Action Research Literature Evaluation [WLO: 1, 2][CLO: 2, 3] Last week we focused on developing your area of focus based on an existing problem or challenge in early childhood education that you would like to change or improve. This week you will gain deeper insight into your area of focus by reviewing and evaluating literature related to your area of focus. You started this process in this week’s discussion, and will continue the same process for this assignment. You may use the article you reviewed in the discussion this week as one of the four resources required for review and evaluation. For this assignment, you will utilize appropriate databases and digital tools to identify academic sources relevant to your action research area of focus, and then evaluate each source for research timeliness, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose. Additionally, you will identify, evaluate, review, and summarize four relevant scholarly, peer-reviewed articles to inform your own action research proposal. The purpose of this assignment is to help you understand what others in the field have done to improve the same or similar challenges that you are interested in improving. Week 2 Literature Evaluation Assignment Template  is available for developing your Week Two assignment. For this assignment, please use a minimum of four scholarly, peer-reviewed, full text journal articles. Articles must be current, meaning each article must have been published in the past five years. You may use the appropriate digital research tools (i.e., Google Scholar (Links to an external site.) ) to locate scholarly sources for this assignment. Remember, not all sources and articles in the scholarly, so please be sure to refer to the Instructor Guidance for this week and the MAECEL Source Guide for further tips and information on locating scholarly, peer reviewed journals. You may also be interested in using an online bibliographic management program such as RefWorks (Links to an external site.) , NoodleTools (Links to an external site.) , or Diigo (Links to an external site.) to collect, manage, annotate, share, and cite your sources. Please be sure to carefully review the Instructor Guidance, the course Anchor Paper, and course readings for this week to inform the development of this assignment. *Reminder to Students: Remember to save all copies of your work throughout the course as you will use each assignment as part of the Final Action Research Proposal . For many of the discussions and assignments, you are building on your work each week, so it is appropriate to use content from your discussions in your weekly assignments, generally expanding and extending concepts and sections as you progress from week to week. You will have the opportunity to make revisions to each section of your proposal based on instructor and peer feedback prior to your final version in the Final Action Research Proposal , so be sure to revisit the feedback you have received fr.

1. Action Research Literature Evaluation
[WLO: 1, 2][CLO: 2, 3]
Last week we focused on developing your area of focus based
on an existing problem or challenge in early childhood
education that you would like to change or improve. This week
you will gain deeper insight into your area of focus by
reviewing and evaluating literature related to your area of
focus. You started this process in this week’s discussion, and
will continue the same process for this assignment. You may
use the article you reviewed in the discussion this week as one
of the four resources required for review and evaluation.
For this assignment, you will utilize appropriate databases and
digital tools to identify academic sources relevant to your action
research area of focus, and then evaluate each source for
research timeliness, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and
purpose. Additionally, you will identify, evaluate, review, and
summarize four relevant scholarly, peer-reviewed articles to
inform your own action research proposal. The purpose of this
assignment is to help you understand what others in the field
have done to improve the same or similar challenges that you
are interested in improving.
Week 2 Literature Evaluation Assignment Template
is available for developing your Week Two assignment. For
this assignment, please use a minimum of four scholarly, peer-
reviewed, full text journal articles. Articles must be current,
meaning each article must have been published in the past five
years.

2. You may use the appropriate digital research tools (i.e.,
Google Scholar (Links to an external site.)
) to locate scholarly sources for this assignment. Remember, not
all sources and articles in the scholarly, so please be sure to
refer to the Instructor Guidance for this week and the MAECEL
Source Guide for further tips and information on locating
scholarly, peer reviewed journals.
You may also be interested in using an online bibliographic
management program such as
RefWorks (Links to an external site.)
,
NoodleTools (Links to an external site.)
, or
Diigo (Links to an external site.)
to collect, manage, annotate, share, and cite your sources.
Please be sure to carefully review the Instructor Guidance, the
course Anchor Paper, and course readings for this week to
inform the development of this assignment.
*Reminder to Students: Remember to save all copies of your
work throughout the course as you will use each assignment as
part of the
Final Action Research Proposal
. For many of the discussions and assignments, you are building
on your work each week, so it is appropriate to use content from
your discussions in your weekly assignments, generally
expanding and extending concepts and sections as you progress
from week to week. You will have the opportunity to make
revisions to each section of your proposal based on instructor
and peer feedback prior to your final version in the
Final Action Research Proposal
, so be sure to revisit the feedback you have received from your
instructor and classmates each week to continuously refine your

3. proposal throughout the course.
Content Expectations
Part 1:
Article Summary Tables
: For each of the four articles, complete one table using the
Week Two assignment template
to evaluate the source using the CRAAP test, and then provide a
summary in the areas indicated in the table. Each section must
be complete and add relevant information related to the article.
CRAAP Test: Using the CRAAP test, evaluate each of the four
required sources for timeliness, relevancy, authority, accuracy,
and purpose. Provide the overall score and a narrative with a
summary of your evaluation.
Title, Author, Year: For each article, provide an accurate title,
author, and year of publication.
Purpose of the Study: For each article, clearly explain the
purpose of the study.
Subject/Participants: For each article, discuss the subjects or
participants involved in the study.
Variables: For each article, identify the independent and
dependent variables in the study.
Quantitative and/or Qualitative Instruments: For each article,
examine the instruments used to collect data, including any
pertinent information on the validity and reliability of the
instruments.

4. Interventions: For each article, summarize the interventions
used in the study to improve a situation or existing challenge
that the research addressed.
Outcomes/Results: For each article,explain what kind of
evidence used to support his/her claims.
Implications: For each article, examine the implications and
conclusions of the study.
Relevance to Proposed Study: For each article, appraise how the
study relates to the challenge or situation you are interested in
improving in your own action research proposal.
Part 2: Literature Evaluation Table:
Complete the summary table
after
completing each of the article summary tables for each article.
The purpose of this table is for you to synthesize information
from the articles you reviewed to determine how each one will
inform your own action research proposal, specifically focusing
in the interventions and qualitative and quantitative
instruments. The content from this assignment will be used to
support the development of the Week Three Assignment in ECE
660.
Literature Evaluation Table: Based on your four article
summaries, use the literature evaluation table to organize your
decisions regarding which interventions and instruments are the
most relevant to your own action research proposal.
Research and Resource Expectations

5. A minimum of four scholarly, peer-reviewed sources.
Writing and Formatting Expectations
Title Page: Must include a separate title page with the
following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Academic Voice: Academic Voice is used (avoids casual
language, limited use of “I” or first person, it is declarative).
Purpose and Organization: Demonstrates logical progression of
ideas.
Syntax and Mechanics: Writing displays meticulous
comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such
as spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
APA Formatting: Papers are formatted properly and all sources
are cited and referenced in APA style as outlined

6. This assignment should be approximately five double-spaced
pages in length (not including title and reference pages).