AWD Unit Three: Literature Review

Audience: Semi-technical and technical readers

Length: Approximately 2,000 words (6-7 typed, double-spaced pages)
Objective: The learning goals for this assignment are to gain a more detailed and
comprehensive understanding of the scholarly and professional discourse in your field
surrounding your specific topic; to acquire a greater degree of facility in summarizing,
synthesizing, and connecting information from professional and scholarly sources; and to
gain a greater understanding of the conventions and principles of citation in your field.
This assignment should also help you to target a different audience than previous
assignments and will provide you with an opportunity to hone your use of collaboration,
revision, and documentation. You should consult professional, scholarly, and/or
government documents for this assignment. Be sure that you are reading the most recent,
relevant sources on this issue (this can vary, but most of your sources should have been
published within the past two years to be considered recent). You should keep a copy
(pdf) or a link to sources that you plan to include in your review. Be sure to record all of
the appropriate citation information so that you can access the document again at a later
date, if necessary. You should use a minimum of 5 substantial sources for this
assignment.
Begin with an introduction that presents your research question within the context of
the ongoing discourse of your field (remember that your task is to review the
literature or discourse in your field, surrounding this topic).
Use appropriate headings.
Summarize the relevant information from each source (try to keep your summaries
primarily objective).
Include some assessment or evaluation of these sources as well (but be clear when
you shift to summaryyour primary purpose is to provide an accurate overview;
your secondary purpose is to provide a subtle critique).
Establish connections among these sources for your audience (you should be
presenting a cohesive discourse, rather than a disjointed series of summaries).
Name the author and title for each document that you discuss.
Include a references list with a full bibliographic entry for each source at the end of
the paper.
Include a conclusion that effectively summarizes your assessment of the professional
discourse that is reflected in these sources.
Try to indicate how this information might inform some future recommendation.
The extent to which you discuss each article or source is up to you. Remember that your
purpose is to put the articles in context within the larger discourse of the field
surrounding this topic. For this reason, connections, transitions, and organization will be
very important.