Literature Review and Reflective Homework Help

Integrative Project

Literature Review and Reflective Essay

Reflect on your intended practice as a counsellor and what you have learned throughout this course. Identify one aspect of your counselling learning that you have found challenging and would like to develop further.

Write a reflective essay analysing this aspect of your practice in the light of relevant literature.

Your essay is to include:
• a clear articulation of the counselling aspect of you wish to explore and develop
• a literature review on the identified aspect
• a description of the ways you found this aspect of practice challenging
• an analysis of your experience of this aspect of practice in light of the literature
• deeper reflection of how this aspect may affect you as a counsellor and your potential clients
• a discussion of the literature relating to your chosen issue/aspect of counselling
• a discussion of the challenges in integrating this theory with your intended practice
• suggested strategies for managing the next stage of your professional development in relation to this aspect of your practice
• reference to current literature and integration of relevant theory into your discussion
• evidence of self-awareness and the ability to self-reflect
• identification of ongoing professional development needs and goals identified

Content
1. Aspect of counselling practice clearly articulated
2. Literature review on the aspect of practice provided
3. Ways in which the student found this aspect of practice to be challenging described
4. Reasons the student found this aspect of practice challenging articulated
5. Challenges in the integration of theory and practice discussed
6. Strategies for managing the next stage of professional development in relation to this aspect of your practice suggested
7. Evidence of in-depth knowledge of current literature and relevant theory
8. Evidence of integration of theory and practice
9. Evidence of self-awareness and the ability to self-reflect
10. Evidence of ongoing professional development needs and goals identified
Structure
11. Appropriate introduction provided that clearly articulates the topic
12. Main ideas clearly and logically presented
13. Appropriate conclusion provided that summarises the key findings/ideas
14. Relevant literature used properly
Written Expression
15. First person writing style used
16. Fluent writing style used with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation
Presentation
17. Presentation guidelines followed as specified in the Academic Skills Guide
18. Word count within 10% of requirement
Referencing
19. In-text referencing guidelines followed as specified in the Academic Skills Guide, and if not covered in the ASG then by the APA convention (6th edition)
20. List of references provided as outlined in the Academic Skills Guide, and if not covered by the ASG then by the APA convention (6th edition).

ABOUT THE LITERATURE REVIEWS:

Part of this assignment is a literature review. You will need to read extensively on your chosen topic and provide a summary of your findings, including an analysis of your experience in light of the literature. This should not be a list of the work of others or a summary of each author’s work in the area. It should be an integrative piece of work that critically surveys the existing knowledge in the given area by showing similarities and differences between authors, and it should point to what has already been achieved and what gaps exist in this knowledge. In this discussion of the literature you should aim to:
•    ?Demonstrate your familiarity with the existing knowledge. Your discussion should tell the reader that you know your project area and the relevant issues.
•    ?Demonstrate your understanding of the research on this issue and how your project links to it. In other words with reference to the existing body of knowledge you should outline the direction of research on your question and how this relates to your reflection on your own practice.
•    Integrate and summarise what is already known in your topic area by pulling together and synthesising different results. A good discussion will point out where studies agree, where they disagree and where major questions remain. It collects what is known up to a point in time and indicates the direction for future research.
•    Identify potential areas of research relating to your area of interest and replication of previous research in a new context.
Where to start?
Firstly you need to search for material relevant to your chosen topic. This search will include academic journals and other material found in libraries, but it is not restricted to these. In fact your search may include a range of information sources including:
•    academic journals and review articles of research usually found through accessing a university database
•    ?research conducted in the workplace
•    academic books on the topic
•    government documents such as annual reports, policy papers and statistics
•    university theses, including honours, masters and PhD dissertations
•    conference papers
•    publications of international organisations, for example the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN), etc
•    publications of specialist research organisations such as the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the Australia Institute, etc
•    publications of relevant professional associations such as the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA)
•    international research organizations
•    newspaper articles
•    documentaries and other visual media (in particular from the ABC and SBS)
•    radio programs and their transcripts, for example from Radio National

Common mistakes in citing the literature

•    Don’t cite one text repeatedly. You will need to make clear you are not relying on one article or author for the majority of your argument.
•    Do not take up more than a sentence or a footnote to define a term.
•    Don’t quote too much (no more than 10% of your work can be quotations).
•    Your job is to summarize and evaluate the related literature. If you use words such as “research shows that…” you must include a citation.

Skimming the literature

Read the abstract or introduction to the article to check its relevance before reading the entire thing. Look for:
•    the topic of the article
•    the approach that was used
•    the central argument of the article
This will inform you whether you want to read any sections in more detail

What to read
•    Do not read anything that was published over 10 years ago (unless it is a seminal document).
•    It is best to read well-known authors who are established experts in their field.
•    Don’t read articles that put your topic in an irrelevant context or time period.
•    Only articles with your keyword in the title or abstract.

Defining and refining a topic
A literature search requires a reasonably well-defined topic. The topic should be somewhat broader in view than the question(s) you formulated in the previous section. Your literature search will help you refine your question(s) or make them more specific. Try and ensure your topic does not become too broad. For example, a topic such as ‘mental health’ or ‘suicide’ is too broad. More appropriate topics could be ‘managing
postnatal depression’ or ‘ethical obligations of counsellors working with suicidal clients’.

Defining terminology
It is important to be clear about the terms you are using and what you mean by them. Definition of terms will become clearer as you begin searching the literature, and you should aim to revise and refine these definitions throughout the search. For example, the terms ‘marital conflict’, ‘good parenting’ and ‘dysfunctional relationship’ all require initial definitions, which will be refined through your search of the literature.

References recommended
Sources: http://web.ebscohost.com
Username: ns016335
Password: golet

This website contents lots of journals n books relevant to the topic. I think that will be helpful for you.

My chosen topic is:
“How to work with client with suicidal Ideation (prevention and immediate responses)”

My own practice:
“I am an AOD counsellor (Alcohol and other Drugs)”

Structure: appox 4000 words (+/- 10%)
1.    Abstract (Approx 250)
2.    Introduction (Approx 250 words)
3.    Literature Reviews (Approx. 1000 words)
4.    Reflective Practice and what is challenging and you would like to develop further on practice  in the future (such as get more training, do more volunteer on this particular area, adapt into practical and practice and supervision etc) (Approx 2,300 words).
5.    Conclusion (Approx 200 words)

!!!!Please make sure that you read them carefully!!!

?    I also attached my presentation that I used before I got approved from my educator. She had suggested me that this info and structure of my project is good and it is on the right track. So please used it as a guideline together with this presentation because I don’t want to be suspicious about why the contents of my presentation is different from my thesis writing. Also preventing from revision which it is wasted of time in both me and you.

?    So if you are not sure about any parts while you start working on my project, please feel free to ask me anytime as it is a big project, I understand that if some parts gone wrong, it might take ages to fix it.

?    On the reflective part, I did presentation, I was mention about my case study which the client 16 years old boy (start to smoke and drink alcohol then his mom had noticed this plus that the boy was so isolated, restless, don’t eat, depress which his mom kind of not know what was going on with him only son in the family, no sibling) attend the session and he had said something indicating that he has had thought of suicidal. I work with my co- counsellor who took the lead on the session. I did confess that on the session I was scared to ask such as direct questions like “have you been thinking to kill yourself or any part that explore about her plan of killing herself. I mentioned that on the session I did nothing but my co counsellor she was very confident to ask those questions and be direct to the client. So you can aID up and expand working on this story of mine (this is real case)

?    The educator suggested me about the info on my statistic about suicidal ideation should be more up to date.

?    I had criticized about the suicidal contract while I was presenting my project that it would be just the paper and it was nothing if the client don’t follow. They could kill themselves anytime after they leave. It would be just the paper evidence for making counselor feeling good or better that they done their best. You may expand more on that too.

?    Please don’t take info from website like me as I did it because it was rush to do a presentation then I just grasped everything from the internet (mainly on the website of University of Michigan US) which it just cant appear on my essay. Lucky that she didn’t go through my references and literature relevant. Hence, you may need to find a similar info or content to support my work on this presentation. Thank you

?    I would send every messed up I did to you (Reference, Presentation etc) then you would know what I did.

?    Don’t go into any specific intervention or any medication. Just the immediate response that the counsellor should do it immediate on the session with clients after knowing that clients might suicide (then prevent them)

?    You could touch a bit on the ethical issue on client’s age (under 18), dilemma that I as a counsellor might face on the reflective part too.