Choosing a Topic and Writing a Literature Review

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Choosing a Topic and Writing a Literature Review

• Brendan A. Rapple, Ph.D.
• rappleb_at_bc.edu

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The Literature Review

• Purpose of a Lit. Review to
• Get familiar with background/history of problem.
• Identify possible ways to study the problem.
• Assess strengths and weaknesses of previous
  studies.
• Develop conceptual framework rationale for
  present study.
• Acquaint you with new sources of data.
• Help avoid needless replication of previous
  research.
• Help you to define your topic. Etc. Etc

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Phase 1 Specifying the Research Question

• If research question is specified too broadly or
  defined too vaguely or abstractly, one may be
  overwhelmed with information.
• If research question specified too narrowly or
  defined too concisely or concretely, one may miss
  out on peripheral and more general info.
• If topic is very current, there may be few
  scholarly books and articles.
• Certainly choose a good topic, one that
  interests you. But make sure that its doable,
  manageable.

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Topic

• Breadth of Topic.
• Too broad a topic may be unmanageable, for
  example
• "The Education of Girls"
• or "The History of Universities"
• or "Computers in Schools."
• On the other hand, too narrow and/or trivial a
  topic, e.g., "My Favorite Teacher", is
  uninteresting and extremely difficult to
  research.

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Defining a Research Topic

• Unlimited Topic (TOO BROAD)
• Life and Times of Sigmund Freud
• The School Principal in the Modern School
  System
• The History of Down Syndrome
• Special Education as a Field of Study
• Slightly Limited Topic (STILL TOO BROAD)
• An Examination of Different Emphases in the
  Psychological Views of Sigmund Freud and Carl
  Jung
• Improving the Effectiveness of the School
  Principal
• The Teaching of Children with Down Syndrome in
  Bostons Educational Institutions
• Special Education in Boston Schools

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More Appropriate/Manageable Topics

• "An Analysis of the Relationship of Freud and
  Jung in the International Psychoanalytic
  Association, 1910-1914
• "Texas school principals knowledge and
  perceptions of bullying A descriptive study of
  bullying in seventh and eighth graders in
  Houston, Texas
• Temperament and behavior problems in young
  children with Down syndrome at 12, 30, and 45
  months
• The link between funding a mandated program
  (special education) vs. a non-mandated program
  (regular education) in two Massachusetts' public
  school districts during the 1980s

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Possible Problems in Choosing a Topic

• A topic that is not manageable in terms of
• time
• resources
• energy
• travel
• researcher's knowledge and experience (e.g. do
  you speak Chinese?)
• Choosing a topic that will not keep your
  interest, enthusiasm.

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Definition of Terms

• Title of Thesis/Dissertation
• Christianists, Islamists, Theocons
  Harbingers of Apocalyptic Violence
• Clearly there are some problem words here.
• We must know how the RESEARCHER defines the term.

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Limitations of Study

• Important to specify precisely what you intend to
  do.
• Important to know what you do NOT intend to do.
• Limitations may be of
• time
• personnel
• gender
• age
• geographic location
• nationality
• (and potentially numerous others)

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Phase 2 Locating and Accessing Information

• Some Difficulties -- Leading to Anxiety
• not understanding information
• overwhelmed by amount of info.
• not knowing if certain info. exists
• not knowing where to find info.
• knowing where to find info. but not having key to
  access.

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Phase 3Evaluating the Information

• When reading each article, book, chapter etc one
  might ask such questions as
• What fundamental beliefs are expressed in each
  item? Does the author have an ideological
  stance?
• What is being described? Is it comprehensive or
  narrow?
• What is being predicted? Does it predict
  outcomes satisfactorily?
• How applicable, transferable, or generalizable is
  the information?

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Contextual and Perceptual Implications

• Who posed the research question?
• Who funded the research study?
• What were the political, economic, and social
  conditions of the time and place of the research
  study?

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Phase 4 Recording the Information

• We all have different ways of recording info.,
  making notes etc.
• But particularly useful is the Web-based
  bibliographic citation management tool RefWorks
• RefWorks
• http//www.bc.edu/libraries/services/ref-instruc/s
  -productivity/refworks

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RefWorks

• Web based tool for automatically formatting your
  paper.
• Allows you to store, organize and keep track of
  citations.
• References can then be inserted into papers.
• Footnotes and bibliography can be generated in a
  variety of formats such as APA, MLA.
• RefWorks Tutorial
• step by step instruction
• Details on setting up your account and using
  RefWorks remotely
• Importing records from specific databases

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Phase 5 Organizing the Information

• When writing a Lit. Review the researcher must
• categorize
• compare
• make connections among various forms and sources
  of information

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Perhaps She Groups Findings According to Whether
They Provide

• strong support . . .
• medium support . . .
• low support to her own hypothesis/theory

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Perhaps She Groups the Material Chronologically

• e.g. a Lit. Review on the topic The Free School
  Movement, 1967--1972 A Study of Countercultural
  Ideology might be divided chronologically as
  follows
• Material published in the
• 1960s
• 1970s
• 1980s
• 1990s
• 2000-2006
• But this is quite an arbitrary approach it may
  not be particularly informative.
• If one does use a chronological method, a
  trends approach with the date periods might be
  more useful.

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Perhaps She Groups the Material Thematically

• Organizing about topics or issues rather than
  passage of time often the best method.
• Again, a lit. review of the topic The Free
  School Movement, 1967--1972 A Study of
  Countercultural Ideology might consider such
  themes as
• Views of parents, teachers, students, and
  political activists.
• Aims of the schools.
• Types of school, curricula, textbooks,
  pedagogies.
• Ideological basis of the free school movement.
• New Left the civil rights movement student
  protests the antiwar movement other societal,
  cultural and intellectual contexts.
• Divisions within the movement.
• Critics of the movement.
• Collapse of the movement.
• Views on the movements legacy.

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Another Example of a Thematic Organization

• A lit. review on aspects of standardized testing
  might be organized according to the following
  themes or issues
• Background
• History of Standardized Tests
• Different Types of Standardized Tests
• Rationale of Standardized Tests
• Role of High Stakes Tests
• Standardized Tests and the Law
• Standardized Tests in Practice
• Testing at Elementary School
• Testing at Secondary School
• Statistics

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• Critics and Proponents of Standardized Tests
• Testing of Students with Disabilities
• Testing of Minority Students
• Testing of Students from Different Social
  Backgrounds
• Gender Differences in Testing
• Case for Bias
• Case against Bias
• Teachers Perspectives
• School Administrators Perspectives
• Students Perspectives
• Alternative Assessment Methodologies

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Perhaps She Groups the Material Methodologically

• Less attention focused on the content of the
  material.
• Rather more attention is paid to the "methods"
  used by the researcher.

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How Does One Treat each Article, Book?

• One might include comments on
• methods of analysis employed
• quality of the findings or conclusions
• major strengths and weaknesses
• any other pivotal information

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Many Similar Studies?

• Describe most important one and simply say that
  the results were confirmed in the other studies
  listed.
• Still, to include only germane studies, you must
  examine many.

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Essential

• To aim at an INTEGRATED treatment that explains
  why the studies and theories cited are important
  to your work.
• To avoid a series of abstracts, one per
  paragraph.
• To keep reader constantly aware that the
  literature reviewed is related to the research
  problem.

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At End of Review, Reader Should Be Able To
Conclude

• "Yes, of course, this is the exact study that
  needs to be done at this time to move knowledge
  in this field a little further along."

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Lit. Review -- Tips

• Begin with most recent studies and work
  backwards.
• Dont try to read EVERYTHING in its entirety.
• If the report/article has an abstract, read it
  first.
• Before taking notes, skim the document to get to
  the most relevant part.
• Most important part of a scholarly book is the
  index.
• Write out complete bibliographic citation for
  each work. Add library call no.

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• Indicate carefully any direct quotations and your
  paraphrases.
• Generally, paraphrase is better than lengthy
  quotation.
• Avoid "grandfather" citations. Return to
  original source.
• Don't cite references that you haven't read.
• Use headings and subheadings for clarity.

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• Evaluate carefully everything you read. Just
  because a famous scholar argued something, that
  doesn't mean that you have to accept it
  uncritically.
• Lit. Review can be time consuming -- usually too
  much rather than too little to survey (especially
  in science and in technology).
• Not a list of everything ever written on subject
  it is not an annotated bibliography.
• Important to know when to stop the research