Chapter 3: Writing the literature

review

Taught by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serey Mardy

(PhD in Agricultural Economics)
3.1 Definition
• Literature Review is the documentation of a comprehensive
review of the published and unpublished work from secondary
sources of data in the areas of specific interest to the researcher.
• A literature review is a summary of publications which are directly
related to the article being written. ‘The literature’ is an
expression often used by academics to describe anything which
has been published on a topic: journal articles, conference
papers, reports, etc. Thoroughly reviewing these relevant
publications is a characteristic of accepted journal submissions
(Derntl, 2003, p.13).
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
3.2 Planning
What Type of Literature Review Am I Writing?
Planning
•Focus
▪ 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
•Type
▪ What type of literature review am I conducting?
▪ Theory; Methodology; Policy; Quantitative; Qualitative
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?
Reflection
Take a moment to answer each of the questions in the
“Planning” section of your packet about a literature
review you are currently working on or plan to work on.

▪How many of the questions could you answer?

▪What questions did this short exercise raise for you?
3.3 Reading and Researching
What Materials Am I Going to Use?
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.
3.4 Analyzing
How Do I Assess Existing Research?
Analyzing Sources
▪A literature review is never just a list of studies—it always
offers an argument about a body of research

▪Analysis occurs on two levels:

➢ Individual sources
➢ Body of research
Four Analysis Tasks of the Literature Review

TASKS OF
LITERATURE
REVIEW

SYNTHESIZE CRITIQUE COMPARE

SUMMARIZE
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?

Sample Language for
Summary and Synthesis
▪ Normadin has demonstrated…
▪ Early work by Hausman, Schwarz, and Graves was
concerned with…
▪ Elsayed and Stern compared algorithms for handling…
▪ Additional work by Karasawa et. al, Azadivar, and Parry et.
al deals with…
Example: Summary and Synthesis
Under the restriction of small populations, four possible
ways [to avoid premature convergence] were presented.
The first one is to revise the gene operators. . . .Griffiths and
Miles applied advanced two-dimensional gene operators to
search the optimal cross-section of a beam and significantly
improve results. The second way is to adjust gene
probability. Leite and Topping adopted a variable mutation
probability and obtained an outperformed result.
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?

Sample Language for
Comparison and Critique
• In this ambitious but flawed study, Jones and Wang…
• These general results, reflecting the stochastic nature of
the flow of goods, are similar to those reported by
Rosenblatt and Roll…
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 tabula rasa.
Evaluative Adjectives
Unusual Complex
Small Competent
Simple Important
Exploratory Innovative
Limited Impressive
Restricted Useful
Flawed Careful
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?

Exercise 1:
Balancing Summary and Analysis
Look at the first example on p. 8 of your packet.
• What strategies might the author use to better
synthesize this information?

Compare this example to the example below.

• How does the second example improve some of the
problems of the first?
3.5 Drafting
What Am I Going to Write?
Drafting: An Overview
To help you approach your draft in a manageable
fashion, this section addresses the following topics:
▪ Exigency
▪ Thesis Statement
▪ Organization
▪ Introduction and conclusion
▪ Citations
Thesis Statements
The thesis statement offers an argument about the
literature. It may do any of or a combination of the
following:
▪ Offer an argument and critical assessment of the literature (i.e.
topic + claim).
▪ Provide an overview of current scholarly conversations.
▪ Point out gaps or weaknesses in the literature.
▪ Relate the literature to the larger aim of the study.
Examples: Thesis Statements
1) In spite of these difficulties we believe that preservice elementary art
teachers and classroom teachers need some knowledge of stage
theories of children’s development…[then goes on to review theories
of development]

2) Research on the meaning and experience of home has proliferated

over the past two decades, particularly within the disciplines of
sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, history,
architecture and philosophy. . . . Many researchers now understand
home as a multidimensional concept and acknowledge the presence
of and need for multidisciplinary research in the field. However, with
the exception of two exemplary articles by Després (1991) and
Somerville (1997) few have translated this awareness into genuinely,
interdisciplinary studies of the meaning of home.
Examples: Thesis Statements
3) Polyvalency refers to the simultaneous binding of multiple ligands on
one entity to multiple receptors on another. Polyvalent interactions are
ubiquitous in nature, with examples including the attachment of viruses to
target cells, bacteria to cells, cells to other cells, and the binding of
antibodies to pathogens. . . . In this article, I review recent developments
in polyvalency and discuss the numerous opportunities for chemical
engineers to make contributions to this exciting field, whose applications
include drug discovery, tissue engineering, and nanofabrication.

4) In this article, we review and critique scholarship on place-based

education in order to consider the ingredients of a critical place-based
pedagogy for the arts and humanities. . . We begin by reviewing
ecohumanism's call for a more locally responsive education in light of the
marginalization of place and community…
Organization
Five common approaches to organizing the body of your
paper include:
▪ Topical
▪ Distant to close
▪ Debate
▪ Chronological
▪ Seminal Study
Topical: Characteristics
▪ Most common approach

▪ Breaks the field into a number of subfields, subject areas,

or approaches

▪ Discusses each subsection individually, sometimes with

critiques of each

▪ Most useful for organizing a large body of literature that

does not have one or two studies that stand out as most
important or a clear chronological development
Topical: Typical Language
▪ Three important areas of this field have received attention: A,
B, C.
▪ A has been approached from two perspectives F and G.
▪ The most important developments in terms of B have been…
▪ C has also been an important area of study in this field.
Distant to Close: Characteristics
▪ A type of topical organization, with studies grouped by their
relevance to current research.

▪ Starts by describing studies with general similarities to

current research and ends with studies most relevant to the
specific topic.

▪ Most useful for studies of methods or models.

Distant to Close: Typical Language
▪ Method/Model M (slightly similar to current research)
addresses …

▪ Drawing upon method/model N (more similar to current

research) can help . . .

▪ This study applies the procedure used in method/model O

(most similar to current research) to . . .
Debate: Characteristics
▪ Another type of topical approach, with a chronological
component.

▪ Emphasizes various strands of research in which proponents

of various models openly criticize one another.

▪ Most useful when clear opposing positions are present in the

literature.
Debate: Typical Language
▪ There have been two (three, four, etc.) distinct approaches
this problem.

▪ The first model posits…

▪ The second model argues that the first model is wrong for
three reasons. Instead, the second model claims…
Chronological: Characteristics
▪ Lists studies in terms of chronological
development
▪ Useful when the field displays clear
development over a period of time
▪ Linear progression
▪ Paradigm shift
Chronological: Typical Language
▪ This subject was first studied by X, who argued/found…

▪ In (date), Y modified/extended/contradicted X’s work by…

▪ Today, research by Z represents the current state of the field.

Seminal Study: Characteristics
▪ Begins with detailed description of extremely important
study.

▪ Later work is organized using another pattern.

▪ Most useful when one study is clearly most important or

central in laying the groundwork for future research.
Seminal Study: Typical Language

▪ The most important research on this topic was the

study by X in (date).

▪ Following X’s study, research fell into two camps

(extended X’s work, etc.)
Exercise 2:
Organizational Patterns
Review the four examples on p. 10-11 of your
packet and answer the following questions:
• Can you identify the organizational pattern for each of the
four samples?
• Do you recognize these from your field?
• Which one are you most likely to use?
Introductions

• Indicate scope of the literature review.

• Provide some background to the topic.
• Demonstrate the importance or need for research.
• Make a claim.
• Offer an overview/map of the ensuing discussion.
Example: Introduction
There is currently much controversy over how nonhuman primates
understand the behavior of other animate beings. On the one hand,
they might simply attend to and recall the specific actions of others
in particular contexts, and therefore, when that context recurs, be
able to predict their behavior (Tomasello & Call, 1994, 1997). On the
other hand, they might be able to understand something of the goals
or intentions of others and thus be able to predict others’ behaviors
in a host of novel circumstances. Several lines of evidence (e.g.,
involving processes of social learning; Tomasello, 1997) and a
number of anecdotal observations (e.g., Savage-Rumbaugh, 1984)
have been adduced on both sides of the question, but few studies
directly address the question: Do nonhuman primates understand
the intentions of others?
Conclusions
▪ Summarize the main findings of your review.
▪ Provide closure.
▪ Explain “so what?”
▪ Implications for future research.
OR
▪ Connections to the current study.
 Example: Conclusion
In summary, although there is some suggestive evidence that chimpanzees
may understand others’ intentions, there are also negative findings (e.g.,
Povinelli et al., 1998) and a host of alternative explanations. As a
consequence, currently it is not clear whether chimpanzees (or other
nonhuman primates) distinguish between intentional and accidental actions
performed by others. In contrast, there are several studies indicating that
children as young as 14 months of age have some understanding of others’
intentions, but the lack of comparative studies makes it difficult to know
how children compare to apes. This study is the first to directly compare
children, chimpanzees, and orangutans with the use of a nonverbal task in
which the subjects were to discriminate between the experimenter’s
intentional and accidental actions.
Citing Sources
If it’s not your own idea (and not common knowledge)—DOCUMENT IT!

• Paraphrase key ideas.

• Use quotations sparingly.

• Introduce quotations effectively.

• Use proper in-text citation to document the source of ideas.

• Maintain accurate bibliographic records.

Citing Sources: Things to Avoid

• Plagiarism
• Irrelevant quotations.
• Un-introduced quotations.
Examples: Citing Sources
Quoting: 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 writes that “for the
majority of women, however, home was a prison, though a prison made 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 the day against idleness, the praise given
diligent housewives, and the romantic ideal based on love and respect (1995, p. 136).
3.6 Revising
How Can I Fine-tune My Draft?
Some Tips on Revising
Title: Is my title consistent with the content of my paper?
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?
Transitions: Does my writing flow?
Conclusion: Do I provide sufficient closure? (see p. 10)
Spelling and Grammar: Are there any major spelling or grammatical mistakes?
Writing a Literature Review:
In Summary
• As you read, try to see the “big picture”—your literature review
should provide an overview of the state of research.
• Include only those source materials that help you shape 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.
 th
3.7 Referencing by using APA 7 Style
Thank You For Your Attention!