Writingthe literature review

Clark, Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation...  “[D]iscusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within

“Piles of these materials are stacked all around, on desks, tables, and floor, and they [students] have diligently read their way through most of them, taking copious notes—computers bulge with

information and threaten to explode” (103).

~Irene L Clark, Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation

 “[I]s an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers” (Dena Taylor, Director, Health Sciences Writing Centre,and Margaret Procter,

Coordinator, Writing Support, University of Toronto)

 “[D]iscusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period” (University of North

Carolina website).

 “[I]s a body of text that aims to review the critical points

of current knowledge on a particular topic” (Wikipedia 3-19-07).

“A Literature Review Surveys scholarly articles,

books, and other sources (e.g., dissertations,

conference proceedings) relevant to a topic for a thesis or dissertation Its purpose is to

demonstrate that the writer has insightfully and critically surveyed relevant literature on his or her topic in order to convince an intended

audience that the topic is worth addressing”

(105)

~from Writing the Successful Thesis and

Dissertation: Entering the Discussion

By Irene L Clark

 An annotated bibliography

 A list of seemingly unrelated sources

 A literary survey containing author’s bio, lists of works,

summaries of sources

 Background information or explanations of concepts

 An argument for the importance of your research (although the

LR can and often does support your position)

 Formulate problem or primary research question

—which topic or field is being examined and

what are its component issues?

 Choose literature —find materials relevant to

the subject being explored and determine which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic

 Analyze and interpret —note the findings and

conclusions of pertinent literature, how each

contributes to your field

Methods for organizing the Lit Review

 By subject (if lit review covers more than one subject)

 Chronologically

 By theme, idea, trend, theory, or major research studies

 By author

 By argumentative stance

In all methods, relationships between elements (e.g., subject, theme, author, etc.) must be shown.

organizing example

 Ongoing “housekeeping” strategies and tips

information from

with relevant information.

quotations.

notebook or on post-its on pertinent pages.

conference, note details immediately.

 Introduce your LR by

OR

OR

OR

OR

 A Lit Review must have its own thesis (e.g., More and

more cultural studies scholars are accepting popular

media as a subject worthy of academic consideration;

others scoff at the very idea) thesis example.c3

 Use subheadings if dividing the LR topically, thematically, according to argumentative perspective, or according to time period.

 Be sure to show relationships between sources source relationship.c6

source relationship.c5

 Make explicit connections between reviewed sources and thesis.

 Discuss source’s significant contributions.

 Do not develop ideas or use sources that are irrelevant to your thesis overall.

 References to prior studies should be in past tense;

references to narrative or text other than studies should be

 Summarize ideas, conflicts, themes, or historical (or

chronological) periods summarize.c11

 Contextualize your thesis topic within the summary.

 Point out gap(s) in scholarship and, show how your research helps fill the gap(s).

 Transition to your next chapter transition.c8

 Have I accurately represented the author’s views?

to thesis topic?

and the LR?

idea, source to source, paragraph to paragraph?

sides fairly?

Clark, Irene L Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: Entering the Conversation Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007.

Glatthorn, Allan A and Randy L Joyner Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation: a Step by Step Guide 2nd ed

Thousand Oaks: Corwin, 2005.

Madsen, David Successful Dissertations and Theses: a Guide

to Graduate Student Research from Proposal to

Completion 2nd ed San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.

Purdue OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue U 19 Mar

2007 <http://owl

english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/

apa/interact/lit/index.html>

 Central Virginia Governor’s School of Science and Technology (Science and Engineering)

http://www.cvgs.k12.va.us/research/PAPER/parts/litreviewphy.pdf

 Claremont Graduate University (History)

http://www.cgu.edu/pages/931.asp

 University of Minnesota (Anthropology)

http://www.d.umn.edu/~sjanssen/samplelitreview.htm

 Purdue OWL (Social Work)

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/666/01/

 University of Washington (Psychology)

http://depts.washington.edu/psywc/handouts/pdf/litrev.pdf

 University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (Sociology):

http://www.uccs.edu/~smarshal/id26.htm

 University of North Carolina (Science)

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html

 Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation: A Step by Step

Guide, 2 nd Ed by Allen Glatthorn and Randy L Joyner

 Successful Dissertations and Theses: A Guide to Graduate

Student Research from Proposal to Completion, 2 nd Ed by David Madsen

 Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: Entering the

Conversation by Irene L Clark