Developing Literature Review Training Module for Institute of Research Promotion (IRP)

Training agenda Literature review – What and why Searching and finding print and online sources Evaluating sources for relevance and reliability Reading critically Analyzing and synthesizing findings Writing and presenting literature review Citing sources in text and reference list / bibliography Avoiding plagiarism

Literature review - Definition A body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic A comprehensive survey of publications in a specific field of study or related to a particular line of research Non-quantitative summary of existing published literature made by experts who select and weigh findings available from the literature A summary and interpretation of research findings reported in the literature A process and documentation of the current relevant research literature regarding a particular topic or subject of interest

Purposes of literature review Define and limit problem Develop familiarity with topic Limit research to a subtopic within larger body of knowledge Place study in historical perspective Analysis of way in which study relates to existing knowledge Avoid unintentional and unnecessary replication Awareness of prior studies so as to avoid unneeded replication Replication is reasonable if it is needed to verify prior results, investigate results that failed to be significant, or relate problem to a specific site

Purposes of literature review Select promising methods and measures Knowledge of and insight into specific research designs for investigating a problem Awareness of specific instruments, sampling procedures, and data analyses Relate findings to previous knowledge and suggest future research needs Relating prior research to what is known places current study in perspective This knowledge allows researcher to focus problem on what is not known Develop research hypotheses Suggestions for specific research hypotheses

Literature review designs Narrative review Selective review of the literature that broadly covers a specific topic. Does not follow strict systematic methods to locate and synthesize articles. Systematic review Utilizes exacting search strategies to make certain that the maximum extent of relevant research has been considered. Original articles are methodologically appraised and synthesized. Meta-analysis Quantitatively combines the results of studies that are the result of a systematic literature review. Capable of performing a statistical analysis of the pooled results of relevant studies.

When we need to do a literature review At the beginning of the research project Proposal Chapter 2, 1 & 3 (LR, Intro, Methd) Constantly update during the research When writing the discussion and conclusion chapters

What is literature Books Journals Conference papers Theses and dissertations Bibliographies Maps Internet Indexes/Abstracts Audio-visual material CDs/DVDs Electronic databases Government reports Magazines Newspapers Grey literature Interviews and other unpublished research

Three types of literature

Structure of review articles Literature reviews are in reality a type of research Should conform to the anatomy of a typical scholarly article Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion References

Structure of literature review Introduction Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the central theme or organizational pattern. Body Contains your discussion of sources. Conclusions/Recommendations Discuss what you have drawn from reviewing literature so far. Where might the discussion proceed?

Organization of literature review A general organization looks like a funnel Broader topics Subtopics Studies like yours

Making links between studies Agreements Similarly, author B points to… Likewise, author C makes the case that… Author D also makes this point… Again, it is possible to see how author E agrees with author D… Disagreements However, author B points to… On the other hand, author C makes the case that… Conversely, Author D argues… Nevertheless, what author E suggests…

Review the Literature Selected If you don’t have a theoretical framework of themes in mind to start with, use separate sheets of paper for each article or book. Theoretical Framework Conceptual Framework

Theoretical Framework Examine the literature can be a never ending task As you start reading the literature: You will discover that the problem you wish to investigate have its roots in a number of theories that have been developed from different perspective Info obtained from different books and journals now needs to be sorted under the main themes and theories

Theoretical Framework Highlighting agreements and disagreements among the authors and identifying the unanswered questions or gaps. Literature deals with a number of aspects that have direct or indirect bearing on your research topic Lit Review should sort out the information, within the framework Unless you review the lit in relation to this framework, you will not be able to develop a focus in your lit search.

Theoretical Framework Until you go through the literature you cannot develop a theoretical framework and until you have developed a theoretical framework, you can not effectively review the literature. Please discuss given material…..

Conceptual Framework Conceptual FW stems from the T-FW and concentrates, usually, on one section of that T-FW which becomes the basis of your study. The T-FW includes all the theories that have been put forward to explain the relationship between fertility and mortality. However, out of these, you may be planning to test only one, the fear of non-survival. Hence the conceptual FW grows out of the T-FW; and relates to the specific RP concerning the fear of non-survival theory.

The Writing Process Rough Draft Final Draft Edit Edit Again

A Good Literature Review is: Focused - The topic should be narrow. You should only present ideas and only report on studies that are closely related to topic. Concise - Ideas should be presented economically. Don’t take any more space than you need to present your ideas. Logical - The flow within and among paragraphs should be a smooth, logical progression from one idea to the next Developed - Don’t leave the story half told. Integrative - Your paper should stress how the ideas in the studies are related. Focus on the big picture. What commonality do all the studies share? How are some studies different than others? Your paper should stress how all the studies reviewed contribute to your topic. Current - Your review should focus on work being done on the cutting edge of your topic.

Common errors in reviewing literature Hurrying through review to get started could mean that you will miss something that will improve your research. Relying too heavily upon secondary sources. Concentrating on findings rather than methods. Overlooking sources other than academic journals. Don’t forget newspaper articles, magazines, blogs, etc. Searching too broad or too narrow of a topic. Inaccuracy in the compiling of bibliographic information.