How to write a literature review.docx
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How to write a literature review.docx
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Howtowritealiteraturereview
WritingaLiteratureReview
∙Whatisaliteraturereview?
∙Whydoaliteraturereview?
∙Howmanytexts?
∙Writingthereview
∙Annotatedbibliography
Whatisaliteraturereview?
Aliteraturereviewisadescriptionoftheliteraturerelevanttoaparticularfieldortopic.Thisisoftenwrittenaspartofapostgraduatethesisproposal,oratthecommencementofathesis.Acriticalliteraturereviewisacriticalassessmentoftherelevantliterature.Itisunlikelythatyouwillbeabletowriteatrulycriticalassessmentoftheliteratureuntilyouhaveagoodgraspofthesubject,usuallyatsomepointneartheendofyourthesis.
Howdoesaliteraturereviewdifferfromotherassignments?
Thereview,likeotherformsofexpositorywriting,hasanintroduction,bodyandconclusion,well-formedparagraphs,andalogicalstructure.However,inotherkindsofexpositorywriting,youuserelevantliteraturetosupportthediscussionofyourthesis;inaliteraturereview,theliteratureitselfisthesubjectofdiscussion.
Whatcountsas'literature'?
‘Literature’coverseverythingrelevantthatiswrittenonatopic:
books,journalarticles,newspaperarticles,historicalrecords,governmentreports,thesesanddissertations,etc.Theimportantwordis'relevant'.Checkwithyoursupervisorortutorwhenindoubt.
Backtotop
Whydoaliteraturereview?
Aliteraturereviewgivesanoverviewofthefieldofinquiry:
whathasalreadybeensaidonthetopic,whothekeywritersare,whattheprevailingtheoriesandhypothesesare,whatquestionsarebeingasked,andwhatmethodologiesandmethodsareappropriateanduseful.
Acriticalliteraturereviewshowshowprevailingideasfitintoyourownthesis,andhowyourthesisagreesordiffersfromthem.
Howmanyreferencestolookfor?
Thisdependsonwhattheliteraturereviewisfor,andwhatstageyouareatinyourstudies.Yoursupervisorortutorshouldspecifyaminimumnumberofreferences.
Generallyspeaking,areasonablenumberofreferencesinaliteraturereviewwouldbe:
∙undergraduatereview:
5-20titlesdependingonlevel.
∙Honoursdissertation:
20+titles.
∙Mastersthesis:
40+titles
∙Doctoralthesis:
50+titles.
Backtotop
Howtowritealiteraturereview
1.Theliteraturesearch
Findoutwhathasbeenwrittenonyoursubject.Useasmanybibliographicalsourcesasyoucantofindrelevanttitles.Thefollowingarelikelysources:
∙Bibliographiesandreferencesinkeytextbooksandrecentjournalarticles.Yoursupervisorortutorshouldtellyouwhicharethekeytextsandrelevantjournals.
∙Abstractingdatabases,suchasPsycINFO,Medline,etc.
∙Citationdatabases,suchasWebofScience,Scopus.
ManyabstractingjournalsandelectronicdatabasesareavailablethroughtheUniversityLibrary'sResearchGateway.
Ausefulreferencebookforinformationsearches:
Lane,NancyD1996.TechniquesforStudentResearch:
APracticalGuide.Secondedition.Melbourne:
Longman(UClibrarycallnumberZ711.2L36).
Usingthespecialistlibrarians
TheUniversityLibraryhasthreespecialistlibrarians,oneforeachFaculty.Theycanhelpyoudecidewhichdatabasesandbibliographiesarerelevanttoyourfield,andcanadviseyouonothersourcesforyourliteraturesearch.Usethem!
2.Notingthebibliographicaldetails
Writedownthefullbibliographicaldetailsofeachbookorarticleassoonasyoufindareferencetoit.Thiswillsaveyouanenormousamountoftimelateron.
3.Findingtheliterature
Onceyouhavewhatlookslikealistofrelevanttexts,youhavetofindthem.
∙UsetheUClibrarycataloguetoseeifthebooksandjournalsareheldatUC.
∙Forejournals,lookattheA-Zlisting.
∙Forbooksandjournals,youcanusetheUClibrarypagestosearchotherCanberralibrarycatalogues(includingtheNationalLibrary).
∙Forjournals,usetheLibrariesAustralia,http:
//librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/ cataloguetoseewhichlibrariesinAustralia(includinggovernmentdepartmentlibrariesandotherspecialistlibraries)holdthejournalsyouarelookingfor.
IfthebookorjournalyouwantisnotheldinCanberra,youmaybeabletoaccessitthroughinter-libraryloans.Checkwithyoursupervisortoseeifthisfacilityisavailabletoyou.(Someonehastopayforinter-libraryloans!
)
ThefulltextofmanyjournalarticlescanbefoundonelectronicdatabasessuchasBusinessSourceComplete,IEEEXplore,ScienceDirect.
4.Readingtheliterature
Beforeyoubegintoreadabookorarticle,makesureyouwrittendownthefulldetails(seenotebibliographical2above).
Takenotesasyoureadtheliterature.Youarereadingtofindouthoweachpieceofwritingapproachesthesubjectofyourresearch,whatithastosayaboutit,and(especiallyforresearchstudents)howitrelatestoyourownthesis:
∙Isitageneraltextbookordoesitdealwithaspecificissue(s)?
∙Isitanempiricalreport,atheoreticalstudy,asociologicalorpoliticalaccount,ahistoricaloverview,etc?
Allorsomeofthese?
∙Doesitfollowaparticularschoolofthought?
∙Whatisitstheoreticalbasis?
∙Whatdefinitionsdoesituse?
∙Whatisitsgeneralmethodologicalapproach?
Whatmethodsareused?
∙Whatkindsofdatadoesitusetobackupitsargument?
∙Whatconclusionsdoesitcometo?
Otherquestionsmayberelevant.Itdependsonthepurposeofthereview.
Usually,youwon’thavetoreadthewholetextfromfirsttolastpage.Learntouseefficientscanningandskimmingreadingtechniques.
5.Writingthereview
Havinggatheredtherelevantdetailsabouttheliterature,younowneedtowritethereview.Thekindofreviewyouwrite,andtheamountofdetail,willdependonthelevelofyourstudies.
Importantnote:
donotconfusealiteraturereviewwithanannotatedbibliography.
Anannotatedbibliographydealswitheachtextinturn,describingandevaluatingthetext,usingoneparagraphforeachtext.
Incontrast,aliteraturereviewsynthesisesmanytextsinoneparagraph.Eachparagraph(orsectionifitisalongthesis)oftheliteraturereviewshouldclassifyandevaluatethethemesofthetextsthatarerelevanttoyourthesis;eachparagraphorsectionofyourreviewshoulddealwithadifferentaspectoftheliterature.
Likeallacademicwriting,aliteraturereviewmusthaveanintroduction,body,andconclusion.
Theintroductionshouldinclude:
∙thenatureofthetopicunderdiscussion(thetopicofyourthesis)
∙theparametersofthetopic(whatdoesitincludeandexclude)?
∙thebasisforyourselectionoftheliterature
Theconclusionshouldinclude:
∙Asummaryofmajoragreementsanddisagreementsintheliterature
∙Asummaryofgeneralconclusionsthatarebeingdrawn.
∙Asummaryofwhereyourthesissitsintheliterature(Remember!
Yourthesiscouldbecomeoneofthefuturetextsonthesubject—howwilllaterresearchstudentsdescribeyourthesisintheirliteraturereviews?
)
Thebodyparagraphscouldincluderelevantparagraphson:
∙historicalbackground,includingclassictexts;
∙currentmainstreamversusalternativetheoreticalorideologicalviewpoints,includingdifferingtheoreticalassumptions,differingpoliticaloutlooks,andotherconflicts;
∙possibleapproachestothesubject(empirical,philosophical,historical,postmodernist,etc);
∙definitionsinuse;
∙currentresearchstudies;
∙currentdiscoveriesaboutthetopic;
∙principalquestionsthatarebeingasked;
∙generalconclusionsthatarebeingdrawn;
∙methodologiesandmethodsinuse;
…andsoon.
Guidelinesforwritingaliteraturereview
byHelenMongan-Rallis.Lastupdated:
November17,2006
[Note:
Fortheseguidelines,insomesectionsIhavequoteddirectlysomeofthethestepsfrom:
Galvan,J.(2006).Writingliteraturereviews:
aguideforstudentsofthebehavioralsciences(3rded.).Glendale,CA:
PyrczakPublishing.]
Whatisaliteraturereview?
Aliteraturereviewisnotanannotatedbibliographyinwhichyousummarizebrieflyeacharticlethatyouhavereviewed.Whileasummaryofthewhatyouhavereadiscontainedwithintheliteraturereview,itgoeswellbeyondmerelysummarizingprofessionalliterature.Itfocusesonaspecifictopicofinteresttoyouandincludesacriticalanalysisoftherelationshipamongdifferentworks,andrelatingthisresearchtoyourwork.Itmaybewrittenasastand-alonepaperortoprovideatheoreticalframeworkandrationaleforaresearchstudy(suchasathesisordissertation).
Step-by-stepguide
TheseguidelinesareadaptedprimarilyfromGalvan(2006).Galvanoutlinesaveryclear,step-by-stepapproachthatisveryusefultouseasyouwriteyourreview.Ihaveintegratedsomeothertipswithinthisguide,particularlyinsuggestingdifferenttechnologytoolsthatyoumightwanttoconsiderinhelpingyouorganizeyourreview.InthesectionsfromStep6-9whatIhaveincludedistheoutlineofthosestepsexactlyasdescribedbyGalvan.Ialsoprovidelinksattheendofthisguidetoresourcesthatyoushoulduseinordertosearchtheliteratureandasyouwriteyourreview.
Inadditiontousingthestep-by-stepguidethatIhaveprovidedbelow,Ialsorecommendthatyou(a)locateexamplesofliteraturereviewsinyourfieldofstudyandskimoverthesetogetafeelforwhataliteraturereviewisandhowthesearewritten(Ihavealsoprovidedlinkstoacoupleofexamplesattheendoftheseguidelines(b)readoverotherguidestowritingliteraturereviewssothatyouseedifferentperspectivesandapproaches:
Someexamplesare:
1.ReviewofLiterature:
UniversityofWisconsin-MadisonTheWritingCenter.
2.Howto..WriteaLiteratureReview:
UniversityofCalifornia,SantaCruzUniversityLibrary).
3.
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