1. Information and literature review
Some tricks and tips
Tom Vandenbosch

2. Purpose of a literature review
To find out what other scholars are writing about your topic
To learn methods and approaches that are appropriate for your study
To learn appropriate theory to underpin your work
To highlight gaps and under-researched areas, to identify current debates and controversies
To help focus your research and sharpen and refine your research questions
(last bullet) Indeed, after a literature search and review the focus of the research may change or be slanted somewhat differently.

3. Purpose of a literature review
To avoid reinventing the wheel, to demonstrate to your audience that your contribution is new – different from everyone else’s
Nobody will believe you unless you can demonstrate through the literature review that you know what everyone else has done
In an MSc: to demonstrate that you can do an effective literature review
Important question: “How can I demonstrate my skills through my project???”

4. Types of information sources
Secondary sources
Bibliographies, indexes and abstracts that you can use to help you to find the
Primary sources
Full text of articles, books, government reports, etc. that you need to read for your research project

5. Aim of your literature search
To retrieve information of direct relevance to your research
To avoid being sidetracked or overloaded with material of only peripheral interest

6. Planning your literature search
You should consider at an early stage some search parameters, e.g.
How far back will you look for material? The last five/ten years?
Do you plan to read material about a particular geographical region only?
What type of material do you want to trace? Books, journals, theses, government reports, Internet resources?
Do you want material only in Kikuyu, in English or in other languages?

7. Overall structure of academic literature
Research Topic
Specialist sub-area
Relevant
primary
research
Your research question

8. Literature search model
Example: you may be researching the academic performance of mature students in higher education
Higher education
Mature students
This is the kind of figure that it is useful to bear in mind if you are carrying out an on-line search. You can enter as many subject keywords as you think are relevant for each component of your topic. The search engine will combine the subject terms for you when you perform your search.
Academic performance

9. Literature search model
Mature students
Higher education 5%
Specialist area
10% 5%
50%
10%
10% 5% 5%
Academic performance

10. Sources for Literature Reviews
Internet
Use keyword searches in Google Scholar:
Digital Libraries
Need to use keyword searches to identify relevant articles
Libraries
Look through the list of journals and browse the books on the shelves to find relevant ones

12. Strengths and weaknesses of different sources
Books vs. journal articles vs. conference proceedings vs. the Internet
Which tend to be the best for
Currency?
Authority?
Understandability?
Academic papers are quality controlled – many are rejected as being incorrect or uninteresting

13. Literature search techniques
Keyword search
To find topically relevant information from digital libraries, databases, or the Internet
Good in most cases
Chaining
Tracking references and citations to find articles relevant to a topic
Good where the topic is very small
Browsing
To sift through collections of potentially relevant text
Good where there are many relevant books/articles, but only a few can be selected
Keyword search was subject search

14. Selecting keywords Organize your topic into subject groups or sets
Analyze the keywords in each subject group or set to try to find as many relevant search terms as possible
Use a thesaurus which lists synonyms and related words, to help you think of broader and narrower terms (and alternative spellings).
Some computer databases have an on-line subject thesaurus which you can use to find additional terms during your search

15. Selecting keywords: an example
Set 1: mature students OR adult education OR adult learning OR continuing education OR non-traditional students OR lifelong learning AND
Set 2: academic performance OR academic achievement OR academic ability OR learner outcomes AND
Set 3: higher education OR colleges OR universities OR post-secondary education
Taking the topic “academic performance of mature students in higher education” which we illustrated earlier as an example, your list might expand considerably. If you use ‘AND’ with ‘OR’ (known as ‘Boolean operators’) you can see how the sets can be combined logically to retrieve the references that contain all three elements as illustrated earlier.
As you search, you will probably amend your list to include additional keywords or you may jettison broader terms that retrieve large numbers of references too general to be of use. It may be only at this point that you can define what you don’t want.
It can be helpful when you find a relevant reference to note down any subject headings, sometimes called ‘identifiers’ or ‘descriptors’ that have been used to index it.

16. Citations and references
As you write up your research, you will use a citation to indicate in your text the source of a piece of information
References give details of books, articles and any other types of material that you have cited in your text
A bibliography is a list of works that you have read or consulted during the course of your research but have not necessarily cited

17. Referencing
Referencing is a standardized method of acknowledging sources of information and ideas that you have used in your assignment in a way that uniquely identifies their source
Direct quotations, facts and figures, as well as ideas and theories, from both published and unpublished works must be referenced
There are many acceptable forms of referencing (e.g. Harvard referencing style)

18. Creating a bibliography
Word processor
OpenOffice.org Writer
MS Word
Bibliographic software package
EndNote
Pro-Cite
Reference Manager
By hand

19. Evaluating sources
Is the source you are using respected in your field?
Has the author’s name been cited by others, or have you seen it listed in other bibliographic sources?
Are vital points referenced for you to check?
Are the references up to date with current development in your field?

20. Literature review
Ideally, the bulk of your reading should come early in the investigation
In practice a number of activities are generally in progress at the same time and reading may spill over into the data-collecting stage of your study
You need to take care that reading does not take up more time than can be allowed, but it is rarely possible to obtain copies of all books and articles at exactly the time you need them, so there is inevitably some overlap

21. Literature review
Reading about your topic may give you ideas about approaches and methods which had not occurred to you
It may also give you ideas about how you might classify and present your own data
It may help you to devise a theoretical or analytical framework

22. Literature review As you read, get into the habit of examining
How authors classify their findings
How they explore relationships between facts
How facts and relationships are explained

23. Literature review
Methods used by other researchers may be unsuitable for your purposes
But they may give you ideas about how you might categorize your own data, and ways in which you may be able to draw on the work of other researchers to support or refute your own arguments and conclusions

24. Critical review of literature
Only relevant works are mentioned
Review is more than a list of ‘what I have read’

25. Critical review of literature
Uses of references
Justify and support your arguments
Allow you to make comparisons with other research
Express matters better than you could have done
Demonstrate your familiarity with your field of research

26. Critical review of literature
Abuses of references
Impress your readers with the scope of your reading
Litter your writing with names and quotations
Replace the need for you to express your own thoughts
Misrepresent other authors

27. Monitor your progress The following should occur as you progress
Increase in knowledge of the subject
Increase in general knowledge of the specialist topic
Increase in your specialist vocabulary
Increase in confidence that you can complete the task

28. Structuring/organizing your literature review
One approach is to treat the literature review as a funnel.
Begin with an overview of the broad, conceptual research ("the big picture")
Gradually narrow the discussion to a more detailed description of the few studies that are directly related to your research
The role your study plays in extending the research of others should "pop out of the bottom of the funnel" at the conclusion of the literature review.

29. Structuring/organizing your literature review
Try to follow a concept-by-concept approach in presenting the literature review, not a study-by-study approach.
This means putting the emphasis on the results of the study, not the author.