Completing a Literature Review

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Completing a Literature Review

• Farah Fisher
• Graduate Education

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Why do a lit review (in a thesis)?

• Defines context of your research
• Answers the question what have others done?
• Provides theoretical framework(s) related to the
  study
• May be used to demonstrate validity of
  assessments/methodology
• BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO!

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Define your research question

• Before you begin searching for articles, be sure
  you can state the questions you are trying to
  answer in your study.
• The literature review tells you what other people
  have done to answer these (or similar) questions.

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What should I be looking for?

• The search will be based on your research
  question(s).
• You will want to find research (not opinion)
  articles ones where data is gathered and
  analyzed.
• You may want to use books for general reference
  or to gain ideas for research.

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Begin your search for articles

• ERIC Education Resources Information Center
  is a commonly used database.
• ERIC contains
• Abstracts (summaries) of journal articles
• Conference presentations (usually full text)
• Research reports (usually full text)
• Articles submitted online by the author may
  not be as reliable as other kinds

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Where can I find ERIC?

• You can use the CSUDH library to access ERIC.
• http//library.csudh.edu (see searching handout
  for more details)

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What does ERIC look like?
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What does ERIC look like?
Search terms (AND/OR/NOT to narrow search)
Only include full text articles?
Set years in which to search?
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Are there other sources?

• There are many other databases, but ERIC is the
  most commonly used in education.
• You may want to browse through journals related
  to your research question.
• If appropriate, you may want to look for books in
  the library catalog (online) or use the other
  available databases.

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What about the web?

• The web is generally not a good source for
  scholarly research articles.
• You may find some useful information, but
  remember that no one edits the web.
• Web-based information may be incorrect or
  outdated.
• Journals are refereed scholars in each field
  review and approve journal articles.

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Hints

• Write all the information needed for the
  citations (so you can find the article again).
  You may not use all articles, but record the
  information just in case.
• Use note cards or a database to store the info
  for ease of sorting later.
• Look in the reference sections of the articles.
  If you see the same article/author cited several
  times, it must be important.

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Organization of the Lit Review

• After you have read a few articles, patterns will
  begin to emerge, with general and specific
  topics.
• You may have planned for some of these topics,
  but others may appear as you read.

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Organization of the Lit Review

• A general organization might look like this
• Broader topics
• Subtopics
• Studies like yours

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Organization of the Lit Review

• Look for general themes or statements and the
  articles that support them.
• For example, you may want to state that CAI has
  been shown to be effective in enhancing learning.
• You will need articles that support this
  statement with evidence from research.

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Writing the Lit Review

• After you have done quite a bit of searching, you
  will want to begin writing.
• Like any paper, a lit review will have an
  introduction, a body and a summary.
• The introduction will give readers a preview of
  what they will see, and the summary will review
  what you have said.

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Writing the Lit Review

• In the body of the lit review, you will likely
  have the major themes and points that you wish to
  make and at least some articles that support each
  point/theme.
• These themes or major points become the sections
  within the body.
• You will write the introduction and the summary
  after the body.

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Writing the Lit Review

• Use the funnel to organize the sequence of the
  body the broader topics first, then the
  subtopics, and finally any research that is very
  close to yours.
• Remember that you are not simply reporting the
  results of studies. You are trying to make some
  points related to your study, backed up by
  others research.

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Writing the Lit Review

• Leave out personal opinions. If you make a
  statement, back it up with a citation, even if it
  is something that you have poersonally observed.
• Dont use a lot of quotations. Paraphrase
  whenever you can.
• If you use a quote, you must include the page
  number in the citation.

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Writing the Lit Review

• Have someone else look at your literature review
  for
• Clarity (Can they understand what youre trying
  say?)
• Flow (Does the organization make sense?)
• Completeness (Are there areas left out? Questions
  left unanswered? Statements wtihout citations?)

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Citing Sources

• Education generally uses APA format (American
  Psychological Association).
• There are in-text citations (within the body of
  the lit review) as well as a list of references
  at the end of the thesis.
• See the handout from Anne Garrett for details.

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Evaluating the Lit Review

• A good lit review
• Includes articles primarily from the last 5 to 10
  years. Some major findings can be included from
  older sources.
• Contains sufficient references to cover the topic
  (TBE says at least 15, others may require more).
• Is organized in a logical way, with headings to
  show the sections.
• Includes citations for any statement that can be
  considered an opinion.

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Resources

• See the Thesis Website at http//www.csudh.edu/fis
  her/thesis.htm for helpful links and documents,
  including sample literature reviews.

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Have fun!