Research literature review, Study notes of Research Methodology

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Strategies for Writing

Literature Reviews

Purpose of a Literature Review

The literature review is a critical look at the existing

research that is significant to the work that you are

carrying out.

 To provide background information

 To establish importance

 To demonstrate familiarity

 To “carve out a space” for further research

Characteristics of Effective Literature Reviews  Outlining important research trends  Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of existing research  Identifying potential gaps in knowledge  Establishing a need for current and/or future research projects

Steps for Writing a Lit Review

 Planning

 Reading and Research

 Analyzing

 Drafting

 Revising

Planning

 Scope  What is the scope of my literature review?  What types of sources am I using?  Academic Discipline  What field(s) am I working in?

Reading and Researching

 Collect and read material.  Summarize sources.  Who is the author?  What is the author's main purpose?  What is the author’s theoretical perspective? Research methodology?  Who is the intended audience?  What is the principal point, conclusion, thesis, contention, or question?  How is the author’s position supported?  How does this study relate to other studies of the problem or topic?  What does this study add to your project?  Select only relevant books and articles.

Four Analysis Tasks of the Literature Review TASKS OF LITERATURE REVIEW SUMMARIZE SYNTHESIZE CRITIQUE COMPARE

Summary and Synthesis

In your own words, summarize and/or

synthesize the key findings relevant to your

study.

 What do we know about the immediate area?  What are the key arguments, key characteristics, key concepts or key figures?  What are the existing debates/theories?  What common methodologies are used?

Example: Summary and Synthesis

Piaget’s theory of stages of cognitive development

and Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development

are commonly used for educational psychology

courses (Borich & Tombari, 1997; LeFrancois,

1997; Slavin, 1997). Piaget described characteristic

behaviors, including artistic ones such as drawing,

as evidence of how children think and what children

do as they progress beyond developmental

milestones into and through stages of development.

Comparison and Critique

Evaluates the strength and weaknesses of the work:  How do the different studies relate? What is new, different, or controversial?  What views need further testing?  What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradicting, or too limited?  What research designs or methods seem unsatisfactory?

Example: Comparison and Critique  The critical response to the poetry of Phillis Wheatley often registers disappointment or surprise. Some critics have complained that the verse of this African American slave is insecure (Collins 1975, 78), imitative (Richmond 1974, 54- 66), and incapacitated (Burke 1991, 33, 38)—at worst, the product of a “White mind” (Jameson 1974, 414-15). Others, in contrast, have applauded Wheatley’s critique of Anglo- American discourse(Kendrick 1993,222-23), her revision of literary models…

Example: Comparison and Critique

 The situationist model has also received its share

of criticism. One of the most frequently cited

shortcomings of this approach centers around the

assumption that individuals enter into the work

context with a blank slate.

Analyzing: Putting It All Together

Once you have summarized, synthesized, compared,

and critiqued your chosen material, you may

consider whether these studies

 Demonstrate the topic’s chronological development.  Show different approaches to the problem.  Show an ongoing debate.  Center on a “seminal” study or studies.  Demonstrate a “paradigm shift.”

Analyzing: Putting It All Together

 What do researchers KNOW about this field?

 What do researchers NOT KNOW?

 Why should we (further) study this topic?

 What will my study contribute?