Developmental Networks and Female Career Ascension to Executive Boards

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review is the chapter that describes what is currently known about the topic of your DIP that can be found in the scholarly and professional literature. Students should be diligent in their efforts to read and discuss literature from differing disciplines or fields of practice. Your literature review should synthesis and integrate information from multiple sources to present a logical and clear case for studying your DIP topic. Chapter 2 should start with an introductory paragraph as a means to preview for the reader what they are about to read, but without being repetitive. Include transitional words and phrases, such as “first,” “followed by,” and “finally” to orient your reader to the order of topics that you review in chapter 2.
Level 1 Descriptive Heading About Literature Part A
Conducting and writing a literature review is not an easy task but one that requires great diligence, organization, initiative, and attention to detail. Your literature review should not be a paragraph-by-paragraph report summarizing one article after another. Rather, it should synthesize the existing conceptual and empirical findings, integrate information from multiple sources so that your reader progresses from one topic to another with a natural ease.
It is highly recommended that you use an outline as you write your literature review. There are many different types of outlines that can be used. The Online Writing Lab from Purdue University, a.k.a., Purdue OWL (n.d.), has a number of excellent outline examples and writing resources that you may find to help you organize and find a logical structure for your topic. Although this DIP model presents three level one headings with different numbers of subheadings, your DIP literature review will likely feature more than three main topics and subtopics. This DIP model is a formatting guide, the scholarly literature will guide what content you include in your literature review.
Level 2 Descriptive Subheading About Literature Part A
Level 1 Descriptive Heading About Literature Part B
The complexity of your topic determines the appropriate headings and subheadings that need to be used. Use your APA 7th edition style manual for assistance when formatting your headings (see section 2.27). Additionally, it is important that you cite all your sources throughout your literature review. There is guidance and examples for most types of sources in the APA (7th ed.) manual (see chapters 9 and 10). Include every in-text citation you have in your paper in your References list. Resources you consulted but did not actually cite within your paper should NOT be included on your References list.
Level 2 Descriptive Subheading About Literature Part B
It is important that your literature review be comprehensive. Use multiple databases to search the scholarly and professional literature. Given that the program is an interdisciplinary program, it is important that you search, read, and integrate scholarly literature from multiple disciplines or fields.
Level 3 Descriptive Subheading About Literature Part B
This subsection illustrates the third heading level according to APA (7th ed.) guidelines. Plan how you will organize your literature review content and headings by using an outline so that you do not have any lonely subthemes or subtopics in your paper that do not make sense. The last set of example headings demonstrate the formatting for the first three APA (7th ed.) headings.
Level 1 Descriptive Heading About Literature Part C
Level 2 Descriptive Subheading About Literature Part C
Level 3 Descriptive Subheading About Literature Part C
Summary
The final section in chapter 2 is the summary which should briefly tie together for the reader the main points you described in chapter 2. This summary will be longer than your chapter 1 summary, approximately 2-3 paragraphs. You should summarize the major ideas from the literature and−most importantly−how these ideas are related. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the literature and how it relates to your study. Discuss inconsistencies or gaps that emerged to provide support for your study. Your concluding paragraph should summarize the literature review for the reader leading him/her to the obvious need to answer the next most important question, which is your research question. It is also helpful to include one transition sentence that previews for the reader what they can expect as they move to the next chapter. Insert a page break after the last line of the chapter 2 summary to ensure the next chapter starts on a new page.