A Review of the Literature With Your Hosts Writing Center Staff and Faculty

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A Review of the LiteratureWith Your
HostsWriting Center Staff and Faculty
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Objectives

• Explore the Role of the Literature Review by
  examining
• The Definition
• The Purpose
• Strategies for Accessing the Literature
• Strategies for Reading the Literature
• Strategies for Crafting the Review

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Questions to ask

• What is the specific research problem that the
  literature review seeks to resolve?
• What type of literature review is to be conducted
  (theories, policies, methodologies)?
• What is the scope of the literature review
  (journals, books, popular media)?

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A template to keep in mind

• Compile
• Gather the literature
• Critique
• Determine the value
• Categorize
• Organize according to common denominators
• Comprehend
• Understand the content well enough to teach it.
• Compose
• Write the literature review.

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Literature Review Defined

• Any collection of materials on a topic.
• Scholarly peer-reviewed articles
• Government documents
• Conference proceedings
• Personal communication
• Unpublished pamphlets
• Internal documents

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Purpose of the Literature Review

• To convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas
  have been established on a topic.
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Oddities

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Purpose of the Literature Review

• Allows a researcher to demonstrate
• Information seeking skills, that is, the ability
  to scan the literature efficiently to identify a
  set of useful articles and books.
• Critical appraisal skills, that is, the ability
  to apply principles of analysis to identify
  unbiased and valid studies.

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Purpose of the Literature Review

• Provides a handy guide to a particular topic.
• Useful reports keeping a professional updated on
  what is current in the field.
• Emphasizes the credibility of the writer by
  establishing their authority on a topic.
• Provides a solid background for a papers
  investigation.

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Accessing the Literature

• Carry out a comprehensive literature search.
• May be disciplinary or interdisciplinary.
• Review all types of publications (journals,
  books, govt. documents, popular media).
• Start with a broad range and then narrow.
• Review all internal references.
• Consult with others.

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Reading the Literature

• Active Reading means asking questions.
• What is similar in the literature (methodologies,
  philosophies, assertions, interpretation of
  evidence)?
• What is different?
• What are the gaps, that is, what requires further
  exploration?
• What stands out?

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Reading the Literature

• Active Reading continued
• Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
• Is it clearly defined (significance, scope,
  relevance)?
• What is the theoretical framework?
• How is the theoretical framework related to the
  research perspectives?
• Is this a good read?

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Reading the Literature

• Keep track of the following
• Perspective
• Problem or issue
• Specific claims
• Evidence
• Objectivity
• Persuasiveness
• Results
• Conclusion

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Reading the Literature

• Annotate.
• Ask questions, jot down ideas, highlight.
• Keep detailed notes.
• Note the source.
• Track keywords
• Note themes.
• Consider a chart or a table.
• A matrix can help.

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Writing the Literature Review

• In the body you should
• Group articles according to common denominators
  (examples?).
• Summarize articles as each merits according to
  its comparative importance in the literature.
• Provide the reader with direction, leading them
  back to your research problem and to the so
  what and who cares.

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Writing the Literature Review

• In the conclusion you should
• Summarize major contributions while maintaining
  the focus established in the introduction.
• Demonstrate the gap in the research, returning
  the reader to your specific problem.
• Provide insight into the relationship between the
  literature and your original research, use the
  language of a social scientist.

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Counterargument

• No one who is working on their dissertation
  enjoys coming across material that seems to
  refute a major premise
• Pretending there are not two sides does not make
  it true
• Tackle the best points of the other side
• Look for intersections
• This is not a cage match it is research

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Common Problems

• Reliance on textbooks or books that are not peer
  reviewed
• Reliance on websites of questionable worth
• Reliance on secondary sources
• Using wikipedia or other online encyclopedias to
  substantiate definitions

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Secondary Sources

• Identified by
• (Cass, cited in Boss, 2003)
• Another type of secondary source involves pulling
  citations from a reference list (e.g., from a
  textbook) and pasting them into your reference
  list. The reference list is not a bibliography.

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Academic Integrity

• Cutting and pasting a series of abstracts is not
  reviewing the literature.
• Remember to place the scholarship in the context
  of your study (this requires that you
  synthesize).
• Researchers write for a discipline, the
  literature review should be understandable to an
  outside audience.
• Stealing other peoples words or ideas without
  giving them credit is unethical.

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Avoiding Plagiarism

• Copy all materials used as sources (or keep
  electronic copies of original articles).
• Put names of authors next to all notes that you
  take. If you have quoted the material from the
  source, use quotation marks.
• Soon all students will be required to submit
  their dissertations to Turnitin to help you spot
  careless omissions and to make corrections
  prior to the final submission.

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Direct Quotes

• Avoid them unless absolutely necessary.
• Randomly pick 10 journal articles - you will
  rarely see quotations used.
• Excessive quotations means the work really is not
  yours. You are just parroting others.
• If you use more than a few quotations, your
  committee will likely send you back to paraphrase
  and integrate through synthesis.

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Elements of Style

• Revise and rewrite until it flows. Revision is
  everything!
• Do not overwrite (dont include every study only
  include what is essential for the literature
  review for your study). Write simply and in
  short, complete sentences.
• Avoid jargonistic writing make sure your reader
  understands you.
• Stay objective, and write in non-biased language.
• Omit unnecessary words.
• Be mindful of grammar and punctuation rules.

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Resources

• Literature Review Resources http//writingcenter.w
  aldenu.edu/50.htm
• Writing Center http//writingcenter.waldenu.edu/
• Library http//library.waldenu.edu/
• Residency Information http//residencies.waldenu.e
  du/