Research Skills Course - Writing A Review of The Literature

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Colour Code: Topics introduced in 3rd year, in master
Writing a Review of the Literature [Review & Consolidation]
Objectives of the Unit: At the end of this unit, you should be able to write a simple review
of the literature.
Student Presentations: OP1 – Intro – 3.3 OP2 – 3.4 - Conclusion
Skills Needed: - Note Taking (Quoting; paraphrasing and summarizing);

- Synthesising data from different sources; - Documenting (Referencing) Sources
Introduction
Part of being a researcher involves being “information literate”, i.e. having the research skills
that enable you to locate and collect information related to a topic, and also critically
evaluate, process, integrate and apply that information collected from a range of different
sources for a specific research goal (Research question or thesis). The review of literature
about your research topic/area is a major task in doing academic research. Reading the
literature will guide your research. Therefore, you should start reading, analyzing and
drafting your literature review in the very early stages of doing your research.
1. Purpose: What is the purpose of a literature review?

You do a review of the literature in order to:
1- Become knowledgeable about work done by other scholars in your topic area;
2- Inform the readers about such knowledge via your summaries of the literature;
3- Define key concepts related to your topic;
4- Define the field within which you will situate your own research; i.e. Set up the
Theoretical Framework/context
5- Persuade the reader that your research is informed and necessary (identify a gap to be
filled) (2).
2. Important considerations: In you review of the literature,
1. Inform your research by primary sources of theories and concepts in the field;
2. Where the literature is sparse, use research in associated pertinent fields in areas;
3. Write a well-organized review rather than a long verbose review;
4. Relates clearly the literature to your research project.
5. The literature review should be organized around concepts and issues, not authors;
6. Demonstrate to your reader that you are examining your sources with a critical approach,
and not just believing them automatically. You should bring together material from
different sources and create a structured review of relevant work. Draw points of
comparison or conflict between different sources; evaluate concepts, theories, and
research methodologies used by other researchers. In other words, provide critical
commentary on the selected literature (2). This will be your original contribution to
knowledge.
Please share with others and use freely. These documents may be downloaded from
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Please send your comments & suggestions to mrmissoum13@yahoo.fr Thank You!
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7. In your literature review, develop your central argument (your message to the readers).
3. Process: Developing a literature review may go through several steps, but they are not
necessarily sequential. You will probably find yourself moving backwards and forwards
between the following stages:
1 - Finding relevant quality literature;
2 - Reading the literature for understanding;
3 - Collecting useful information while reading;
4- Synthesising information in a critical account.
5- Writing up (finalising) sections of your literature review
Writing a review of the literature consists of the following:
3.1. Identify Materials: Start by compiling a list of references (see the handout RM -
Literature Review - 1 - Finding Relevant Quality Literature for tips about finding the
sources). Think about the kind of ‘filing’ system that you will use – hard copy (one of those
A4 books with alphabetical tabs), or software referencing system such as EndNote or a
combination. Make a record of any literature that relates to your topic. At the very least you
should have the citation details and where it is located (catalogue number, database, etc.). It is
also a good idea to write a couple of sentences that will help us remember what the article is
about. Remember that being selective at every stage of the literature review will help you
avoid becoming overwhelmed with irrelevant information (2).
3.2. Read the documents to identify key topics, sub-topics and concepts; Take notes of
selected material (information) via paraphrasing, summarising and quoting (for details see
handouts RM - Making Effective Notes and RM - Note Taking - Paraphrasing, Summarising,
Quoting & Referencing).
3.3. Make an Outline: A good outline will make the writing process simple. An outline
summarizes the document you intend to write. Therefore, your outline includes all the main
topics and sub-topics that you need and want to discuss. If you are not sure what the sub-
topics are, you need to read a little about the topic. If you have little time, go directly to
introduction, conclusion and table of contents of a source relevant to your topic. If references
are not yet available, analyze the statement of your topic to its key words. Expand (develop)
each key word on a different line of the outline. Your outline should show the hierarchical
relationships between the topics and sub-topics (which ideas are part of which and which are
complementary/parallel to which?)
If you have taken notes from reading the sources, arrange your notes by topic heading only
regardless of where you got your information. Before you even begin to write down anything
on a sheet of paper, go through your note. Identify key topics and sub-topics and use these as
sectional headings for your notes (5).
Study your topic headings and ask yourself:
1. Which topic headings have enough material (information) to build a chapter or section in
the review (at least 3 full pages)?
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2. Are there some topic headings that aren’t mentioned at all but should be? (Is there need to
collect more information about those headings)
3. Which headings / notes might be useful or important at the beginning of my paper?
4. Which headings / notes might be useful or important in the middle of my paper?
5. Which headings / notes do I need at the end of my paper for my conclusion? (5)
Outline Format:
1. Coordination - All the information contained in Heading 1 should have the same
significance as the information contained in Heading 2. The same goes for the subheadings
(which should be less significant than the headings). Example:
1. Visit and evaluate college campuses
2. Visit and evaluate college websites
2. Subordination - The information in the headings should be more general, while the
information in the subheadings should be more specific. Example:
1. Describe an influential person in your life
1.1 Favourite high school teacher
1.2 Grandparent
(A favorite teacher and grandparent are specific examples from the generalized category of
influential people in your life.) (6)
Below is an example structure of the outline of a review of the literature. Your Introduction
will include the Thesis Statement, Statement of Purpose and/or Research Question.
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Practice Task: Write an outline of your review of the literature; present to your classmate(s).
3.4. Expand and adjust the outline: Under each of the headings in your outline, insert the
relevant information and data in dot point format. Adapt the outline to the information
available. [Add a heading if logically necessary even if the information you have collected so
far does not point to it. Or skip a heading if information available is not sufficient]. Under
each heading, synthesise and integrate of key terms and information derived from different
sources to form a single set of structured notes that accurately and efficiently conveys the
data.
For example, let’s use the topic of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The most
important part of any paper (and sometimes the hardest) is your thesis statement (also
statement of purpose / research question). What are you trying to prove in your paper? What
has all your research and evidence led you to conclude about the assassination of President
Kennedy? Perhaps you’ve decided that the assassination of President Kennedy was not a
conspiracy as some of the reading suggested, but the work of a lone assailant. Write in your
idea at the top of your outline. It’s best if you can try to word your thesis statement or overall
argument of your paper as one sentence. The more you can condense your thoughts into a
single, powerful sentence, the easier it will be for your readers to follow your argument. Now
your outline will look like this:
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Thesis Statement = President Kennedy’s assassination was not the result of a conspiracy, but
the work of a lone, angry assailant (5).
Remember that you can change the wording of your thesis statement later. You should always
make sure that all your evidence and all your paragraphs prove, relate to, or point back
to your thesis statement, statement of purpose or research question(s). That’s why it’s a
good idea to write it at the top of your outline (5).
As you finalize your outline, you might want to write your introduction now, even if it’s a
very rough draft. For the purposes of the outline, try to keep your introduction to a paragraph.
Whatever you can put down now will help you later on when you finalize your last draft.
After you write your thesis statement and introductory paragraph, you can fill in the body
sections. Write a topic sentence next to each section so that your outline looks like this:
Section #1 = President John F. Kennedy’s political actions caused controversy . . .
Section #2 = Reactions to President Kennedy’s policies and specific opposition from law
makers . . .
Section #3 = Anger over Kennedy’s policies and how this anger resulted in violence . . . (5)
Again, as you start to write, you may refine or narrow your sections, but these broad topics
will give you a solid basis for organizing your writing. The last step you can take is to refine
your outline further. In other words, you have your sections clearly divided, you know your
thesis, what each section will be attempting to prove and argue; now all you need are the
specific facts, quotes and statements. In this way, your outline will be organized, your
argument concrete and your material ready to be linked together (5).
Keep your outline with you as you write and refer to it constantly. Although it may change
once you begin writing, you will always have it as a basic guideline and original map of your
thoughts. Your outline is a starting point and a solid, visual way to organize your thoughts and
sources. When you begin the actual process of writing, you don’t have to worry about how to
organize your sources or how they will all fit together (5).
Practice Task: Write at least one sentence about each heading in your outline.
3.5. Write up the Review: Having a lot of literature to report on can be overwhelming. It is
important that you stay focused on your study rather than on the literature. To help you do
this, you will need to structure (organise) your writing. A good, well-explained structure is
also a huge help to the reader. The review of the literature must be a logically presented,
coherent, piece of writing that conveys the key scientific concepts or findings related to the
topic. It must be clearly structured, with an introduction, body and conclusion (3). Once you
have a solid detailed outline, just fill in the structure with relevant material from your
different sources.
3.6. Reference the sources: Plagiarism is regarded as a serious offence. You need to make
sure that you do not, even accidentally, commit plagiarism. Plagiarism is the using of
someone else’s words or ideas, and passing them off as your own. To avoid Plagiarism,
indicate the origins of information, i.e. document the sources, both within the written text and
by the provision of a reference list (3).
A practical way to help you avoid accidentally forgetting to reference someone else’s work is
routinely to record short extracts of text verbatim i.e.: using the exact words of the author,
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rather than putting the idea into your own words at the point where you are still reading. You
will need to put inverted commas (‘xxx’) around the exact quote, and record the page number
on which it appears. This has the advantage that, when you come to use that information in
your writing, you can choose to quote or paraphrase.
In-text Citations: Cite sources within parentheses.

The losing candidates (Bush & Quayle, 1992; Dukakis & Benson, 1988; Gore & Lieberman,
2000) suggested that. . . .
When citing specific parts of a source, indicate the page number
The Democrats were "confident [they] would hold the White House throughout the 1980s"
(Carter & Mondale, 1980, p. 432).
3.7. Edit / Review your Writing and check that you have addressed all aspects before
submitting it for assessment. Once you have a first draft of your literature review, assess how
well you have achieved your aims. One way of doing this is to examine each paragraph in
turn, and to write in the margin a very brief summary of the content, and the type of content
e.g.: argument for, argument against, description, example, theory, etc. These summaries
then provide the outline of the story you are telling, and the way that you are telling it. Then
ask yourself questions like the following:
1. Is every element of my research question (s), thesis or research goal(s) addressed by
the literature?
2. Have I missed out any important dimension of the argument?
3. Are there places where the reader is left with unanswered questions?
4. Is there any material that is interesting but which does not contribute to the
development of my argument?
5. How effective is my linking of all the elements? (3)
When you start explaining something in writing, you may find where your argument is weak
or something missing. You need to be ready to cross out whole paragraphs or even whole
sections if they do not pass the above tests. If you find that what you’ve written is not in the
best order, then re-shaping it is not a huge problem. It may be mainly a case of cutting and
pasting material into a different order, with some additional explanation and linking (3).
4. Problematising the literature: You can show readers that your review of the literature
and research as a whole will make a useful contribution to human knowledge by highlighting
that currently available literature is incomplete (some specific area has not yet been
addressed. Your research seeks to augment the field or fill a gap) or inadequate (Existing
research is portrayed as wrong or misguided in some way. Your research seeks to posit an
alternative views (2).
5. Structuring the literature review: As with any piece of extended writing, structure
(organisation) is crucial. Examples of ways you might organise your literature review are:
1. Chronologically: Presenting the historical evolution of issues, questions, themes; (For
instance, how the concept of the state evolved throughout the centuries);
2. Comparing and contrasting theoretical and methodological positions; (For example,
constructivist, audio-lingual, cognitivist, etc. view of how people learn a language);
3. Disciplinary perspectives; (For instance, views about cheating from various
disciplines: sociology, psychology, education, etc.);
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4. Positions of different groups (For example, views about cheating from teachers,
researchers, administrators, general public, etc.).
5. By theme; this is useful if there are several strands (related topics and sub-topics)
within your topic that can logically be considered separately before being brought
together;
These are possible structures for your review of the literature. You may combine some of the
above or find another structure. You need to establish one that will best fit the ‘story’ you are
telling. Once you have chosen the structure to use, inform your reader (3). The themes
(Different stages in chronological order, different theoretical and methodological positions,
perspectives fro different disciplines, Positions of different groups and topics and sub-topics
can then be used to form section headings (in your outline) to organize your literature review.
Conclusion
The literature review is an important showcase of your talents of understanding,
interpretation, analysis, clarity of thought, synthesis, and development of argument. The
process of conducting and reporting your literature review can help you clarify your own
thoughts about your study. It can also establish a framework within which to present and
analyse your findings. Writing a literature review is an active, critical and constructive
exercise. The task is one of organising and reframing existing knowledge in order to establish
the importance of your own research. Drawn from a range of sources, the review of literature
summarizes, analyzes and criticises the issues, positions, and evidence that are related to
your research question.
References:
1. http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/rsd/otherfiles/docs/HBad_diag07.doc accessed 07/10/09
2. http://www.library.unisa.edu.au.htm based on Golden-Biddle, K and Locke, K. 1997. Composing
Qualitative Research. Sage: Thousand Oaks.
3. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/library/services/research_instruction/litreviewguides530.html#sample
01/05/2010
4. Blaxter L., Hughes C. & Tight M. (2001) How to research. Buckingham: Open University. Cited in 3
5. http://www.education.com/study-help/article/finalizing-outline/ accessed 05/09/2002
6. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/ accessed 15/05/2012

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649998986.

Writing a Review of the Literature [Review & Consolidation]

Student Presentations: OP1 – Intro – 3.3 OP2 – 3.4 - Conclusion

Skills Needed: - Note Taking (Quoting; paraphrasing and summarizing);

1. Purpose: What is the purpose of a literature review?

2. Important considerations: In you review of the literature,

3. Write a well-organized review rather than a long verbose review;

4. Relates clearly the literature to your research project.

Study your topic headings and ask yourself:

In-text Citations: Cite sources within parentheses.

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