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What is a literature review?
Writing a literature review
Honours Semester 1 2013
'... a literature review uses as its database reports of primary or original scholarship,
and does not report new primary scholarship itself. The primary reports used in the
literature may be verbal, but in the vast majority of cases reports are written
documents. The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical/analytical,
or methodological in nature. Second a literature review seeks to describe, summarise,
evaluate, clarify and/or integrate the content of primary reports.' Cooper 1988
• Front-end of a thesis or dissertation (stand-alone chapter OR introduction)
• Justification for research proposal
• Data gaps in literature – looking for new projects/ideas
• Provides background information for Environmental Impact Assessment
• What are the latest methods/technology in relevant field
• Ideas for data analysis or sampling design
Source: www.deakin.edu.au/library
Why do a literature review?
For HDR students
A good literature review requires knowledge of the following:
• Use of library indexes and abstract databases (e.g. CSA Illumina)
• The ability to conduct exhaustive (?) bibliographic searches
• The ability to organise the collected data/information meaningfully – not
provide a summary sentence for each source
• Describe, critique and relate each source to the subject in question
• Present the organised review logically
• Correctly cite all sources mentioned in review
A crucial element of all research degrees is the review of relevant
literature
• Identify gaps in the literature
• Avoid reinventing the wheel – save time avoid mistakes of others
• Carry on from where others have already reached (reviewing the field
allows you to build on the platform of existing knowledge and ideas)
• Identify other people working in the same fields - networking
• Increase your breadth of knowledge of your subject area
• Identify seminal works in your area
• Provide the intellectual context for your own work, enabling you to
position your project relative to other work
• Identify opposing views
• Put your work into perspective
• Identify information and ideas that may be relevant to your project
• Identify methods that could be relevant to your project
ABILITY TO APPLY CRITICAL APPRAISAL TO SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE
Source: Afolabi 1992
Source: Dena Taylor, University Toronto
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Narrow your search
Starting out
• Read many abstracts – ask is the article appropriate?
• What is the question?
• Don’t argue for a particular position or opinion – but rather give a perspective
• Literature review organised around ideas (like research paper)
• Don’t list sources and write about them one by one
• Start thinking about themes and how they are connected
• Use mostly primary sources – what are they? A piece of original research
Ask yourself the following:
• What type of literature review am I writing? Issues of theory? Methodology?
Policy? Quantitative or qualitative research?
• Has my search been wide enough? Google Scholar vs Abstract databases
• Have I critically analysed the literature?
• Is there an aspect or data type missing from my field?
• How well do authors present material – do portray it in the context of current
theory or idea?
• Does literature reveal a current trend in my field? Or raging debate?
• Will the reader find my literature review relevant or useful?
• Think about opposing theories and conflicting findings - INCLUDE
• NOT a review, technical report or meta-analysis – these are SECONDARY sources –
useful but should not comprise bulk of lit review
• Identify the major researchers (ASK SUPERVISOR) in subject area – focus on them
• Example, if your topic is “Impacts of Climate Change on Coral Reefs" find research
that demonstrates both negative, positive or no effects – despite your own opinion
present both sides
• Need a minimum of (?) sources for a good review depending on nature of your
topic. Climate change is a very popular topic, so you will need more sources to get
a fair perspective than something very specific (e.g. “Diet of the rare chromodorid
nudibranch”
Source: Dena Taylor, University Toronto
• Utilize the bibliographies of articles to find even more relevant sources
For each article/book
How do I search?
Most recommended Library databases
Science Direct – Science, arts humanities from 1995-present
General Science Abstracts – anthropology, biology, botany,
environmental science, medicine from 1984-present
BIOSIS Previews – Agriculture, biochem, health, medicine –
journals < 5 yrs old
ASFA – Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts
Attack each article with highlighter pen – take copious notes
Ask yourself these questions:
• Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
• Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope and relevance) clearly established?
• Could the problem have been approached more effectively from another
perspective?
Science Search Engines
Scirus – science specific from publisher Elsevier; searches >250 million web pages
for journal articles and gray literature
Science.gov – US Federal governments portal to science related information
Google Scholar – searches free Web for scientific articles and unpublished
material
GOOGLE SCHOLAR MISSES MANY SCHOLARLY ARTICLES FOUND
DIRECTLY IN LIBRARY RESEARCH DATABASE
Source: www.deakin.edu.au/library
• What is the author's research orientation (e.g., descriptive, experimental,
theoretical or combination)?
• What is the author's theoretical framework and is it appropriate to question?
• Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the problem/issue? Does the
author include literature conflicts with their results?
Source: Dena Taylor, University Toronto
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Start Writing!
• In a research study, how good are the basic components of the study design
(e.g., replication, statistics)? How accurate and valid are the measurements? Is
the analysis of the data accurate and relevant to the research question? Are the
conclusions based upon the data and analysis?
• How does the author structure the argument? Can you "deconstruct" the flow
of the argument to see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in
establishing cause-effect relationships)?
• Don’t address each article individually - discuss them in the framework of different
themes, findings, theories or methodologies (next slide)
• During analysis of sources do you see a logical organization taking shape – can you
start to see categories/subheadings to use in the review? (next slide)
• If you are struggling – go see supervisor
• Does it contribute to the greater understanding of the problem under study?
• Chosen framework will depend upon what the literature reveals and which
aspects you find the most interesting and worthy of further examination.
• Does the article relate to the specific question I am developing?
• Develop an argument that will underscore the entire review
• Do you agree with the authors conclusions? Why or why not? Is there
some aspect of their methodology that makes you skeptical?
• What’s really going on in your field of research with respect to current methods,
theories etc?
•Are there shortcomings of the study? Include those identified by the
authors AND those you discover.
• Use summary tables include appropriate headings to help organise thoughts
Source: Dena Taylor, University Toronto
•Tip - you will be successful using any argument as long as you can argue it
effectively by showing some evidence to support it
Source: www.und.edu/depts/wcweb
Points to remember when composing
Organising body of the review
Use evidence
How to present the sources in the body of the paper? Three ways to do this:
• Like research papers when writing literature review refer to other sources -
1. Chronological – write about materials in order published
By publication – progression of publications reveal changes in ideas
By trend – review would have subsections according to eras
interpretation of sources must be backed up with evidence demonstrating that point
2. Thematic – organised around topic or issue
Progression of time might still be important – be clever and see if you can shift
between time periods/eras within each section
3. Methodological – focuses on methods of researcher/writer
Influences the types of articles and the way they are discussed
is valid
Be selective
• Select only most important points
• Everything you read won’t end up in review
• Important to keep track using notes
ADDITIONAL SECTIONS
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•
•
Use quotes sparingly if at all
Current Situation – necessary in understanding status of the topic
History – use this if body of review not already in choronlogy
Questions for future research – what data gaps have you revealed and how
should they be filled?
Source: www.und.edu/depts/wcweb
• Quotes are used in social sciences NOT physical sciences
• If you cannot rewrite what the author has said in own words – use short quote
• If don’t use quotation marks that’s plagiarism
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Use your own voice
• Yes literature review presents others' ideas, BUT try and keep your own voice front
and center.
Keeping track of information
• In short improve your note-taking skills (hand written or electronic)
• Example: “Larval retention and connectivity among populations of corals and reef
fishes: history, advances and challenges” – Coral Reefs (2009)
• Avoid thought process that the author’s way of thinking is better than
anything you could write – leads to “borrowing language”
• Jones et al (2009) weave references to other sources into their own text BUT still
maintain their own voice - use sources support their argument
• Rewrite/paraphrase without looking at the source
• If you do this in the note-taking – final version will be one step further
away from the authors original words
Be careful when paraphrasing
• When use material that is not yours careful represent author’s opinions ACCURATELY
and in YOUR own words
• Use quotation marks during note-taking to distinguish authors words
from your own
• Can refer directly to the author e.g. “Jones et al (2009) suggest that while natural
levels of connectivity provide resilience to ….. “ - do so sparingly
• Provide ample citation in the text when the idea is not yours
• Avoid following the same sentence structure EVEN though you might use different
wording
Source: www.bio.davidson.edu/dept
What about "common knowledge"?
• In most science fields, experts consider some ideas "common knowledge“
(e.g. most marine organisms have a bipartite life-history)
• As you are just starting out, the material you read may not yet be
"common knowledge" to you
Source: www.und.edu/depts/wcweb
Have I committed plagiarism?
Follow the guidelines from previous slides BUT still not sure use the following checklist
Cite the source even if :
• To help decide whether the material you want to use in your paper
constitutes "common knowledge,“ ask yourself the following questions:
•
•
•
- Did I know this information before I start the review/course?
- Did this information/idea come from my own brain?
•
• If you answer "no" to either or both of these questions, then the
information is not "common knowledge" to you.
All direct quotes in quotation marks
Completely paraphrased the ideas to which you referred
Sentence is mostly made up of your own thoughts, but contains a reference to the
author's ideas
Mention the author's name in the sentence.
**Take home message: When in doubt, give a citation**
• So cite your source(s) and indicate where you first learned it
Source: www.und.edu/depts/wcweb
Source: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb
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Bibliographic Programs
Can I write a review?
•EndNote/Reference Manager are reference database /s enables creation of
own list of bibliographical references – FREE FROM CURTIN LIBRARY
• ABSOLUTELY – still large gaps in most scientific disciplines
• Makes it possible to connect to selected library catalogues and online
• Think carefully about where gaps lie in your area of study - do this during
review of literature for proposal
databases
•To incorporate references directly into database
• Can export bibliographic records while searching library catalogue directly into
database
•As a bibliography maker can locate cited works (linked to .pdf’s saved on hard
drive) in its databases (search terms) and build and format appropriate lists
• What remains to be done? Look at conclusion paragraphs/reviews of research
papers under “Future studies”
• Has there been a suitable gap between previous review?
Example: Acoustic telemetry on coral reefs not since 2000
automatically.
• Best to write with supervisor who will know what is appropriate and where to
publish it
• Used in conjunction with a word processing package
• Look good on CV – Journals publish reviews have higher impact factor
GO SEE SUPERVISOR ABOUT PURCHASING/ACCESSING BIBLIO PROGRAM
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