Completing a Literature
Review
Farah Fisher
Graduate Education
Why do a lit review (in a thesis)?
Defines context of your research
 Answers the question “what have others
done?”
 Provides theoretical framework(s) related
to the study
 May be used to demonstrate validity of
assessments/methodology
 BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO!

Define your research question
Before you begin searching for articles, be
sure you can state the questions you are
trying to answer in your study.
 The literature review tells you what other
people have done to answer these (or
similar) questions.

What should I be looking for?
The search will be based on your research
question(s).
 You will want to find research (not
opinion) articles – ones where data is
gathered and analyzed.
 You may want to use books for general
reference or to gain ideas for research.

Begin your search for articles
ERIC – Education Resources Information
Center – is a commonly used database.
 ERIC contains

– Abstracts (summaries) of journal articles
– Conference presentations (usually full text)
– Research reports (usually full text)
– Articles “submitted online” by the author –
may not be as reliable as other kinds
Where can I find ERIC?
You can use the CSUDH library to access
ERIC.
 http://library.csudh.edu (see searching
handout for more details)

What does ERIC look like?
What does ERIC look like?
Search terms (AND/OR/NOT to narrow search)
Only include “full text” articles?
Set years in which
to search?
Are there other sources?
There are many other databases, but ERIC
is the most commonly used in education.
 You may want to browse through journals
related to your research question.
 If appropriate, you may want to look for
books in the library catalog (online) or use
the other available databases.

What about the web?
The web is generally not a good source for
scholarly research articles.
 You may find some useful information, but
remember that no one edits the web.
 Web-based information may be incorrect
or outdated.
 Journals are “refereed” – scholars in each
field review and approve journal articles.

Hints
Write all the information needed for the
citations (so you can find the article
again). You may not use all articles, but
record the information just in case.
 Use note cards or a database to store the
info for ease of sorting later.
 Look in the reference sections of the
articles. If you see the same article/author
cited several times, it must be important.

Organization of the Lit Review
After you have read a few articles,
patterns will begin to emerge, with
general and specific topics.
 You may have planned for some of these
topics, but others may appear as you
read.

Organization of the Lit Review

A general organization might look like this:
– Broader topics
– Subtopics
– Studies like yours
Organization of the Lit Review
Look for general themes or statements
and the articles that support them.
 For example, you may want to state that
CAI has been shown to be effective in
enhancing learning.
 You will need articles that support this
statement with evidence from research.

Writing the Lit Review
After you have done quite a bit of
searching, you will want to begin writing.
 Like any paper, a lit review will have an
introduction, a body and a summary.
 The introduction will give readers a
preview of what they will see, and the
summary will review what you have said.

Writing the Lit Review
In the body of the lit review, you will likely
have the major themes and points that
you wish to make and at least some
articles that support each point/theme.
 These themes or major points become the
sections within the body.
 You will write the introduction and the
summary after the body.

Writing the Lit Review
Use the “funnel” to organize the sequence
of the body – the broader topics first, then
the subtopics, and finally any research
that is very close to yours.
 Remember that you are not simply
reporting the results of studies. You are
trying to make some points related to your
study, backed up by others’ research.

Writing the Lit Review
Leave out personal opinions. If you make
a statement, back it up with a citation,
even if it is something that you have
poersonally observed.
 Don’t use a lot of quotations. Paraphrase
whenever you can.
 If you use a quote, you must include the
page number in the citation.

Writing the Lit Review

Have someone else look at your literature
review for
– Clarity (Can they understand what you’re
trying say?)
– Flow (Does the organization make sense?)
– Completeness (Are there areas left out?
Questions left unanswered? Statements
wtihout citations?)
Citing Sources
Education generally uses APA format
(American Psychological Association).
 There are in-text citations (within the
body of the lit review) as well as a list of
references at the end of the thesis.
 See the handout from Anne Garrett for
details.

Evaluating the Lit Review

A good lit review…
– Includes articles primarily from the last 5 to
10 years. Some major findings can be
included from older sources.
– Contains sufficient references to cover the
topic (TBE says at least 15, others may
require more).
– Is organized in a logical way, with headings to
show the sections.
– Includes citations for any statement that can
be considered an opinion.
Resources

See the Thesis Website at
http://www.csudh.edu/fisher/thesis.htm
for helpful links and documents, including
sample literature reviews.
Have fun!