The Capella Research Plan and Your Literature Review

Capella University students must submit a research plan (RP) for Scientific Merit Review (SMR) before writing their thesis. Although it may seem like an extra step, the RP helps organize Chapters 1-3 of your thesis. Additionally, students receive more feedback and support on their RPs, which helps to produce thesis by speeding up the process.

Moreover, in your RP, parts of the literature review for your thesis are divided into smaller sections. These sections include the Theoretical Foundations and Contribution to Theory. Chapter 1 includes more sections, including literature that can extended in Chapter 2. While most of Chapter 1 is based on your RP, your Chapter 2 will need more work.

During the RP stage, your focus will primarily be on content regarding to the introduction and approach of your study. However, it can be very helpful to consider literature review organization now as well. Specifically, the RP section “Research Problem Background” is a great place to start with this. In particular, this section serves as a compact literature review, which helps to practice merging your sources and planning your information. Therefore, there are various elements to each study and the body of literature each student has tested. These elements can presented in different sections of a literature review.

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