How to prepare literature

reviews
Research Student Generic Skills Training Programme
14 February 2012
Dr Paul Reilly
pr93@le.ac.uk
@PaulJReilly

www.le.ac.uk

Overview

What is a literature review?

The Ingredients
The Search
The Review
Presentation

Write down an answer to

this question (take 2
minutes)
The thing that scares me the most
about my literature review is.

What is a Literature
Review?

Review research in your chosen area to clarify conceptual

issues and empirical context for your project
If there is no previous published research look for
empirical work from related areas
Use literature review to learn about research design for
your project build on work of previous scholars
Consider how your project will contribute to the literature
in your chosen subject area
Your opportunity to persuade your reader (and examiner)
that your work is relevant and that it was worth doing!

Three stages at which a

review of the literature is
needed

an early review is needed to establish the context

and rationale for your study and to confirm your
choice of research focus/question;
as the study period gets longer, you need to
make sure that you keep in touch with current,
relevant research in your field, which is published
during the period of your research;
as you prepare your final report or thesis, you
need to relate your findings to the findings of
others, and to identify their implications for
theory, practice, and research.

A literature review should

not
be
A descriptive list of papers or summaries of research

Organised around the sources with each described

in great detail
An argument for the importance of what you are
researching with no contextualisation of key issues
Instead, your literature review must be organised
around ideas with an assessment of previous
studies (including their strengths and weaknesses).

Merriam (1988) lit review as an

interpretation and synthesis of published
work
You need to be actively involved in interpreting
the literature that you are reviewing, and in
explaining that interpretation to the reader,
rather than just listing what others have written.
The term synthesis refers to the bringing
together of material from different sources, and
the creation of an integrated whole.

Questions that your examiners

ask that your literature review
can help you answer

What research question(s) are you

asking? Why?
Has anything similar been done in this
area before?
What is already known/understood
about this topic?
How might your project challenge
existing beliefs or add to this
understanding?

What is meant by critical

writing?
a clear and confident refusal to accept the
conclusions of other writers without evaluating
the arguments and evidence that they provide;
a balanced presentation of reasons why the
conclusions of other writers may be accepted or
may need to be treated with caution;
a clear presentation of your own evidence and
argument, leading to your conclusion;
a recognition of the limitations in your own
evidence, argument, and conclusion.

Finding your academic voice

involves:

healthy scepticism but not cynicism;

confidence but not cockiness or arrogance;
judgement which is critical but not dismissive;
opinions without being opinionated;
careful evaluation of published work not serial shooting at
random targets;
being fair: assessing fairly the strengths and weaknesses of
other peoples ideas and writing without prejudice;
making judgements on the basis of considerable thought and all
the available evidence as opposed to assertions without
reason.
Wellington J., Bathmaker A., Hunt C., McCulloch G. and Sikes P.
(2005). Succeeding with your doctorate. London: Sage.

How to get started: ask

yourself these questions
What is the specific thesis, problem, or research
question that my literature review helps to define?
What type of literature review am I conducting?
Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy?
quantitative research? qualitative research?
What is the scope of my literature review? What types
of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books,
government documents, popular media)?
What time period am I interested in? What geographical
area? What social setting? What materials?

http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html

Sources for literature review

Identify key primary sources (e.g. govt. documents,
newspaper articles) and secondary sources (e.g. books,
journal articles) relevant to your topic early on
Use relevant search terms on library databases (e.g.
Lexis Nexis) to identify your sources (see Library
tutorials for more on this)
Use resources that are not in the library e.g. Inter-library
loans, BFI Archive, blogs.
Remember, there is no target for the number of
references you include, but you need to show the marker
you have covered the literature that is relevant to your
project.

12

Finding relevant literature:

Check references of references. it can be a good idea to check
through their reference lists to see the range of sources that
they referred to.
Hand searching of journals will reveal ideas about focus,
research questions, methods, techniques, or interpretations
that had not occurred to you
Use software packages such as RefWorks to collect and store
details of articles but also read abstracts to make sure they are
relevant
If in doubt, consult your Subject Librarian!

Exercise to help you use the

library effectively for your
literature
review
Identify 2 - 3 key terms relevant to your dissertation (e.g.

social media, Arab Spring) and use these to search the

library catalogues for relevant resources.
Try to evaluate the relevance of the resources that you
find in the library catalogues by using the title and the
abstracts.
Identify a list of resources for your literature review
including books, journal articles (databases if relevant to
your topic), and other resources that are relevant.
Identify any difficulties that you have doing this, and write
it in less than 50 words (These can be discussed with your
supervisor if you have any concerns).

Writing up your literature

review:
Write up your review part way through your
reading in order to identify gaps/weaknesses
Keep the focus on your study and not the
literature
Make sure the structure leads the reader through
the key issues e.g. signposting
Make sure that the literature review is framed by
your research questions
Where possible, use original sources rather than
other peoples review of literature(s)

Structure of the
Literature Review:
There is not one ideal structure for your
literature review so talk to your supervisor
about this
Consider whether you wish to organise
your literature review chronologically,
thematically, by development of ideas (or
a combination of these)
Make sure that you always explain your
structure for your reader and have a clear
narrative

Referencing
Provide full details of all sources cited in the
dissertation
Should include published books or articles, book
chapters, technical reports, web sources, etc.
List alphabetically by author name (name of first
author in the case of works with co-authors)
Make sure you understand the university
regulations on plagiarism
Consult your department guidelines for more on
referencing style

Conclusion
Be systematic in your search for relevant
sources
Critique literature that is relevant to your
project and avoid being overly descriptive
Use a structure that leads the reader
through the key points and is framed by
your research questions
Make sure you adhere to the university
regulations on presentation (including
referencing)