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Goals & Objectives:
The goal of a literature review is for students to develop an advanced level
of knowledge about a given topic. Additional goals include knowledge of performing
literature research and ability to critically review literature.
Prerequisites:
The student should have knowledge of acceptible practice in literature citations
and plagiarism. The student should also have access to the required library
resources. Other prerequisites will depend on the curriculum and the scholarly
level of the course.
Materials and Resources:
The instructor should provide links to academic honesty information, course
policies, and a complete formulation of expectations for the review. Suggestions
of topics should be presented. A citation format should be expressed. Depending
on the situation, the instructor may provide a listing of acceptable topics.
The instructor may also provide a selected list of articles that must be
included in the review for a given topic.
Student will need access to a variety of literature resources.
Guiding Questions for this Lesson:
How critically, concisely, thoroughly, etc. can the student develop a review
of the given pertinent topic and relate his/her understanding of that topic.
Lesson Outline and Procedure:
- Students are presented with an assignment description. This is usually included
in the syllabus or towards the beginning of the course.
- At the appropriate
time, students are given a list of acceptible topics or must submit
their own topics that meet with certain criteria.
- At specific times, students
will submit progress reports including topic outlines, citations, title
ideas, and other items as needed.
- The final product may be submitted
directly to the instructor, into a forum for peer review, or to a plagiarism
detection site.
Teaching Strategies:
- Academic Honesty Tips
- Educate students on expecations with regards to academic honesty.
- Make penalties for dishonest activity clear in the syllabus.
- Provide links to online academic honesty resources.
- Maintain a positive learning community in the online classroom to
help maintain a proper learning set in the students.
- Use prior postsings by the students as a comparison of writing style
with submitted reviews.
- Have students provide progress reports.
- Keep the report topics up-to-date.
- Keep the topics specific.
- Discourage trivial topics.
- Do not allow topic shifts late in the process.
- Require a specific citation style. Provide resources on that citation
style.
- Ask questions from a specific point of view to reduce ability to
find an identical paper.
- Use debriefing.
- Use electronic submission and plagiarism detection services.
- A literature review can take time to conduct. It is usually a late course
product.
- Make office hours available where students can seek help in their literature
review.
- Online courses can be difficult in terms of library resources. When deciding
on a literature review, you should first see if there are sufficient online
resources available through your institution or elsewhere available to
students in the given content area.
- If a student shows specific interest in a difficult topic, the instructor
may choose to help find a core literature piece from which to start.
Accommodations:
What accommodations may be needed for students with disabilities or other
special needs? Usually, accommodations will be limited if the resources are
available online.
Timeline:
Literature reviews can take time to produce. A minimum of 40 hours of work
can be expected by the student. Depending on the length, curriculum area,
etc. they can also take time to assess.
Ideas for Lesson Evaluation and Teacher Reflection:
How did the students like the lesson? End of semester evaluations should
ask about the usefulness and learning accomplished through such activities.
Also, the conversation that occurs during the activity will help guage how
the students are enjoying various aspects and whether they are learning and/or
participating.
How was student learning verified? The review itself can be analyzed for
criteria such as authority, citations, grammar, conciseness, timeliness,
organization, required content, conceptual development, etc. depending on
the objectives. Process can also be assessed formatively through ongoing
progress reports and other exercises.
Plagiarism detection: (in no particular order)
Useful References:
- Varvel, V. (2005). Honesty in Online Education. Pointer
& Clickers, 6(1). http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/pointersclickers/2005_01/index.asp
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