RSCH20001 Assessment item 2 Initial Literature Review

Literature review

Assessment item 2 Initial Literature Review

Due date: Friday of Week 5 ASSESSMENT

Grading: Marked satisfactory or resubmit 2

Length: Maximum 3000 words (+/- 10%) excluding the reference list.

Objectives

This assessment item relates to the unit learning outcomes in the unit profile.

Requirements

You are required to construct an Initial Literature Review. Please talk to your supervisory team about which aspect of the Initial Literature Review you should complete.

For most students, the references chosen for this assessment should be those that help to contextualise your research problem. If you are using Grounded Theory or another methodological approach where literature reviews prior to collecting and analysing data are prohibited, please complete this assessment by choosing references about the methodology itself. For example, source and analyse articles and/or book chapters on the various types of Grounded Theory Methodologies or the qualitative approach you will be employing.

You can choose any standard referencing style but it must be consistent throughout the entire assignment. Check with your Research Supervisor(s) about which referencing style you should be using for your thesis.

Initial Literature Review

The content of this Initial Literature Review is intended to be used as pre-cursor to what you intend to submit in the Literature Review section of your final assessment.Note:this assessment will not have to be as complete as the Literature Review needed in Assessment 4. This assessment could be viewed as a preliminary attempt of writing part of your Literature Review for the Confirmation of Candidature submission.

A Literature Review is a written report of previous research, theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches related to your proposed study. It should document the connections you have made between the source texts that you draw upon from your literature search and where you position your research among the extant literature. It should demonstrate to the reader that you have engaged with, understood and responded to the relevant body of knowledge underpinning your proposed research project. A Literature Review is more than just searching for relevant information, and it should go beyond being a description of each article.The Literature Review should summarise, critically evaluate, synthesise, and clearly link the literature to your proposed project.For this assessment it is suggested that you focus upon one aspect of the Literature Review. That is, you should do the following:

Use the literature to support the identification of your research problem and use it to highlight the gap in the existing research that needs to be filled.

Submission

Please write your assessment using the following format and upload it onto the RSCH20001 Moodle website using the Assessment 2 link in the Assessment box.

Note: Every assessment must be submitted as a Word document. It must be a final draft (no comments or track changes).

Make sure that you send a draft of your assessment to your supervisorswellbeforethe Due Dateso they have time to provide you with feedback to improve the final draft of your assessment. Include on the assignment cover page the date you first provided a draft of the assignment to your supervisor and any other subsequent dates.

Format

Title Page

Please ensure that your assignment has a cover page with the unit code, assessment number, proposed thesis title (no more than 25 words, which should be descriptive and unambiguous), your name, student number, student email address, name of the course you are enrolled in (e.g., Masters, Professional Doctorate or Doctor of Philosophy), referencing style (e.g., APA, Harvard), assessment due date, name(s) of Research Supervisor(s), and Unit Coordinator. If you have an approved assessment extension this needs to be noted on the title page. Include on the assignment title page the date you first provided a draft of the assignment to your supervisor and any other subsequent dates.

Add acknowledgements of re-using previous work if applicable.

Initial Literature Review

Introduction

The introduction should introduce your proposed research project, define the purpose and scope of your literature review, and outline the structure of the body of the literature review. The purpose of the review will be to highlight the gap in the literature that in turn provides the justification for your study. Include the analytical framework used to search for literature that you prepared for Asst. 1. This forms the scope of your review and should be a description of the criteria used for your literature selection (for example: the type of sources used to search for references, date range, inclusion and exclusion criteria, diagram).

The introduction should include a short paragraph that indicates the structure of the literature review document and describes how you determined the themes used to structure the literature review.

The review of the literature should be conducted within an appropriate analytical framework to provide new knowledge (for example, a systematic, integrative or meta-analysis review), rather than a descriptive summary.

Body of the Literature Review

In the body of the literature review you should use appropriate headings and sub-headings to break the text into sub-sections. Each sub-section should describe a different theme that is relevant to your research project. You will need to synthesise several of your references into each sub-section. There should be a clear connection between the various references. You will need to critically analyse each reference and describe how they contribute to the theme you are discussing with respect to your research project.

Each theme should conclude with a clear link to your proposed research topic. That is, how will the findings in this theme inform your proposed project.

The Literature Review should be written in academic prose (paragraph structure). Avoid using dot points unless you are listing information. The writing styles for a Literature Review will vary depending your topic and your research approach.

Conclusion

Conclude by summing up the major contributions in the literature, in the context of the particular focus mentioned in the introduction. It should provide a clear summary of the main agreements and disagreements in the literature, any gaps or areas for further research and your overall perspective on the topic. You should identify the significance of your research topic in relation to the literature. It should be clear how the literature will inform your proposed research project.

Reference List

List of references (as per the chosen referencing style).

Assessment criteria

ALL assignments will be checked for plagiarism (material copied from other students and/or material copied from other sources) using Turnitin. If you are found to have plagiarised material or if you have used someone elses words without appropriate referencing, you will be penalised for plagiarism which could result in zero marks for the whole assignment. In some circumstances, a more severe penalty may be imposed.Useful information about academic integrity (avoiding plagiarism) can be found at:

https://www.cqu.edu.au/student-life/services-and-facilities/referencingThis assessment is marked as satisfactory or resubmit. If you receive a resubmit, you will be given 7 days to resubmit the assessment. Please contact the course coordinator to discuss the feedback and confirm the resubmission date.

RSCH20001 Asst. 2 Initial Literature Review Marking Criteria

Criteria Evaluation

Satisfactory or Needs revision Comments

Title page

Includes all required information

Justifies the choice of referencing style

Provides the date/s assignment was shared with supervisor/s

Acknowledges use of previous work (if applicable)

Needs revision

No indication that this assignment was shared with your supervisor.

See other comments below

Introduction (~10% of word count)

Briefly introduces your proposed research project to provide the context for your literature review

Defines the purpose of the literature (identifying gaps on the literature or justifying the study and establishes prior background on the topic area)

Summarised the literature search strategy and framework

Outlined the structure of the body of the literature review

Needs revision

See dot points opposite. Also requires referencing in this section

Literature Review (~80 85% of word count)

Divided into logical themes highlighting key aspects or background studies

Demonstrated critical analysis of the literature presented in your own words

Identified influential studies and/or mainstream versus alternative viewpoints

Discussed agreements and disagreements among the reviewed literature

Used strong topic sentences to begin each paragraph clearly identifying the theme being discussed

Concluded each theme with a clear summary of the main arguments presented and links made to your proposed research project

Needs revision

See dot points opposite. Also requires referencing in this section

Conclusion (~5 10% of word count

Summarises succinctly the major contributions in the literature with respect to your topic

Summarises the main agreements and disagreements

Summarises any gaps or areas for further research signalling the significance of your project and your overall perspective

Needs revision

See dot points opposite.

Writing

Clear, concise academic writing style

Correct grammar and spelling

Needs revision See comments below

Referencing and formatting style

Consistent with stated referencing style

Used appropriate referencing conventions

Needs revision See comments below

Assessment Result = Resubmit

An important and timely area of research. I offer the following ideas for refinements of your work.

Your title page does not provide the requested information. Please always refer to the assignment instructions in the Unit Profile and repeated under the link on the Moodle site. Copied below in red is what you were instructed about the title page. Also, the instructions were to upload the assignment as a word file, not a PDF file.

Title Page

Please ensure that your assignment has a cover page with the unit code, assessment number, proposed thesis title (no more than 25 words, which should be descriptive and unambiguous), your name, student number, student email address, name of the course you are enrolled in (e.g., Masters, Professional Doctorate or Doctor of Philosophy), referencing style (e.g., APA, Harvard), assessment due date, name(s) of Research Supervisor(s), and Unit Coordinator. If you have an approved assessment extension this needs to be noted on the title page. Include on the assignment title page the date you first provided a draft of the assignment to your supervisor and any other subsequent dates. Add acknowledgements of re-using previous work if applicable.

At the end of your introduction section provide a road map to tell the read what you will be covering in the rest of the document.

Much more attention to referencing is required. Only nine references is a bit thin at this level of study. Wider reading is recommended before you revise this document. There is a heavy reliance on one reference, (Ullah, et al., 2021). Also, areas where no reference is supplied. For example According to (), .

Much of your narrative is in the past tense as though the project has already been conducted. This should be discussed in relation to your proposed project. In addition, your assignment is short of the expected word limit.

I note some large paragraphs. Review the rules for how/when to commence a new paragraph. Try to write in discrete paragraphs of no more than 100-200 words (five to six sentences). The following general hints may help:

Start new main points or new ideas in a new paragraph

Introduce a contrasting or different position

If the paragraph becomes too long (over a third of a page)

Your writing would benefit from assistance of Melissa Drake from the School of Graduate Research. Melissa runs weekly sessions on writing skills and can also provide individual assistance m.drake@cqu.edu.au

This a literature review. There was no need for a conceptual framework discussion or diagram. If you had read the assignment instructions, you would have known this.

Please discuss my feedback with your supervisor as you revise this assignment. Resubmission is generally due within seven (7) days of notification. When you are ready to resubmit send me an email and I will re-open the Moodle link for you to upload an additional document.

Dr Cheryl Bookallil