2- Literature Review

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Literature Review Key Points
What conversation is your project a part of?
A literature review informs the researcher what has been said about a topic. It is the
section of the paper where you synthesize literature in combination with your thoughts, all
authors’ thoughts and explain how you will critically analyze these. The literature review is
a conversation you are recapping, and then your paper is a conversation with a greater
framework.
It includes: a) why you are writing this paper b) what is important to discuss c) literature
to explain what others say about the topic d) what does this topic mean for these people?
e) where your research comes in
Analogy: Roundtable of Scholars, choose 1) the most cited scholars of the key words
(categories) of your research concern 2) or, up and coming/potential scholars of your
research concern that you think has something to contribute to the conversation 3) and,
position your project and what participant-observation might be able to contribute to the
roundtable discussion
*This literature review is NOT ABOUT PROVIDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION
ABOUT YOUR TOPIC. The focus is on how scholars have researched/debated your topic.
Where do you begin? Gain Knowledge of the Discipline- USE ONLY PEER-REVIEWED
SOURCES
How are things said and written in your discipline and topic? Major researchers must be
known about your topic, state topics and subtopics clearly. Find journals and articles and
see how they lay out your topic.y
What is the requirement/limit of sources?
10-12 pages: 10 articles or 2-3 books
15-30 pages: 20 articles, or 8-10 books
Strategies:
A. Reading Strategy
work from end to beginning
when reading, read abstract and discussion first
make notes of what grabs you
get background first via discussion
look at IDEAS for future research .. these will tell you where the gap is
B. Narrow down Resources
Articles or books don’t necessarily relate directly to your research topic, so you have
to think through them. Use annotated bibliographies, answering specific questions.
Put yourselves into the readings.
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C. Use Annotated bibliographies: opportunity to move beyond just the main point in
order to see how the readings fit into the research. Think about each source in the
following way…
Questions to ask when looking at a possible resource:
1. Why am I looking at this?
2. How does this make sense in terms of the research I’m doing?
3. Authorship: What does context of the writing do to the nature of the source?
*Use Spreadsheets
Create columns for author, date, journal, coverage, manner in which research was
conducted (where they did their study?), focus (what were the authors looking for?),
argument (found in discussion), unit of analysis, (who did they study?), how you found
this literature, how you narrowed down and reached this literature, methods when
written, manner of presentation (objectivity, quantitative /qualitative), what kinds of
graphs, how they come with their categories, how they define their categories (what
theoretical framework they are using?), conclusion (in these articles, put locations page
numbers, lines of where information is addressed)
*Common Questions: What do you do if the book touches on several topics, its central
argument does not address your topic but there is something in the book that is useful
for your topic, can you use this for the literature review? How would I frame it as
useful?
Create boundaries. Again, annotated bibliography will help you to do this.
Divide the literature according to theme, or argument, or findings.
D. Use the 3 pages to divide themes- There are three pages in the literature review..
Pile the sources according to theme. You can have 1-2 themes per page divided into
paragraphs. One or two paragraphs can talk about how these articles are related or
are different in these ways…and then where your research comes in.
I will be looking for where you see your participant-observation at the end of each
theme. NOT at the end of the literature review.
Formats:
Option 1
Subtitle [Theme A] First, (these people said this) … [explain how each one said it] Then, (these people debated with them)…[explain how each one debated with the first
group above] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
3
Subtitle [Theme B] First, (these people said this) … [explain how each one said it] Then, (these people debated with them)…[explain how each one debated with the first
group above] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Option 2
Subtitle [Theme A] First, (these people said this) … [explain how each one said it] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Then, (these people debated with them and said this)…[explain how each one debated with
the first group above] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Subtitle [Theme B] First, (these people said this) … [explain how each one said it] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Then, (these people debated with them and said this)…[explain how each one debated with
the first group above] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Option 3
Subtitle [Theme A] First, (these people said this) … [explain how each one said it] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Then, (these people debated with them and said this)…[explain how each one debated with
the first group above] 4
Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Subtitle [Theme B] First, (these people said this) … [explain how each one said it] Then, (these people debated with them)…[explain how each one debated with the first
group above] Here is what I want to tell them … (based on findings from answering my research
questions)….
Writing your Literature Review
Mimic how academics write. Learn the convention in your field by going to the journals.
Make mention if it’s an old piece and compare with new piece
DO NOT USE BLOCK QUOTES. Summarize each literature in your own words then cite
them.
Operationalize the Terms Used
e.g. “According to…. depression is defined… (is researched through..)”
“two studies indicate…”
“three studes indicate xyz does not need…”
“the difference between these literatures…”
“what is important between these literatures…”
“Explain theoretical framework: “so and so looked at it from this framework, i will look at it
this way …. for these reasons…”
VERB TENSE in literature review
stay in the past to describe
stay in the present with findings “indicate”, “stand” of a topic
use quotations from work only if you cannot say it any other way
quote- empirically reviewed journal, those are worth citing unless they are reports
governmental
do not quote news sources