Literature Review You are to write a 1200 word literature review (in addition to the title page and references page) on the articles you selected for Week 2, synthesizing the findings in the articles that you found on your topic. You may incorporate other articles or references to support your discussion, as needed. Use APA citation and reference guidelines. What is a literature review? A literature review is a synthesis and critique of the published research in a given area of research. Your focus is on the findings of the studies you are exploring – their methods, approach, results, and implications – rather than the broad topic overall. It should synthesize findings in specific areas. Thus, you should look for themes in the range of articles and write about them as you group common themes. Synthesize the material you found. In other words, find connected themes in the different areas you cover. Occasionally you might discuss individual articles, but only if the article is very unique and no other article has similar findings. The synthesis should focus strictly on existing, published research. What else should you include besides a synthesis of research? Be sure to include in your review other potential areas that still need to be explored. What unanswered questions are there? What holes are in the research that you have not yet found answers to? What contradictions are in the research will you seek to explore? Examples of Synthesized Findings for Literature Review: College students were found to have a large number of conflicts with roommates (Darsey, 2003; Smith, 2001; Yarmouth, 2005). Researchers also found that roommate conflicts were most frequent during the first semester of college (Lotspiech, 2004; Nominskee, 2001; Zackarov, 2000). Morissey (2004) found a reduction of roommate conflicts continued as students progressed from freshman to seniors, with seniors having the fewest roommate conflicts. However, Ellensworth (2001) found no correlation with year in school and frequency of roommate conflict. The contradiction between Ellensworth’s and Morissey’s findings suggest that additional research is needed in this area. Ellensworth’s (2001) research was strictly quantitative, lacking a full picture of the contexts or reasons for the specific conflicts. It asked people to mark the frequency of their conflicts and types of people with whom they typically disputed. Morissey (2004) conducted interviews that allowed participants to provide an explanation for the reasons for the conflicts, and the contexts (dorm roommates, apartment roommates, house roommates, etc.). However, she interviewed far fewer people than Ellensworth surveyed. Combining Ellensworth’s surveys with Morissey’s interview questions and utilizing a research team to increase the number of interviews could provide more details about the conflicts and contexts, and allow us to further look into the question of year in school and conflict behavior. DeSoto (2005) a.

1. Literature Review
You are to write a
1200 word literature review
(in addition to the title page and references page) on the
articles you selected for Week 2, synthesizing the findings in
the articles that you found on your topic. You may incorporate
other articles or references to support your discussion, as
needed. Use APA citation and reference guidelines.
What is a literature review?
A literature review is a synthesis and critique of the published
research in a given area of research. Your focus is on the
findings of the studies you are exploring – their methods,
approach, results, and implications – rather than the broad topic
overall. It should synthesize findings in specific areas. Thus,
you should look for themes in the range of articles and write
about them as you group common themes.
Synthesize the material you found. In other words, find
connected themes in the different areas you cover. Occasionally
you might discuss individual articles, but only if the article is
very unique and no other article has similar findings. The
synthesis should focus strictly on existing, published research.
What else should you include besides a synthesis of research?
Be sure to include in your review other potential areas that still
need to be explored. What unanswered questions are there?
What holes are in the research that you have not yet found
answers to? What contradictions are in the research will you
seek to explore?
Examples of Synthesized Findings for Literature Review:

2. College students were found to have a large number of conflicts
with roommates (Darsey, 2003; Smith, 2001; Yarmouth, 2005).
Researchers also found that roommate conflicts were most
frequent during the first semester of college (Lotspiech, 2004;
Nominskee, 2001; Zackarov, 2000). Morissey (2004) found a
reduction of roommate conflicts continued as students
progressed from freshman to seniors, with seniors having the
fewest roommate conflicts. However, Ellensworth (2001) found
no correlation with year in school and frequency of roommate
conflict. The contradiction between Ellensworth’s and
Morissey’s findings suggest that additional research is needed
in this area.
Ellensworth’s (2001) research was strictly quantitative, lacking
a full picture of the contexts or reasons for the specific
conflicts. It asked people to mark the frequency of their
conflicts and types of people with whom they typically
disputed. Morissey (2004) conducted interviews that allowed
participants to provide an explanation for the reasons for the
conflicts, and the contexts (dorm roommates, apartment
roommates, house roommates, etc.). However, she interviewed
far fewer people than Ellensworth surveyed.
Combining Ellensworth’s surveys with Morissey’s interview
questions and utilizing a research team to increase the number
of interviews could provide more details about the conflicts and
contexts, and allow us to further look into the question of year
in school and conflict behavior.
DeSoto (2005) and Craig (2004) found that most students lack
an understanding of the term “binge drinking.” This research
finding suggests that earlier investigations that utilized the
words “binge drinking,” as an identifier for students have
limited use. It also suggests that researchers should be very
careful when using terms to make sure that research participants

3. fully understand the terms being usedResources
Required Text
Malec, T. & Newman, M. (2013).
Research methods: Building a knowledge base.
San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. ISBN-13:
9781621785743, ISBN-10: 1621785742.
Section 1.6: Writing a Research Proposal
Chapter 2: Research Design, Measurement, and Testing
Hypotheses
Appendix: Example of a Research Proposal
Required References
Ijalba, E. (2014).
Using qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct research
in parent education with immigrant families of children with
autism spectrum disorders.
London: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi:
10.4135/978144627305014533926
Recommended References
Anderson, J. D. (2006). Qualitative and quantitative research.
Available at
http://web20kmg.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/82037432/Qualitativ
eandQuantitativeEvaluationResearch.pdf (Links to an external
site.)
Park, J., & Park, M. (2016). Qualitative versus quantitative

4. research methods: Discovery or justification? Journal Of
Marketing Thought, 3(1), 1-7. doi: 10.15577/jmt.2016.03.01.1