Topic: Life of Immigrants and Refugees and How can we make their lives better for them. Literature Review- 7 pages plus a work cited page. Title page is not needed. Double Spaced I have provided 5 so

In this assignment, you will collect, analyze, and synthesize six to eight highly credible sources that address a current problem or challenge in your field. (You will include all or some of the sources you read and evaluated for previous exercises.) Purposes for literature reviews vary, but they can highlight areas of consensus and debate, identify a gap in the existing research, or evaluate the legal and ethical issues for implementing an initiative. The literature review will demonstrate that you are able to identify a narrow research area; formulate a viable research question; locate, evaluate, and read scholarship in your field; and propose viable suggestions for future avenues of research and advocacy. The literature review will also help you position yourself for the final assignment of the course, a letter of advocacy to a stakeholder with decision-making authority.

The literature review is an academic genre, used by academics and often by proposal writers to collect and synthesize sources. The literature review serves different purposes; in this case, the main goal of the literature review is to help you think about your topic in complex, nuanced ways and to explore and incorporate scholarly conversations into the argument you will be making for the final project, the advocacy letter.

The literature review is a complex genre that requires time, effort, and focus. The literature review will be developed over eight weeks, and you must use every week to collect and annotate sources, and to integrate those sources. We will work on those skills as you move towards the deadline. The literature review is the core assignment of the course, because it is the most complex to write.

You will have the opportunity to revise the literature review. To be eligible to revise the literature review, you must: 1) have attended all individual/small group conferences; 2) completed the discussion forums related to the literature review; 3) participated in the peer review session.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Choosing sources

The main concern for most students is the number of required sources. The weekly Exercises are designed to help you collect enough sources to have a good sense of your topic and to be able to narrow your research question. A good guideline is that you should have read and evaluated at least four times the sources you will eventually use.

 A literature review of this scope, generally becomes stronger with about 6-8 highly credible, interconnected sources. That means, that at a minimum, you will have collected and evaluated 24-32 sources. You will discard the sources you do not need, rather than hoping you find enough sources.

You will use the number of sources you need to make a cohesive, coherent review of the current literature in your topic of interest. For this literature review, the normal range in sources is 6-20 sources, depending on the topic, arguments, need for supporting evidence, need for background and context sources, need for caveat, qualifying, pushback sources.

The sources you choose should help you establish an exigence (a problem that needs to be addressed by a specific audience) and to make a new offering (a recommendation, suggestion, new approach, etc.). You must include scholarly, peer reviewed sources, since those are the ones deemed most credible by the likely audiences of a literature review and since they provide robust evidence for most research questions. We will work on narrowing and refining your research question over the course of several weeks. 

You will use APA style, unless you prefer to use the style most commonly used in your field of study. You are responsible for properly citing sources using established guidelines.

The role of audience

As part of the literature review, you will identify the audience (stakeholder) you are addressing in the literature review. The audience might be similar or different from the audience for the advocacy letter. We will discuss the stakeholder(s) in more detail throughout the semester.

The role of synthesis

The synthesis is the centerpiece of a literature review, and it can only happen successfully if you read your sources carefully. Take notes as you read, being mindful of key terms, the currency of the source, main claims, research methods used, and where you see possible controversies emerging.

To write the synthesis, begin by grouping various sources according to how they are similar and different. As you do so, be mindful of why these similarities and differences exist. Think about how the evidence you found in your sources fits together like pieces of a puzzle that yield a larger picture of the issue so that you can reach some tentative conclusions about them and discuss those implications.

The role of the complex thesis

The purpose is generally the thesis for a literature review. The thesis for a literature review operates differently from one used in an argument paper. Here is an example of a weak and strong thesis for a literature review:

•        WEAK: The current trend for treating depression combines medication and cognitive behavioral therapy.

•        STRONG: Though cognitive behavioral therapy is used in treating depression, more research is needed about expanding patient access to these treatments in underserved populations.

The “weak” thesis will lead to a literature review that summarizes sources one by one; the “strong” thesis will require a synthesis of research already done about treating depression that shows where more might be done about improving patient access to such treatments.

Thus, the literature review is never an end in itself; it synthesizes important information that not only answers your research question, but also takes a stand on what should happen next to solve the problem you identified, address a gap in the existing research, or to improve/change current practices in a field or profession. 

Parts of the Literature Review

--Introduction: Provides context for the review and establishes the purpose of research on the topic, including a clear research question or questions. Gives a sense of the organizational pattern of the review (chronological, methodological, or thematic).

--Body: Contains your synthesis of 6-8 sources and is organized either chronologically, thematically, or methodologically.

--Conclusion/Recommendations: Discusses what you have drawn from reviewing the literature, identifies gaps in the literature, and suggests directions in which the discussion might proceed, including ideas for future research or advocacy.

-- References (APA) or Works Cited (MLA) page. Separate page with 6-8 entries in correct APA style or MLA style. (No annotations.)

Length: 7-10 double spaced pages plus References or Works Cited page.