literature review dr ayaz afsar. aims and objectives what is literature review? why do you need to...
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Remember Literature is reviewed, mentioned, called on throughout the thesis. Especially – in the first chapter (what is the topic of the thesis?) and in the last chapter (what has the thesis added to the field?), but also throughout. But most theses also have specific ‘literature review’ chapters.TRANSCRIPT
Literature Review
Dr Ayaz Afsar
Aims and Objectives
What is literature review? Why do you need to do one? Why do we write a literature review? When do we write it? What goes into it? Speaking with your own voice. Pitfalls A successful literature review
Remember
Literature is reviewed, mentioned, called on throughout the thesis.
Especially – in the first chapter (what is the topic of the thesis?) and in the last chapter (what has the thesis added to the field?), but also throughout.
But most theses also have specific ‘literature review’ chapters.
‘state of the art’
Understand Present State of the Art
You need to read what other people have written and make an
assessment of where your research will fit into that body of work
The purpose of a literature review
The rhetorical purpose The examination purpose The readership purpose
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The rhetorical purpose
Creating a Research Space: Other people have said this This raises a number of questions No-one has answered the questions Therefore I will answer them
Identifying the Field: My thesis is unique It draws on and brings together a combination of research you
haven’t thought of before The literature review defines this Field
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The examination purpose
Showing you know the field – who are the ‘big players’? what is the well-known research?
Showing understanding of what has been done before – reporting people accurately.
Showing a critical awareness of what has been done before – an ability to form and express your own view, to establish yourself as an ‘equal researcher’.
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The readership purpose
What does my reader need to know before reading the rest of my thesis?
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When to write it?
Throughout the PhD, reading, note-taking, writing small sections.
But wait!
How many words can you afford to spend on the literature review?
What particular areas do you need to review?
The literature review is the second-to-last thing you write.
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Types
1. A survey article
2. A review that forms part of a research paper, proposal, thesis or
dissertation
Underpins the argument why the project is worth doing.
Means not only tracking down all the relevant information but also taking
a critical position on the ideas contained therein, and producing an
argument that leads to the exposition of the research problem.
When do you need….?
‘A history of corpus linguistics’
Detailed review of specific papers
Summaries of large areas of research
…to quote?
…to paraphrase?
…to comment?
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Your own voice In the literature review, we should be aware of you as a researcher.
You achieve this by…
Selecting the material
Interpreting the material
Commenting on / evaluating the material
Contextualising the material
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Critical reading skills
Better word would be ‘analysis’ not to denigrate or find fault but to
present a critique, a scrutiny, an analysis, or an examination of them
Providing a description is not enough; give your own personal and
professional appraisal of the content and quality of the text in question.
Look at the text from different perspectives to reveal a
multidimensional view of the work
Perspective 1
The structure of the argument Detect the conclusion type-words, e.g. ‘therefore’, it follows that’, as
a result’, ‘we can conclude that’
What evidence is given to support the conclusions?
Is the evidence credible, i.e. does it come from reliable sources?
Is the logic of the argument sound, i.e. what are the steps in the
argument that lead from the evidence to the conclusions?
Perspective 2
The assumptions upon which the writing and arguments are based
All writing is rooted in theory and based on values and must be
appraised in relation to these.
Need to have some knowledge of the different theoretical positions in
your subject in order to be able to detect them and know what they
imply, e.g. feminist approach in social science, a modernist approach in
architecture, and a Freudian approach in psychology. In each there are
competing theoretical standpoints with their own values
Perspective 3
The wider context of the work
Intellectual work is carried out in a complex arena where power,
politics, fashion, economics, competing orthodoxies and many other
factors play influential roles. These can be determining factors in the
formulation of views and need to be exposed in order to understand the
forces behind them.
Perspective 4
Comparison with other work
There are no absolute values to which you can appeal in order to
make assessment. There are no clear rules about what is right and
wrong.
Critical reading can be used to make comparisons between texts in
order to highlight the different approaches, levels of thoroughness,
contradictions, strength of arguments, implications of theoretical
stances and accepted values, and types of conclusions.
Doing the review 1
Investigation for literary review: 4 directions
Research theory and philosophy To establish the intellectual
context(s) of research related to your subject.
History of development in your subject To trace the background to
the present thinking.
Doing the review 2
Latest research and development in your subject To inform about
current issues being investigated and the latest thinking and practice, to
discuss the conflicting arguments, and to detect a gap in knowledge.
Research methods To explore practical techniques that have been
used, particularly those that might be relevant to your thesis.
Structure your literature review
Select the notes you made from the literature> the most relevant>only
those that summarize the positions, ideas or evaluations
Number the notes in any order
Draw a sequence of 4 or 5 paired boxes in a line. This will help you to
map out the review of the literature together with the steps of your
argument: one seq. of boxes to outline the steps in your argument, the
other paired boxes to list the supporting literature notes at each step
2
Insert the outline of the argument in one line of boxes in the form of
short statement in each box in turn to trace the steps of the argument.
Insert the numbers of the notes that underpin each step in the adjacent
box
Levels of citations 1
Block and indented quotations
Ranger insisted on the need for good quality design:
Building will not function properly if sufficient consideration is given to
solve complicated design problems poor design results in inconvenient
planning, poor quality of spaces, higher maintenance costs and frequent
breakdown of services. (2004, p. 36)
Within-sentence quotations
According to Ranger, ‘building will not function properly if insufficient
consideration is given to solve complicated design problems’ (2004, p. 36)
Levels of citations 2
Paraphrase/summary
Ranger (2004) argued that neglecting the resolution of design issues
results in poor quality buildings.
Generalization (combining several sources)
There is wide agreement that lack of sufficient time and resources to
resolve design problems in buildings results in poor quality
developments (Hendry, 1998; Waldren, 1999; Smith, 2002; Ranger,
2004).
Pitfalls (things that can go wrong)
Plagiarism
Failing to say properly that an idea belongs to someone.
E.g. ‘It is important to take xxx into consideration (Goo 2012)’
Who is making this recommendation?
‘According to Goo (2012), it is important to…’
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Checklist for literature review 1
Make sure that your review is not just a list of previous research
papers or other literature, devoid of any assessment of their relative
importance and their interconnections.
Make an overview of the literature to produce and guide to the rich
interplay and major steps in the development of research in your
subject.
2
Check that the important issues of your research problem are
introduced through the analysis of the literature. A simple
chronological account of previous research will not give a sufficient
thrust to the argument of why your research problem is significant
and how it continues the research effort.
3
Ensure that the general theoretical background is intimately connected
to your examination of the more detail writings about ideas and specific
research that leads to your own research project. The theory should
help the reader understand the attitude behind the reviewed literature
and your own philosophical stance.
4
Make links across discipline boundaries when doing an
interdisciplinary review, rather than keeping each separate and
examined in turn.
Many research subjects anyhow cannot be hermetically sealed
within one discipline, so the connections are there to be exposed.
You might even be able to suggest some new links that need to be
investigated.
5
Ensure that you have included some account of how the previous
research was done, so that you have a precedent for your own
approach to methodology.
The End