Title: Literature Review
1Literature Review
- AD700 9 November, 2005
- College of Advancing Studies Brendan Rapple
2- Without a Lit. Review, an integrated and
comprehensive picture of the research topic
cannot be constructed.
3Researchers must assess and present their own
ideas in the context of existing knowledge and
established thinking.
4Researcher must be a skilled information
processor and evaluator
5RESEARCHER must be proficient in
- locating
- accessing
- evaluating
- organizing
- analyzing
- synthesizing
- writing
6Purpose of a Lit. Review to
- get familiar with background/history of problem
you are researching - synthesize results into a summary of what is and
is not known - identify possible ways to study the problem
- assess strengths and weaknesses of previous
studies - identify areas that are controversial
- formulate questions requiring further research
- clarify relationship between your study and
previous work on topic - help you to define your topic
- suggest new ideas to you
7 Timeliness/Currency of Material Cited
- Timeliness is more significant for some subjects
than others. - Scientists generally need timely material. Just
think of AIDS research or research in nuclear
physics. - Scholars in many of the arts and humanities,
however, often need not worry about timeliness. - An historian researching some aspect of Thomas
Jefferson's political philosophy might, for
example, find research written in 1920, or even
1820, more relevant than recent literature.
8Literature Review Process
9Phase 1Specifying the Research Question
- What is the precise research question being
studied? - What's the essential PURPOSE of the research
study?
10To know what is DIRECTLY RELEVANT to the
research question, one must know precisely what
research question is.
11Topic Should have Precise Focus
- "The Teaching of English as Revealed in the
Courses of Study of the English-Speaking Nations
of the World. Too broad - English Language Teaching in Massachusetts High
Schools. Better but still broad - Video in the English Language Curriculum of a
Brighton secondary school. Good focus
12Unlimited Topic (MUCH TOO BROAD)
- "Life and Times of Sigmund Freud"
13Slightly Limited Topic (STILL TOO BROAD)
- "Psychological Theories of Sigmund Freud"
- "An Examination of Different Emphases in the
Psychological Views of Sigmund Freud and Carl
Jung"
14Appropriate/Manageable Topics
- "Freud's Theory of Personality Applied to Mental
Health" - "Freud's Theory of Infantile Sexuality"
- "An Analysis of the Relationship of Freud and
Jung in the International Psychoanalytic
Association, 1910-1914"
15Too Narrow a Topic
16Another Example of an Excessively Broad Topic
17Slightly Limited Topic (Still Too Broad)
18Adequately Limited Topic
- Content Analysis of Selected Gossip Columns in
Five Women's Magazines During the Decade
1980-1989
19Topic
- Suppose you wish to evaluate a certain number of
social studies textbooks used in a certain School
District for evidence of sex role stereotyping.
20Clearly One Must Examine the Books Themselves
- Possible Problems that One may Face
- They may not be in the local college/public
library - They may not be accessible through Inter Library
Loan
21Think of Broader Context
- Perhaps you might want to examine areas other
than social studies. - Essential to examine very carefully the concept
of "sex role stereotyping" -- not easy to
define and measure
22- Look at general "philosophical" studies of this
concept. - Look at sex role stereotyping in history.
- Look at changing sex roles in home, workplace,
wider community.
23- In short, it's good to broaden one's reading, to
place your own study in context.
24Another Error to Avoid
- Choosing a topic that is not manageable
- Important factors to bear in mind
- time
- resources
- energy
- travel
- researcher's knowledge and experience (e.g. do
you speak Chinese?)
25Another Possible Error
- Choosing a topic that will not keep your
interest, enthusiasm.
26Questions to Bear in Mind
- Is the research politically acceptable? (to the
funding agency or the individual/committee who
decides) - Is the research socially acceptable? (to the
funding agency or the individual/committee who
decides) -
- (What about an advocacy of euthansia to raise the
per capita income) - N.B. Remember The Audience
27Definition of Terms
- STATEMENT OF PROBLEM How is intellectual
potential and performance in high school related
to success in college? Intellectual potential
student's scores on the verbal and quantitative
components of the Scholastic Aptitude
Test.Performance in high school G.P.A.
combined with assessment of activities outside
the classroom (e.g. editing the school paper,
playing the cello in the school
orchestra).Success in College G.P.A., length
of stay in college, extracurricular activities.
28Another Example
- STATEMENT OF PROBLEM "An Examination of How
Feminist Organizations in West Berlin Helped in
the Reunification and Democratization of Germany
during the latter part of the 1980s."Possible
problem words Feminist DemocratizationWe
must know how the RESEARCHER defines the term.
29Parameters of Your Topic
- If research question is specified too broadly or
defined too vaguely or abstractly, researcher may
be overwhelmed with information. - If research question specified too narrowly or
defined too concisely or concretely, researcher
may miss out on peripheral and more general info. - If research question is very current, scholarly
books and articles may not be up to date.
30Keep Your Audience in Mind
- Keep the type of audience in mind
- Your writing should be pitched at level of
expected readers - Use the terminology appropriate to them
- Physics terms for physicists sociology terms for
sociologists - No jargon, e.g., for ordinary reader
- Generally, "plain English" is the best strategy
31Researchers must avoid tendency to shun info.
that contradicts preconceived notions
- They must keep open minds
- They must look at question from different vantage
points.
32Scope of the Literature Review
- What exactly will you aim to cover in your
review? - How comprehensive will it be? How detailed?
- Some topics might demand a review of all relevant
material others might limit the survey to
recently published material, e.g., the last five
years. - Are you focusing on methodological approaches on
theoretical issues on qualitative or
quantitative research?
33Scope of the Literature Review
- Will you need to broaden your search to seek
literature in related fields or disciplines? -
- Clearly, deciding length will be important.
- About how many citations will you use?
-
- What type of material/documents will you use?
-
- Will you confine your material to that written in
English or will you include research in other
languages too?
34Limitations of Study
- Important to state precisely what you intend to
do. - Important to state precisely what you do NOT
intend to do.
35Limitations may be, e.g., of
- time
- personnel
- gender
- age
- geographic location
- nationality
- (and an infinite number of others)
36Advantages of Precisely Limiting
- Makes the topic more focused.
- Researcher covers herself from possible criticism
for ignoring areas.
37Schedule/Timetable
- Set out a timetable -- should be a realistic
estimate of time required to complete the
project.
38Phase 2
- Locating and Accessing Information
39Some 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.
40Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, textbooks
etc. very useful to get beginning and broad
overview
- a) introduce unique vocabulary and terminology
- b) identify key authors and extent of research
available - c) reveal approaches taken to previous research
- investigations of it
- often reveal multidisciplinary nature and
connections of question -- scholars of
Shakespeare might study medicine, law,
psychology, history etc. - e) Often have good basic bibliographies
41Using Existing Literature Review
- Literature reviews may already exist on some
aspect of your topic. -
- It is useful to search online databases for
literature reviews. - ERIC Database
- DE(Literature Reviews) and standardized tests.
- PsycInfo Database
- DE(Monozygotic Twins) and ptliterature review.
- Sociological Abstracts Database
- KWeuthanasia and KW(literature review)
42Classic and Landmark Studies
- Sociological Abstracts Database
- DEsuicide and ABclassic
43Next Logical Research Steps
- Use Quest to find materials in BC libraries.
- Use WorldCat to find books in other libraries.
- Use subject specific databases to locate journal
articles and chapters in books. - Use multidisciplinary databases to locate
journal articles and chapters in books. - Use the Web.
44Phase 3 Evaluating the Information
Some Useful Sites http//www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/u
lib/ref/guides/gen/eval.html http//www2.bc.edu/
rappleb/evaluatingwebsites.html
45Phase 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 - http//www.bc.edu/libraries/services/ref-instruc/s
-productivity/refworks
46Important to know when to stop the research
47Phase 5
- Organizing the Information
48Examining Themes and Variations
- 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?
49Contextual 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?
50- Researcher/reviewer must
- categorize
- compare
- make connections among various forms and sources
of information
51Perhaps she groups findings according to whether
they provide
- strong support . . .
- medium support . . .
- low support
- to her own hypothesis/theory
52- Perhaps she groups them by themes
- Perhaps she groups them chronologically
53Often Good to Organize Ones Lit. Review
Thematically
- 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
54 - 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
55One Might Include Comments on
- methods of analysis employed
- quality of the findings or conclusions
- major strengths and weaknesses
- any other pivotal information
56Many 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.
57Essential
- 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.
58- 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
59At 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."
60Lit. Review -- Tips
- Begin with most recent studies and work
backwards. - 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.
61- 6. Indicate carefully any direct quotations and
your paraphrases. - 7. Generally, paraphrase is better than lengthy
quotation. - 8. Avoid "grandfather" citations. Return to
original source. - 9. Don't cite references that you haven't read.
- 10. Use headings and subheadings for clarity.
62- 11. Evaluate carefully everything you read. Just
because PLATO or EMILE DURKHEIM or
JOHN DEWEY or ROUSSEAU or EINSTEIN
or Your GREAT AUNTargued something, that
doesn't mean that you have to accept it. - 12. Lit. Review can be time consuming -- usually
too much rather than too little to survey
(especially in science and in technology) - 13. Not a list of everything ever written on
subject. - 14. Important to know when to stop the research
63Title/Cover Page
- Title
- Author's name, address, phone no.,
- e-mail, fax no.
- Name of the institution
- Date
64Bibliography
- Normal scholarly process.
- Should include all resources used in the
proposal. - Should adopt a particular style, e.g. MLA, APA,
Chicago etc. -- style must be consistent. - Helps the reader to form an opinion of quality
of the sources available (and your ability to
find them).
65Appendices
- Charts, graphs and other information which may
interfere with the flow of the proposal or
lengthen it may be placed in the appendices.
66 Writing
- Always worthwhile to lavish care on a research
paper. - Writing is perhaps the most important skill in
todays workplace.
67Paragraphs
68 Subheadings
- Use subheadings to clarify the structure
- they break up the material into more readable
units. - they give the reader a place to "dive in" if she
doesn't want to read all of the material.
69 Writing Drafts
- Write the first draft straight through
- Do it quickly -- this preserves continuity --
gives coherence - So easy to revise using word-processors
70Common Errors
- Unattainable goals
- Failure to focus -- going on tangents
- Failure to cite essential pertinent studies
- Failure to maintain a coherent, logical thesis
- Poor organization of paper
- Poor language, grammar etc.