Writing the first year report, with a
focus on the literature review
Alicia Cresswell
Head of Writing Development
The first year report is
 an assessment of your progress so far
 useful practice in academic writing
 an opportunity to obtain feedback
Overall structure of the report
 Comment on the structure of Report A:
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Introduction – 31 pages
Materials and methods – 9 pages
Results – 8 pages
Discussion – 2 pages
Future work – 2 pages
Overall structure of the report
 Comment on the structure of Report B:
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Review of the literature – 18 pages
Aims – 1 page
Methodology – 21 pages
Strengths and weaknesses - 2 pages
Future work – 3 pages
Overall structure of the report
 Comment on the structure of Report C:
 Introduction
 Context and background
 Plan of research
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Justification for research
Research aims
Qualitative methods in health economics
Research methods
Timetable
Summary of progress
Writing the introduction
Key elements:
 Context-setting (importance/relevance of your
research)
 Background (key studies)
 Gap (what we don’t know)
 Aims (what you hope to find out, in very broad terms)
Sample introduction
Relationship between carbonated and other low nutrient dense beverages and bone mineral content in
adolescents
1The adolescent growth period is a critical time for bone mineral accretion [1 and 2], yet carbonated beverage
consumption increases as individuals enter adolescence [3 and 4]. 2There is concern that intake of
carbonated beverages during adolescence causes increased fractures in that age group [5, 6 and 7] as well as
contributing to low peak bone mass attainment and thus osteoporosis in later years. 3In particular, cola
beverages have been singled out in this regard. 4Wyshak [5] recently reported that consumption of cola
beverage is associated with bone fracture in girls, while consumption of all carbonated beverages was
significantly related to fracture incidence only when activity level and energy intake were controlled. 5Thus, the
amount as well as the nature of the carbonated beverage appears to be an issue with respect to bone health
of adolescents.
6Many investigators have attempted to tie a chemical component of carbonated beverage intake to increased
bone loss, e.g.: phosphorus [5 and 7] or fructose [8]. 7Other components of carbonated beverages may be
actively promoting bone loss, such as caffeine [9] and acid loads of the beverages [10]. 8However, equally
possible is that a decrease in consumption of milk coincides with an increase in consumption of non nutritive
beverages such as carbonated beverages, thereby lowering calcium intake at a critical time. 9Replacement of
milk with non nutritive beverages in children’s diet results in decrease levels of many nutrients including calcium
[4]. 10A decrease in calcium intake by girls may be of special concern because girls tend to have lower calcium
intakes than boys, and these differences become more pronounced in adolescence [12].
11The purpose of our study was to determine the beverage intake of subjects in the Saskatchewan Pediatric
Bone Mineral Accrual Study, and to relate the amount and type of beverage consumed to accumulation of bone
mineral content during a critical time in adolescent bone development. 12This time is the two years surrounding
the age of peak bone mineral accrual, a period when adolescents are accumulating the greatest amount of
bone mineral [2]. 13Our hypothesis was that drinking carbonated beverages was associated with lower bone
mineral content in adolescents. 14As subjects drank a variety of low nutrient dense beverages besides
carbonated drinks, we also determined the relationship between intake on noncarbonated beverages (ice tea,
koolaid, and other sugar or sugar-free drinks) as well as total low nutrient dense beverage intake, and bone
mineral content.
Writing the literature review
 A literature review is NOT:
 A descriptive list of all the work published in your
field
 A chronological account of existing research
So what is a literature review?
Briefly, it is
the driving force and jumping off point
for your own research
(Ridley, 2008)
What is a literature review (in more detail)?
 A survey of existing research relevant to your topic. The survey
provides
 the historical background for your research
 an overview of the current context in which your research is situated
by referring to contemporary debates, issues and questions in the
field
 A discussion of concepts and theories that underpin your research
 A justification of your choice of research methods
 A coherent argument providing a justification for your study
Purpose of the literature review
 To situate your work within a larger disciplinary
context
 To demonstrate how your current work builds
upon or deviates from earlier publications
 To show how your work will extend and
develop knowledge in the field
A good literature review demonstrates an
ability to
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Conduct a literature search
Recognise relevant sources
Identify their strengths and weaknesses
Assess their contribution to disciplinary
knowledge, theory or methodology
Identify positions, themes and trends
Identify areas of controversy in the literature
Identify gaps in the existing research
Read and write effectively and critically
Planning your literature review
Knowledge-based elements (Hart, 1998):
 A description of previous work on the topic, identifying
leading concepts, definitions, theories and/or
methodologies
 Consideration of the ways the above were developed
and operationalised as solutions to problems in
previous work
 Identification and description of matters other
researchers have considered important
Planning your literature review
Argumentation elements:
 An assessment of strengths and weaknesses in
previous work
 A compelling case for your research, showing that
your research will in some way make a contribution
to the discipline
Writing the review
 Start with an overview
 Decide on organising principles (themes,
trends, methodology, chronology, controversies
– usually a combination of some of these)
 Use headings for the different sections of the
review
 Provide summative signposts of where your
argument is leading
Use of citations in the literature review
Two types of citations:
 Integral: The author’s name appears in the sentence.
Example:
 Braun (2008) argues that the ban on smoking in public places
has been a key factor in the fall in cigarette sales.
 Non-integral: The author’s name appears outside
sentence. Example:
 The ban on smoking in public places has been a key factor in
the fall in cigarette sales (Brown, 2008).
Is there a reason why we should use one or the other in
certain cases?
Using reporting verbs
Are these reporting verbs descriptive or
evaluative?
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Argue
Claim
Find
Show
Suggest
Taking a position towards the sources you
cite
Is the author’s stance about these sources positive,
negative or neutral?
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As Gregg (2003) points out, good street lighting is an important
factor in reducing crime.
There has been a valuable expansion of studies into the causes
of childhood obesity (Albas, 2005; O’Connor, 2004; Chen, 2002)
Although French (1999) found that bees produced less honey in
these conditions, a large-scale study by Makeba and Torres
(2005) reported higher than average production.
Academic literacy has been narrowly defined as the ability to
read and write academic texts at university (Liu, 2004).
Attempts to model whole-ecosystem response to human
intervention have had limited success (Schmidtt, 2006; Crew
and Wilson, 2002).
Writing the methods section
 Fairly detailed description of the methods used/to be used
 Some methods sections in future tense (not yet done)
 Elements:
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Overview
Location
Sample
Restrictions on sample
Sampling technique
Materials
Procedures
Variables
Statistical treatment
Ethical considerations
Results and discussion
 Results are probably tentative:
 These experiments are in their infancy but results
so far suggest that …
 However, the assay is currently under review and
responses using an alternative … will be reported.
 Or non-existent:
 No results are available at the present time.
Learning from models
 Look at samples of good theses in your field
 Read review articles in prestigious journals in your
field.
Writing clearly and accurately
 Grammar and punctuation
Improve the following:
The skin is the largest organ in the body that serves
to maintain the body’s physical and biochemical
integrity, a constant body temperature and provides
sensory information about the surrounding
environment. 
Edited version
The skin is the largest organ in the body. It
serves to maintain the body’s physical and
biochemical integrity and a constant body
temperature. It also provides sensory
information about the surrounding environment.

Writing clearly and accurately
 Grammar and punctuation
Improve the following:
Structurally the skin consists of two parts; the
thin outer portion called the epidermis that is
composed of epithelial tissue and the inner
layer called the dermis is composed of
connective tissue. 
Edited version
Structurally, the skin consists of two parts: The
thin outer portion, called the epidermis, is
composed of epithelial tissue; the inner layer,
called the dermis, is composed of connective
tissue. 
Writing clearly and accurately
 Grammar, punctuation and vocabulary
NAFLD was first described in 1980 (Ludwig J
1980). However with the pandemic of obesity the
incidence of NAFLD is set to increase
exponentially and has therefore generated a vast
interest worldwide. 
Edited version
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was
first described in 1980 (Ludwig, 1980). With
the rapid rise in obesity in recent years, the
incidence of NAFLD is expected to increase
exponentially. As a result, this condition has
generated a great deal of interest worldwide.
Further reading
Greenhalgh, T. (2006) How to Read a Paper: The basics
of evidence-based medicine Third edition. Oxford:
Blackwell and BMJ
Hart, C. (1998) Doing a Literature Review. London: SAGE
Ridley, D. (2008) The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step
Guide for Students. London: SAGE
Yudkin, B. (2006) Critical Reading: Making sense of
research papers in life sciences and medicine. London:
Routledge
Online resources
Writing Development Centre Online Learning
Resources
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wdc/learning/
Academic Phrasebank
www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk
One-to-one support
Book online at:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wdc/support/