literature reviews

Literature ReviewsAnthropology/Women’s Studies 324Suzanne van den Hoogen, MLISJanuary 16, 2014

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. 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.

Taylor, Dena n.d. The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It. University of Toronto. http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review, accessed January 15, 2014.

Literature Review: Your Assignment

Finding a Topic

Annotated Bibliography

Literature Review

Anthropological

What a Literature Review is NOT:

NOT a collection of summaries or abstracts

NOT a copy of your annotated bibliography

NOT a research essay

You are responsible for synthesizing and critically examining the literature!

What is the Purpose of a Literature Review?

to provide an overview of what academic anthropologists have written about on a specific topic;

to describe the conceptual or theoretical frameworks anthropologists have used to analyse that topic;

to explain the strengths and weaknesses of this knowledge and these theoretical/conceptual frameworks by comparing and contrasting the work of various authors.

If you cannot find enough anthropological sources, you may have to change your topic!

Literature Reviews: Format• Title page• Introduction• Topic Headings• Conclusion• AAA Style Guide

• 1,500- 2,000 words• Double-spaced, typed• Minimum of 16 academic references• at least 10 references must be written by anthropologists, come from anthropological journals or

provide a clearly anthropological perspective or analysis.

If you are unclear about any of these requirements, please see Dr. Fawcett!

Literature Reviews: Worksheets

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