1. The literature review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVRKsSOl_D8
Get-to-know-you questions:
Level – master’s or doctoral
Discipline – write in
Topic you’re studying – write in
Where you are in your program – write in
Oh what fun!!

2. What is a literature review?
Summary and synthesis of research by others that is pertinent to your inquiry
The gaps – content, participants, methods
Theoretical framework
Highlights the importance of your own research question - You will use the studies in your literature review as “evidence” that your research question is an important one
New research almost always has its origins in existing research
Immerse yourself!

3. Why write a literature review?
Place your research project within an existing knowledge base
Situate the study within a historical context or theoretical perspective
Identify the need for your research
Choose possible procedures and methods to use in your study
Narrow and further refine your research question(s)

4. When do I work on the literature review?
While you’re narrowing your research topic
While you’re formulating your research questions
While you’re analyzing your data
After you’ve analyzed your data
Before writing your discussion section
Yup – it’s a working draft until your thesis/dissertation/manuscript isn’t a draft anymore!
With a partner, talk about these iterations:
What you might find at each stage
How the LR contributes to your project at each stage

5. What is a literature review?
Not an opinion piece
Not a series of abstracts or an annotated bibliography
A list of summaries
Intro 
Article 1  2  3  4  5 
Summary/ Conclusion
Cover the variables being studied – research that explains the relationship between these variables is a priority
Don’t attempt to cover everything
Cite everything
Every citation you make must go in the reference list
Abbreviations must be written out and explained; then you can use acronym

6. Step 1: locate sources Primary sources:
Descriptions of the original research reported by the researchers who conducted the study
Published within the last 10 years
How to search
Identify terms and concepts related to your topic and synonyms for these
Conduct a database search
And, or, not
Narrow or broaden the search as needed
Quotation marks
Tracking system to stay organized and not get overwhelmed
See your advisor, dissertation chair and committee members
Meet the library staff

7. Step 1: locate sources

8. Step 2: read the literature
Start with the abstract, but never rely on it
Skim through each article, finding sections that may be relevant to your study
Read the sections again and write down important information and themes
Take notes after reading each article
Write down complete citation information however you choose to do this
Note the following
How was the research executed? Setting? Participants? Data collection procedures? Data analysis procedures? Findings?
Write down any quotes you might use and don’t forget to note the page number
Keep an annotated bibliography – next slide

9. Annotated bibliography example
Puranik, C.S., & Lonigan, C.J. (2014). Emergent writing and preschoolers: Preliminary evidence for theoretical framework. Reading Research Quarterly, 49(4),
Puranik and Lonigan’s primary purpose in this article was to articulate and evaluate a theoretical model of the components of emergent writing. They examined 372 preschool children who ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old, recruited from 34 different public and private preschool centers. They used confirmatory factor analysis. Four subtests measured domains associated with the children’s procedural knowledge about writing; three subtests assessed conceptual knowledge about writing, two tasks are used to measure children’s generative knowledge about writing and assess their writing abilities beyond a single-word level. The results of this study demonstrated that the hypothesized three-factor model of emergent writing skills, consisting of procedural knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and generative knowledge domains best describe children’s performance on writing-related measures.
What do you notice?
What do you notice?

10. Step 3: map the lit review
Sample graphic organizers

11. Step 4: outline of the lit review
“theming”
Need to relate to your research focus
Comparable to coding qualitative information
Analyze similarities and differences between the themes and subthemes and turn them into topics and subtopics
Decide on a logical order
Organization choices:
General to specific
Historical to contemporary
Theory to practice
Definitions to examples

12. Step 5: write the lit review
No single format; you’ll see a wide variety out there in published articles
However, there are usually 3 main sections:
Introduction
Main section
Summary

13. Step 5: write the lit review
Introduction
Introduce the literature review by pointing out the major research topic that will be discussed
Describe the upcoming content and organization of the literature review
Also perhaps describe how sources were located/expanded
Define, explain, describe, and provide examples of some of the major terms here

14. Step 5: write the lit review
Main section
Organized thematically
Under each subtopic, discuss the appropriate theories or studies
Use transitional sentences or phrases between ideas, sections, and paragraphs
In addition, contrary to, other studies, similarly, however, by comparison, contrary to findings reported by ___, similar findings reported in a study by ___.
How the studies fit together – make it flow – logical organization
Use quotations sparingly
Start each paragraph with the point you wish to make.
Support this point with evidence – studies and examples from the literature you have collected on the topic.
Uses primarily primary sources that are mostly empirical and come from scholarly publications
Gaps help to provide a rationale for the study
Summarize each section

15. Verb variety Defines Contradicts Describes Criticizes Emphasizes
Objects
Explains
Opposes
Observes
Refutes
States
Adds
Argues
Implies
Asserts
Proposes
Contends
Suggests
Demonstrates
Concludes
Maintains
Claims
When introducing a source or sources, you can vary the verbs you use to help diversify your writing and also make it more descriptive.

16. Step 5: write the lit review
Summary and concluding remarks
Major themes across all studies are reviewed and their implications highlighted
What has been done, what has not been done, and what needs to be done
Pose a formal research question or state a hypothesis that is linked to your literature review
Therefore, the purpose of the study is to…

17. Step 6: Cross-reference
Look at the tool(s) you’re using to collect data (survey, scale, interview questions, etc.)
Consider all facets of your study
What is missing in your literature review that you are measuring/exploring/reporting in chapters 4 and 5?

18. Common errors we see Insufficient breadth of review
Failure to include relevant primary sources – what did I miss?
Use of non-scholarly material – we’re not concerned here with what some random person said!
The review reads like an annotated bib.
Failure to include studies that contradict yours!
Citations, citations, citations
Accidental plagiarism

19. Plagiarism includes:
Using another writer’s words without proper citation
Using another writer’s ideas without proper citation
Citing a source but reproducing the exact word without quotation marks
Borrowing the structure of another author’s phrases/sentences without giving the source
Borrowing all or part of another student’s paper
Using paper-writing service or having a friend write the paper

20. citing
Get to know your manual (whichever one your discipline uses)!

21. Examples
Search for and choose a research article related to your discipline (or use one you already have downloaded somewhere)
Read the purpose of the study and the research questions first
What subheadings might you expect to see?
Now look at the literature review
What are the subheadings?
Read the literature review
Use the helpful checklist to critique this LR
Study articles and other quality thesis papers and dissertations

22. A helpful checklist
Is there an introduction to the review that indicates how the literature review is organized?
Is the organization of the literature review clear?
Is the literature review organized around themes?
Do the ideas flow logically and smoothly from one paragraph to the next?
Are there transitions between topics and from topics to subtopics?
Are the ideas presented in the context of relevant research and theory?
Are different or contrasting positions on the topic reported?
Are the ideas and arguments supported and properly referenced?
Does the review end with a meaningful summary of the main ideas discussed?

23. Activity Now… Look at your research questions
What might your search terms be?
What might your subheadings be?
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