Below, are some strategies for earning full credit on the five standards of the Lit-Review QA Checklist that you will submit with each draft of your literature review. (The Checklist is a downloadable Google Doc.)

Standard 1: Improvement

In your first draft, I will note areas for improvement. On your second draft, if you made the recommended improvements, you will receive full credit for Standard 1. If recommended corrections are not made in subsequent drafts, Standard 1 receives zero points until the recommended corrections are made.

Standard 2: APA Formatting

The Lit-Review QA Checklist identifies the specific APA items that will affect your literature review grade. This checklist makes a handy reference for any of your APA writing.  (For general APA guidance, consult APA’s helpful Student Paper Checklist.)

APA Tips

1. Cheat Sheet: The Lit-Review QA Checklist highlights the primary types of in-text citations. Create a “cheat sheet” for each citation type. You can use APA Table 8.1 as a starter.
2. Search: After citing all sources, use Word’s “find” function to search for a left parenthesis “(.” That will help you find most of your citations for proofreading. However, you will still need to proofread the old-fashioned way to find citations that you forgot to put in parentheses, or content that requires a citation. Use the find function repeatedly throughout your proofreading process.
3. APA 7th edition does not require a running head on student papers.
4. Academic writing uses third-person tense. “This study’s researcher” is preferred over “I.”

Standard 3: Mechanics and Style

The term “mechanics” refers to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Don’t rely solely on auto spell check and grammar check. Read your sentences aloud and look for errors. Reading aloud will help you catch errors and refine your writing. Reading aloud works!

Style refers to the flow of your writing. In literature reviews, students often stitch wording together from different sources, which results in long, awkward sentences. Sometimes the rambling isn’t even a real sentence. To earn credit for Standard 3, your literature review must not contain awkward or confusing sentences.

Improvement Strategies

• Step 1 – Identify: The best way to identify awkward sentences is to read your writing out loud. Awkward sentences are difficult to read out loud. Therefore, convoluted wording is easier to identify when we can hear it.
• Step 2 – Divide: To correct an awkward sentence, break the long sentence into shorter sentences. Shorter sentences are easier to control, and they reduce your chances of creating grammatical errors. Remember: shorter is better.
• Step 3 – Use Plain English: If you don’t understand what you’ve written, neither will your reader. Say things in your own words, and in a way that you understand. Read sentences out loud to make sure they are actually sentences, and that they clearly communicate in plain language.

Puctuation Strategies

Student writers often misuse commas. The following sentence contains a common punctuation error where a comma is placed between two potential sentences.

The self-paced training is for experienced employees, the in-person training is for new employees. 

Here are options for correcting the sentence above.

• Option 1: Create two sentences.

The self-paced training is for experienced employees. The in-person training is for new employees.

• Option 2: Join the two sentences with a comma and a coordinating conjunction such as but, yet, and.

The self-paced training is for experienced employees, but the in-person training is for new employees.

• Option 3: Create two sentences, and start the second sentence with “however” followed by a comma.

The self-paced training is for experienced employees. However, the in-person training is for new employees.

Standard 4: Research Question Alignment

You earn credit for Standard 4 when you follow the color-coding instructions for RQ Sections.

Standard 5: Chapter 2 (Literature Review) Requirements

You must cite your sources when you provide information that is not common knowledge. When in doubt, cite it.

DON’T USE DIRECT QUOTATIONS! I understand that it is easier to copy and paste someone else’s words rather than think of your own. However, dependence on direct quotations is a bad habit. In this course, I allow students up to one direct quotation per literature review if the quotation is brief and if there is a compelling reason for it. Exceeding the limit results in no points for Standard 5. If you think your information warrants more than one direct quotation, contact me early in the writing process, so we can discuss it.

Conclusion:

If you’re beginning to think that proofreading and effective writing take much time and effort, you are correct. We’re instructional designers…it’s what we do. As with any skill, the more you practice, the better you become.

You can do this!