Choosing a Topic and Writing a Literature Review

1. Choosing a Topic and Writing a Literature Review Brendan A. Rapple, Ph.D. rappleb@bc.edu Boston College Libraries

2. 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 Boston College Libraries

3. Phase 1Specifying 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 it’s “doable”, manageable. Boston College Libraries

4. 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. Boston College Libraries

5. 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 Boston’s Educational Institutions” • “Special Education in Boston Schools” Boston College Libraries

6. 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”

7. 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. Boston College Libraries

8. 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. Boston College Libraries

9. 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) Boston College Libraries

10. 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. Boston College Libraries

11. 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? Boston College Libraries

12. 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? Boston College Libraries

13. Phase 4Recording 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 Boston College Libraries

14. 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 Boston College Libraries

15. Phase 5 Organizing the Information • When writing a Lit. Review the researcher must • categorize • compare • make connections among various forms and sources of information Boston College Libraries

16. Perhaps She Groups Findings According to Whether They Provide • strong support . . . • medium support . . . • low support to her own hypothesis/theory Boston College Libraries

17. 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. Boston College Libraries

18. 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 movement’s legacy. Boston College Libraries

19. 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 Boston College Libraries

20. 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 Boston College Libraries

21. 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. Boston College Libraries

22. 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 Boston College Libraries

23. 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. Boston College Libraries

24. 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. Boston College Libraries

25. 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." Boston College Libraries

26. Lit. Review -- Tips • Begin with most recent studies and work backwards. • Don’t 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. Boston College Libraries

27. 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. Boston College Libraries

28. 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 Boston College Libraries