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

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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?

6. 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)

7. 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.