WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

25th July 20162.30-4.30pm

Dr. Radzuwan Ab Rashid

Why do a literature review?How to write Introduction section in Lit. Review?How to synthesize points?How to write for the section “Review of Previous Studies”? Technical aspect of writingGetting your literature review publishedMendeley – Hands-on

i) To familiarize yourself with the concepts in your study.

ii) To prepare readers for your argument/interpretation.

iii) To prepare for your Analysis and Discussion section

– Compare your findings with previous studies – confirm, contradict or resonate with. Why so? Identify the point of differences and similarities

INTRODUCTION SECTION IN LIT REVIEW

•It is more than just listing the heading of sections.

•It is about flagging up the content!

.

“It is important to state these not simply as topics, but actually how they build up the internal chapter argument”

(Source: Thompson, 2016)

**Informing readers that your Lit Review will be about XXX and why it is about XXX

•Remember that every section in Lit Review is written for a purpose!

•You need to have a direction – where are you heading to?

EXAMPLES

• See handout

SYNTHESIZING POINTS

It should not be a listing. Your voice should be there!

•Remember to answer “so what” questions. This is an opportunity for you to say something!

•Refer to handout

REVIEWING PREVIOUS STUDIES

•It is more than just describing, it is about linking!!

Some useful questions:1. Why those studies and not the others?2. What is the contribution of those studies to your study? 3. How will you research extend the findings of those previous studies?

Refer to handout for example

TECHNICAL ASPECT OF WRITING(APA SIXTH EDITION)

Miller and Collins (2009) - use and when family names are outside parentheses (Miller & Collins, 2009) - use & when family names are inside parentheses

For fewer than 40 words incorporate the quote into the text and use double quotation marks. “………………………….” (Brown & Brown, 2008, p. 112). Brown and Brown (2008) suggested “……………………………” (p. 112), and this would provide…

If the quotation is 40 or more words use a freestanding block of text: start on a new line indent the block about half an inch from the left use double spacing omit quotations marks

For instance, Taylor, Sylvestre and Botschner (1998) point out that:

social support theorists have debated whether social support should

be best understood in terms of: properties of networks of personal

relations; preventive or therapeutic commodities; interpersonal

coping resources; a perception or a characteristic of a person's

personality (e.g. perception, appraisal); a social provision; or an

interpersonal communication (p.10).

Use paragraph number for .html documents (e.g. British Empire 1922, 2009, para. 4)

Use p. for a single page and pp. for double pages.

Chronological order!

***Please refer to APA 6th edition for technical aspect. It’s available online!

PUBLISHING A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Headings in a Systematic Review:1.Introduction2.Review Framework

Material and Methods 3.1 Formulation of inclusion and exclusion criteria 3.2 Improvement of a search strategy 3.3 Identification of relevant publications 3.4 Critical analysis and exploration 4. Results and Discussion - Exploration of research questions. 5. Conclusion