PSY 510 Milestone Three Guidelines and Rubric
Initial Draft of Introduction and Literature Review
Prompt: This assignment is another building block for the final project.
In Module Six, you will submit an initial draft of your introduction and literature review. Your submission should include all of the critical elements noted in the
rubric.
Keep in mind the differences between research papers and literature reviews. For this assignment, you are not writing a research paper. You are writing a
literature review.
Research papers take a topic and describe all aspects of that topic. They use current articles and books to support the statements in the paper. A literature review
is literally a review of current articles designed to support the topic.
For example, if you wanted to investigate color preference among adult men and women, you would first need to review the current studies that are out there on
the topic. Your paper would begin with an introduction, an explanation of the topic. You would find peer-reviewed journal articles, like the six in your annotated
bibliography. You would summarize each article including what the researcher found, a brief description of the research design, the advantages and
disadvantages of the design used, and how it compares to other articles in the literature review. This is essentially your annotations in your annotated
bibliography. You will want to add more information to each annotation, but they are a great start.
Then, you describe the gaps or pieces that are missing in the research (if any), ethical considerations (if any), and validity issues (if any). Each article becomes its
own paragraph or two (or three) and then leads into the next article. Once you have described each of the articles in the literature review individually, you would
collectively include a discussion of any gaps in the current body of research. This is where your research comes in. You are going to be investigating an area with a
gap. So by discussing the gaps, you lead on to your research question and finally to your hypothesis and the key variable of the study that is being proposed. Now
you have a literature review that contains an introduction to the topic, a review of each current article, a discussion of where there are gaps in the current
literature, your research question and how that fits into the gaps, and a concluding hypothesis. Your literature review becomes the beginning of your research
report.
Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch
margins. This paper should be a minimum of 4 pages in length (not including cover page and references), must follow APA format, and it should cite at least six
peer-reviewed sources.
Rubric
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Problem Statement Describes the general topic of
the proposal and its importance
and relevance to real-world
issues
Describes the general topic of
the proposal, but does not
describe its importance or
relevance to real-world issues
or has gaps in detail or accuracy
Does not provide or describe
the general topic of the
proposal
5
Literature Review:
Existing Research
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
provides an especially wellintegrated discussion of the key
themes from the articles
Summarizes existing, applicable
research, utilizing peerreviewed sources, and attempts
to do so in an integrated way
Summarizes existing research,
utilizing peer-reviewed sources,
but does not do so in an
integrated way, or the resources
are not applicable to topic
Does not summarize existing
research
15
Literature Review:
Research Designs
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
provides specific, concrete
examples of research designs
utilized in previous literature
Identifies different research
designs used to generate
knowledge on the topic and
describes how they differ
Identifies different research
designs used to generate
knowledge on the topic, and
describes how they differ, but
description has gaps in accuracy
or detail
Does not identify different
research designs used to
generate knowledge on the
topic
15
Literature Review:
Advantages and
Disadvantages
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
provides specific examples from
the literature of the advantages
and disadvantages of research
designs
Differentiates between research
designs for their advantages
and disadvantages in addressing
the research question
Differentiates between research
designs for their advantages
and disadvantages in addressing
the research question, but does
not provide specific examples
from research, or differentiation
has gaps in accuracy or detail
Does not differentiate between
research designs for their
advantages and disadvantages
in addressing the research
question
15
Literature Review:
Appropriateness
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
demonstrates understanding of
appropriate research design for
a research question
Evaluates the appropriateness
of the research designs to the
research questions and
determines the most
appropriate design, providing
justification for each
Evaluates the appropriateness
of the research designs to the
research questions, providing
justification, but does not
determine the most
appropriate design
Does not evaluate the
appropriateness of the research
designs to the research
questions
15
Literature Review:
Unknown
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
discusses key themes from the
articles
Summarizes what is unknown
or uncertain about the topic,
utilizing applicable research on
the topic
Summarizes what is unknown
or uncertain about the topic,
utilizing research, but resources
are not applicable to topic, or
summary has gaps in detail or
accuracy
Does not summarize what is
unknown or uncertain about
the topic
10
Literature Review:
Principles and
Standards
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
demonstrates keen insight into
the APA’s principles and
standards as they apply to data
analysis
Discusses the appropriateness
of the data analysis procedures
used in the literature as they
relate to the APA’s principles
and standards
Discusses the appropriateness
of the data analysis procedures
used in the literature, but does
not relate these to the APA’s
principles and standards, or
discussion has gaps in accuracy
or detail
Does not discuss the
appropriateness of the data
analysis procedures used in the
literature as they relate to the
APA’s principles and standards
10
Research Question Meets “Proficient” criteria and
creates an interesting research
question that warrants further
research
Creates a testable research
question based on the previous
research around the topic
Creates a testable research
question, but question is not
based on the previous research
around the topic
Does not create a testable
research question
5
Hypothesis Meets “Proficient” criteria and
provides concrete evidence
supporting the research
hypothesis
Creates a testable hypothesis
based on the research question
and research around the topic,
explaining the extent to which
the research supports the
hypothesis
Creates a hypothesis based on
the research question and
research around the topic, but
does not explain the extent to
which the research supports the
hypothesis, hypothesis is not
testable, or explanation has
gaps in detail or accuracy
Does not create a hypothesis
based on the research question
and research around the topic
5
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy-to-read
format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Submission has some major
errors related to citations,
grammar, spelling, syntax, or
organization that negatively
impact readability and
articulation of main ideas
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
5
Total 100%
