Weeks 4 and 8: NCFR Substance Areas Literature Review Project

Below are the 10 “Substance Areas” of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR), a professional organization whose mission it is to “To provide an educational forum for family researchers, educators, and practitioners to share in the development and dissemination of knowledge about families and family relationships, establish professional standards, and work to promote family well-being” (http://www.ncfr.org/).

During the 8 weeks of this senior seminar students will, with the guidance of their instructor, select and conduct a review of peer reviewed literature related to the 10 substance areas (Note: All articles must be retrieved from the APUS online library).  The phrase “peer reviewed” means that a publication contains articles reviewed and deemed academically sound and scientifically rigorous by the author’s peers in the field.

Students will select, from the larger body of child and family development literature, three peer reviewed journal articles per substance area and review, summarize and critique them in one paper per area (each article review should be between 1 and 1½ pages – double-spaced, equating to 3-4 ½ pages per substance area). It should be 15 articles in all!!!!!  The format for this assignment should be:

1. Substance Area Name
   • Research article 1 (include the title of the article)
   • Research article 2 (include the title of the article)
   • Research article 3 (include the title of the article)

Use this format for each of your Substance Areas.

Substance Areas 1 – 5 reviews must be completed by the end of week 4. Substance Areas 6-10 will be added to 1 – 5 and will be completed by the end of week 8.

Substance Areas 6 – 10 reviews must be compiled and combined with the previous five Substance Areas articles and submitted as one literature review with a description at the end of what was learned while conducting the course-long review.

This final paper forms the major writing assignment of this capstone course and as such should exemplify higher level writing skills and demonstration of knowledge relevant to degree discipline. It must be in compliance with university academic standards and formatting rules of the American Psychological Association (APA) – 6th Edition.