• No results found

When do you write a literature review?

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "When do you write a literature review?"

Copied!
33
0
0

Loading.... (view fulltext now)

Full text

(1)

Literature reviews

(2)

When do you write a literature review?

• As part of an Honours, Masters or PhD thesis

• As part of an Honours, Masters or PhD proposal

• As part of a peer reviewed journal article

• As a standalone assessment as part of a

course

ANU

Academic Skills

(3)

Purpose and planning

ANU Academic Skills

(4)

Draws out key issues essential to your research Shows what is known

Analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the research Highlights the gaps or problems to be solved

Draws together relevant themes and arguments

Develops an argument in the process of reviewing the literature

What is the purpose of a literature review?

(5)

What does a literature review do?

ANU Academic Skills

Justifies questions, framework and

method

Demonstrates importance and

situates study

Provides

background Shows that you’re

up to day

(6)

Lit reviews map the debate!

(7)

• What bodies of literature do I want to get into and why?

Coverage

• How much detail do I need to provide?

Depth

• What is the relationship between the different topics and sources? How do I convey this?

Structure

• Where does my project fit in relation to related sources?

Research

Gap/Argument

(8)

How many bodies of literature should you focus on?

ANU Academic Skills

Your topic

Area 1

Area 2

Area 3 Area

4

(9)

ANU Academic Skills

topic My

Feminist post structural

theory

Arabian history

Gender and nationalism Globalisation

and identity

Example bodies of literature related to PhD topic.

(10)

Engaging critically

ANU Academic Skills

(11)

How do you critically engage with the literature?

(12)

What is the author’s argument?

What are the links to other research in this area?

How is this study relevant to your own?

What do I need from this source?

What criticisms or reservations do you have about this

source?

(13)

Critical

engagement

ANU Academic Skills

Summarise

Analyse

Evaluate

Relate

Grasp and retell the main point of the source.

Break down the parts of the argument.

Decide on strengths and limitations of the source.

Relate the source back to your own thesis and / or wider field.

(14)

What is known and not known?

What is contradictory, contested or uncertain in the literature?

How can different findings be explained?

Which issues, gaps and ambiguities do you wish to draw attention to and why?

How will your research build on the work of other scholars?

(15)

Writing your review

ANU Academic Skills

(16)

First, you must decide upon your argument or key message

• What is your argument / key message about the research areas you’ve

investigated?

 Why are these areas of research significant?

 What are they lacking / neglecting? What is unknown?

ANU Academic Skills

(17)

Basic literature review argument:

My work builds on that of others. A gap in knowledge exists and it is important to fill.

Fill in what works for your project.

Example: While significant work has been accomplished to

understand the relationship between gender and nation within many Middle Eastern countries, there has been no significant work within the Arabian Gulf, particularly within the United Arab Emirates. The unique circumstances of this country means that a study examining the relationship between gender and nation within the UAE would

make an important contribution to the literature in this field. ANU

Academic Skills

(18)

Chronological

History

Development of Ideas

Thematic (most typical)

Issues Concepts

Methodological Theories

Frameworks

Structure options:

(19)

Basic structure:

Intro and key message

What we know What we don’t

know Gap

Aims ANU Academic Skills

19

The bulk of your content will come from here.

Structure ‘what we know’ from broadest to most narrow (focusing in on your topic).

(20)

Example structure—’what we know’ from broadest to most narrow

Globalisation studies generally Globalisation studies and

the Middle East

Ethnographies set in the ME focused on the effects

of Globalisation

Ethnographies of the ME focused on women and

the effects of Globalisation

My project:

ethnography of young women in the UAE and

the effects of globalisation on their

lives

ANU Academic Skills

20

(21)

21

Body of literature 1

Body of literature 3 Body of

literature 2

Gaps

What is known What is known What is known

Gaps

Gaps Your

aims

ANU Aca

demic Skills

Dealing with multiple bodies of literature

(22)

Helpful literature review language

ANU Academic Skills

(23)

Knowns

Many authors argue …

It is clear that …

Key scholars in this field have noted

consensus The is that …

A seminal work in this field

… is well understood.

ANU Academic Skills

(24)

Gaps, uncertainties, problems

Despite the importance of

… there are few studies

on …

reason … The is unclear

continues … to be debated

uncertainty The surrounding

… shows that there is a gap

in …

Attempts to

…have been unconvincing

because …

Despite these recent advances …

While studies have

addressed … X has been overlooked

ANU Academic Skills

(25)

Implications, limitations, needs

However

To date

Negatively affect

On one hand

Need to exploredbe

On the other

hand

limitationA

ANU Academic Skills

(26)

Cohesion: order and logic

First/second/third Last/finally Beyond X ...

After that Next Afterwards

Prior to ... Now Meanwhile

Previously Currently Earlier

Academ ic Skills

So Since this is so Therefore

Consequently Hence As a result...

Due to Because of this If X is the case ...

It follows that For Thus

(27)

Cohesion: contrast and clarify

In contrast Conversely But

Although Even so On the other

hand

Alternatively However Nevertheless

Yet While ... Unlike

Academ ic Skills

For example For instance To illustrate

..., including ..., such as One explanation for this is...

(28)

Cohesion: add and conclude

Furthermore In addition As well

Moreover Also Similarly

Another reason/

factor/ point is Besides Additionally

Academ ic Skills

In summary To summarise It can be

concluded that It can be inferred

that In conclusion Overall

This suggests /

indicates Ultimately, ... This demonstrates / establishes

(29)

How will you write about the literature?

• Move the reader through your structure/narrative

• Group thinkers/concepts together

• Avoid getting stuck on unnecessary detail

• Make your position on the literature clear

ANU Academic Skills

(30)

Two kinds of citations

An essential precondition for the assessment of

geothermal systems is an accepted and consistent terminology (Muffler and Cataldi, 1978).

However, despite the erroneous claims of Angelis- Dimakis et al. (2011), …

ANU Academic Skills

(31)

Be a responsible writer

• Keep the reader in the picture

 Contextualise your discussions where helpful

• Signal your intentions

• Let the reader know if you’ll take up an idea later on

 As explored in more detail in Chapter 3…

ANU Academic Skills

(32)

Have questions to guide you

Use literature as a resource for your argument Don’t be afraid of counterarguments

Know when it’s time to stop reading!

(33)

References

Related documents

‘This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Due, C., Riggs, D.W., & Augoustinos, M.. Experiences of school belonging for young children of

“The future of translation “universals”: what can localization tell us about general features of translation?” Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies, Edge

Mindful of the health and safety interests recognized in these decisions, Wisconsin and eleven other states have passed admitting-privilege laws. Planned Parenthood of

The fundamental objective of this thesis is to investigate the use of Adaptive Learning Terrain Estimation algorithms for aerospace applications and compare their performance

A Protein-rich dietary pattern (high intake of milk, eggs and soymilk) was significantly associated with higher cognitive global scores and verbal memory scores, while the

This paper applies a hybrid algorithm that allows an expert’s knowledge to be adapted to provide continuous values to solve prediction problems.. The method applied to

OBJECTIVE 4 LRC Veterinary Activity will perform daily equine inspections and medical tests of insure horse performance and compliance with medication rules for the welfare of

This distinction shows that we only fi nd higher mark-ups for exporters in di ff erentiated goods sectors, not in homogeneous sec- tors.. JEL Classi fi cations: F1,