Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Literature Reviews or, “Locating Your Study” Sarah Perrault and John Stenzel University Writing Program, UC Davis November 5, 2011

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Reasons to Review the Literature Through writing a literature review, you: –Develop a good working knowledge of the research in a particular area –Raise questions and identify areas to be explored –Demonstrate that your study is needed / original –Place your study in context –Show how your study relates to the literature in general –Show how your study relates to previous studies Doing this helps you: –Define and limit the problem you are working on –Avoid unnecessary duplication –Evaluate promising research methods –Fine-tune your argument and anticipate objections

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Reading Don't let the arguments in the text distract you from your agenda Preview the text: –Do you need to read everything with equal attention? –Can you see where the arguments are headed? Things to consider about any text: –Who wrote it? What do you know about the authors? What is their perspective? –How old is the material? –Are the arguments logical? Are they supported by reliable evidence? Ask general questions: –What were the authors trying to discover? –Why is this piece of research important? –What was measured? How was the data collected? –What information do you have on the sample? Have specific questions in mind as you read.

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Taking Notes Note taking strategies: –Dual entry page –Color coding What to put in the second column or in the other color: –Reactions –Comments on methodology –Connections to your project –Connections to other things you have read –Questions –Evaluative remarks about the quality of the text –What confuses you Always Remember: If you can’t cite it, you can’t use it.

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Creating Order 1 Types: –Narrative –Systematic –Meta-Analysis –Focused Categories of focus: –Historical overview –Current work –Theory/Model –Issue

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Creating Order 2 Benefits of Matrices: –They allow us to eyeball the literature –They encourage us to make connections –They help us avoid getting trapped in low- level comparisons –They point us to common threads

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Creating Order 3 YearTheorySample Size Model Used CountryType of Study Study 1 Study 2 Study 3 Study 4

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Starting the Lit Review Provide some kind of overview –Make a generalization –Discuss some accepted knowledge of the field –Present information that is widely known Describe the selection criteria for the literature in the review Remember that figuring out what to include is an ongoing process

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Using Metadiscourse Elements in a written text that refer to the text itself, not to the subject matter. –The longer the text, the more metadiscourse. –The more complex the material, the more metadiscourse. –It’s common at the beginnings and ends of sections, chapters, etc. –Attitudes toward it vary by culture

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Integrating Sources Find out what is common in your field: –Direct quotes vs. paraphrases vs. summaries –Integral vs. non-integral citations –Citation verb tense and aspect –Single citations vs. groups of studies –Verb tense (present, past, or present perfect)

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Choosing a Verb Tense Simple PastReference to a single study Smith discovered… Tan et al found… Present PerfectReference to an area of study Microbiologists have discovered… Studies in nutrition have found… Simple PresentReference to generally accepted knowledge of the field The speech signal is continuous, but it is perceived as a sequence of discrete segments. Past  Present Perfect  Present The research reported is increasingly close to the writer in some way — close to the writer’s opinion, the writer’s research, or the current state of knowledge.

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Taking a Stance Even if you don’t use your own perspective to organize your literature review, it has to have some part. Hyland suggests these ways to show stance: –Hedges –Boosters (words that strengthen a claim) –Attitude markers –Personal pronouns

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Summarizing Useful questions to figure out what to include in a summary: –What was done? –How does it work? –How was it done? –Who did it? –What is different / innovative / advantageous? –What questions did it lead to?

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Evaluation Criteria Coverage Synthesis Methodology Significance Prose

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Evaluation Criteria Coverage Synthesis –Distinguished what has been done in the field from what needs to be done –Placed topic or problem in the broader scholarly literature. –Critically examined history of topic –Acquired and enhanced the subject vocabulary; discussed and resolved ambiguities in definitions –Articulated important variables and phenomena relevant to topic –Noted ambiguities in literature, & proposed new relationships –Synthesized & gained/offered a new perspective on literature Methodology Significance Prose

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Evaluation Criteria Coverage Synthesis Methodology –Identified main methodologies & research techniques used in the field, and their advantages & disadvantages –Related ideas & theories in the field to research methodologies. –Critiqued appropriateness of research methods to warrant claims Significance Prose

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Evaluation Criteria Coverage Synthesis Methodology Significance –Rationalized/critiqued the practical significance of research problem –Rationalized/critiqued the scholarly significance of research problem Prose

Almost all material in this presentation is from Christine Feak & John Swales, Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review, which I strongly recommend you buy and read. Evaluation Criteria Coverage Synthesis Methodology Significance Prose –Created a coherent, clear structure that supported the review –Included integral and/or non-integral citations, as appropriate for your field –Used a variety of reporting verbs and structures –Used the correct verb tenses for citations –Used metadiscourse to guide readers and ensure they can see the research story that is unfolding