Welcome to the workshop on writing a literature review for postgraduate coursework students.
We hope you find some useful tips and strategies here.
Here's the outline of the workshop. As you can see, we'll be working through using sources,
structure and style issues and making sure your voice is heard. There's a mixture of
information and activities throughout and you'll also be encouraged to think about your
own literature review. Note, however, we won't cover searching databases and using EndNote.
The RMIT library runs workshops throughout the year on these topics.
When we think about writing a literature review, it's usual to only think about the text work,
but identity work is equally important. This makes sure that you drive the lit review and
that you don't end up with a literature review that is drowning in the literature. This workshop
begins with the text work and then moves to the identity work, beginning on the section
on style issues and then in the whole of the section on creating your voice of authority.
This is the section of the workshop. Selecting the best sources of literature in your review
is the basis of a good review.
There's always a lot of talk about the literature, but actually, what is it? The literature can
be any source of information that has relevance. The most commonly used literature is from
refereed academic journal articles, and your lecturers will certainly expect these to be
used widely. However, in some disciplines, other sources are valid.
We should also think about the word "review" - what does it actually mean? Reviewing means
many things, such as looking for themes in the literature. We also need to be able to
critique and evaluate ideas and research, look for links between researches, and be
able to summarise research in an area.
Although, as we said, you may be able to use sources other than academic journals, what
we do use must have some sort of validity. For example, you wouldn't cite from Wikipedia.
So how do you decide whether you should use a piece of literature you've found?
Accuracy - The information needs to be reliable. Check to see if it's from a refereed journal.
Although, as we said, you may be able to use sources other than academic journals, what
we do use must have some sort of validity. For example, you wouldn't cite from Wikipedia.
So how do you decide whether you should use a piece of literature you've found.
Authority - Who wrote it? Does he or she have credibility? How can you tell? If there's
no author, is there an organisation? Is that credible? Who wrote it? Does he or she have
credibility? How can you tell? If there is no author, is there a organization? Is that
credible? Although, as we said, you may be able to use sources other than academic journals,
what we do use must have some sort of validity. For example, you wouldn't cite from Wikipedia.
So how do you decide whether you should use a piece of literature you've found.
Objectivity - Are you being positioned or persuaded If the article is obviously trying
to persuade you be warned. For example if you found a internet site about the benefits
of aromatherapy and the treatment of diabetes. At the end, or popping up through the article
is a ad for aromatherapy products. That should tell you that, that is not an objective article
Although, as we said, you may be able to use sources other than academic journals, what
we do use must have some sort of validity. For example, you wouldn't cite from Wikipedia.
So how do you decide whether you should use a piece of literature you've found.
Currency - How old is old? Generally more than 3-5 years is considered old in most disciplines.
But really, the more recent the better. Sometimes it's OK to use older sources if there is a
good reason. For example, if no one has researched a topic since 1960. However, you will need
to mention this when you cite it. Although, as we said, you may be able to use sources
other than academic journals, what we do use must have some sort of validity. For example,
you wouldn't cite from Wikipedia. So how do you decide whether you should use a piece
of literature you've found.
Coverage Does the article cover a range of things superficially
or does it go deep into only one issue. Which is best? Somewhere in the middle perhaps.
You want enough issues to be discussed so you can compare some of those. So if you pick
five articles and each go very deeply into one solitary issue. It might be difficult
for you to be able to compare. Although, as we said, you may be able to use sources other
than academic journals, what we do use must have some sort of validity. For example, you
wouldn't cite from Wikipedia. So how do you decide whether you should use a piece of literature
you've found.
There are three kinds of sources: Primary, which are from the original author(s) represented
by red, yellow and blue in the diagram; Secondary, where another person writes about the original
author(s) publication orange, green and violet are combination colours; Tertiary, the black,
muddy bit in the middle. These shouldn't be used because often no-one really knows who
wrote them or what their credentials are.
All texts need structure, and the lit review is no exception. We need some guiding principles
so we can decide what to write about first; what next? What sections should go together,
etc.
So what does a literature review generally include? It includes the main ideas, theories
and concepts related to your topic. Agreement and disagreement related to your topic. Include
limitations or problems with research related to your topic. Your literature review is part
of a thesis it will also include 'the gap' in scholarly knowledge that your research
will fill.
This is where the lit review generally sits within a thesis, but note that you may be
required to structure your thesis a little different to this. Note that it answers the
question, “what do we already know?” in relation to your research topic or question.
See where the lit review sits within the thesis. Notice also, that the lit review chapter has
been ordered around themes, which form headings and subheadings.
Although we can talk about a discrete literature review, but the literature is also reviewed
throughout the thesis. For instance, although the entire lit review provides a warrant for
your study, you also need to bring in a little of the key literature to justify your rationale
for the research in the introduction. You also need to justify your chosen research
methodology using the literature, either through citing the benefits of this methodology by
citing the benefits of this methodology in key methodology texts, or by giving an example
of similar research that successfully used your chosen methodology, or doing both. When
you discuss your results, it's also useful to bring back some other
key literature discussed in your lit review section
in order to compare their findings with yours. And in a similar way, some of this literature
can strengthen the claims you're making for your own research in your thesis conclusion.
The lit review assignment has a similar structure to an essay. Like the lit review in a minor
thesis, it also develops themes and highlights gaps in the literature
This fourth section of the workshop on writing
a literature review deals with issues of style. We've already discussed choosing the literature
and structuring your lit review; this section is actually about how to actually write it,
beginning with developing themes and then looking at how to integrate your sources into
your writing. Remember to always try and link the content and the activities to your own
literature review.
It's important to understand what a literature review does, and this is the same for both
the lit review that is part of a thesis and the 'stand-alone' literature review assignment.
The review should build a story around the topic. It's not good enough to passively report
what the literature says; you have to make something of it.
Here's an outline example of a section of literature review. What do you think about
it? Is it effective? What's wrong with it? Writing one paragraph on text A, the next
on text B, the next on text C, etc. is a common mistake we often see. A lit review is not
an annotated bibliography. In other words, we don't just talk about what this person
said, etc. What we have to do is identify and develop themes in the literature.
Themes will become the building blocks of your lit review, so they're important. However,
two big problems we often have are: firstly, identifying the themes; and secondly, trying
to keep all the literature in our head while we're trying to identify new themes or deciding
how articles fit into known themes.
In this process we began by selecting the literature and reading through the first article.
The themes were then identified and the author and main points were added to the table. This
process was then repeated using other articles. Themes were broke down into sub-themes when
necessary. Sometimes these need to be captured in a new table for that theme.
To recap, here's the five step process for identifying and capturing themes.
Of course, when you write your lit review, you need to use general academic writing skills
such as having a clearly identified topic sentence in each paragraphs, and making sure
paragraphs link to each other. However, another set of skills are equally important: analysis,
synthesis, critique, as well as paraphrasing and quoting.
This is some example of the five skills used in reviewing the literature. Read the article,
and then click on each skill to see how each has been used.
A general skill in writing a lit review is to seamlessly integrate the literature into
your own writing so that your own voice comes through, rather than those you've cited. Here
are three main ways of doing this. When you find several articles that say the same thing,
this adds weight to what you want to say. Note the strength of the writer's voice in
the first example where similar information is grouped together.
In this example the text compares research findings, showing the relationship between
authors by using the language of debate.
Final example, the writer’s voice is strong, as it is with the first example. However,
unlike the close paraphrases of the first text, this gives a summary of the position
in a research area.
In the first example the writer’s voice stands out with the author’s name put at
the end of the sentence. This is an information-prominent citation. Generally try to use these information-prominent
citations because they enable your own voice to stand out.
In the second example, the author voice stands out because they are being used as the subject
of the information. These are called author-prominent citations. Use these when you're constructing
debate around contrasting ideas of two or more researchers. Note, however, that in some
disciplines, author prominent citations are almost never used and in others, it's discouraged.
If you haven't been given a guideline, look to see how articles are refereed in academic
journals and how your disciplines are cited and follow that.
In this last example it has no citation. This is considered common discipline knowledge
so it doesn't need a citation. But how do you know what is common knowledge and what
is not? Check in your refereed journals is the information cited in these? If not, it's
probably OK not to cite. However, anytime in doubt, cite the source. You won't get marks
deducted when citing when you don't need to but you might if you don't cite, and should
have.
In the second example, the author’s voice stands out because they are being used as
the subject of the information. These are called autho- prominent citations. Use these
when you're constructing debate around contrasting ideas of two or more researchers. Note, however,
that in some disciplines author-prominent citations are almost never used and in others,
it's discouraged. If you haven't been given an guideline, look to see how articles are
refereed in academic journals and your disciples are cited and follow that.
In the second example, the author voice stands out because they are being used as the subject
of the information. These are called author prominent citations. Use these when you’re
constructing debate around contrasting ideas of two or more researchers. Note however that
in some disciplines author prominent citations are almost never used and in others, it's
discouraged. If you haven't been given an guideline, look to see how articles are refereed
in academic journals and your disciples are cited and follow that.
In the fifth section of the module on writing the literature review, we discuss the need
for you to create your authoritative voice. Remember in the first module, we said that
there were two parts to writing your lit review: the text work and the identity work. This
section is about the identity work, that is, your identity as a scholar.
Kamler and Thomson use this metaphor of a dinner party to illustrate authority in a
lit review. You're the host. The dinner is in your home. Your guests are coming and you're
familiar with their thinking on a range of issues. You're quite close to some of them
but a few guests are new acquaintances and you want to know more about them.
You've planned the menu and cooked the food. You're looking forward to initiating lively
discussion around the dinner table. It's your night!
You've planned the menu and cooked the food. You're looking forward to initiating lively
discussion around the dinner table. It's your night!
A common mistake is to discuss each piece of literature, one at a time, much the same
as an annotated bibliography. Making your ideas central is essential. One effective
way to do this is to look for areas of contention, so you can discuss who agrees with whom and
who doesn't. This allows you to critique effectively and develop your own stance. Remember
that everything you write has a “storyline”, and the lit review is no exception. By identifying
the story of the relevant research and how it relates to your topic, you'll be more likely
to show your voice. And of course, you need to show appreciation and criticality in a
professional manner.
There is no topic sentence.
Every sentence has: The researcher at the beginning; A fairly neutral verb. for example:
‘Mortimer also contributes…’ , ‘Hopkins suggests... ‘ , ‘Reynolds and Cuttance
also point out… ‘ , ‘Hargreaves and Hopkins also endorse… ‘.
A summary of ideas, with no evaluative stance.
Your choice of reporting verbs can demonstrate analysis and critical thinking and reading.
Verbs such as “states”, “argues” and “shows” are often overused. There are
many more effective verbs you can use. Check out this PDF for a list of strong, neutral
and tentative reporting verbs.
It really is easy to get bogged down in the literature and therefore in danger of our
writing being drowned by the literature or having too much “he said, she said” in
it. One way many writers find useful in preventing this is to use a story plot. This is like
'thinking in writing' - it doesn't end up in your lit review, but from it you a develop
a plan, which will have your voice prominent. If you don't want to write this down, try
recording it and playing it back.