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WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of everything that has been written about a particular topic, theory, or research question. It may provide the background for larger work, or it may stand on its own. Much more than a simple list of sources, an effective literature review analyzes and synthesizes information about key themes or issues. Book Review Analyzes and evaluates a particular book. Annotated Bibliography Summarizes relevant sources and explains the significance of that source to the research question. Literature Review Surveys all relevant literature to determine what is known and not known about a particular topic.

Why write a literature review? 1. To discover what has been written about a topic already 2. To determine what each source contributes to the topic 3. To understand the relationship between the various contributions, identify and (if possible) resolve contradictions, and determine gaps or unanswered questions What is involved in writing a literature review? 1. Research to discover what has been written about the topic 2. Critical Appraisal to evaluate the literature, determine the relationship between the sources and ascertain what has been done already and what still needs to be done 3. Writing to explain what you have found Steps to writing an effective literature review: Gathering sources Focus your topic: A literature review aims to cover all of the research on a given topic. If the topic is too large, there will be too much material to cover it adequately. Read with a purpose: Although you will need to briefly summarize sources, a good literature review requires that you isolate key themes or issues related to your own research interests. Evaluating sources For each book or article consider: Credentials: Is the author an expert? Argument/Evidence: Does the evidence support the conclusion? Is the argument or evidence complete? When comparing sources, consider: Conclusions: Does all research arrive at the same conclusion or are there differing opinions? What evidence or reasoning are the differences based on? Gaps or omissions: What questions are raised by the literature?

How to Write a Literature Review (expanded) 1. The Literature Search Find out what has been written on your subject. Use as many bibliographical sources as you can to find relevant titles. The following are some possible sources: Bibliographies and references in key textbooks and recent journal articles Abstracting/Peer reviewed journals Teachers College Record http://www.tcrecord.org/ : The Teachers College Record is a journal of research, analysis, and commentary in the field of education. It has been published continuously since 1900 by Teachers College,Columbia University. Subscription is $15US/year) ASCD - http://ascd.org/ : online membership $29/year Electronic databases Knowledge Ontario - www.knowledgontario.ca (free for public schools) ERIC: The major index for education. ERIC provides access to a broad collection of resources on education research and information. The database is of interest to education researchers, teachers, instructors and students in teacher preparation programmes, administrators, policymakers and parents (requires subscription: Crescent School has one) CBCA Education: A major index for Canadian information in the field of education. CBCA Education provides information for researchers interested in teaching, educational research and educational administration in Canada. Articles are indexed from over 250 Canadian education journals, magazines, newsletters and newspapers (requires subscription) SAGE - http://online.sagepub.com/ : SAGE Publications, a leading international publisher of books, journals, and electronic media, is a privately owned publishing company dedicated to the global dissemination of information (free online resource) Proquest Education Journals (requires subscription: Crescent School has one) Free online resources Google Scholar http://scholar.google.ca/ : Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research (free electronic resource) Google Books http://books.google.ca/ Google Advanced Scholar Search - http://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_search Beaucoup www.beaucoup.com Questia - http://www.questia.com/ Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/ Noodle Tools - http://www.noodletools.com/ : free bibliography software Others??

2. Noting the bibliographical details Write down the full bibliographical details of each book/article as soon as you find a reference to it. This will save you an enormous amount of time later on. A program like Noodle Tools can help with this and it is in the cloud so it doesnt matter where or what computer you are working on. It can be used to collaborate with other researchers as well. 3. Reading the Literature Take notes as you read the literature. You are reading to find out how each reference approaches the subject of your research, what it has to say about it, and how it relates to your own thesis/question. Ask yourself questions like: Has the author formulated a problem/issue? Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope, severity, relevance) clearly established? Could the problem have been approached more effectively from another perspective? What is the authors research orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical science, combination)? What is the authors theoretical framework (e.g., psychological, developmental, feminist)? What is the relationship between the theoretical and research perspectives? Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the problem/issue? Does the author include literature taking positions she or he does not agree with? In a research study, how good are the basic components of the study design (e.g., population, intervention, outcome)? How accurate and valid are the measurements? Is the analysis of the data accurate and relevant to the research question? Are the conclusions validly based upon the data and analysis? In material written for a popular readership, does the author use appeals to emotion, onesided examples, or rhetorically-charged language and tone? Is there an objective basis to the reasoning, or it the author merely proving what he or she already believes? How does the author structure the argument? Can you deconstruct the flow of the argument to see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing cause-effect relationships)? In what ways does this book or article contribute to our understanding of the problem under study, and in what ways is it useful for practice? What are the strengths and limitations? How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or question I am developing? 4. Writing the Literature Review Introduction The introduction should identify your topic, some discussion of the significance of that topic and a thesis statement that outlines what conclusion you will draw from your analysis and synthesis of the literature. If your literature review is part of a larger work, explain the importance of the review to your research question. Body In the body, discuss and assess the research according to specific organizational principles (see examples below), rather than addressing each source separately. Most, if not all, paragraphs should

discuss more than one source. Avoid addressing your sources alphabetically as this does not assist in developing the themes or key issues central to your review. Organizing Principles Principle Theme Methodology Chronology When to Use When explaining key themes/issues relevant to the topic This is the most common way to organize literature reviews When discussing interdisciplinary approaches to a topic or when discussing a number of studies with a different approach When historical changes are central to explaining the topic

Conclusion The conclusion should provide a summary of YOUR findings from the literature review. Explain what your analysis of the material leads you to conclude about the overall state of the literature, what it provides and where it is lacking. You can also provide suggestions for future research or explain how your future research will fill the gaps in the existing body of work on that topic. 5. Reflection: 1. What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to define? 2. What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies)? 3. What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)? 4. How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure Ive found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources Ive used appropriate for the length of my paper? 5. Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses? 6. Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective? 7. Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?

Works Cited:
Allyson, Skene. "Writing a Literature Review." University of Toronto - The Writing Centre. University of Toronto at Scarborough, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/default/files/LitReview.pdf>. Dena, Taylor. "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It." Health Sciences Writing Centre, and Margaret Proctor. University of Toronto, Writing Support, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specifictypes-of-writing/literature-review>. "Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial." UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops. UC Berkeley, 23 July 2009. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html>. "Writing a Literature Review." University of Canberra - Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra, 14 Sept. 2006. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/literature>.

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