APOL 845 Applied Apologetics Literature Review I

This course familiarizes students with the processes, resources, and skills involved in surveying, analyzing, and synthesizing the scholarly literature related to a research topic to position the student’s own research within the scholarly conversation of the topic.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

The Ph.D. student in applied theology will be joining an academic conversation about a research topic on which he/she will be writing his/her own contribution in the form of a dissertation. Consequently, he/she needs to understand the role of the literature review in establishing the contours of that conversation and developing the research skills needed to conduct a literature review of a proposed research.

Textbooks readings and lecture presentations

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Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Peer-Review Discussions (2)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will complete 2 Peer-Review Discussions in this course. Peer-Review Discussions facilitate collaborative learning in which the students share insights about each other’s work, noting strengths and weaknesses and offering suggestions for improvement.

The student will upload the appropriate Peer-Review Discussion assignment for his/her classmates’ review, together with a thread of at least 400 words explaining and elaborating on the uploaded assignment. The student will then post at least 2 replies of at least 200 words each to classmates’ threads, offering additional insights, helpful critiques, noting strengths and weaknesses, and making suggestions for improvement. (CLO: A, B)

Methodological Reflection Exercise Assignment

In this assignment, the student will reflect on the nature and character of the research they will undertake in their major research project in this course and, in so doing, rehearse the skills needed to develop a research proposal (prospectus) for their dissertation. This assignment should be 5-7 pages, double-spaced, exclusive of title page, contents page, and bibliography. The assignment and all sources must be fully Turabian-compliant in format. (CLO: B, D)

Deciphering “Thick” Ideas Assignment

Before responding to (or using for support) a source in academic research, one must understand it and be conversant with it; otherwise, he/she runs the risk of misunderstanding, misinterpreting, and misusing that source. For this assignment, the student will cultivate the capacity to decipher a source’s “thick” ideas to ensure that he/she understands it before pressing it into the service of his/her research. This assignment should be 3-5 pages, double-spaced, exclusive of title page, contents page, and bibliography. The assignment and all sources must be fully Turabian-compliant in format. (CLO: B)

Literature Review Matrix Draft Assignment

The Literature Review Matrix tracks formative resources and key ideas so that the student can readily access and assess them by providing a visual repository of important sources and key ideas to which the researcher can return when needed. The Literature Review Matrix Draft Assignment begins the process of assembling and analyzing key resources by compiling a spreadsheet of 10 or more resources that are analyzed for their potential utility for dissertation research. Full bibliographic reference in Turabian format is required. (CLO: B)

Theoretical Framework Identification Assignment

In this assignment, the student will reflect on the nature and character of theoretical frameworks as the “scaffolding” or “blueprint” scholars use to construct research for a given inquiry or research project. In so doing, the student will rehearse the skills required to identify and employ a theoretical framework for his/her own dissertation research. This assignment should be no more than 5 pages long, double-spaced, excluding the title page, contents page, and bibliography. The assignment and all sources must be fully Turabian-compliant in format. (CLO: C)

Literature Review Matrix Final Assignment

The Literature Review Matrix Final Assignment completes the process begun in the Literature Review Matrix Draft Assignment of assembling and analyzing key resources by compiling a spreadsheet of 20 or more resources that are analyzed for their potential utility for dissertation research. All sources must be fully Turabian-compliant in format. (CLO: B)

Topic Outline Assignment

A topic outline is a way of both organizing and visualizing one’s research plan. An outline helps the researcher see at a glance the logical flow of the argument; conversely, if something does not “fit” or “work” in the argument, that, too, is immediately apparent. A topic outline also enables the researcher to “plug in” the research resources into the argument outline to see where an individual resource “fits” in the research plan. The topic outline helps the student sort and sift the raw research with a view to identifying research that will actually, rather than just theoretically, support the student’s presentation. This assignment should be a minimum of 5 pages, double-spaced, exclusive of title page, contents page, and bibliography. There must be a minimum of five (5) sources cited for each major point of the Topic Outline. The outline and all sources must be fully Turabian-compliant in format. (CLO: B)