Planning and Writing a Literature Review

Stephen Potter

Session Aims

• To Explore the Purposes of a ‘Literature’ Review• To Identify Sources to be used in a review• Ensuring Internet searching is done well• To look at ways of Structuring your Review

Based upon Ch7 of Doing Postgraduate Research

These slides are on the Workshops’ website linked from VRE at http://www.open.ac.uk/students/research/

Purposes of a Literature Review– You know about subject– You can review your area critically– You have used existing knowledge

to focus your research question– You have used existing knowledge to chose your

research method/approach– You have something to compare with you own results

• Look at Woodley review– What purposes does this fulfil?– Other impressions.

Sources• Journals• Conference Papers and

Proceedings• Books• Practitioner documents &

reports• Other students’

dissertations and theses• Government documents • Dictionaries

• Statistics and market data

• Newspapers, TV and Radio

• Webites• Visual materials

– Plans– Designs

• Grey literature: – Company reports

Trade literature Unpublished research documents

• Exhibitions and performances

See DPGR Ch 7.3

Internet Searching

• Use the internet properly - Library provides advice

• Check Sources:– Use to identify primary source– 5 Ws: who, why, where, what

and when?– Is the author (or their institution)

known and respected in this field?

– Is reference made to other work in this field and in a proper way?

– Does the information seem reasonably objective? Is there an underlying marketing or propaganda motive?

– How current is the information? Is it properly dated?

– Rather than a general web search, look for related links from websites or blogs you already trust

Further advice

– Library (and MRes course) will advise

– BBC website has useful Webwise site on reliability. This is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/askbruce/articles/browse/goodsites_1.shtml

(accessed 28.10.13)– There is also the OU safe computing website for more general issues at:

http://safecomputing.open.ac.uk/

(accessed 28.10.13)

People and NetworksDPGR Ch 7.5

• Authors • Practitioners• Journalists• Media Researchers • ‘Stakeholders’

• Contacting People– Conferences – Interviewing– Run a Workshop– Give a Seminar– Start a blog/tweets or join

a discussion list– Other ideas??

Activity

• Make a list of the people and organisations who might be interested in the results of your research

Keeping Organised DPGR Ch 7.5

• Vital – can be immense timewaster if not

• Fully record sources• May use same source for

different purposes• Bibliographic packages available

(Endnote etc)• See DPGR Ch 7.5

Research Journal• Endnote allows you to keep

notes of references, but you also need to keep a record of how your research and thinking develops

• Make it reflective• Key resource in writing up to

explain rationale for research and your learning processes

Structure for a Review • Often structured by your research

process stages:– 1: Project aims – 2: General subject background

(‘wide and thin’)

– 3: Focus on work in specific subject area – major part (subdivided by categories – ‘deep and narrow’ or ‘drilling down’)

– 4: Key issues identified from the literature that needs researching

– You may split this up in your thesis (e.g. by stages in your project (policy review, practice review, theory review) or a detailed methodology review may be in methods chapter)

Review Structure• Structuring more focussed

section can take a number of approaches:

• (a) Chronological– 1 Early history– 2 1960s and 1970s– 3 Recent developments

• (b) Sequential stages– 1 Market research– 2 Market planning– 3 Market decisions

• (c) Ways of understanding– 1 Networks– 2 Movements– 3 Practice– 4 Organisations

Woodley’s review is chronological but structured by emerging understanding – a mix of (a) and (c).

Create a ‘storyboard’

• Treat you literature review like a Powerpoint presentation

• Make up 15 slides that structure what you need to say• Alternatively draw a diagram with bubbles containing the

main points and then work out a sequence from that

Writing Style

• What makes an article/chapter hard to read?• Create a flow or ‘storyline’ (sequence)• Provide ‘signposts’

• “Pulling together” summary points where your writing takes any new direction. Say ‘this is what I have discovered, the implications are these and so we need to explore this, this and this to develop our understanding further’.

• A good structure should set you up for a good writing style

• Try doing a mini-review ASAP (e.g. a position or discussion paper on an aspect of your research)

And Finally…..• Start structuring some sort of review paper ASAP• Don’t just list literature – learn to tell a story with it• Be clear about why you are reviewing literature

– and keep that in focus• Think about your reader• ….particularly if they will be your examiner!!

• Nov 5th - Fireworks?• Nov 12th Research Design and Focus