The narrower the topic the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need to read.
A Literature Review is a select list of available resources covering the topic in question accompanied by a short description AND a critical comparative evaluation/analysis of the works included http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/litreviews/whatis.html
- an integral part of the scientific process
- reveals whether or not a research question has been answered by someone else
Major points to consider
- Thematic -- defined by a guiding question or concept
- Descriptive
- Directly relevant
- Highly selective, narrowly focused
- May include all scholarly formats including government documents; book reviews; films; selected websites; scholarly open source journals
- Usually includes a thesis statement/narrowly focused research question,summary and/or synthesis of the ideas encountered. (synthesis=reorganization of information of what is known, what is yet to be discovered
Questions to ask
- What has/has not been investigated?
- Who are the contributors to the conversation and what are they saying?
- How is the lit review organized?
- Does it trace a history or progression of thought?
- Does it include variety of interpretations, debates, areas of controversy?
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- Does it inform the reader of the most important, relevant resources?
- Does it formulate additional questions that need more investigation?
- Does it include strengths and weaknesses?’
- Does it document the research?
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*Expect that your work will be traced by readers.
Definitions:
Literature: a collection of materials on your topic. (does not mean “literature” in the sense of “language and literature” (To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, etc.) —means understanding the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary literature Primary—peer reviewed, scholarly, original, review articles—secondary
Review: to look again at what has been written. (does not mean giving your personal opinion or whether or not you liked the sources.)
Research: re search –to search again.
What is the purpose of a Literature Review? Why do people develop them?
- to review scholarly literature—common scholarship in sciences and social sciences, empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic, methodological
- to advance the discussion of previously published information written by recognized scholars and researchers
- to demonstrate a familiarity with a body of knowledge
- to establish professional credibility, your professional competence and abilities
- to increase your breadth of knowledge
- to see what has/has not been investigated
- to identify a researchable topic and avoid reinventing the wheel
- to carry on where others stopped
- to build on existing knowledge, learn from others
- to provide intellectual context for your own work
- to explore definitions and key concepts, words and phrases
- to identify key personalities, scholars and researchers. (It broadens your research network.)
- to identify seminal works, data sources, key information, views/opposing views relevant to your work
- to evaluate and consolidate existing current research or state of the research
- to create a guide to a specific topic
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- to provide an up-to-date summary of the field, keep current in your field with background information; comprehensive knowledge
- to explain how the body of knowledge fits together and develop explanations for variations in a behavior or phenomenon, show the paths and linkages between scholars
- to explain how your research question fits into the larger picture; to lay a foundation for designing your research; put your work into perspective
- to explain why you are approaching your topic in a particular way
- to establish, distinguishing connections between sources that need to be highlighted. To identify relationships between concepts or ideas
- to make a case for additional research, find questions that need to be answered
- to identify gaps in current knowledge, highlight strengths and weaknesses of existing knowledge and ideas
- to demonstrate competency in assessing prior work
- to identify methodologies relevant to your work
- to have an accurate, well documented record of resources on a scholarly theme
- to integrate and pull information together
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How is a Literature Review organized? How do I do a Literature Review?
- Chronologically (some research may limit you to a maximum of 2 years)
- Thematically/discipline based
- Topical
- Inverted pyramid: broad to narrow
- Classical according to significance
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- By publication
- By trend
- By methodology
- Abstract—a paragraph summary of your literature review
- Includes Introduction, Body, Conclusion
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Do not use materials from the Internet unless it is a professional, peer reviewed scientific journal. Ask a librarian or your professor to be sure if items from the Internet are valid and meet scholarly criteria if you have questions or doubts.
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What do Librarians have to do with it? Librarians are available for assistance:
- one on one research consultation
- formulation of research question
- search strategy
- identifying appropriate databases
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- advanced information seeking (beyond Zondervan)
- help with citations (Zotero); interlibrary loan (ILLIAD)
- other ideas regarding the literature review/research
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