Chapter 3: Conducting and Writing Your Own Literature Review

Sections of a Literature Review

1. Introductory Section 2. Section on Findings 3. Discussion Section 4. References

Bibliographic Index

A list of publications on a particular topic

Secondary Source

A publication in which the author reviews research studies, theories, and educational practices and programs that others have generated about a particular problem or topic

Primary Source

A publication written by the individual who actually conducted the work presented in the publication

Effect Size

A statistic that represents the magnitude of the difference between the average scores of two groups on a measure or the magnitude of the relationship between a sample's distribution of scores on two measures

Peer-Reviewed Journal

A type of journal in which the peers are authorities who review the research manuscript and decide whether it merits publication

Meta-Analysis

Involves translating the statistical results from each of a set of research studies on the same problem into a statistic called an effect size

Meta-Ethnography

Makes use of qualitative research techniques, such as induction and interpretation, to identify concepts and themes in the case studies being reviewed, to examine similarities and differences in concepts and themes across the case studies, and to develop a set of interpretive findings based on these analyses

Exploratory Case Study Method

Provide a synthesis of case studies on the same topic by identifying concepts and principles that are present across cases, while also acknowledging the unique characteristics of each case

Informal Literature Review

Satisfies a need for immediate information to get a quick overview of a problem of practice or an educational topic

Search Engine

Software that looks for publications or other information in a database, based on user-defined criteria

Professional Literature Review

Synthesize research findings but with much less technical detail than formal literature reviews, because their primary audience is educators and other stakeholders whose research expertise is limited

Formal Literature Review

Systematic, thorough searches and syntheses of the literature on a problem of practice or educational topic

Chart Essay

Uses charts to focus the audience's attention on aspects of the literature review that will be interesting and comprehensible

A report of a research study written by the individuals who conducted the study is

a primary source

The primary advantage of a chart essay over a written report of a literature review is that a chart essay

is easier to understand by individuals without sophisticated knowledge about research methodology

Meta-analysis...

is the standard procedure for synthesizing the findings of quantitative research studies

There is general consensus among researchers that an effect size has practical significance if it has a value

of 0.33 or larger

Effect sizes

provide information about the practical significance of a research finding

Reviewers who use meta-ethnography as a method for synthesizing research results

seek to identify concepts and principles that are present across cases in a set of qualitative research studies

The report of a literature review

should include a description of your literature search procedures

Most published reports of educational research follow the style specifications established by

the American Psychological Association

The most useful system for classifying publications obtained through a review of the literature is likely to be one that sorts publications by

topics relevant to the research questions

Search engines...

vary in the amount of information they provide about each publication in their database