HEP 386 Module 2 Module 2 Assignment: Literature Review Plan Example

Reviewed by Emmett Rockwell, MBA Arizona State University Updated October 2026

This HEP 386 Module 2 sample is the Literature Review Plan in ASU's community assessment course, from the Health Education and Health Promotion program. For 20 points, the ASU HEP 386 plan prepares the literature review that is collected in Module 3 and drafted in Module 4, so a careful plan saves time later. The composite student, assessing food insecurity among adults in Yuma County, writes three review questions, chooses databases and government sources, builds Boolean search strings, sets inclusion and exclusion criteria, designs a matrix for recording each source and lays out a schedule. Three starting sources found during the rationale anchor the search.

CourseHEP 386 Assessing Strengths and Needs for Health Education and Promotion
ModuleModule 2
Paper typeLiterature review plan
LengthAbout 435 words, 4 pages
FormatAPA 7 student paper
SchoolArizona State University
ProgramBS in Health Education and Health Promotion
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for HEP 386 Module 2

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Planning the Search: A Literature Review Plan on Food Insecurity Among Adults in Yuma County

Student Name

BS in Health Education and Health Promotion, Arizona State University

HEP 386: Assessing Strengths and Needs for Health Education and Promotion

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title tells the reader this is the plan, not the review itself.
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Planning the Search: A Literature Review Plan on Food Insecurity Among Adults in Yuma County

Review Questions

1. How is food insecurity associated with chronic disease and health among adults?

2. Which adult groups, especially in rural and agricultural communities and among Hispanic and farmworker households, are most affected?

3. Which programs and strategies have reduced food insecurity or improved diet-related health among adults?

Where I Will Search

SourceWhy
PubMedHealth outcomes and clinical studies
CINAHLNursing and public health program evaluations
Academic Search Ultimate through ASU LibrarySocial science and policy studies
USDA Economic Research Service reportsNational food security statistics and measurement
CDC PLACES and Arizona Department of Health Services dataCounty and state estimates
Google ScholarCitation tracking from key articles

Search Strings

Question 1: ("food insecurity" OR "food security") AND (diabetes OR hypertension OR "chronic disease" OR "health status") AND adult*

Question 2: ("food insecurity") AND (rural OR farmworker* OR "agricultural worker*" OR Hispanic OR Latino) AND (Arizona OR "United States")

Question 3: ("food insecurity") AND (intervention OR program OR SNAP OR "produce prescription" OR "food pantry") AND (evaluation OR outcome*)

I will add MeSH terms such as Food Insecurity and Food Assistance in PubMed and check the subject headings of relevant articles to refine the search.

What this page is doingWriting the actual search strings, rather than a list of keywords, shows the instructor exactly how the search can be repeated.
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Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Include: peer-reviewed studies and government reports published from 2010 onward, in English, on adults in the United States, using a recognized measure of food insecurity. Include landmark earlier studies if they are widely cited.

Exclude: studies only of children, studies outside the United States, opinion pieces without data and sources I cannot access in full.

Starting Points

Three sources from my rationale anchor the search. A national review summarizes the health consequences of food insecurity across age groups (Gundersen & Ziliak, 2015). A study of low-income NHANES adults links food insecurity to hypertension and hyperlipidemia (Seligman et al., 2010). The USDA's annual report supplies national prevalence and the measurement method (Rabbitt et al., 2024). I will search the reference lists of these sources and use Google Scholar's cited-by feature to find newer work.

Organizing the Evidence

Each source will go into a matrix with columns for citation, purpose, design, sample and setting, food insecurity measure, main findings, strengths and limits and relevance to Yuma. I will save PDFs in a folder named by author and year and store citations in Zotero.

Schedule

Week 1 of Module 3: run searches and screen titles and abstracts. Week 2: read full texts and complete the matrix for 12 to 15 sources. Module 4: write the first draft, organized by the three questions.

References

Gundersen, C., & Ziliak, J. P. (2015). Food insecurity and health outcomes. Health Affairs, 34(11), 1830-1839. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0645

Rabbitt, M. P., Reed-Jones, M., Hales, L. J., & Burke, M. P. (2024). Household food security in the United States in 2023 (Economic Research Report No. 337). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. https://doi.org/10.32747/2024.8583175.ers

Seligman, H. K., Laraia, B. A., & Kushel, M. B. (2010). Food insecurity is associated with chronic disease among low-income NHANES participants. The Journal of Nutrition, 140(2), 304-310. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.109.112573

What the HEP 386 Module 2 instructions ask for

The Literature Review Plan in HEP 386 Module 2 is worth 20 points and guides you through planning the review you will collect in Module 3 and draft in Module 4. A plan typically states the questions the review will answer, the databases and other sources you will search, the keywords and search strings, the criteria for including or excluding sources and how you will record what you find. Follow the instructor's template if one is provided in Canvas. The same module also asks for a volunteer plan and a windshield survey plan, so keep the literature plan focused and realistic. A short plan now prevents weeks of unfocused searching.

How the HEP 386 Module 2 example is put together

The sample states three review questions tied to the assessment. A table lists databases and government sources with a reason for each. Search strings are written out with Boolean operators for each question, followed by a note on subject headings. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are listed separately, three starting sources are summarized with citations, and the plan closes with a matrix design and a two-module schedule. The search strings are written exactly as they would be typed, so the instructor can test them. The plan also names three starting sources and explains how their reference lists and citing articles will widen the search, a technique many students overlook.

Reading the HEP 386 Module 2 grading rubric

The plan is worth 20 points. Readers look for focused review questions, appropriate sources for a health topic, search strings that would actually retrieve relevant studies, clear criteria and a practical way to organize findings. Plans lose marks when keywords are listed without combining them, when only Google is named as a source, when criteria are missing and when the questions are too broad to answer with a semester's reading. A plan that sets a realistic number of sources, describes how findings will be recorded and links the review questions to the assessment questions from the rationale shows the instructor that the review will serve the project rather than drift away from it.

HEP 386 Module 2 help from the desk

Write your questions first, then search terms for each. Test each string in one database and adjust if it returns thousands or almost nothing. Use the ASU Library's research guides for health databases. Decide your date range before you start. Set up a matrix in a spreadsheet so you can sort by question later. If your searches return too much or too little, the desk can help you refine them. Book time with an ASU librarian if your first searches go poorly; they can suggest subject headings and databases you may not know. Save your search strings and the date you ran them. Keep your inclusion criteria in front of you while screening. Then start screening.

Write yours, or have the desk draft it

This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Arizona State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.

More HEP 386 and BS in Health Education and Health Promotion sample papers

HEP 386 Module 2 questions, answered

Where can I find a free HEP 386 Module 2 sample paper?

The full Literature Review Plan on food insecurity among Yuma County adults is on this page.

What goes into a literature review plan?

Review questions, sources, search strings, inclusion and exclusion criteria, a way to organize findings and a schedule.

Which databases should I use for a health literature review?

PubMed and CINAHL are standard, with a social science database and government reports for statistics.

What is a Boolean search string?

Keywords joined with AND, OR and NOT so a database returns sources that match the right combination of ideas.

How many sources should a HEP 386 literature review have?

Follow your instructor; the sample plans 12 to 15 well-chosen sources.