Literature Review Tips

Stream of consciousness

A literature review is NOT: A ______ of _____________.

Narrative or book review

A literature review is NOT: A ________ __ ____ ______.

Series of lists

A literature review is NOT: a ______ __ _____ of who found or did what.

Dispassionate

Avoid emotive words, avoid advocacy, and do not 'take sides'.

One significant finding

Weakness of an article may include they focus on ___ ___________ _______.

Limits causal inference

Weakness of observational designs include it ______ ______ _________.

Compilation of everything

A literature review is NOT: a ___________ __ _________ that has been written on a particular topic.

Thoroughly describe

A purpose of a literature review: to __________ ________ research that has been published on a specific area or topic.

Critically evaluate

A purpose of a literature review: to __________ ________ this work.

Objective, fair & unbiased

A purpose of a literature review: to be _________, ____ and ________.

Areas, topics or questions

A purpose of a literature review: to highlight _____, ______ or _________ that are worthy of future investigation.

Literature Review NOTS

A series of lists of who found or did what. A compilation of everything that has been written on a particular topic. A narrative or a book review. A set of personal perspectives or opinions. A stream of consciousness.

Literature Warnings

Be critical of what you read. Just because it has been published does not mean that it is correct. Every author has a viewpoint that they want to advance. The wisdom of hindsight can help you to re-interpret older papers. Be open-minded; your opinions could be wrong. Don't dismiss or ignore papers that run counter to your hypothesis or the point you want to make.

Scaffold

Build your ideas incrementally.

Starting A Literature Review

Decide what hypothesis you are setting out to test in your research report. Identify why it is important. If you were to explain the reason/importance of your project to someone who knew nothing about the area, what background information would you give them? Write down the title of your review. Keep it narrow. Construct an outline of dot points; topics, areas and concepts that need to be covered, and in what order.

Synthesis

Draw connections between existing ideas or observations to come up with new insights.

Analysing An Article

Identify the precise methods used and the theories tested. An in-depth understanding is necessary for comparing the work of different researchers.

Scanning Articles

Identify the research question, specific hypotheses, the key findings, how the findings were interpreted, and the main conclusions. Initially, don't read the article straight through or you'll get bogged down in the detail.

Scope

In the first page tell the reader what you will and won't be reviewing.

Analysing The Method

Look carefully and what was done. What are the holes in what was done? Did they use the right control groups? Did they employ the best measures?

Analysing The Discussion

Look carefully at what was discussed. What limitations did they acknowledge?

Analysing The Results

Look carefully at what was reported. Did they draw valid conclusions? Are there other possible interpretations of the data?

Summarise

Provide interim summaries at the end of sections and long paragraphs.

Subheadings

Refer to the APA manual for correct levels of headings. Subsections will vary in length.

Journal Article Weaknesses

Self-report measures as it limits the objectivity of conclusions. Observational designs (limits causal inference). University students as subjects (limits generalisability). Correlational statistics to imply causation. Experimental designs that lack ecological validity. Small sample size or small effect size. An over-emphasis on the one significant finding.

Understanding & Summarising Literature

Start by reading recent review articles in the area to get an overview. Stay focussed on the primary topic of your literature review. Keep notes or make tables that summarise the key findings of each paper. Be thorough but also put a limit on how many papers you read or how much time you devote to reviewing the literature. Focus more attention on papers published in the past 5 years but don't ignore papers just because they are old. Don't become over-reliant on an author or article.

Funnel Principle

Start very broadly and gradually become more specific until you get to the central question. Generally you will need to include several subtopics. In the process of doing this you will realise things that you don't know.

Signposts

Tell the reader what's coming up; "The preceding studies raise some interesting point which will be discussed below..."

Body of your Review

Tell the story. Build a rationale. Group the literature according to relevant themes. Summarise and evaluate the relevant literature. Show gaps in the literature. Demonstrate similarities and differences (or consistencies and inconsistencies) in previous research. Explain methodological difficulties in this area of research. Expose the main limitations of previous research. Lead the reader to the conclusion that you want them to reach.

Literature Review & Research Report Relationship

The literature review is a stand-alone document, potentially publishable. It is NOT the introduction to your thesis but provides a good basis for it. It should inform and engage the reader so that they look forward to reading your thesis. It is NOT an advertisement for your study but the reader should be able to make an educated guess about what research will follow.

Literature Review Additional Purposes

To inform the reader of the background research findings on which your research project is based. To help the reader to understand that there is an important question that needs to be answered. To educate yourself about the literature surrounding your research project, so that when you write up your thesis you will be able to place your findings in a proper context, and understand the implications of your results.

Literature Review Purposes

To thoroughly describe research that has been published on a specific area or topic. To critically evaluate this work. To be objective, fair and unbiased. Not coloured by our own preconceived notions. To highlight areas, topics or questions that are worthy of future investigation.

Literature Review Conclusion

Typically short (less than a page). Summarise the main 'take home' points. It should describe what you are planning to do in your thesis, but it should provide the justification for your study by highlighting the relevant issue or question that your thesis will investigate.

Sources

Use only papers that have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Where possible go back to the original empirical papers rather than depending on secondary sources. The outcomes of meta-analyses are generally more reliable than the results of a single empirical study. Avoid citing Wikipedia, newspapers, textbooks, blogs or magazine articles.

Limits the objectivity

Weakness of self-report measures include it ______ ___ ___________ of conclusions.

Lack ecological validity

Weakness of using an experimental design include they may ____ _________ ________.

Do not imply causation

Weakness of using correlational statistics as they __ ___ _____ ________.

Limits generalisability

Weakness of very specific population sample as it ______ ________________.

Illustrate

Where possible, include diagrams to illuminate concepts or relationships between variables.