Technology's Role in Effective Online Learning



The Title (upper/lower case)

Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length. It should not contain abbreviations or useless words. All text on the title page should be double-spaced.

This Template is designed in APA 6th Edition format

This Literature Review must be AT LEAST 30 pages of written material. This does not include the front material nor the references or appendix. You must have AT LEAST 30 references cited in this document and listed in the reference list in the back. Most of these must be peer-reviewed journal articles although there may be a few that may be written by leaders in the field to provide definitions and color for the Introduction.

A Graduate Review

Submitted to the

Division of Instructional Technology

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA

by

Your Name

Date (month, year of completion)

This Review by: Your Name

Titled: Title of paper

has been approved as meeting the research requirement for the

Degree of Master of Arts.

_______________ ______________________________________

Date Approved Graduate Faculty Reader

_______________ _______________________________________

Date Approved Graduate Faculty Reader

_______________ _______________________________________

Date Approved Head, Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Abstract

Remember to Write your Abstract LAST

Literature Review Abstract has the following parts:

• The topic in one sentence

• The purpose, thesis, or organizing construct and the scope of the article

• The sources used and possibly the number of articles.

• The conclusions and recommendations

Keywords: social media, classroom instruction,

Limit your abstract to 150 words.

Refer to the Dos and Don’ts Wiki for hints in writing this Lit Review.

You should spend time reading completely through this list before you write your review.



Table of Contents

Abstract 3

Level 1 1

Level 2 1

Level 3 1

Level 4 1

Level 5. 1

Methodology 3

Analysis and Discussion 4

Conclusions and Recommendations 6

References 7

You are expected to include all of the headings, subheadings, sub-subheadings, etc in your table of contents. Word can create a Table of Contents automatically. (The TOC above was created automatically using the headings throughout this template.)

To automatically create the Table of Contents above, each of your headings must be formatted using the Styles setting matching your heading level. You can format each title by highlighting the heading and then selecting the Heading style. You will find this heading style in the Word toolbar in the Styles frame of the Home toolbar. Do the same for each of the levels that you will use throughout the paper.

If you are a visual learner, you might find this video useful:

Creating a Table of Contents in a Word Document (Windows)

Creating a Table of Contents in Word 2011 (Mac)

When you create your Table of Contents, select Options and use the Classic Format.

The Visual Location for Headings

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3.

Level 4.

Level 5.

Above are the progressive formats for your headings. The Level 1 titles include the sections of the review (e.g., Introduction, Methodology, Analysis and Discussion). Level 2 Headings will include the titles for sections within major sections. These will diminish sequentially as the organizers become more and more specific. This is just a model of the levels. You will want to remove it.

Each of the titles on the various Levels will need to be formatted using the Styles included in this document. Heading 1 though Heading 5 have been reformatted to align with APA 6th Edition.

ONLY USE DOUBLE SPACE. Double space is used throughout your paper. Don’t ever use Double-Double or single space.

Title of Literature Review

You have identified one overall area that you would like to research. This area is reflected in your title and you will describe it in your Introduction.

At the end of your introduction, you will list 3 or 4 specific research questions that you believe will support your overall question. Each of these questions is a researchable question that can be explored by empirical research. This means that you can find some ACTUAL RESEARCH STUDIES that have explored each question.

Contents of Your Introduction.

Describe the problem that the review will help resolve and indicate why an analysis of existing information is appropriate for addressing this problem.

The Introduction creates the framework for the paper:

• State the purpose of the paper (literature review)

• Identify the importance of the problem

• Define the scope of the review

• Explain why this analysis is appropriate

• Suggest how the review could be applied

• List and define terms that the reader should understand to make sense of your review

• List the research questions (Usually 3 to 4 questions)

Methodology

Explain your method of identifying and locating sources:

Include the databases and search terms used. You might want to put your search terms in italics to make them stand out.

• Explain your rationale for selecting sources

• Explain procedures used to analyze your sources

• Identify your criteria for evaluating information found and determining if it will be used in your review. This might include author, journal, year of publication, citations, etc.

Analysis and Discussion

Literature Review is more than a summary. You need present evidence and ideas synthesized from the sources you analyzed. There are two main components of successful synthesis: evidence of your own ideas, and a well-organized presentation of evidence. When you synthesizes successfully, you present new ideas based on interpretations of other evidence or arguments (Walden University, n.d.).

This review is driven by the problem presented and by sub-topics related to that problem. Therefore, individual sources are to be reviewed, not as isolated entities, but with attention to the contribution they make to the topic under discussion. Information based on personal experience, observations, or interviews may be included as a means of clarifying questions, exemplifying research conclusions, or as a source of new information, but your primary resource MUST be research studies found in peer-reviewed journals.

An evaluation of the quality or adequacy of the related sources may also be included. This evaluation may relate to individual works, or to characteristics of several investigations available on a specific topic. This review, then, is a result of a search for the information that will provide the most useful answers available for your research questions.

This literature review IS NOT a topic research paper. You don’t just describe a topic area to your reader and cite your sources as you go. You are taking your readers on a tour of the empirical research in your chosen topic.

REMEMBER: A literature review is not an annotated bibliography in which you summarize briefly each article that you have reviewed. Rather, you need to critically analyze and synthesize the selected research you discovered and find relationships between them. You aim for a clear and cohesive essay that integrates the key details of the literature and communicates your point of view.

As you progress through your Analysis and Discussion of the literature. You will introduce each question and then specifically describe the studies that you have found that pertain to each question. Do not bias your results. Include studies that both support and negate your question. You will include the topic of the study, the research methods, the sample/participants and major conclusions from the study. Your reason for doing this is so your readers can participate with you in drawing conclusions for each of the questions based upon the research you have presented.

Conclusions and Recommendations

You have presented each of your sub-questions along with actual research that has explored answers to these questions. This section is where you get to draw your conclusions for each of your research questions (based upon the presented research) and then draw an overall conclusion for the overall research question that we reflected in the title of your review. Identify and synthesize findings from the analysis as the conclusion of the review. Use your research questions to organize your conclusions by answering the questions with your conclusions. Your conclusion needs to make clear how the material in the body of the review has supported the assertion or proposition presented in the introduction.

Include recommendations for future research, classroom applications, educational policies and procedures, program revision, or other warranted situations should be presented.

References

You must have AT LEAST 30 references cited in this document. Most of these must be peer-reviewed journal articles although there may be a few that may be used as background instead of providing a research foundation.

• List your references using the APA 6th edition format.

• Use a hanging paragraph format.

• Sequence these references alphabetically by first author.

• EVERYTHING in the references list is double-spaced.

• All of the references in this list MUST have been cited in your paper.

• All of the references cited in your paper MUST be in this list.

Reference

Walden University (n.d.). Basics of Synthesis. Retrieved from

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