Background (creating argument using the literature)

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• Background (creating argument using the
  literature)
• by Binam Ghimire

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Learning Objectives

• Writing the background
• Understanding review of literature
• Understanding debate in literature
• Understanding how to be critical and not
  descriptive

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Welcome

• Warm up

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Background to Research Proposal (Literature
Review)

• Knowledge doesnt exist in a vacuum, and your
  work has value in relation to other peoples.
  Your work and your findings will be significant
  only to the extent that they are the same as, or
  different from, other peoples work and
  findings.
• - Jankowicz (1991)

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Background to Research Proposal (Literature
Review)

• The selection of available documents(both
  published
• and unpublished) on the topic, which contain
  information, ideas, data and evidence written
  from a particular standpoint to fulfil certain
  aims or express certain views on the nature of
  the topic and how it is to be investigated, and
  the effective evaluation of these documents in
  relation to the research being proposed
• - Hart (2003)

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Literature ReviewIs it Love Readings?
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Is it enough?
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Students must write
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Literature ReviewIs it Readings and writing?

• Yes?

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Literature ReviewIs it Readings and writing?

• No?

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Literature ReviewIs it Readings and writing?

• Answer Yes and No

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LR What is it?

• It is a critical and evaluative account of what
  has been
• published on a chosen research topic.
• Its purpose is to summarise, synthesise and
  analyse the arguments of others.
• (It is not an academic research paper, the main
  purpose of which is to support your own
  argument.)

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LR What is it?

• You should describe and analyse the knowledge
  that exists and
• what gaps occur in research related to your field
  of interest. (This should clarify the
  relationship between your own research and the
  work that has previously been done.)
• It should reveal similarities and differences,
  consistencies and inconsistencies and
  controversies in previous research.

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LR What it is not?

• LR is not Love Readings
• It is not a descriptive list of papers or
  summaries. You must not just list your sources
  and describe them in detail one at a time.

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Lit Rev What is it?

• Analyse Critically and not just be descriptive

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Analyse Critically and not just be descriptive

• Example (definition of team) in two different
  works
• Everard and Morris (1990, p.172)
• Group of people that can effectively tackle any
  task which it has been set up to do.
• O Neil (1997, p. 77)
• A team is a small group of people who recognise
  the need for constructive conflict when working
  together in order for them to make, implement and
  support workable decisions
• Now critically review the above two definitions

Where is the answer?
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Analyse Critically and not just be descriptive

• Task
• Find some key terminologies in your areas of
  specialisation
• Find definitions from key authors
• Review the definitions made by different authors
  for each terminology

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What am I expected

• Descriptive
• Summarises what other people have found without
  saying what these findings mean for your
  investigation.
• Usually a chronological list of who discovered
  what, and when.
• Analytical
• Synthesises the work and succinctly passes
  judgement on the relative merits of research
  conducted in your field.
• Reveals limitations or recognises the possibility
  of taking research further, allowing you to
  formulate and justify your aims for your
  investigation.

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What am I expected

• Descriptive
• Green (1975) discovered .""In 1978, Black
  conducted experiments and discovered that
  .""Later Brown (1980) illustrated this in
• Analytical
• There seems to be general agreement on x, (see
  White 1987, Brown 1980, Black 1978, Green 1975).
  However, Green (1975) sees x as a consequence of
  y, while Black(1978) puts x and y as . While
  Green's work has some limitations in that it .,
  its main value lies in ."

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What am I expected

• ?

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What am I expected

• Suggestion Minimum 2 journal articles

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Thank you

• ?

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Answer to Exercise

• Everard and Morris (1990, p.172) define a team as
  a group of people that can effectively tackle
  any task which it has been set up to do. This
  rather simplistic definition does not explain how
  it might tackle tasks or what effectively might
  mean. O Neil (1997, p. 77) offers a far more
  interesting and promising definition a team is a
  small group of people who recognise the need for
  constructive conflict when working together in
  order for them to make, implement and support
  workable decisions.
• Continued

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Answer to Exercise

• O Neils is an interesting decision because it
  focuses on the role of conflict in team working.
  His view is that a team exploits differences
  between its members in order to become a vehicle
  for making better decisions. It makes sense that
  if the strength of the team working comes from
  the combination of talents that there is
  inevitably going to be conflict and this conflict
  may be seen as integral to the best solution
  being achieved.