Academic Writing I Literature review Media, Culture and Technology Spring term, 2011

Outline What is a literature review Why do we write literature reviews? How do we search for literature? What are the available tools for literature search? Referencing Plagiarism – how to avoid it

Literature review Research process: Identify a research question Next step What has been written/studied on this field, what is already known? What methods were used? What theories and concepts are related to this question?

Why? We want to know what is already known within the field of our interest We want to demonstrate our ability to review the work of others We want to demonstrate our understanding of what has been researched in the field of our interest

A literature review is NOT simply reproducing theories and opinions of other scholars. It is a way of affirming that you are knowledgeable in the area you chose to research.

What to look for when exploring existent literature: What is already known about this area? What concepts and theories are relevant to this area? What research methods and research strategies have been employed in studying this area? Are there any significant controversies? Are there inconsistencies in findings relating to this area? Are there any unanswered research questions in this area?

First step to reviewing literature - READING Take good notes, include all important details of what you read (author, title, year of publication, page numbers. Critical reading skills – try doing more than simply summarizing what you do. Adopt a critical approach. Ask yourself questions: How does this item relates to others you have read? What are the strenghts and deficiencies of the conclusions drawn? Demonstrate why your questions are important. Lack of research on a particular topic, the research has not explored a certain factor.

Systematic Review Explicit procedures The review has a defined purpose Criteria to guide the selection of studies (date of publication, research design, type of publication) Use keywords Search strategy can be replicated Standard recording of literature Syntesis of result, summary of quantitative data

Limitations of systematic review Some research questions cannot be defined in terms of effects of a particular variable. (Especially in the field of social research) Bureaucratization of the process can undermine the analysis. Difficult to apply to qualitative studies.

Narrative Review Generate understating rather than accumulate knowledge. Get an initial impression of the topic you are interested in ”Discovery process” More adequate to qualitative research But bear in mind that even narrative review can incorporate some processes associated with systematic review.

Searching the literature Initial references from lecturer, previous courses, textbooks, bibliographies at the end of book chapters. Identifying keywords Eletronic databases (SSCI, Sage, EBSCOT, etc) Google Scholar

Using newspapers and media in general There are available databases of newspapers articles Good way of getting information about topics that make good stories for journalists (salience), social problems, policy, etc. Provide and account of recent events when academic literature is not yet available. HOWEVER, for academic purposes newspapers should be seeing as secondary to published journal articles and books.

GOOGLE It is ok to use search engines BUT you must take a critical look to what you find. You need to evaluate the information instead of using the first entry you get on a search.

Points to consider when searching the internet: Author of the site and motive for publishing. Where is the site located? When was the site updated Statistical data produced by PR companies, bespoke research.

Wikipedia It can be difficult to assess the quality of Wikipedia entries. Good starting point – have a look at the links provided at the end of the entry.

Referencing Referencing shows that you are aware of the developmet of the topic you have chosen to explore. Reference= citation or the act of referencing as citing someone else’s work.

Tips for referencing Keep track of your readings, make notes of what you read as well as important information about the book Make sure you give credit to text and ideas that are not yours. Be consistent with your referencing method.

Referencing methods Harvard or author-date: 2. Footnote or numeric McLuhan (1980) has claimed that the features of a medium determine the uses we make of it. OR It has been claimed (McLuhan, 1980) that the features of a mediu determinethe uses we make of it. 2. Footnote or numeric References are given by superscript numbers that refer to a footnote.

1.Harvard method After paraphrasing arguments or ideas of an author you add in parentheses the name of the author and year of publication. When quoting, you put quotation marks around the quotation and after the year of publication you include the page number where the quotation is from. Books, articles and other sources cited in the text are given in a list of references at the end, in alphabetical order.

For example: ’Referencing the work of others is an important academic convention because it emphasizes that you are aware of the historical development of your subject.’ (Bryman, 2008:101)

The Harvard method is the most used referencing system in social research Simple and easy to use

2.Footnote or numeric method All references are given in footnotes, author and date of publication if you paraphrase and author, date of publication and page number when you quote. When the same source is cited more than once an abreviated version is given. Footnotes can also include comments by the author and aditional information

Having references in footnotes can be less distracting to the reader tha having sometimes long string of references in the text. Word and other text editors have resources for the insertion of notes. The footnote method does not necessarily include a bibliography. HOWEVER… It is very difficult to use this method correctly and easy to make mistakes when using it.

The bibliography or list of references Lenght is not the most important It is important to be selective and focus on your topic and reflect your good judgement of the importance and suitability of sources. You should be able to judge the quality of the sources, be them journal articles, books, texts from the internet or from magazines and newspapers. Use of secondary references – be careful. Include only references you have used in the text. Don’t include references in the text just for the sake of it, you need that you have understood the theoretical perspective and they need to be incorporated into the point you are trying to make.

Plagiarism Slippery concept ’take and use another person’s (thoughts, writings, inventions…) as one’s own’. The Concise Oxford Dictionary Plagiarism does not only refers to the course literature but also to using assignments written by other students or from websites. It is possible also to self-plagiarize if you use previously written material and claim it to be original work.

Even if there are gray areas in the definition of plagiarism, it is considered to be a gross academic miscounduct. You should avoid plagiarizing the work of others at all costs. Don’t ’lift’ large sections of texts without making clear that they are quotations. Copying large sections of text and changing a few words can also be regarded as plagiarism Don’t pass other people’s ideas off ass your own. Besides, copying large chunks of text, even if you reference them adequately does not demonstrate your understanding of the topic.