Month: September 2015

The Literature Review – (almost) any collection of materials on a topic

According to Cooper (1988) “… a literature review uses as its database reports of primary or original scholarship, and does not report new primary scholarship itself. The primary reports used in the literature may be verbal, but in the vast majority of cases reports are written documents. The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic, or methodological in nature. Second a literature review seeks to describe, summarize, evaluate, clarify and/or integrate the content of primary reports.” (My emphasis)

A review of relevant literature is almost always a standard chapter of a thesis or dissertation, though sometimes mini literature reviews may be integrated through several chapters. This less common approach may be found, for example, in some thesis structures based around three published peer-reviewed papers. This compilation based structure for a thesis is more common in some science disciplines. The literature review is an important chapter as it provides the background to, and justification for, the research undertaken (Bruce 1994). Bruce, who has published widely on the topic of the literature review, has identified six elements of a literature review. These elements comprise a list; a search; a survey; a vehicle for learning; a research facilitator; and a report (Bruce 1994).

Cooper, H.M. (1988). Organizing knowledge synthesis: A taxonomy of literature reviews. Knowledge in Society, 1, 104-126.

Bruce, Christine Susan. “Research students’ early experiences of the dissertation literature review.” Studies in Higher Education 19.2 (1994): 217-229.

The Literature Review: beyond summary to synthesis

A summary is a recap of the important information of the source.

A synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information.

It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations.

It might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates.

It may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

 

The Review is not your opinion

Rather than your opinion, the literature review:

  • Discusses published information in a particular subject area.
  • Is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and
    researchers (peer-reviewed texts).
  • Sometimes discusses information in a particular subject area within a narrow time period (see this post).
  • Is expected to be more than just a simple summary of the sources.
  • Usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis.
  • Summarises and synthesises the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.
  • Can be a handy guide to a particular topic or set of topics.

The Literature Review – a collection of materials on a topic

Image from the master of mind maps, Tony Buzan.

Here are some of the questions your literature review should answer:

1. What do we already know in the immediate area concerned?
2. What are the characteristics of the key concepts or the main factors or
variables?
3. What are the relationships between these key concepts, factors or variables?
4. What are the existing theories?
5. Where are the inconsistencies or other shortcomings in our knowledge and
understanding?
6. What views need to be (further) tested?
7. What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradictory or too limited?
8. Why study (further) the research problem?
9. What contribution can the present study be expected to make?
10. What research designs or methods seem unsatisfactory?

How to Write a Literature Review, Language Center, Asian Institute of Technology

The Literature Review – showing your credibility as a writer and researcher

Image: “First off, by way of establishing some credibility, I’d like to note that…” New Yorker Cartoon by Donald Reilly

Producing this chapter for your thesis enables you to gain and demonstrate skills in two areas:

1. information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books

2. critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

The Literature Review emphasizes the credibility of the writer in his or her field. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research paper’s investigation.

Often it is comes right after the introduction. It position early in the thesis means that it is an opportunity to establish your credibility early on with the reader and examiner. They are likely to be fresher and less tired than when they first read your later chapters. Get the literature right and you set a positive tone for the rest of the thesis. You want the reader to move on to later chapters feeling confidence in you as a scholar.

For more see .

How recent should the literature be? It depends…

Some disciplines require that you use information that is as current as possible. In computer science, for instance, an area such as best practice in computer vision is constantly changing according to the latest studies.

In this example, information even two years old could be obsolete. The review should therefore be updated regularly, but it’s still essential to get a draft written early and keep at it, polish your writing technique and use it as a ‘think piece’. But without the personal opinion. A think piece is an article in a newspaper, magazine, or journal presenting personal opinions, analysis, or discussion, rather than bare facts.

However, if you are writing a review in the arts, humanities, history, or social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may be what is needed, because what is important is how perspectives have changed through the years or within a certain time period. Remember to attend to recent changes in attitude towards historical literature, show the reader that you know the current debate on older texts.

Structuring the Literature Review

Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the central theme or organizational pattern.

Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized either
chronologically, thematically, or methodologically.

Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what you have drawn from
reviewing literature so far. Where might the discussion proceed?

Chronologic
Thematic
Methodological

The ‘style’ and ‘tone’ of the literature review

  • Not too many quotes. Quotes are OK for specific ‘new’ terms introduced by the literature  e.g. Karen Barad ‘entanglement’ or to emphasise a point, but they should be short and kept to a minimum. You are showing you know the material, using your voice.
  • Keep your own voice. Start and end paragraphs in each section with your own ideas and your own words about they key texts.
  • Be careful when paraphrasing: be accurate, reference the author.

CHECKLIST – for the Literature Review as a whole

1. What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to define?

2. What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies)?

3. What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?

4. How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure I’ve found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I’ve used appropriate for the length of my paper?

5. Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?

6. Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?

7. Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?

CHECKLIST – for all material included in your Literature Review. Part 1.

Ask yourself questions like these about each book or article you include:

1. Has the author formulated a problem/issue?

2. Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope, severity, relevance) clearly established?

3. Could the problem have been approached more effectively from another perspective?

4. What is the author’s research orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical science, combination)?

5. What is the author’s theoretical framework (e.g., psychological, developmental, feminist)?

6. What is the relationship between the theoretical and research perspectives?

7. Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the problem/issue? Does the author include literature taking positions she or he does not agree with?

Dena Taylor, Director, Health Sciences Writing Centre, University of Toronto. 

Link to Dena Taylor’s site