Literature Review

User Generated

Ryor1993

Humanities

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Directions:

1. After receiving approval of the Issue/Research Question you submitted in Module 3, locate FIVE credible, current (since 2011) journal articles, trade magazine articles, newspaper articles, or online publications from professional associations in your discipline. I encourage you to do more than “Google” your topic. Instead, use what you have learned about Mason’s databases and the resources available at the professional association websites to locate recent research and studies on the issue you have chosen.

2. Following the resources attached in Module 4, compose a draft of your Literature Review, following the DIRECTIONS, the SAMPLE, the “Writing a Literature Review” resource from the Mason Writing Center, and the other attached resources.

3. This draft needs only six, well-developed paragraphs:

Paragraph # 1 – Overview of the Issue (define/explain WHAT the issue is, WHY it is currently an issue in your field, HOW LONG it has been as issue, and WHAT arguments/counterarguments are being presented. Remember, unlike a research paper, a Literature Review does NOT present a claim and then try to prove it. Instead, a Literature Review writer “develops a question and then looks at how other researchers in published studies have answered this and related questions. The writer (you) then analyzes the points these studies have made and determines how each has addressed the question “(“Writing a Literature Review”). PARAGRAPHS # 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 – In each paragraph, focus on one of the articles you read, by explaining the author’s purpose, how the author(s) attempts to answer your research question, and how this article/study supports or refutes one or more of the other four articles you found. Include direct quotes from each article, not simply summary or paraphrase.

4. Format your Draft, as always, following MLA or APA manuscript format (heading, pagination, and double-spacing)and use correct in-text and Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page format.

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Running head: WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

Writing a Literature Review

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1

WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

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Writing a Literature Review
Topic: How does childhood obesity correlate with academic performance in elementary school
children?
Obesity is a major problem facing K-12 students across the United States. According to
Naticchioni (2013), childhood obesity rates have risen in the United States to about 33%. Studies
indicate that for every five children, one is obese. The case is also the same for adolescents, who
have the same rate of obesity prevalence. With the increase in obesity rates across schools, it has
been established that performance among the obese and overweight students is low. Although
obesity has been found to have adverse effects on the body and vital organs, research also proves
that being obese and overweight has many adverse effects on learning and academic
performance. It has been established that obesity and overweight has many psychological effects
on an individual, especially children, and adversely affects their concentration and
understanding. Obesity has also been found to have a correlation with cognitive function among
children, such that the obese children have low cognitive function as compared with the normal
weight children (Heshmat et al., 2014). Obesity has been a problem to the public health sector
for a long time now. The recent findings which indicate that the rate of obesity has escalated
among children is indicative that it is a problem that is getting out of hand and requires more
immediate interventions to stop. Rapid increase in obesity has been witnessed in the past two
decades. Based on these findings, this topic is thus very vital for both parents and the school
system, guiding them to devise better nutrition programs for children as well as introduce regular
exercising to help children manage their weight, which will in turn help them to have better
understanding and learning. This report presents a literature review of five peer reviewed articles

WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

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on the findings of research on the impact of obesity on school performance. The review will also
help in understanding the cause for the correlation between obesity and school performance.
The first research by Wu et al. (2017) indicates that there is existent correlation between
obesity and learning. The study mainly focused on finding out the impact of the working
memory in bringing about the association between obesity and learning as well as academic
performance. The research utilized 227 students aged between 10 and 13 years to conduct the
study. Among these, 44 were obese, 92 were normal weight, and 23 were overweight. The study
uses digit memory tasks to assess the students (Wu et al., 2017). During the study, 30 trials was
carried out. The participants were given five seconds to recall the numbers and write them down.
The test revealed that,
Although the performance of obese children in basic working memory tests was poorer
than that of normal-weight children, they recalled more items than normal-weight
children in working memory tasks involving with food/drink. Working memory deficits
partially explain the poor academic performance of obese children (Wu et al., 2017).
The findings of the research thus indicated that obese students had domain-specific challenges in
the working memory, which led to challenges in learning. The research also found that the obese
and overweight students showed more recall in tasks related with food and drinking (Wu et al.,
2017). As such, it can be argued that obese students have changed memory state such that they
respond better on food and drink related tasks as compared to domain specific learning
requirements. Their memory is thus altered to have higher sensitivity to food and drinks as
compared to learning needs. The research study also indicates that the altered peer relationship
with obese students, as well as the poor self-esteem of the obese students can also lead to poor
performance (Wu et al., 2017). The concluding remarks from the research indicates that obese

WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

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children have an altered or impaired working memory, which affects their overall capability in
learning. The findings from this research correlate with the findings in the other research studies,
and show that it is true that obesity has a correlation with learning and academic performance
(Wu et al., 2017).
Another study by Heshmat et al. (2014) investigated the association between lipid
profiles with school performance. The study utilized 69 middle school students whose Grade
Point Average (GPA), serum lipid profiles, absence rate, and performance in the major subjects
was obtained and analyzed. The analysis of this data was done using SPSS 16. The laboratory
tests conducted include total cholesterol levels, triglyceride, as well as the LDL and HDL
cholesterol (Heshmat et al., 2014). These were centrifuged in a laboratory and tested to
understand the level of obesity for each participant. The research found that the GPA score for
the obese students was lower as compared with the control group – the normal weight students.
The same findings were observed in the other subjects including English, geometry, and
Mathematics. Students with a BMI of 95 and higher, who are the obese students, were found to
have lower grades in the stated subjects as compared to the normal weight students (Heshmat et
al., 2014). It was also astonishing to fin...


Anonymous
Excellent resource! Really helped me get the gist of things.

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