• INTRODUCTION
• BACKGROUND LITERATURE STUDY
o What the literature says about your topic? Is there any gap in knowledge?
• RESEARCH QUESTION AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.
o state your aim (1) and your objectives (between 2-4)
• METHODOLOGY, METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS
o Keywords – state the keywords you will use to search for literature
o Database – list the databases you use to search for papers
o Inclusion/exclusion criteria: state the criteria you will use to select your literature
o Data Analysis: how you are going to analyse your articles (i.e. by grouping them by methodology? Themes? Chronologically?)
• ETHICS
o Discuss the ethical implication of your study
• RESULTS .
o A table which summarise what you have found;
o Results of your analysis – how you have grouped your articles
• DISCUSSION
o In this section you should compare and contrast your articles by discussing them in relationship with the literature. Whilst all sections are important, here is where you should bring together your different ideas from your research and what you have concluded from this project.
• LIMITATIONS
o Discuss the limitations of your research
• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATIONS
This can be twofold:
Recommendation for future research
Recommendation for practice
• REFERENCES (These are NOT included in the word count)
This is a list of all texts which you have referred to in your study. They are written in alphabetical order according to the author’s name. The Harvard system of referencing should be used throughout. Please refer to ‘Cite Them Right’ which is available both in the library and on-line on Blackboard for guidance.
• APPENDICES (These are NOT included in the word count)
Appendices are additional pieces of information which the reader may find useful in terms of having a better understanding of the study. Often these are questionnaires, copies of letters (e.g. providing permission to access premises, granting of ethical approval etc) and diagrams. Each appendix should be clearly labelled e.g., ‘appendix 1’, and be referred to in your study at the appropriate point. Appendices are very useful as a way of avoiding cluttering up your writing but should be used very sparingly.
