationship to
your Scholarly field. The project will consist of a detailed
analysis of a practice theory of your choice. Course readings
provide several theories from which to choose. In this analysis,
you will connect your chosen theory to a discipline or field of
practice.
To complete this project, you will be expected to:
1. Analyze a practice theory, including its assumptions, scope,
and main intervention strategies.
2. Evaluate the processes of how a theory is generated,
validated, and incorporated into a discipline.

3. Describe the bodies of knowledge used to derive a theory's
interventions.
4. Compare the assumptions of a practice theory with those of
its underlying philosophical paradigm.
How many key challenges does this assignment offer?
1. One key challenge.
2. Two key challenges.
· If you found one key challenge, notice that there are four
specific expectations. Now within those four, it's possible to see
some similarities. For instance, number 1 and number 4 could
be a single key challenge: To analyze the theory, including its
assumptions, and then to compare its assumptions with those of
its underlying philosophical paradigm. But what about numbers
2 and 3?
· Numbers 1 and 4 focus solely on the practice theory and its
underlying assumptions, but numbers 2 and 3 do not — the key
challenge that might sum up numbers 2 and 3 seems to be about
theory formation.
· So if you found two key challenges — one about analyzing a
practice theory and looking at its underlying assumptions in
comparison with its philosophical paradigm, the second about
the processes and materials by which a theory is formed — then
you've got the idea here.
This exercise reveals that some questions or assignments make
it difficult to follow the cardinal rule of “key challenges”: You
only have one per paper.
Clearly, this exercise suggests that the instructor who wrote the
assignment wanted at least two key challenges and you might
argue that there are four.
One way to handle this dilemma is to integrate the key
challenges.
Example: In this case, we might say the key challenge is to
analyze a practice theory and its philosophical assumptions,
including the body of knowledge that formed the theory as well

as the processes by which it was formed and accepted into the
literature.
Another approach is simple: Write as many “papers” as there
are key challenges. However, you don't actually need to write
two or three or four papers; just write one but:
· Divide your main body into separate sections to deal with one
key challenge at a time.
· Then, present an integration of the sub-sections in a final sub-
section, bringing all your conclusions together as a whole.
Objectives
Objectives of the Literature Review
A successful literature review will:
1. Identify how the key challenge has been studied in the
scholarly literature;
2. Identify, describe, and evaluate each of the studies used to
respond to the key challenge; and
3. Support your conclusions drawn from the literature review in
response to the key challenge.
The literature review proper begins with a broad perspective —
but only broad enough to provide the context your readers need
to understand the key challenge. This perspective or background
should only discuss articles that address the main concepts in
your key challenge, not the whole field about the topic. The
literature review quickly funnels down to the key challenge of
the paper.
Literature Review Funnel: In this inverted triangle (or funnel),
the base at the top represents the broad perspective of the
literature review and the tip at the bottom represents the focus
of the key challenge.
Examples of the “broad perspective” at the beginning
In the previous paper example, you were asked to “integrate
your selected theoretical framework with your research topic.”
The “broad perspective” might include articles dealing with
concepts used by your selected theoretical framework (e.g.,
social-cognitive theory, control theory, Kohlberg's theory of

moral development, among others) to deal with your research
topic, as well as a few articles (for a course paper) on the key
concepts in your research topic.
Remember:
· Within the “broad perspective” you write only about the main
concepts in each and would not go into other theoretical
frameworks, the history of the theoretical framework, or issues
only tangentially related to your research topic.
· Even in the “broad perspective,” give only enough context to
give your reader an understanding of the issues your paper will
address.
In the example we saw earlier about the learner's paper on
social-cognitive theory and caseworkers' burnout, the “broad
perspective” would only deal with the few social-cognitive
concepts she intends to use in the paper, not all the concepts of
the theoretical framework, its general nature, or anything
broader than what her readers need to know to understand her
paper.
Organization
Organization of the Literature Review for Course Papers
The literature review, like any piece of scholarly writing, has an
Introduction, a Body, and a Conclusion. In this Presentation,
we've been using the terms “literature review” and “course
paper” interchangeably, so what we've said before about how
papers are structured applies to literature reviews as well. Let's
review what each should contain.
The Introduction to the literature review (course paper).
In a paper, also known as a literature review, the Introduction:
· States the topic of the paper and identifies the key challenge.
· Explains to the reader how the literature review is going to
address the key challenge.
· States how the paper's main body — the literature review
content — will be organized:
· What are the main points?
· In what order do they appear?
· Makes a one- or two-sentence transition to the Body.

· And consists of one or two paragraphs, and rarely more than
one page, in a course paper.
Main body of the literature review.
The main body is the “work space” of the paper. It accomplishes
the task set by the key challenge. The main body:
· States the theoretical orientation or framework.
· Reviews literature applied to subparts of the key challenge.
· Critiques the literature.
· Synthesizes the literature, and
· Draws conclusions about resolving the key challenge of the
paper.
The Conclusion of the literature review.
The conclusion, like all conclusions in scholarly writing, “tells
them what you told them.” The conclusion:
· Restates the topic of the paper and the key challenge.
· Revisits the explanation of how the literature review addressed
the key challenge, in other words, it restates the conclusions
drawn about resolving the key challenge in the main body.
· Provides implications and applications of findings addressed
in the literature review.
· A very high quality conclusion identifies issues for further
study and exploration the learner intends to carry out to deepen
her knowledge.
· Consists of one or two paragraphs (rarely more than one page)
in a course paper.
Section 1
Three General Sections of the Main Body of the Literature
Review
Writers are free to organize the main body of their literature
reviews as they see fit, provided the literature review
accomplishes the primary goal of leading to a resolution of the
key challenge. We'll discuss three general sections of the
literature review.
Section 1: Theoretical orientation for the paper.
Identify, discuss, and integrate a relevant theoretical
perspective or framework for responding to the paper's key

challenge.
· Essentially, the theoretical orientation or perspective is the
point of view from which you write the paper. As such, it
allows you a number of advantages:
· You do not have to consider other variables or concepts that
are outside the theory.
· You know automatically which concepts and variables are
important — they are the key concepts of the theory.
· You do not have to consider competing theories — although
you probably will identify them and give your reasons for not
choosing them as your theoretical framework.
· In this section of the literature review, you will cite the major
references to support and describe the theoretical orientation
related to the key challenge.
b. Let's take a simple example: You want to study self-esteem.
What theoretical framework will you adopt? Well, you are a
helping professional, so it will have to be related to your
professional and specialization area.
b. If you are in a clinically based program you might want to
understand the impact of a particular type of therapeutic
intervention on self-esteem. You would scour the literature on
that idea to see who has come up with a theory about it, and
you'd adopt that theory as your framework.
b. Or if you are in a non-clinically based program, you might
want to know more about how self-esteem is impacted by
workload demands in caseworkers. You will scour the literature
to find a theory about that.
b. In either case, once you have your theory in hand, you don't
need to worry about all the other millions of things you could
study about self-esteem. Theoretical frameworks act as lenses to
screen out extraneous concepts and to help us focus in on a
single aspect of complex phenomena.
Framework
Practice Deciding on a Theoretical Framework
Let's look again at the course paper assignment we discussed
previously:

include demonstrating how your selected school of thought
For the sake of this exercise, assume that the learner's research
topic is “how burnout develops in caseworkers who work with
chronic alcoholics,” and that the learner has chosen social-
cognitive theory as her preferred “theoretical framework.” We
can assume, then, that the key challenge takes the form of a
question:
“How can social-cognitive theory be used to understand how
burnout develops in caseworkers who work with chronic
alcoholics?”
Reflect on this key challenge question for a moment. What
might be the theoretical framework you could adopt to answer
the key challenge?
Answer:
This should be an easy one, because the answer is built
explicitly into the key challenge: Your answer should be one of
the main theories in humanistic psychology, such as Abraham
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. (There are dozens of good
theories in humanistic psychology. The reason humanistic is not
the “theoretical framework” is because it is not a theory itself,
but a school of thought that encompasses many theories.)
Now, assume that you are approaching the final paper
assignment as given earlier and repeated here:
include demonstrating how your selected theoretical framework
Use your own research topic developed earlier and reflect on
the following:
· First, choose a theoretical framework to apply to your research
topic.

· Next, rewrite your research topic statement to incorporate the
theoretical framework you've selected.
· Finally, reflect on your selection and the multitude of theories
that might apply to your actual topic.
Section 2
Section 2: Literature applied to the key challenge.
· Organize the subparts of the key challenge and address the
literature reviewed for each subpart. These subparts will be the
main points of the response to the key challenge. For instance,
in the key challenge for the previous final project, there seem to
be four subparts:
· The preferred theoretical framework;
· The research topic;
· How the theoretical framework aligns with the research topic;
· How the topic will contribute to the knowledge base.
· Provide an overview of the research and theory relevant to the
key challenge.
The subparts of the key challenge provide a logical outline for
the literature review and explain how conclusions are drawn
from the literature to respond to the key challenge. Organizing
the section according to the main aspects (subparts) of the key
challenge will provide a fundamental logic to follow. And
remember what the literature review is designed to accomplish
and you will have a good structure for each subpart of your
literature review.
Forgot what the literature review is designed to do? Here's a
reminder:
· Identify how the key challenge has been studied previously.
· Identify, describe, and evaluate each of the studies reviewed
in terms of how they respond to the key challenge.
· Support your conclusions (drawn from your review of the
literature) about how to resolve the key challenge.
Note: At this point, decide if you are developing an outline or
utilizing reverse outlining? If you select outline, then you
should develop your outline now.
Section 3

Section 3: Critique and Synthesis of the literature.
Synthesize and critique the literature to draw a few substantive
conclusions on which to base the response. Integrate a critique
of the research methods into the literature review. Why
integrate the research methods?
Think back to the activities on dissecting research articles. You
are dissecting research articles here. You take them apart and
you inspect each element:
· The abstract
· The background introduction,
· The methods, and the findings
The purpose is to determine if each section stands up to critical
scrutiny.
You will find that some articles have findings that are useful in
resolving your particular key challenge — but they have too
small a sample to apply to the large population or their data
collection methods don't fit their research question! You will
mention them in the literature review because their findings fit
so well, but you'll dismiss them in your critique and in the end,
you won't use them in drawing your own conclusions about the
key challenge.
The critique of research methods addresses:
· the rigor of the studies' designs,
· sampling errors,
· the size of samples,
· the quality of research instruments, or (in the case of
qualitative research, the competence, credibility, and
transparency of the researcher), and
· the appropriateness of statistical or other analytic procedures.
When you've finished your critical evaluations of the articles,
you'll probably still have a few that stand up to the test and
provide useful ideas about how to resolve your key challenge.
Now you will synthesize those disparate studies and findings
into a coherent set of concepts to apply to the key challenge.
This is one of the places where true creativity comes into the
scholarly writing process.

The synthesis of your research findings discusses the following:
· Larger themes illustrating the response to the key challenge.
· Inconsistencies weakening the response to the key challenge.
· Patterns in the findings relevant to the response to the key
challenge.
Summary
All in all, if you combine the three goals of the successful
literature review with the information we just reviewed, you
will be well on your way to creating successful literature
reviews (and course papers). Start small. Don't tackle a 50-
article review in your early course papers.
Use 10 or so articles and follow the simple organization:
· State the topic and the key challenge of the paper, and state
the theoretical orientation or framework you are adopting for
the paper.
· Describe the articles you have found that address the key
challenge.
· Evaluate them both from a content standpoint (is their logic
sound? Do they cover the issues they claim to cover?) and from
a critical evaluation of methods standpoint. Show why you are
keeping some articles and why you are discarding others.
· Draw conclusions about how you will resolve the key
challenge based on the articles you present.
· Apply this process for each subpart of the key challenge, and
then conclude with a synthesis that describes your proposed
resolution of the key challenge.
Write every paper this way, until you develop it into a habit.
Don't strive for originality, creativity, or shock value in your
course papers. Don't try to impress your instructors. Instead,
practice these skills over and over, in postings, in your
responses to your colleagues, and in your papers. If you do so,
by the time you reach the comps, these skills will be second
nature and you will be able to devote your attention to the
content, confident that you have mastered the technique of
scholarly writing. Having practiced time and again, you will be
ready for the comprehensive exam and the dissertation.

References
· Narveson, R. (2011). Literature reviews and annotated
bibliographies. Unpublished manuscript, Department of
Psychology, Capella University, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Credits
Subject Matter Expert:
Jana Whiddon, Phd, LMHC, ACS
Interactive Designers:
Estelle Domingos, Marc Ashmore
Interactive Developers:
Justin Lee, Peter Hentges
Instructional Designers:
Jae Johnson, Suzanne DeFoe, Mo Yang
Project Managers:
Alan Campbell, Julie M-Courts Greunke
Image Credits
© iStockPhoto.com

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