Literature Reviews
Dr. Jasmine Kilburn-Small
Academic Development
The Dissertation Process
Choice of topic and identification of research question
Literature review
Development of a conceptual framework
Gathering and analysing research material
Interpreting research material
Forming arguments
Drawing conclusions and considering implications
Writing the first draft
Text revision and production of a final draft
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What are literature reviews for?
The aim of a literature review is to show "that the writer has
studied existing work in the field with insight" (Haywood and
Wragg, 1982: 2)
What are literature reviews for?
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To gain a full and in-depth understanding of a subject.
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To enable you to place your study within its context i.e. so
that you can show how your research will add to the existing
sum of knowledge.
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To determine what has already been written in relation to your
question(s).
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To provide you with ideas to help you define or amend your
own research topic.
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What are literature reviews for?
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To provide you with information with which to compare
and contrast your findings.
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To identify and acknowledge areas of significant
development and of controversy within the literature.
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To identify important issues and formulate questions that
need further research and which remain unresolved.
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A literature review is a systematic, explicit and reproducible method for
identifying, evaluating, and interpreting the existing body of recorded
work produced by researchers, scholars, and practitioners. (Fink, 1998:
3)
Initially we can say that a review of the literature is important because
without it you will not acquire an understanding of your topic, of what
has already been done on it, how it has been researched, and what the
key issues are. In your written project you will be expected to show that
you understand previous research on your topic. This amounts to
showing that you have understood the main theories in the subject area
and how they have been applied and developed, as well as the main
criticisms that have been made of work on the topic. The review is
therefore a part of your academic development - of becoming an expert
in the field. (Hart, 1998: 1).
Literature Reviews: Key Questions
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Why is my chosen topic important?
What are the key texts and authors on the topic?
What is the history of the study of this topic?
What concepts and theories have been used?
What arguments have been made?
What data/evidence has been used?
What methodologies have been employed?
Who else has done work similar to what I’m proposing?
Is there work that contradicts or problematises mine?
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TIP: Avoid getting side-tracked
Decide on the parameters of your research. What exactly are your objectives
and what do you need to find out?
Are you looking at issues of theory, methodology, policy, quantitative
research…?
Before you start reading, compile a list of the main areas and questions
involved, and then read with the purpose of finding out about or answering
these. Unless something comes up which is particularly important, stick to
this list.
Elements of Originality
In the literature review you are carving out a space for your own work.
You need to look for where you can make a contribution, which
contains elements of originality.
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New topics, new comparisons, new contexts.
Bringing together two different theories or approaches.
Minor to Major – which minor things are worth exploring further.
Can you lay the emphasis somewhere different?
Noting what is not being said.
Identifying and challenging an existing and dominant assumption.
Doubt everything.
Alistair Bonnett, How to Argue, 2nd edn (2008), pp.112-127
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How to Conduct a Literature Review
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Conducting a Literature Review
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Start with material on reading lists.
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Follow up texts that appear in the reading lists of texts that you have read.
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Track texts that appear frequently.
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Consider how best to search online databases.
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Consider the time-frame that you will need to research.
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Consider the scope of the material that you will need to research.
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Be aware of issues of scholarly reliability and validity as you read.
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Be conscientious about record keeping and note-making.
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Finding the Literature
'Literature' can include a range of sources:
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journal articles
monographs
computerised databases
conference proceedings
dissertations
empirical studies
government reports and reports from other bodies’ historical
records
• statistical handbooks
Tips on reading
• Survey, skim and scan to find the most relevant articles, and
the most relevant parts of those articles. These can be re-read
more closely later when you have acquired an overview of
your topic.
• Take notes as you read to organise and develop your thoughts.
• Record your own reactions to the text in your notes, perhaps in
a separate column. These notes can form the basis of your
critical evaluation of the text.
• Record any facts, opinions or direct quotes that are likely to
prove useful to your review, noting the page numbers.
When do you start writing?
Start writing early, when you feel you have an overview of the topic. Writing
will clarify your thinking on the topic and reveal any gaps in information and
logic.
If your ideas change, sections and paragraphs can be reworked to change
your contentions or include extra information.
Similarly, draft an overall plan for your review as soon as you are ready, but
be prepared to rework sections of it to reflect your developing argument.
How to Structure a Literature Review
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Literature Reviews
Introduction
Define the topic, provide your reasoning for choosing the
proposed literature.
Main Body
Critically analyse and discuss the texts you have researched.
Conclusion
Summarise the major contributions, evaluating the current
position, and pointing out flaws in methodology, gaps in the
research, contradictions, and areas for further study.
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• Briefly explain the broad issues related to your investigation; you don't need to write
much about this, just demonstrate that you are aware of the breadth of your
subject.
• Narrow your focus to deal with the studies that overlap with your research.
• Hone in on any research which is directly related to your specific investigation.
Literature Reviews: Possible organising
structures
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Chronology (changes over time)
Themes
Methodologies
Most to least important
You are not merely cataloguing or describing the literature you read so you
need to choose an organisation that will enable you to compare the various
authors' treatment of ideas. This is often best achieved by organising
thematically, or grouping ideas into sets of common issues tackled in the
various texts. These themes will form the basis of the different threads that are
the focus of your study.
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Literature reviews - common problems
• List-like writing that lacks synthesis
(e.g. Sade (2003) investigated X and found Y. Jeffries (2000) looked at
B and found C. Adams (1995) verified that A causes B ...).
• Not being sufficiently critical
It is important to remember that the purpose of a literature review is not just to
summarise what is currently known about a topic, but is also to provide a
detailed justification for your research.
• Not discriminating between relevant and irrelevant materials
A literature review is not supposed to simply demonstrate how much you've read,
but provide a description of how certain parts of what you have read provide the
foundation for, motivate, and frame your research.
• Lack of a clear organisational structure
Using a mind map or plan can help to address this problem.
Literature reviews - common problems
• Exclusion of landmark studies
This suggests to the reader that the student "isn't on top of the
field". NB, your literature review needs to be focussed on your thesis;
examiners don't want to read material that is not relevant.
• Relying on material that is likely to be out-of-date
For PhD and MPhil students, note that the literature review that you did
for upgrade will need to be updated for your final thesis.
• Adopting a parochial perspective
This might happen if you were to mostly cite papers produced by the
research group you are a member of or if you were to look mainly at the
literature on a topic produced in one country or continent.
Common problems
•Getting "buried"
•Losing your way/focus - "How do I know if I'm getting anywhere?"
•"What should I take notes on?"
Keep in mind possible purposes for reading/reviewing
something:
•To develop foundation knowledge you will be utilising or building on
•To develop skills in methodology / to be able to justify methodology
•To identify deficiencies so that you can justify the need to do some
research
The writing process is difficult and messy because:
•You're trying to coordinate many sources
•You're trying to convert a "cobweb" of ideas into a linear sequence
•You may be trying to handle language and ideas you are still yet to
fully master
deed
Features of Good Literature
Reviews?
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Literature Reviews
“A good literature review goes behind the facts to show
the issues that have been dealt with in the past, the
gaps and ambiguities in the state of knowledge, and
so on.”
(Craswell, 2005)
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What are the features of a good
literature review?
• Shows a clear understanding of key concepts within the topic
• Covers the breadth of the writer’s specific topic
• Critically discusses the ideas in the literature and evaluate how
the author presents these
• Clarifies important definitions and terminology
• Clearly indicates a research gap for future enquiry
A good literature review needs a clear line of argument. Make sure
that:
• you include a clear, short introduction which gives an outline of the
review, including the main topics covered and the order of the
arguments, with a brief rationale for this.
• there is always a clear link between your own arguments and the
evidence uncovered in your reading. Include a short summary at the
end of each section.
• you always acknowledge opinions which do not agree with your
thesis. If you ignore opposing viewpoints, your argument will in fact be
weaker.
Literature Reviews
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Need to demonstrate critical and evaluative skills.
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It should comprise judgments about the material you have read.
You need to demonstrate that you understand how the work that has already
been done fits together and also relates to your work.
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The idea is to build a narrative argument, rather than to produce a list, a
series of summaries or a random collection of comments.
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You must show that your work is necessary!
It’s not just a case of showing you’ve read widely. Don’t just
describe the content of each text.
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Critical thinking:
the key to postgraduate success
ALL academic writing requires you to be:
CRITICAL and EVALUATIVE
Being Evaluative = Give your verdict as to what extent a statement
or findings within a piece of research are true, or to what extent
you agree with them. Provide evidence taken from a wide range of
sources which both agree with and contradict an argument. Come
to a final conclusion, basing your decision on what you judge to be
the most important factors and justify how you have made your
choice.
Criticism or being Critical involves:
1) Producing a judgement
2) Providing evidence to support it
Analysis: Break an issue into its constituent parts. Look in depth at
each part using supporting arguments and evidence for and
against as well as how these interrelate to one another.
Being Critical and Evaluative
Involves considerations of:
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Rationales (why something is the way it is/has been done
• Issues of accuracy/reliability/validity/usefulness
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Comparisons and contrasts
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Areas of controversy/dispute
• Motivations/origins/development
• Divergences between theory and practice
• What is most/least important
• Implications and consequences
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Final checklist - Selection of Sources
Have you indicated the purpose of the review?
Are the parameters of the review reasonable?
Why did you include some of the literature and exclude others?
Which years did you exclude?
Have you emphasised recent developments?
Is the literature you have selected relevant?
Is your bibliographic data complete?
University of Melbourne
Checklist: Critical Evaluation of the Literature
Have you organised your material according to issues?
Is there a logic to the way you organised the material?
Does the amount of detail included on an issue relate to its importance?
Have you been sufficiently critical of design and methodological issues?
Have you indicated when results were conflicting or inconclusive and
discussed possible reasons?
Have you indicated the relevance of each reference to your research?
Checklist: Interpretation
Has your summary of the current literature contributed to
the reader's understanding of the problems?
Does the design of your research reflect the methodological
implications of the literature review?
Note
The literature review will be judged in the context of your
completed research.
The review needs to further the reader's understanding of the
problem and whether it provides a rationale for your research.
How does the Literature Review fit into
my dissertation research?
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Literature Review and the Final
Dissertation
1) Introduction and Research Question and Objectives
2) Critical Literature Review (or can be throughout)
3) The Conceptual Framework – what are the key ideas?
4) Research methodology and methods
5) Presentation and analysis of findings
6) Conclusions and recommendations
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Choosing a Topic
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Keep a research journal to note down possible ideas.
 Consider your own interests, and strengths and
weaknesses as a researcher and writer.
 Start thinking about it as early as possible.
 Choose a topic that will allow you to demonstrate your
skills and knowledge and evaluative capabilities.
 Choose a topic that will produce elements of originality.
 Choose a topic that is suited to the time-frame and word
limit.
 Choose a topic that is practically achievable.
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Developing a Research Question
This is what you plan to investigate.
It is a question or a puzzle.
It needs to be specific and clearly defined.
The literature review can be conducted either before or
after you have developed a research question.
What is consciousness?
How has consciousness been defined in medical literature
since 1900?
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How will the Research Question be
Answered?
What are the series of steps that will need to be completed
in order to answer the research question?
What methodologies has your literature review suggested
would be appropriate?
How have other people approached a similar question?
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Further Resources
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/skills/awp/
www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm
http://www.open.ac.uk/study-strategies/english/pages/academic_index.asp
University of Warwick Departmental Websites
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/help/guidespublications/bib_cit/
Bailey, S. (2011) Academic Writing for Students of International Business
Craswell, G. (2004) Writing for Academic Success
Fisher, Colin (2010) Researching and Writing a Dissertation for Business
Students
Gillett, Andy (2009) Inside Track to Successful Academic Writing
Oshima, A. & A. Hogue (2005) Writing Academic English
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High quality systematic reviews seek to:
• Identify all relevant published and unpublished evidence
• Select studies or reports for inclusion
• Assess the quality of each study or report
• Synthesise the findings from individual studies or reports in an
unbiased way
• Interpret the findings and present a balanced and impartial summary
of the findings with due consideration of any flaws in the evidence.
(Hemingway, 2001)
The Cochrane Collaboration sets out eight stages for doing a
systematic review:
1. Define what you need to know, and about what topics. It is a good
idea at this stage to be as specific as possible. ‘Is family therapy an
effective treatment for anorexia nervosa?’ for instance will be a more
effective question and produce better results than ‘How do I help
people with eating disorders?’ In this stage you also need to decide
how you will choose which studies to include in your final analysis and
which not to include.
2. Search for the articles you might want to include in your review
3. Select which articles are good enough to be included in the final
review
4. Look for any risk of potential bias in the articles you have selected
The Cochrane Collaboration sets out eight stages for doing a
systematic review:
5. Carry out a statistical analysis of the data from the trials you have
selected
6. Check for any bias in the way the trials you have included have
reported their results. Have they stressed positive results and
downplayed negative ones or vice versa?
7. Present the statistical outline of your results and tables showing a
summary of your findings
8. Interpret your results, come to some conclusions and express them
in clear English for as wide an audience as possible
Systematic Reviews
The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of
York produces the PROSPERO database http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/ - which lists prospective
systematic reviews. It could be a good idea to search this
database before starting your systematic review just in case
someone else is already planning to do a review in your topic.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004843.pub3/abstract;jsessioni
d=B2B2E4A0CBA1A75F733C61E34FA17678.f03t01
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/he-litrev/
Literature Reviews
Systematic Review
Databases that contain the specified journals and their relevant search
platforms need to be identified e.g Business Source Premier (EPSCO host),
ABI Inform (ProQuest), and Scopus (SciVerse).
By using keywords and search strings derived from a preliminary scoping
review, conduct the searches and record the results numerically.
Date of search
17/12/2012
Full result
982
Filter by title
124
Filter by abstract
62
Relevant studies
10
Empirical studies
5
Conceptual studies
5
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