Overview
The literature review is a key step in research in psychology: the point at which you summarize the state of what is known in your topic area, and highlight what remains to be learned. The literature review that you complete for your dissertation will provide the primary evidence to support the importance of your dissertation topic. The word review may not communicate the full process involved. A well-developed literature review does "review" the research that has been completed in a particular topic area; however, in addition it also synthesizes the results of that literature and attempts to paint a clear picture of the state of knowledge on that subject.
Even if you began working on this assignment during Unit 6, you will have had only two weeks to complete it. For that reason, this assignment is called a draft literature review. As you will see when you examine the Draft Literature Review Scoring Guide, the expectation is that you have made a solid first attempt. That means three things: that you have made good use of the feedback you received on your Unit 6 assignment to further focus and clarify your problem statement, that you have done a good job of identifying what you consider to be the 10-12 most significant recent scholarly sources in your topic and problem area, and that you have digested these sources thoroughly enough to be able to synthesize their content into a coherent statement of the current knowledge in your problem area. Your draft literature review need not be perfect or completely comprehensive; however, it should demonstrate your beginning mastery of these aspects of the doctoral research thinking process.
Instructions
To complete a successful draft literature review:
Strive for clarity and conciseness in your problem statement. Knowing exactly what you are seeking is the best way to focus your search productively. Before returning to the library to continue your search for scholarly sources, carefully review the feedback you received on your two earlier assignments (Research Topic Investigation and Problem Statement). Use the feedback you received from your instructor to tighten and clarify your problem statement.
Review the sources that you have already found on your topic, including the ones you found for your Unit 4 assignment, and refine your list of key words that will help you focus your search productively. If you need some help with this process, review the library module, Searching Effectively.
Continue your search, looking for those sources that seem to most clearly address the topic and problem area you chose. As you review a potential resource, first read the abstract. Then, if you are not sure how valuable that source will be, skim the article to identify the key points and evidence provided. In this manner, begin compiling your list of potential sources. You will probably need to consider at least 20-25 sources before you can come up with the 10-12 you need to represent current knowledge in your topic area.
Read the articles in depth, starting with those you believe most directly address your problem area. For a method to accomplish this process, review the media piece Locating Common Themes in a Literature Review. You may want to use the "Capellapillar" process described in that piece.
Look at the results of your reading (or your "Capellapillar," if you used that approach). After analyzing the various points of view, synthesize the ideas to create as clear a picture as possible of what you believe to be the current status of knowledge in your topic and problem area. Be clear about what is known, and what questions remain.
Write your Draft Literature Review. Begin with a clear problem statement. As you work through the ideas involved, describe each of the major viewpoints that you encountered in the literature. Compare and contrast the differing viewpoints, pointing out ideas that appear to be shared, as well as those areas in which different authors took differing approaches. Finally, synthesize a summary of the state of knowledge on your topic by using critical thinking approaches you have learned in this course.
Additional Requirements
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition, second printing or later) style and formatting.
Number of resources: Minimum of 10 scholarly resources.
Length of paper: 10-12 typed double-spaced pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
This what I have started. It needs finishing
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD occurs when someone has been mentally affected by the exposure to trauma such as rape, war, substance abuse, physical abuse, etc. PTSD affects various parts of the brain such as our hippocampus which deals with memory. I am attempting to figure out if the effects of brain trauma are similar even if a people have been diagnosed with PTSD through different means. Meaning, will a person who has been diagnosed with PTSD as a result of physical abuse also become exposed to same type of mental deprivations as someone who been diagnosed with PTSD through sexual abuse, combat war and/or being exposed to Urban Violence. If time permits, I'd like to know if the solutions for treating PTSD the same no matter how a person may have been diagnosed with PTSD.
Studies have shown alterations in memory due to Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is a strong correlation between changes in the Brain such as in the Amygdala, Hippocampus, Medial Prefrontal Cortex, all of which deal with memory and fear responses (Bremner, 2006). When these regions of the brain are impacted by stress, they began to break down causing changes and problem in our overall mental health. A person can become stressed by various things; it is this stress that in-turn damages the brain.
There are 2 main criteria when being diagnosed with PTSD. The 1st is Criterion A, according to Rocha-Rego et al (2012) "the diagnostic criteria for PTSD require experiencing, witnessing, or being confronted with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others." Being diagnosed with Criterion B also requires that the person experience intense fear, helplessness, or horror during the traumatic event (Rocha-Rego et al 2012). This Trauma must continue on for the minimum of a month to be diagnosed. No matter what the cause of stress, an individual can be exposed to PTSD from many directions, from war and abuse, to growing up exposed to hardships of urbanized living. The one thing that remained the consistent in this experiment was finding that all PTSD patients presented a smaller volume of pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the same as other PTSD neuroimaging studies that investigated different types of traumatic events (Rocha-Rego, 2012).
Victims of Urban Violence shared the same deficit as others who suffer from PTSD. If this is true, there has to be other research available to support this claim. There are many people who suffer from PTSD and are unaware of the dangers of this condition. It is important that I find out if PTSD causes the same damage no matter what the cause of trauma.
References:
Bremner J.D. (2006). Traumatic Stress: Effect on the Brain. United States National Library of Medicine: Volume (8). Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181836/
Rocha-Rego V, Pereira MG, Oliveira L, Mendlowicz MV, Fiszman A, Marques-Portella C, Berger W, Chu C, Joffily M, Moll J, Mari JJ, Figueira I, Volchan E. (2012). Decreased premotor cortex volume in victims of urban violence with posttraumatic stress disorder. United States National Library of Medicine. 7(8):e42560. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3432060/