iBSc & MSc Neuroscience 2013-14 The Literature Review iBSc & MSc Neuroscience 2013-14

The reading process Now spend a few minutes thinking about how you read for your research. How do you go about selecting an article to read? Describe the process by which you read an article? Do you mark the article, make notes, copy out sections? When do you find articles to read? Before you start writing? During your writing process?

Reading & researching Use your plan for your writing to guide your reading & then plan your reading Use guiding questions to focus your reading Organise your literature and experiment with different ways of recording it.

Planning a literature review Planning is a mapping out, a guide to composing. It reflects your thinking as a writer ‘then’ but is soon out of step with your thinking as a writer ‘now.’ Good: it’s a vehicle for exploring so it should. Plan: 1. What to say (content) 2. How to say it (style) Try different plans: idea lists, mind maps, outlines, drafts, templates Play with your plans: reorganise, restructure, review

Structuring a literature review What is your research topic & how do you narrow the focus? Can you express your main claim in a couple of sentences? What evidence (how much) do you need? What does your reader need to know, in what order? How will you group your ideas and evidence? How will you select and shape your material?

Moves in a research paper: What is the aim of the paper & how will it be achieved? Will this aim be similar to or different from your literature review? How has the text been organised? Why? (whole article)

Moves in a research paper: Move 1: Establishing a research territory Move 2: Establishing a niche Move 3: Occupying the niche Look at the introduction from: Calafell, J. and Renton, T. (2007). Potential Mechanisms of Burning Mouth Syndrome, Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 14, 864–871.