Paper Rubric:

Complete literature review will be based on the client population that you are serving in your field agency. The literature review will be a comprehensive review of all research done and a summary of the results of that research related to an identified client need. The literature will cover evidence-based processes that have been utilized with the identified client population. The research cited in the literature must come from peer reviewed sources that are reputable. The paper will be 8-10 pages in length (typed Times New Roman 12pt). A reference page is also required and this is not part of the 8-10 page requirement.

The purpose of a literature review is to:

establish a theoretical framework for your topic / subject area
define key terms, definitions and terminology
identify studies, models, case studies etc supporting your topic
define / establish your area of study, ie your research topic.

Main points to address in a literature review:

What does past research say (theory)
How was past research carried out (methodology, limitations, generalizability)
What is missing from past research (gap future research needs to fill)
Suggested approach:

1. Identify a client need related in some way to your field placement. Determine your general research question.

2. Select articles that relate to the topic. You may need to broaden or narrow your search, depending on the number of results. For example, researching “child abuse treatment” will likely yield an unmanageable number and variety of results. Researching “child abuse treatment for homeless adolescents” will likely narrow the results. You may find that searching “homeless adolescents”, “clinical interventions with homeless adolescents”, and “child abuse treatment with adolescents” may be necessary to get the whole picture. If focusing on Memphis/Tennessee specific information, you may want to utilize reports from the Urban Child Institute, TN Department of Health, or other local services to describe your population.

3. Sort through articles to identify the most relevant information. Think about how your research question fits into the larger body of existing research.

4. Examine all aspects of the articles: any gaps in methodology? theoretical assumptions? results? limitations? applicability to chosen population?

5. Organize information. This will look different, depending on the research question. In general, you are starting with a larger body of knowledge, possibly disjointed (maybe you’ll find a lot of information on mental health treatment of homeless teens and a lot of information on child abuse interventions with teens, but little overlap of child abuse interventions with homeless teens), or conflicting studies (two studies find family interventions to be most effective, and three find individual interventions to be best). Look for themes.

6. Make the connection to your research question. How does the body of research inform your research question? If you were going to design a study to follow, what considerations would be necessary, given your new understanding?

7. Focus on critical analysis rather than summarization of the information. What new questions or considerations must be made? How has the existing research impacted current services? Where does the field need to go from here?