How to write?(Research)

A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography--see the bottom of the next page), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries.

Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas:

• information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books

• critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

A literature review must do these things:

be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known identify areas of controversy in the literature formulate questions that need further research

1. Introduction

Not to be confused with a book review, a literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

2. Components

Similar to primary research, development of the literature review requires four stages:

Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues?

Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored

Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic

Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature

Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:

An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature

review

Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely)

Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others

Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make

the greatest contribution to the understanding and the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research

In assessing each piece, consideration should be given to:

Provenance—What are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)?

Objectivity—Is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?

Persuasiveness—Which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?

Value—Are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

3. Definition and Use/Purpose

A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to:

Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review

Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration

Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research

Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies

Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort

Point the way forward for further research

Place one's original work (in the case of theses or dissertations) in the context of existing literature

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