Literature review

Cindy Wee Te Puna Ako Learning centre

This workshop covers:

• What is a literature review• The process of literature review• The format of literature review

What is a literature review?

• A literature review is a critical analysis of the literature, or research, related to a specific topic or research question.

• relevant to your topic of study

Literature review hopes to achieve

• a picture of the state of research into your topic to– give an overview of current thinking and latest

research in your field– identify trends in research activity– identify key issues in the field– identify areas of theoretical or empirical weakness

in existing literature– identify gaps in the existing literature and show how

your research addresses these

Process of literature review

1. Determine the purpose of your research• 1. What is the problem or issue you are

investigating?• Be as specific as possible – write the topic as a

complete sentence

• 2. What do you want to know about the problem or issue?

• Be as specific as possible – write your question and sub questions out in full

Be clear about your focus

2. Decide what to read and how to read it

• Effective reading is SELECTIVE • The 4-S system:1. Search 2. Skim3. Select key material4. Study the key material in depth

3. Engage critically with the literature

• Ask questions as you read

Critical evaluation

• Analysis– What is the author saying and how are they

saying it

• Synthesis – How can you connect different authors

• Evaluation– Identify strengths and weaknesses

Creating synthesis

Jones Smith Reagan Hernandez Kahlo

4. Organise your ideas

• What are the main themes or topics to be covered?

• Start by pulling in everything that seems important– Brainstorm all the important topics and headings to

cover– Look for ways of clustering them into meaningful

groups• Then organise the material from the mind map into a plan

for writing– Look at examples

5. Structure the literature review

• Introduction • Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern

• Point out overall trends.

• State thesis establishing the reason for writing the literature review.

• explain the criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing literature and the organization of the review (sequence); and, when necessary, state why certain literature is or is not included (scope).

Include sub-sections according to study

• Group research studies and other types of literature

• Summarize individual studies or articles • Provide the reader with strong topic sentences

at beginnings of paragraphs, "signposts" throughout, and brief "so what" summary sentences at intermediate points in the review to aid in understanding comparisons and analyses.

Comparative analysis

• a. Similarities (if any) among the studies are evaluated and discussed.

• b. Differences (if any) among the studies are evaluated and discussed.

• c. Link the relevance of the studies to your research topic or questions

• Use sign posts. For similar opinions, use words or phrases such as: similarly, in addition, moreover. If there is disagreement, indicate clearly by the using words such as: however, in contrast, conversely, nevertheless.

Descriptive & critical analytical writing: both are important!

• What you’ve read• what topics these

authors cover• how they did their

research• what their findings were• what conclusions they

reached• How one writer’s ideas

compare with another’s

• What ideas / themes underlie the work?

• What theories influenced the writers / researchers you’ve read?

• How useful are their ideas in relation to your issue / case / plans?

• How have their theories been applied in practice?

• What issues / concerns still remain?

© Unitec New Zealand 16

Building argument

• 3 part structure to a critical argument:

1. Statement of the assertion or claim you are

making

2. Evidence to support that assertion – from

literature

3. The significance of the evidence is explained – this

is the “so what?” question

Write in paragraphs• Paragraphs are the building blocks of academic writing

• A paragraph deals with one main idea

• This is usually stated at or near the beginning of the

paragraph – topic sentence

• The ideas is developed and discussed in the body of the

paragraph

• Literature is used to support and extend ideas

• The idea is concluded in a way that leads to the next

paragraph

Research in general problem solving suggests that planning, monitoring and

evaluation are important factors in performance (Flavell, 1987; Nelson &

Narens, 1994). Schoenfeld (1985) reported a positive relationship between

metacognition and problem solving in algebra and geometry. However, Wells

and Mathews (1994) suggested high metacognitive activity may hinder

performance. Hence, there is some inconsistency regarding metacognition

and performance. In this regard, Lester (1989) argued that researchers need to

assess the role of metacognition in more specific areas such as novel algebraic

word-problem solving.

Similarly little attention has been paid to critical thinking in algebraic problem solving.

In fact, Rabinowitz (1986) argued that everyday thinking does not involve logical

thinking and as such formal logistics should not be taught at all. However Hatcher

(1988), Paul (1990) and Potter et al (1991) among others believe logical thinking and

reasoning to be of critical importance in problem solving generally. Indeed Norris and

Ennis (1989) and Paul (1990) have developed frameworks for analysing critical

thinking in problem solving.

Conclusion/Summary

• Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.

• Evaluate the current "state of the art" for the body of knowledge reviewed, pointing out major methodological flaws or gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and findings, and areas or issues pertinent to future study.

• Conclude by providing some insight into the relationship between the central topic of the literature review and a larger area of study such as a discipline, a scientific endeavor, or a profession/practice