A Review of the Literature With Your Hosts Writing Center Staff and Faculty

1. A Review of the LiteratureWith Your HostsWriting Center Staff and Faculty

2. Objectives • Explore the Role of the Literature Review by examining: • The Definition • The Purpose • Strategies for Accessing the Literature • Strategies for Reading the Literature • Strategies for Crafting the Review

3. Questions to ask • What is the specific research problem that the literature review seeks to resolve? • What type of literature review is to be conducted (theories, policies, methodologies)? • What is the scope of the literature review (journals, books, popular media)?

4. A template to keep in mind • Compile • Gather the literature • Critique • Determine the value • Categorize • Organize according to common denominators • Comprehend • Understand the content well enough to teach it. • Compose • Write the literature review.

5. Literature Review Defined • Any collection of materials on a topic. • Scholarly peer-reviewed articles • Government documents • Conference proceedings • Personal communication • Unpublished pamphlets • Internal documents

6. Purpose of the Literature Review • To convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic. • Strengths • Weaknesses • Oddities

7. Purpose of the Literature Review • Allows a researcher to demonstrate: • Information seeking skills, that is, the ability to scan the literature efficiently to identify a set of useful articles and books. • Critical appraisal skills, that is, the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

8. Purpose of the Literature Review • Provides a handy guide to a particular topic. • Useful reports keeping a professional updated on what is current in the field. • Emphasizes the credibility of the writer by establishing their authority on a topic. • Provides a solid background for a paper’s investigation.

9. Accessing the Literature • Carry out a comprehensive literature search. • May be disciplinary or interdisciplinary. • Review all types of publications (journals, books, govt. documents, popular media). • Start with a broad range and then narrow. • Review all internal references. • Consult with others.

10. Reading the Literature • Active Reading means asking questions. • What is similar in the literature (methodologies, philosophies, assertions, interpretation of evidence)? • What is different? • What are the gaps, that is, what requires further exploration? • What stands out?

11. Reading the Literature • Active Reading continued… • Has the author formulated a problem/issue? • Is it clearly defined (significance, scope, relevance)? • What is the theoretical framework? • How is the theoretical framework related to the research perspectives? • Is this a good read?

12. Reading the Literature • Keep track of the following: • Perspective • Problem or issue • Specific claims • Evidence • Objectivity • Persuasiveness • Results • Conclusion

13. Reading the Literature • Annotate. • Ask questions, jot down ideas, highlight. • Keep detailed notes. • Note the source. • Track keywords • Note themes. • Consider a chart or a table. • A matrix can help.

15. Writing the Literature Review • In the body you should: • Group articles according to common denominators (examples?). • Summarize articles as each merits according to its comparative importance in the literature. • Provide the reader with direction, leading them back to your research problem and to the “so what” and “who cares.”

16. Writing the Literature Review • In the conclusion you should: • Summarize major contributions while maintaining the focus established in the introduction. • Demonstrate the gap in the research, returning the reader to your specific problem. • Provide insight into the relationship between the literature and your original research, use the language of a social scientist.

17. Counterargument • No one who is working on their dissertation enjoys coming across material that seems to refute a major premise • Pretending there are not two sides does not make it true • Tackle the best points of the other side • Look for intersections • This is not a cage match; it is research

18. Common Problems • Reliance on textbooks or books that are not peer reviewed • Reliance on websites of questionable worth • Reliance on secondary sources • Using wikipedia or other online encyclopedias to substantiate definitions

19. Secondary Sources • Identified by: • (Cass, cited in Boss, 2003) • Another type of secondary source involves pulling citations from a reference list (e.g., from a textbook) and pasting them into your reference list. The reference list is not a bibliography.

20. Academic Integrity • Cutting and pasting a series of abstracts is not reviewing the literature. • Remember to place the scholarship in the context of your study (this requires that you synthesize). • Researchers write for a discipline, the literature review should be understandable to an outside audience. • Stealing other people’s words or ideas without giving them credit is unethical.

21. Avoiding Plagiarism • Copy all materials used as sources (or keep electronic copies of original articles). • Put names of authors next to all notes that you take. If you have quoted the material from the source, use quotation marks. • Soon all students will be required to submit their dissertations to Turnitin to help you spot “careless omissions” and to make corrections prior to the final submission.

22. Direct Quotes • Avoid them unless absolutely necessary. • Randomly pick 10 journal articles - you will rarely see quotations used. • Excessive quotations means the work really is not yours. You are just “parroting” others. • If you use more than a few quotations, your committee will likely send you back to paraphrase and integrate through synthesis.

23. Elements of Style • Revise and rewrite until it flows. Revision is everything! • Do not overwrite (don’t include every study; only include what is essential for the literature review for your study). Write simply and in short, complete sentences. • Avoid jargonistic writing; make sure your reader understands you. • Stay objective, and write in non-biased language. • Omit unnecessary words. • Be mindful of grammar and punctuation rules.

24. Resources • Literature Review Resources http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/50.htm • Writing Center http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/ • Library http://library.waldenu.edu/ • Residency Information http://residencies.waldenu.edu/