LITERATURE REVIEW ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Write a Literature Review paper on a topic within the field of exceptionality in education. You
must use 15–20 scholarly sources (outside of course texts). The body of the review must be 10–
15 pages long. Adhere to current APA formatting guidelines and use the Writing Guide for
Literature Review provided below for guidance when writing the title, abstract, reference pages,
and the body of the paper. Two Literature Review Examples have been provided with this
assignment for your reference.
There is a Literature Review Draft Submission link for you to submit your paper and check
your originality score before your final submission. Your instructor will be able to see the results
of the originality report. If your similarity score comes from references and quotes, this is not an
issue as long as proper credit is given to the source(s).
Writing Guide for Literature Review
I. Prewriting involves preparing and arranging your ideas before writing them in a paper.
Use whatever techniques work for you (e.g., freewriting, brainstorming, listing, outlining,
questioning, clustering). Your research and documentation are accomplished during the
prewriting stage.
A. Sources
1. Generate material from outside sources. You must use 15–20 outside sources
for your literature review. These sources MUST be scholarly.
2. Peer-reviewed sources are preferred (journals and books published at
university presses). You can find such sources through Liberty University’s
Online Library research portal. The research portal ERIC is one of the most
frequently used databases for researching education topics.
3. Because this research assignment has many possible facets you can explore,
you may have the following reasons for using non-peer-reviewed sources:
a. Online databases of historical texts/documents (where the sponsoring
organization, editorial board, and information about the original
printed source are clearly identified)
b. Professional organizations (usually ending in a .org suffix)
c. Government agencies (ending in a .gov suffix)
d. Websites with the “.edu” extension are not necessarily reliable as
many people have access to posting articles on such sites.
Additionally, faculty material published on such sites has not been
subject to the rigorous review process required by print publications.
B. Research
a. Go through your sources and take notes on information relevant to your
topic.
b. Once you have discovered your purpose for writing, it will direct the rest
of your note-taking.
c. Document! When getting ideas from outside sources, you must make
special efforts to record all bibliographical information. Make a note of the
page numbers of the quotations you retrieve. Doing this at the prewriting
stage will save you time.
II. Thesis Statement: You will have already written your thesis statement for this
assignment.
III. Outline and write your literature review. The way you synthesize and arrange material is
unique to you. Your personal interpretations and ideas can be incorporated. Look for gaps
in your sources; there may be a point that is not stressed, or an obvious conclusion
overlooked. Dispute your sources. You are not to accept anything as fact as you are open
to exploring all possibilities as a non-biased researcher. Remember to stay aligned with
your Research Proposal.
IV. Revise, Edit, and Proofread
A. Check your thesis statement. Does it clearly articulate all the points you have
covered in your review? Are any points mentioned that are not covered in your
review?
B. Check your body paragraphs against your thesis (10–15-page review). Are they
related to your thesis? Are they analytical?
C. Check the details of your body paragraphs. Do you have enough support for your
topic sentence? Are all the details in each body paragraph directly related to their
respective topic sentence? Are the points you are making arranged in such a way
that your reader can clearly follow your line of thinking? Do you have too much
outside support (so much so that it overwhelms your voice)?
D. Read your paper carefully (out loud is suggested).
E. Check your compliance with current APA format. Review in-text documentation
and the reference page (using the most current APA manual). Check for any
missing citations and correct them if necessary.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
b. Once you have discovered your purpose for writing, it will direct the rest
of your note-taking.
c. Document! When getting ideas from outside sources, you must make
special efforts to record all bibliographical information. Make a note of the
page numbers of the quotations you retrieve. Doing this at the prewriting
stage will save you time.
II. Thesis Statement: You will have already written your thesis statement for this
assignment.
III. Outline and write your literature review. The way you synthesize and arrange material is
unique to you. Your personal interpretations and ideas can be incorporated. Look for gaps
in your sources; there may be a point that is not stressed, or an obvious conclusion
overlooked. Dispute your sources. You are not to accept anything as fact as you are open
to exploring all possibilities as a non-biased researcher. Remember to stay aligned with
your Research Proposal.
IV. Revise, Edit, and Proofread
A. Check your thesis statement. Does it clearly articulate all the points you have
covered in your review? Are any points mentioned that are not covered in your
review?
B. Check your body paragraphs against your thesis (10–15-page review). Are they
related to your thesis? Are they analytical?
C. Check the details of your body paragraphs. Do you have enough support for your
topic sentence? Are all the details in each body paragraph directly related to their
respective topic sentence? Are the points you are making arranged in such a way
that your reader can clearly follow your line of thinking? Do you have too much
outside support (so much so that it overwhelms your voice)?
D. Read your paper carefully (out loud is suggested).
E. Check your compliance with current APA format. Review in-text documentation
and the reference page (using the most current APA manual). Check for any
missing citations and correct them if necessary.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
b. Once you have discovered your purpose for writing, it will direct the rest
of your note-taking.
c. Document! When getting ideas from outside sources, you must make
special efforts to record all bibliographical information. Make a note of the
page numbers of the quotations you retrieve. Doing this at the prewriting
stage will save you time.
II. Thesis Statement: You will have already written your thesis statement for this
assignment.
III. Outline and write your literature review. The way you synthesize and arrange material is
unique to you. Your personal interpretations and ideas can be incorporated. Look for gaps
in your sources; there may be a point that is not stressed, or an obvious conclusion
overlooked. Dispute your sources. You are not to accept anything as fact as you are open
to exploring all possibilities as a non-biased researcher. Remember to stay aligned with
your Research Proposal.
IV. Revise, Edit, and Proofread
A. Check your thesis statement. Does it clearly articulate all the points you have
covered in your review? Are any points mentioned that are not covered in your
review?
B. Check your body paragraphs against your thesis (10–15-page review). Are they
related to your thesis? Are they analytical?
C. Check the details of your body paragraphs. Do you have enough support for your
topic sentence? Are all the details in each body paragraph directly related to their
respective topic sentence? Are the points you are making arranged in such a way
that your reader can clearly follow your line of thinking? Do you have too much
outside support (so much so that it overwhelms your voice)?
D. Read your paper carefully (out loud is suggested).
E. Check your compliance with current APA format. Review in-text documentation
and the reference page (using the most current APA manual). Check for any
missing citations and correct them if necessary.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.