Download - The literature review
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Psychological Research in Practice (PRIP - 7PS065)
Week 4 - The literature review (that precedes your research)
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Overview
• What is the Literature Review?
• Why do a Literature Review?
• Searching the literature
• How to access journals using UDo
• What makes a good literature review and introduction?
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
What is the Literature Review?
• The literature review precedes the research question and hypothesis formation.
• You are not required to write-up the literature review on it’s own. It should be considered part of your research methodology.
• It will help you to formulate your Introduction section when you write-up your research report.
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Why do a literature review?
• The literature review helps you to narrow your specific research question.
• The literature review ascertains what research has already been done.
• The literature review helps you to structure your Introduction section of your report.
• The literature review allows you to set-up a rationale for the study and where the gap in the research is.
• The literature review allows you to refine your practical research methods to collect data.
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Deciding about the scope of the literature review
• The scope of the review should be: meaningful and manageable
• Meaningful: addresses a worthwhile, interesting, or meaningful issue or question
• Manageable: identifies an area of literature that can be reviewed comprehensively
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
The Introduction (section of your report)• Introduces the research question
• Reviews previous research and literature on the topic
• Provides a focus
• Sets the scene
• Helps to better understand the background of the research
• Shows what has previously been found on the topic area
• Allows for a greater understanding of the question at hand
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
The Introduction
• Convey to the reader why the topic being investigated is interesting and worthy of being researched
• Provide a clear, concise and critical account of relevant prior research and conceptual issues which you consider to be important
• When describing previous research you must ensure that it is cited and referenced correctly
• Explain where there is a gap in current knowledge/understanding of the topic being investigated, and state how the reported study hopes to fill this gap
• Clearly explain what psychological questions your research was designed to answer, and what predictions or hypotheses you tested
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Searching the literature
• Use the UDo Athens gateway
• Try more than one data base: e.g. PsychInfo, EBSCO Electronic Journals Service, OVID online, Web of Knowledge
• Literature searches take time – don’t try to do it in a hurry
• Literature searches take several cycles – don’t try to do it all in one session
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
How to access journals using UDo
• The following slides show you how to access the electronic versions of the journals.
If you have any problems you can contact: David Clark (Subject Librarian : Science & Technology) (Tel: 01332 591203, email: [email protected])
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Logon to UDo & select “Athens – for Library resources” under Quick Links
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Use Electronic Journals A-Z tofind a specific electronic journal
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Type in the journal title you are looking for or a couple of words from the title & click on Search
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Click on the publisher’s link under the journaltitle – i.e. Wiley Online Library
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
As with most electronic journals, because you are “off-campus” you need to find an Athens login link & double click on it (You don’t need todo this when you are on campus.)
In the case of Wiley-Blackwell journals, first select “INSTITUTIONAL LOGIN”
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Then, again only if you areoff-campus, click on “Go to Athens”.Don’t fill in the Username/Password boxes
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
If you want to search for articleson a topic in the journal, then type in 1 or 2 keywords/searchterms or an author in the Searchbox.
If you use Advanced search, it will search all Wiley-Blackwell titlesunless you specify this title
If you are looking for a specificarticle from the journal & knowthe volume, date & title etc, thenselect from the dates & volumes.
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Now select the issue number you need.
The unlocked padlock icon indicatesyou have access to the full journalarticles.
If you don’t see this for a volumewe should have, then you have probablynot logged in correctly. Find theInstitutional & Athens login links & click onthem.
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
Click on Full Article (HTML) or PDF to view the whole journal article.
www.derby.ac.uk
ED
UC
AT
ION
, HE
ALT
H A
ND
SC
IEN
CE
S
What makes a good literature review and introduction?
• Has a clear focus and rationale
• Addresses a meaningful psychological issue
• Is integrative and critically analytic/evaluative
• Is usefully structured
• Arrives at meaningful conclusions that contribute to understanding of the literature (i.e., it adds something to what was known before)