Literature Reviews: the Hows, Whys and Wherefores

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Literature Reviews the Hows, Whys and Wherefores

• GEO 518
• Anne Nolin and Dawn Wright

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What is a Literature Review?

• an overview of previous research on your research
  topic
• a comprehensive review of all published research
  that is relevant to your proposed investigation
  and guided by your research objectives

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Questions to Keep in Mind

• What is known about the subject?
• Are there any gaps in the knowledge of the
  subject?
• Have areas of further study been identified by
  other researchers that you may want to consider?
• Who are the significant research personalities in
  this area?
• Is there consensus about the topic?
• What aspects have generated significant debate on
  the topic?
• What methods or problems were identified by
  others studying in the field and how might they
  impact your research?
• What is the most productive methodology for your
  research based on the literature you have
  reviewed?
• What is the current status of research in this
  area?
• What sources of information or data were
  identified that might be useful to you?
• (from http//www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html)

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Purpose of a Literature Review

• Convey the depth and breadth of research that has
  been accomplished on a subject
• Supports the motivation and significance of the
  research
• Identify important issues and link to hypotheses
• Identify key areas of missing knowledge
• Describe methodologies used
• Describe existing data sets
• Link proposed research to previous and ongoing
  research efforts -- provide context

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Purpose of a Lit Review

• Helps you learn everything about your subject
• Ensures that you are not reinventing the wheel

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How to do a Literature Review?

• Define the topic
• Compile and prioritize a list of keywords
• Identify sources of information
• Read, evaluate, analyze all the works
• Discuss findings and conclusions with others --
  important for understanding context, gaps in
  previous research
• Divide works into supportive and antithetical
  positions
• Identify relationships between works in the
  literature
• Articulate how these apply to your research

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Identify Resources

• Books
• Journals
• Conference Papers
• Dissertations
• Bibliographies
• Maps
• Internet
• Indexes/Abstracts Printed
• Electronic Databases
• Government publications
• Theses
• Interviews and other unpublished research

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Assessment

• Assess the quality of the information source
• refereed journal article?
• conference proceedings?
• corporate report?
• Assess the standing of the author
• academic?
• journalist?
• government employee?
• is the work in their major field of research?

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Evaluate the Information

• determine the facts/points of view
• examine new findings
• question assumptions
• determine if methodology is appropriate
• are the objectives outlined clearly
• do the conclusions logically follow from the
  objectives?
• identify classic, landmark articles

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Continually Evaluate Your Research Process

• No relevant information?
• Need to reconsider your search strategy
• New keywords
• Explore other disciplines for information
• Too many irrelevant items?
• Re-evaluate keywords
• Narrow scope of your search
• Document your search strategy
• Keep multiple lists of keywords
• Indicate what works, what doesnt

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Getting the Information

• Download full text from the Internet
• University library
• Interlibrary loan
• Government offices
• Specialty libraries

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Information Management

• Select a strategy for organizing information
• Notecards (primitive but it works!)
• List of references on a computer
• Bibliographic database software (EndNote)
• Develop good lit search habits
• Start immediately
• Keep searches up to date
• Summarize papers that you read

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The Annotated Bibliography

• A bibliography in which each citation is
  followed by an annotation containing a brief
  descriptive and/or evaluative summary, synopsis,
  or abstract.
• www.farmingdale.edu/library/gloss.html
• Good tool for quick summarization, assessment
• Keeps you honest
• Great way to share this stage of your progress
• See Erik Stemmermans site!
• GEO 565

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Annotated Bibliography vs. Lit Review

• Annotated bibliography is basically a set of
  notes on each reference
• Lit review flows in scientific/technical style
• Lit review compares/contrasts/links various
  references and is far more analytical

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Writing the Literature Review

• Break the review into thematic sections
• Prioritize the sections
• Maintain focus
• relate literature to your research hypotheses

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Literature Review Style

• Document every statement of fact
• Use scientific/technical style
• use 3rd person
• follow citation style of foremost journals and
  other theses/dissertations
• no jargon
• smooth transition between sections
• Smith (1999) asserted that
• Yosida (1961) found that
• In early work, Conti (1953) suggested that
• blah blah blah (e.g. Rangel, 1998 Mason, 2003)

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Questions?