If you are in an online EdD program, you are probably writing Chapter 2 while working full time, using a template your program supplies, and reading studies that have to speak to a problem in your own school, district or organization. This guide covers what is specific to the EdD literature review. For the general section-by-section structure that applies to most dissertations, see Dissertation Chapter 2: How to Structure the Literature Review.
Is an EdD literature review different from a PhD literature review?
It depends on which kind of dissertation your program uses, and online EdD programs use both.
The traditional five-chapter dissertation. Many online EdD programs keep the same five-chapter format as a PhD: introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion. Chapter 2 is a full review of the research, organized by themes, with a theoretical or conceptual framework, and it ends on a gap that your study addresses. If your program hands you a Chapter 2 template with fixed headings, you are almost certainly in this model.
The Dissertation in Practice (DiP). Programs that follow the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) frame the EdD dissertation around a problem of practice, which CPED describes as "a persistent, contextualized, and specific issue" in a practitioner's work. In a DiP, the literature is used to name and frame that problem rather than only to find a gap in the research. CPED's comparison chart describes the DiP literature review as a concise review that blends scholarly knowledge with professional, practical knowledge, where the PhD version is a comprehensive review of the historical, contextual or social foundation of the study.
In practice the difference shows up in three places:
| Traditional dissertation | Dissertation in Practice | |
|---|---|---|
| What the review argues | A gap in the research that your study fills | Why a local problem of practice exists and what might improve it |
| Sources | Mostly peer-reviewed research | Peer-reviewed research plus professional sources: policy documents, practitioner reports, local or state data |
| How it ends | The gap and your research questions | The problem framed for your setting, and the change idea or inquiry questions |
Ask your chair which model your committee expects before you outline. A review written for the wrong model is the most expensive Chapter 2 mistake to fix.
What Chapter 2 usually contains in an online EdD program
Templates vary, but most online EdD programs ask for some version of the following:
- Introduction. The problem and purpose restated in a few sentences, and a preview of the chapter.
- Literature search strategy. Databases, search terms, date range and inclusion rules. Online programs often ask for this explicitly.
- Theoretical or conceptual framework. The theory or model that frames your study and how it connects to your questions. In improvement-science DiPs the framework section may also include your theory of improvement; check your template.
- Themes. The body of the chapter. Each theme synthesizes several studies and, for a problem of practice, connects back to your setting.
- Professional and local context (DiP programs especially). What policy, district data or practitioner literature says about the problem where you work.
- Summary. What is established, what is contested, and how that leads to your study.
Many online programs also assign a literature review matrix before or alongside Chapter 2: a table with one row per source and columns for purpose, method, sample, findings and relevance. Treat it as the raw material for your themes rather than a separate chore. Our literature review matrix template includes a free Excel file.
A sample EdD Chapter 2 outline built around a problem of practice
The topic below is chronic absenteeism in a middle school, a common kind of problem of practice. Sources are placeholders and the findings are illustrative; the point is the shape.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
- Problem of practice: chronic absenteeism among Grade 6–8 students at the study site
- Purpose of the review and how the chapter is organized
Literature Search Strategy
- ERIC, Education Source, ProQuest Dissertations; 2015–2025
- Professional sources: state attendance reports, district policy, practitioner journals
Conceptual Framework: Ecological systems view of attendance [Source A]
- Student, family, school and community factors interact [Sources A, B]
Theme 1: Absenteeism has several distinct causes, and schools often treat it as one problem
- Barriers, aversion, disengagement and misconceptions about attendance [Sources C, D]
- Local data: absences cluster in the first and last weeks of each term [District report]
Theme 2: Relationship-based interventions show the most consistent effects
- Mentoring and family outreach studies report gains in attendance [Sources E–G]
- Tension: effects fade when programs depend on a single staff member [Sources F, H]
Theme 3: Attendance policy and practice are often misaligned
- Punitive policies are linked to further disengagement [Sources I, J]
- Local policy review: current procedures are mainly punitive [District policy]
Summary
- Established: causes are multiple, and relationships matter
- Gap for this setting: no tiered, relationship-based approach in place
- Leads to the inquiry questions and change idea in Chapter 3In a traditional five-chapter program, you would drop the local policy and data points from the themes, keep the review to research literature, and end the summary on a research gap and your research questions instead of a change idea.
Using professional literature without weakening the review
Professional sources are expected in a DiP and often welcome in five-chapter EdD programs, but committees still separate them from research evidence. A few habits help:
- Label the type of source in your matrix. Peer-reviewed study, policy document, practitioner article, local data. It keeps you honest about what each claim rests on.
- Let research carry the claims and professional sources carry the context. "Mentoring improves attendance" needs studies; "our district's policy is mainly punitive" can rest on the policy itself.
- Quote with page numbers. Policy documents and reports are long, and committees will ask where a figure came from.
What AI policies in online EdD programs mean for your review
Online EdD programs have written AI rules, and they apply directly to the literature review. Read your own program's policy first; as one example, Walden University's student code of conduct currently makes students fully responsible for verifying the accuracy of every source and reference they submit, requires them to acknowledge and attribute any generative AI use following APA guidance, allows faculty to request the AI interaction itself, and prohibits entering confidential information, such as data collected for a capstone, into open AI tools.
Policies like this point to a safe way to use tools in Chapter 2:
- Use AI to organize sources you have actually read, not to find sources you have not read or to write the synthesis for you.
- Check every quote and page number against the PDF. Fabricated or misattributed citations are treated as academic misconduct, whatever tool produced them.
- Keep a record of what a tool did, in case your program asks.
- Never upload participant data or other confidential material to a tool your program has not approved.
Common questions
How long is Chapter 2 in an EdD dissertation?
It varies with the program and the dissertation model, and there is no standard page count. CPED describes the DiP review as concise compared with a PhD review, while five-chapter programs set their own expectations. Your template, your chair and recent dissertations from your program are the reliable guides; ask for two or three recent examples.
How many sources does an EdD literature review need?
There is no fixed number. Committees look at whether the review covers the main lines of research on your problem, includes recent studies, and supports each theme with more than one source. A literature review matrix makes thin themes easy to spot.
Does an EdD dissertation need a theoretical framework?
Most do. Five-chapter programs usually require a theoretical or conceptual framework in Chapter 2, and many DiP programs ask for one too, sometimes alongside a theory of improvement. Your template will say where it goes; some programs put it in Chapter 1.
Can I use AI for my EdD literature review?
Usually for some tasks and not others, and the rules differ by program and even by course. Organizing your own sources and checking coverage is generally lower risk than generating text. Check your program's policy, acknowledge any generative AI use as it requires, and verify every citation yourself.
Where Lit Review Outline fits
Lit Review Outline is built first for EdD and PhD students in education writing Chapter 2. You upload up to 40 PDFs you have read and answer one to three review questions. It extracts verbatim evidence with page numbers, maps the themes your library covers and where coverage is thin, and builds a Chapter 2 outline you check line by line, with a Word outline (APA 7 references) and an Excel literature review matrix. It does not write the chapter for you, and every point links back to its source page so you can verify it. You can see the output in the demo case before you start a project.
