Review of Literature: Systematic identification, location, and analysis of documents containing information related to the research problem.

Review of Literature.. In user friendly terms… –A review is the story behind the problem. –Who did what to whom, when, why and how much? –Why is this such an important topic through the lenses of others who have worked in the area?

Major Purpose: Determine what has already been done that relates to your problem area. Avoids unintentional duplication Provides understandings and insights necessary for the development of a logical framework into which your problem fits. Provides the rational for your research hypotheses

Interpretation.. Give the pertinent information to support your story… Begin with the problem…and work from the beginning to the end of why this is important to do.

Source Ideas: Education Index Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature Dissertation Abstracts International Psychological Abstracts Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) –Resources in Education (RIE) –Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE)

Abstracting: Abstract your references –locate –review –summarize –classify references

Start with the most recent articles Check the references section - will lead to further studies you may not have identified Use the FAN technique

Steps to abstract: Skim the abstract - is it appropriate to your problem? Skim article - make mental notes of main points Write or type the complete bibliographic reference in the style ie APA… Classify or code the article to easily identify

Summarize the article and the main points –problem, procedures, treatments, etc... List any points to which you or others disagree Jot down any important quotation - in quotation marks and list exact page cited.

Analyzing, Organizing, Reporting Make an Outline!!!!! For example: –Intro, Purpose of what you are going to do in the review…Not the purpose of your study. –Variable 1 theoretical background –has anyone written anything in your critiques that has offer a theory behind what you are trying to do? practical studies –Has anyone actually done anything (like in the real world) like what you want to do…or maybe something like what you want to do… or in the same ball park.

Organizing and.. –experimental studies – Has anyone actually done something using a research design with experimental parameters in your field. –Problems – What problems do you foresee in what they did, and what you want to do? –conclusion

Analyze each reference in terms of your outline Take all references identified for a given subheading and analyze the relationship or differences between them.

For example: Several researchers have found white chalk to be more effective than yellow chalk in the teaching of advanced mathematics (Snurd, 1992; Trivia, 1945; Ziggy, 1984).

Review should flow such that the references least related to the problem are discussed first and the most related references are discussed last, just prior to the statement of the hypothesis. Think in terms of the BIG V