Literature Review

What is a Literature Review?

• It is literally that: a "re" view or "look again" at what has already been written about the topic.

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• A compilation of the research that has been published on a

topic by recognized scholars and researchers.

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• Defined by a guiding concept (e.g.,your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries.

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• Provides background for the problem the students are attacking or put the problem into historical perspective and, at times, show how others handled similar problems in the past.

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What is a literature review (for)?

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• When thinking about what a literature review is, we need to think about what it is for. What is the purpose of a literature review?

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What you think a literature review is for.

Jot your ideas down on paper.

What is a literature review (for)?

• Establishes the terms and context. How else will you define exactly what you’re looking at and where its limits are?
• Presents a survey of preceding literature on the topic. How else will you know what’s been done already?
• Explores ways that others have solved similar questions/problems. How else will you select an appropriate methodology and approach?
• Outlines the relationship of these texts to each other. How else will you know what the different perspectives and debates are, and where you are coming from?
• Evaluates the quality and relevance of the literature. How else will

you be able to build on or reject it?

• Establishes the gaps or inadequacies. How else will you justify your own contribution?
• Demonstrates your scholarly rigor. How else can I have faith in your conclusions?

Literature Review

• A critical analysis of existing research in your field; it highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of existing research

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• Allows you to gain a critical understanding of your field

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• Opportunity to think about what has been done in your field; opportunity to think about the similarities, patterns, trends and also differences across the existing research

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• By identifying strengths and weakness, you will be able to think

about what has not/needs to be done in your field

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• The gap in the literature is your justification for your research

More than just a chapter…

• A literature review is a process as well as an outcome!

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• Literature review as an outcome: appears in the final draft of your thesis as part of your introduction or as a separate chapter.

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• Literature review as a process: critical engagement (thinking, reading and writing) with relevant research on your topic. It is a crucial and formative stage of your thesis journey.

Critical Thinking as a student

• Undergraduate level: backing your points up with appropriate, authoritative sources
• Masters Level: demonstrating that you understand how knowledge is created
• PhD Level: demonstrating that you can create new, original knowledge
• Professional academic: peer review, building a

coherent body of work of your own and assuring others’ work

Why is it so important to write critically?! Bloom’s Taxomony: Cognitive Domain (1956) as revised by Anderson & Krathwohl (2001)

Synthesis/Creation Evaluation

Analysis

Bloom’s Taxonomy (revised)

Application Understanding Knowledge

Reading critically

Think about:

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• What were the research aims of the paper/book?
• Is the research aim achieved? If so, how did they do it?
• Are there any problems with their methodology?
• Was it a strong or a weak research model?
• How will this research help with your own research?
• What can you take from it?
• What needs to be avoided?
• What are you doing differently?

Critical thinking

(a three-year-old’s guide)

• Why?
• How does that work?
• What’s that made of?
• What’s that for?
• What does that mean?
• But X says…
• How do you know?
• So what?
• Says who?
• What happens if…

What critical thinking can mean in terms of the literature review

• Understanding research on its own terms – testing its viability

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• Understanding research in relation to other arguments

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• Critiquing research in relation to what you want to do

Starting to think about your own literature review

• Who are the key players in my field? This could be anything from academics, medics, governing bodies, schools of thought etc. (Sources!)

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• What are the main ideas/debates in my field?

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• How have these ideas changed over time?

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• What are some of the problems with these ideas/debates? Is there a problem with the methodology?

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• What are you going to do differently?

Key players and sources

• First stage of the literature review is to identify the key people in your field and collate all relevant sources about your topic.

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Ask yourself:

• What research and theory is there on my topic?
• What are the key sources (books, articles) on my topic?
• Who are the main theorists and researchers in this area?
• How has the topic/problem been investigated over time?

YOU DON’T NEED TO

READ EVERYTHING –

Where to start?!

you can’t!

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• You don’t need to

read every text

• You don’t need to

read every word

Main ideas/debates

• Once you have the relevant sources you can begin to think about what the key ideas, debates, methodologies etc. are in your field.
• You can also think about how these ideas have changed over

time.

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Ask yourself:

• How has the topic or problem been defined?
• Are there any trends and patterns across the literature?
• What methodological assumptions and approaches have been used?
• What are the agreements and disagreements between theorists on my topic?

Organising your material: Identifying a debate

Scholar X

Scholar Y

• disagrees with
• agrees with (school of thought?)
• builds on the conclusions of
• confirms the findings of
• has reservations about

Thinking critically

• When identifying the key ideas, themes and methodologies in your field, it is important to think critically about them
• This will allow you to identify a ‘gap’ in the literature

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Ask yourself:

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of these debates?
• What evidence is lacking, inconclusive or limited?
• What will you add to the topic? What will you do differently?

What’s your story?

Thinking about your literature review

Map your story (literature review):

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• What is your topic?
• Who are the key people in your field? What are the key

resources?

• What are the key ideas in your field? What methodologies have been used?
• What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of existing research?
• What will your contribution be? How will it be different?

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(NB: If you can’t answer some of these question, make a note of this. It will come in handy later!)

Getting started: Planning the review

• Planning is about organising the structure of your literature review (your story will help with this!)

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• How ill you organise the information?
• Chronologically?
• Thematically?
• By trends/approaches/techniques?
• Major debates/controversies?
• Probably a combination of these

Mind-mapping software: Inspiration

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• You can:

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• Jot down ideas
• Move them around
• Create links
• Put text on nodes
• Swap between ‘Diagram’ and ‘Outline’
• Transfer to Word

‘Self-esteem and obesity in children and adolescents’ mindmap (based on French, Storey and Perry, 1995)

Self-esteem and obesity in children and adolescents

Self-esteem: Theory and measurements

Self-esteem and obesity

Children aged 3-

6 years

Children aged 7-

12 years

Children aged 13-18 years

Summary

Question 2

Question 4

Question 1

Question 3

Treatment studies

Cross sectional studies

Treatment studies

Prospective studies

Cross sectional studies

‘Self-esteem and obesity in children and

adolescents’ outline (based on French, Storey

and Perry, 1995)

Introduction: Key questions

1. Is low self-esteem consistently characteristic of overweight children and adolescents?
2. Is the association between obesity and self-esteem specific to aspects of physical appearance or is it more global self-esteem that is affected?
3. Is high initial self-esteem protective against the future development of obesity?
4. Are changes in self-esteem predictive of greater weight loss in treatment programs for obese children and adolescents?

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Self-esteem: Theory and measurement

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Self-esteem and obesity: Children age 3 to 6 years

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Children 7 to 12 years Cross-sectional studies Treatment studies

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Children 13 to 18 year Cross-sectional studies Prospective studies Treatment studies

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Summary

Writing the review

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• Start with an overview
• Decide on organising principles (themes, trends, methodology, chronology, controversies – usually a combination of some of these)
• Use headings for the different sections of the review
• Provide summative signposts of where your argument is leading
• Summarise your review/highlight ‘gap’ in research

Clarity

Tips for clear writing:

• Clear introduction: overview of topic, aim of review and structure
• Clear paragraph structure
• Make sure the subject of your sentence is clear
• Don’t assume knowledge
• Make sure key terminology and difficult ideas are always explained thoroughly (ask your yourself: does it make sense?)
• Be objective and balanced
• Use signposts to orientate the reader

Your critical voice: signposting

• Where appropriate, begin sections and paragraphs with a statement which synthesises or analyses, rather than just describes

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• Use signposting words to demonstrate how texts relate to each other and also what you think of them

Eg. However, yet, moreover, indeed, similarly etc

Paragraphs and flow

• Paragraph:
• Topic sentence
• Discussion of topic
• Closing sentence

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• Thematic and grammatical links
• Logical progression from one paragraph to the next
• Demonstrate links in your language

Illustrating trends: synthesising literature

• Avoid list-like structure by illustrating trends and patterns

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For example:

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Research into thesis titles has emphasised the use of the colon to distinguish the thematic focus from the precise focus of the work (Smith, 1999; James, 2002; Webster, 2007;

Helgesen, 2008).

Use of citations in the literature review

Two types of citations:

• Integral: The author’s name appears in the sentence.
• Example (author-date system): Lillis (2001) argues that

both tutors and students often lack explicit knowledge of

the conventions governing the construction of academic texts.

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• Non-integral: The author’s name appears outside sentence.
• Example: Both tutors and students often lack explicit

knowledge of the conventions governing the construction of academic texts (Lillis, 2001).

Citation and writer’s voice

Whose voice is dominant - the writer’s or the original author’s?

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• The moon is made of cheese (Brie 1999).
• Brie (1999) argues that the moon is made of cheese.
• As Brie (1999) points out, the moon is made of cheese.
• According to Brie (1999), the moon is made of cheese. However, ….
• Brie (1999) argues out that the moon is made of cheese. However, ….

Editing and Proofreading

Editing and proofreading are fundamental aspects of good academic practice.

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Editing is the process of continually revising and improving your written work. It is often an activity that forms a major part of the writing process.

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Proofreading is the final check before printing and submission. It is a process that helps remove errors and improve presentation.

An evolving literature review

• Not something you do now and forget about
• Your field is constantly evolving and changing

What information do you need to gather?

• What questions couldn’t you answer in your literature review story?

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• What don’t you know (yet!) about your field?

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• Use this to move forward!

Learning from models

• Look at samples of good theses in your field

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• Read reviews in prestigious journals in your field

Further reading

Greenhalgh, T. (2006) How to Read a Paper: The basics of evidence-based medicine Third edition. Oxford: Blackwell and BMJ

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Hart, C. (1998) Doing a Literature Review. London: SAGE

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Ridley, D. (2008) The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students. London: SAGE

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Yudkin, B. (2006) Critical Reading: Making sense of research papers in life sciences and medicine. London: Routledge