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Purpose of a Literature Review

Literature Review The literature review is a critical look at the existing
research that is significant to the work that you are
Writing & Referencing carrying out.
 To provide background information
 To establish importance

Zaki Rashidi  To demonstrate familiarity

 To “carve out a space” for further research

Characteristics of
Steps for Writing a Lit Review
Effective Literature Reviews
 Outlining important research trends  Planning

 Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of  Reading and Research

existing research  Analyzing
 Drafting
 Identifying potential gaps in knowledge
 Revising
 Establishing a need for current and/or future
research projects

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Planning
 Focus
Planning  What is the specific thesis, problem, or
research question that my literature review
helps to define?
 Identifying a focus that allows you to:
 Sort and categorize information
 Eliminate irrelevant information
What Type of Literature Review  Scope
Am I Writing?  What is the scope of my literature review?
 What types of sources am I using?
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Planning Six Types of Literature Review

1. Context Review
 Academic Discipline
2. Historical Review
 What field(s) am I working in?
3. Integrative Review
 Type 4. Methodological Review
 What type of literature review am I conducting? 5. Self-study Review
 Context, historical, methodological; policy etc.
6. Theoretical Review

Source: Neuman (2006, p. 112)

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1- Context Review 2- Historical Review

 A common type of review in which a author  A specialized review in which the author traces
links a specific study to a larger body of an issue over time, It can be merged with
knowledge. It appears at the beginning of a theoretical and methodological review to show
research report and introduces the study by that how concepts, and research methods
situating it within a broader framework and developed over a period of time.
showing how it continues or builds on a
developing line of thought or study

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3- Integrative Review 4- Methodological Review

 A common type of review in which the author  A specialized type of integrative review in which
presents and summarizes the current state of the author compares and evaluates the relative
knowledge on a topic highlighting agreement methodological strength of various studies and
and disagreement within it. It is often combined show how different methodologies (e.g.
with a context review or may be published as Research designs, measures, samples)
an independent article as a service to other account for different results.
researchers.

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5- Self-Study Review 6- Theoretical Review

 A review in which an author demonstrates his  A specialized review in which the author
or her familiarity with a subject area. It is often a presents several theories or concepts focused
part of an educational program or course on the same topic and compares them on the
requirement. basis of assumptions, logical consistency, and
scope of explanations.

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Reading and Researching

 Collect and read material.
 Summarize sources.
Reading and Researching  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?
What Materials  How is the author’s position supported?
 How does this study relate to other studies of the problem or
Am I Going to Use? topic?
 What does this study add to your project?
 Select only relevant books and articles.
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Analyzing Sources
 A literature review is never just a list of studies, it
Analyzing always offers an argument about a body of
research

 Analysis occurs at two levels:

 Individual sources
How Do I Assess  Body of research
Existing Research?

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Four Analysis Tasks of the

Summary and Synthesis
Literature Review
In your own words, summarize and/or synthesize the
SUMMARIZE
key findings relevant to your study.
 What do we know about the immediate area?
SYNTHESIZE
 What are the key arguments, key characteristics, key
TASKS OF
LITERATURE concepts or key figures?
REVIEW
CRITIQUE  What are the existing debates/theories?

 What common methodologies are used?

COMPARE
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Sample Language for

Example: Summary and Synthesis
Summary and Synthesis
 Normadin has demonstrated…
Under the restriction of small organziations, four
possible ways [to avoid turnover of employees]
 Early work by Hausman, Schwarz, and Graves
was concerned with… were presented. The first one is to revise the
organizational policies. . . .Griffiths and Miles
 Elsayed and Stern compared algorithms for
applied advanced multi-dimensional scaling to
handling…
search the optimal cross-section of different factors
 Additional work by Karasawa et. al, Azadivar, and
and significantly improved the results. The second
Parry et. al deals with…
way is to change the culture and environment. Élite
and Topping adopted a variable citizenship and
obtained an outperformed result.
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Example: Summary and Synthesis Comparison and Critique

Piaget’s theory of stages of cognitive development Evaluates the strength and weaknesses of the
and Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development work:
are commonly used for educational psychology
 How do the different studies relate? What is new, different,
courses (Borich & Tombari, 1997; LeFrancois, or controversial?
1997; Slavin, 1997). Piaget described characteristic
 What views need further testing?
behaviors, including artistic ones such as drawing,
as evidence of how children think and what children  What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradicting, or
do as they progress beyond developmental too limited?
milestones into and through stages of development.  What research designs or methods seem unsatisfactory?

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Sample Language for

Example: Comparison and Critique
Comparison and Critique
 In this ambitious but flawed study, Jones and  The critical response to the poetry of Phillis Wheatley
Wang (2007) … often registers disappointment or surprise. Some critics
have complained that the verse of this African American
 These general results, reflecting the stochastic slave is insecure (Collins 1975, 78), imitative (Richmond
nature of the flow of goods, are similar to those 1974, 54-66), and incapacitated (Burke 1991, 33, 38)—at
reported by Rosenblatt and Roll (2012) … 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…

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Example: Comparison and Critique Evaluative Adjectives

 Unusual  Complex
 The situationist model has also received its share
 Small  Competent
of criticism. One of the most frequently cited
 Simple  Important
shortcomings of this approach centers around the
 Exploratory  Innovative
assumption that individuals enter into the work
 Limited  Impressive
context tabula rasa.
 Restricted  Useful
 Flawed  Careful

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Analyzing: Putting it all together Analyzing: Putting It All Together

Once you have summarized, synthesized, compared,
and critiqued your chosen material, you may  What do researchers KNOW about this field?
consider whether these studies  What do researchers NOT KNOW?
 Demonstrate the topic’s chronological development.
 Why should we (further) study this topic?
 Show different approaches to the problem.
 Show an ongoing debate.  What will my study contribute?
 Center on a “seminal” study or studies.
 Demonstrate a “paradigm shift.”

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Drafting: An Overview
To help you approach your draft in a
Drafting manageable fashion, this section addresses
the following topics:
 Exigency
 Thesis Statement
What Am I  Organization
Going to Write?  Introduction and conclusion
 Citations

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Exigency Thesis Statements

 Immediate requirement related to your topic The thesis statement offers an argument about
 Direct focus on concepts, variables, and the literature. It may do any of or a
immediate ideas combination of the following:
 Can be taken from the title
 Offer an argument and critical assessment of the literature
 Can be taken from the model (quantitative (i.e. topic + claim).
research)
 Provide an overview of current scholarly conversations.
 Can be taken focal idea of entire research and
 Point out gaps or weaknesses in the literature.
its related concepts
 Relate the literature to the larger aim of the study.

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Examples: Thesis Statements Examples: Thesis Statements

1) In spite of these difficulties we believe that preservice elementary art 3) Polyvalency refers to the simultaneous binding of multiple ligands on
teachers and classroom teachers need some knowledge of stage one entity to multiple receptors on another. Polyvalent interactions are
theories of children’s development…[then goes on to review theories ubiquitous in nature, with examples including the attachment of
of development] viruses to target cells, bacteria to cells, cells to other cells, and the
binding of antibodies to pathogens. . . . In this article, I review recent
2) Research on the meaning and experience of home has proliferated developments in polyvalency and discuss the numerous opportunities
over the past two decades, particularly within the disciplines of for chemical engineers to make contributions to this exciting field,
sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, history, whose applications include drug discovery, tissue engineering, and
architecture and philosophy. . . . Many researchers now understand nanofabrication.
home as a multidimensional concept and acknowledge the presence
of and need for multidisciplinary research in the field. However, with 4) In this article, we review and critique scholarship on place-based
the exception of two exemplary articles by Després (1991) and education in order to consider the ingredients of a critical place-based
Somerville (1997) few have translated this awareness into genuinely, pedagogy for the arts and humanities. . . We begin by reviewing
interdisciplinary studies of the meaning of home. ecohumanism's call for a more locally responsive education in light of
the marginalization of place and community…
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Organization Topical: Characteristics

Five common approaches to organizing the  Most common approach
body of your paper include:  Breaks the field into a number of subfields,
subject areas, or approaches
 Topical
 Distant to close  Discusses each subsection individually, sometimes
 Debate with critiques of each
 Chronological  Most useful for organizing a large body of
 Seminal Study literature that does not have one or two studies
that stand out as most important or a clear
chronological development
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Topical: Typical Language Distant to Close: Characteristics

 Three important areas of this field have received
 A type of topical organization, with studies
attention: A, B, C.
grouped by their relevance to current research.
 A has been approached from two perspectives F
and G.  Starts by describing studies with general
 The most important developments in terms of B similarities to current research and ends with
have been… studies most relevant to the specific topic.
 C has also been an important area of study in this  Most useful for studies of methods or models.
field.

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Distant to Close: Typical Language Debate: Characteristics

 Method/Model M (slightly similar to current  Another type of topical approach, with a
research) addresses … chronological component.
 Drawing upon method/model N (more similar to  Emphasizes various strands of research in which
current research) can help . . .
proponents of various models openly criticize one
 This study applies the procedure used in another.
method/model O (most similar to current research)
to . . .  Most useful when clear opposing positions are
present in the literature.

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Debate: Typical Language Chronological: Characteristics

 There have been two (three, four, etc.) distinct  Lists studies in terms of chronological
approaches this problem. development
 The first model posits…  Useful when the field displays clear
 The second model argues that the first model is development over a period of time
wrong for three reasons. Instead, the second model
 Linear progression
claims…
 Paradigm shift

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Chronological: Typical Language Seminal Study: Characteristics

 Begins with detailed description of extremely
 This subject was first studied by X, who
important study.
argued/found…
 In (date), Y modified/extended/contradicted X’s  Later work is organized using another pattern.
work by…  Most useful when one study is clearly most
 Today, research by Z represents the current state important or central in laying the groundwork for
of the field. future research.

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Seminal Study: Typical Language Introductions

 The most important research on this topic was the
study by X in (date).  Indicate scope of the literature review.
 Provide some background to the topic.
 Following X’s study, research fell into two camps
(extended X’s work, etc.)  Demonstrate the importance or need for
research.
 Make a claim.
 Offer an overview/map of the ensuing
discussion.

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Example: Introduction Conclusions

There is currently much controversy over how nonhuman
primates understand the behavior of other animate beings. On  Summarize the main findings of your
the one hand, they might simply attend to and recall the specific
actions of others in particular contexts, and therefore, when that review.
context recurs, be able to predict their behavior (Tomasello &
Call, 1994, 1997). On the other hand, they might be able to
 Provide closure.
understand something of the goals or intentions of others and  Explain “so what?”
thus be able to predict others’ behaviors in a host of novel
circumstances. Several lines of evidence (e.g., involving  Implications for future research.
processes of social learning; Tomasello, 1997) and a number of
anecdotal observations (e.g., Savage-Rumbaugh, 1984) have OR
been adduced on both sides of the question, but few studies
directly address the question: Do nonhuman primates understand  Connections to the current study.
the intentions of others?
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Example: Conclusion Citing Sources

In summary, although there is some suggestive evidence that If it’s not your own idea (and not common
chimpanzees may understand others’ intentions, there are also
negative findings (e.g., Povinelli et al., 1998) and a host of knowledge)—DOCUMENT IT!
alternative explanations. As a consequence, currently it is not
 Paraphrase key ideas.
clear whether chimpanzees (or other nonhuman primates)
distinguish between intentional and accidental actions  Use quotations sparingly.
performed by others. In contrast, there are several studies
indicating that children as young as 14 months of age have  Introduce quotations effectively.
some understanding of others’ intentions, but the lack of
comparative studies makes it difficult to know how children  Use proper in-text citation to document the source of ideas.
compare to apes. This study is the first to directly compare
children, chimpanzees, and orangutans with the use of a  Maintain accurate bibliographic records.
nonverbal task in which the subjects were to discriminate
between the experimenter’s intentional and accidental actions.
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Citing Sources: Things to Avoid Examples: Citing Sources

 Quoting: Despite pleasant depictions of home life in art, the fact
 Plagiarism remains that for most Seventeenth-century Dutch women, the
home represented a curtailment of some degree of independence.
 Irrelevant quotations. Art historian Laurinda Dixon writes that “for the majority of
women, however, home was a prison, though a prison made
 Un-introduced quotations. bearable by love and approval” (1995, p. 136 ).

 Paraphrasing: Despite pleasant depictions of home life in art, the

fact remains that for most Seventeenth-century Dutch women,
the home represented a curtailment of some degree of
independence. Art historian Laurinda Dixon argues that the home
actually imprisoned most women. She adds that this prison was
made attractive by three things: the prescriptions of doctors of
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the day against idleness, the praise given diligent housewives,54
and the romantic ideal based on love and respect (1995, p. 136).

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Some Tips on Revising

 Title: Is my title consistent with the content of my paper?

Revising  Introduction: Do I appropriately introduce my review?

 Thesis: Does my review have a clear claim?
 Body: Is the organization clear? Have I provided headings?
 Topic sentences: Have I clearly indicated the major idea(s)
of each paragraph?
How Can I  Transitions: Does my writing flow?
 Conclusion: Do I provide sufficient closure?
Fine-tune My Draft?  Spelling and Grammar: Are there any major spelling or
grammatical mistakes?

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Writing a Literature Review:

APA Reference Manual
In Summary
 As you read, try to see the “big picture”—your literature  At SZBIST we use publication manual of APA
review should provide an overview of the state of research. (6th edition) for referencing.
 Include only those source materials that help you shape  Please see separate slides for that
your argument. Resist the temptation to include everything
you’ve read!
 Balance summary and analysis as you write.
 Keep in mind your purpose for writing:
 How will this review benefit readers?
 How does this review contribute to your study?
 Be meticulous about citations.
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