HSCI 810 Advanced Literature Review

Building off previous training on literature reviews, this course will help students conduct a review of literature that demonstrates readiness for a dissertation.

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

This course will give the student an opportunity to apply advanced skills needed to critically evaluate objective data and peer-reviewed articles to support doctoral work.

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

Discussion: Identifying the Literary Gap

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to help the student begin developing the critical foundation for their dissertation by identifying a gap in the current scholarly literature relevant to their intended research topic. A gap represents an underexplored, unresolved, or inconsistent area in the existing body of knowledge that warrants further investigation. Recognizing and articulating such a gap is a core skill in doctoral-level research because it justifies the need for new inquiry, guides the framing of research questions, and connects scholarly work to practice. (CLO: B) 

Peer-Review Discussion: 100-Source Peer-Review Evaluation

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will begin working toward their 100-source assignment by locating 25 verified scholarly sources directly relevant to their dissertation topic. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (e.g., ChatGPT, NotebookLM, Perplexity) may be used to identify potential sources, but all references must be verified for accuracy (DOI, journal website, or publisher database). This will be posted in the Discussion, and the student will be expected to interact with all of their peers within their same cognate as part of this Discussion. (CLO: A, D) 

300-Word Synthesis Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to build the student’s ability to move beyond summary writing toward synthesis, which is essential for crafting a strong dissertation literature review. In this assignment, the student will synthesize findings from at least 15 selected peer-reviewed articles into a cohesive, 300-word narrative. The synthesis should highlight how the literature informs, supports, or completes the research gap identified in Discussion: Identifying the Literary Gap. (CLO: B) 

Thematic Framework Ideation Assignment

This assignment will guide the student to use AI ethically to identify and explore theoretical frameworks relevant to their research topic. The student must critically evaluate potential frameworks and select and justify the framework best suited to their study. There are 2 parts to this assignments within the instructions: the exploration of frameworks using AI and the Theoretical Framework Ideation Template. (CLO: A, B, C, D)

Theoretical Framework Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to help the student critically select and justify 1 framework that best aligns with the research problem, identified gap, and proposed methodology. This exercise strengthens the theoretical foundation needed for the dissertation proposal and ensures conceptual coherence between research design and purpose. In this assignment, the student will select a framework, describe a framework, justify the framework’s alignment with their dissertation direction, discuss methodological alignment, and appraise the framework both biblically and theologically. (CLO: A, B, C, D) 

100-Source Assignment

This assignment serves as the culminating checkpoint for the student’s literature collection process. By this stage, the student should have identified and reviewed at least 100 scholarly sources directly or indirectly related to their dissertation topic. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate the student’s ability to: identify and evaluate relevant literature, apply accurate APA formatting, critically assess the usefulness of each source, and distinguish between helpful, tangential, and unhelpful resources for their developing study. Four parts are necessary for this assignment: 1) 100-source reference list, 2) categorization of each source, 3) APA formatting and accuracy (to include valid DOI’s), and 4) relevance summary. (CLO: A) 

Literature Review Draft Assignment

This final assignment serves as the capstone of the student’s research preparation sequence. The student will synthesize the literature gathered throughout the course into a cohesive, theme-based review that clearly articulates the research gap, theoretical framework, and key findings that inform the developing dissertation topic. The literature review should move beyond summary to demonstrate critical analysis, conceptual integration, and scholarly argumentation. This draft will lay the foundation for the Chapter 2 Literature Review in the Dissertation Proposal. (CLO: A, B, C, D) 

Quiz: 100-Source Mind Map Check-In

This quiz will cover the student’s first 50 sources found throughout their research for the assigned modules. The quiz will contain 2 short answer questions and 3 file upload questions and have a 3-hour time limit. The student will begin 1 of the questions before starting the quiz. This question is related to the creation of an organizational mind map, and the question can be found in the quiz instructions. (CLO: B)