Select a topic for your literature review that relates to the clients and/or field of practice of your field placement. This gives you an opportunity to read the professional literature related to your work in your placement. You may find articles on the etiology (i.e., causes, factors related to, etc.) of the issue, reviews of the literature surrounding the issue, meta-analyses (i.e., a review where the authors actually use the data collected by previous authors and reanalyze this larger sample), research studies, and you MUST find articles about interventions/treatments.
1. Introduction: Your introduction should demonstrate the magnitude and importance of the problem using statistics/descriptions from the literature.
2. Integration of the literature-USE HEADINGS
Clarification: This means that each paragraph should not be about one authors work. One way to accomplish this is to have each paragraph capture a theme that you found in the literature and compare/contrast what various authors say about the topic. EXAMPLE: Smith (2006) found that adolescents living in urban environments experience more depression than their suburban counterparts. However, Howard (2004) found that suburban adolescents living in single income homes experience just as much depression as those adolescents in the cities. OR, Several authors agreed that.
3. Review the grading rubric very carefully to see what you will need to accomplish in your literature review.
4. Hand in your draft sooner than the due date! Turn in multiple drafts before the final.
