Writing Literature Review Sanjaya Mishra

What is Literature Review?

What is Literature Review? It is a means of demonstrating an author's knowledge and understanding about a particular filed of study, including the vocabulary, theories, key variables and phenomenon, and its methods and history.

It is a means of demonstrating an author's knowledge and understanding about a particular filed of study, including the vocabulary, theories, key variables and phenomenon, and its methods and history.

Types of Literature Reviews Systematic Review Narrative Reviews Conceptual Reviews Rapid Reviews Scoping Reviews Critical Reviews Expert Reviews State-of-the-art Reviews

Systematic Review

Narrative Reviews

Conceptual Reviews

Rapid Reviews

Scoping Reviews

Critical Reviews

Expert Reviews

State-of-the-art Reviews

Cooper's Taxonomy of Literature Review Charactrerestics Category Focus Research findings Research methods Theories Practices or applications Goal Integration Criticism Identification of central issues Perspectives Neutral Espousal of a position Coverage Exhaustive Exhaustive with selective citation Representative Central or pivotal Organization Historical Conceptual Methodological Audience Specialized scholars General scholars Practitioners or policy makers General public

How to Organize Your Literature Review? Historical Conceptual Methodological Historical Conceptual Methodological You can also take either author-centric or concept centric approach Identify key concepts Develop colour codes and tables

Historical

Conceptual

Methodological

Historical

Conceptual

Methodological

You can also take either author-centric or concept centric approach

Identify key concepts

Develop colour codes and tables

Developing the Reading List/Bibliography Find relevant references from subject encycolpaedias, year books, advances, and reviews Search indexes and abstracts Search library databases and online databases Use references cards or computer to store records; use codes for sorting Read and take notes; do reverse tracking of references Read original/primary sources

Find relevant references from subject encycolpaedias, year books, advances, and reviews

Search indexes and abstracts

Search library databases and online databases

Use references cards or computer to store records; use codes for sorting

Read and take notes; do reverse tracking of references

Read original/primary sources

Writing the Literature Review Tone: constructively inform the readers; do not be over critical Tense: past or present? Thought: develop a theoretical underpinning; build constructs and give meaning to the writing by weaving a logical story

Tone: constructively inform the readers; do not be over critical

Tense: past or present?

Thought: develop a theoretical underpinning; build constructs and give meaning to the writing by weaving a logical story

Criteria for a Good Literature Reviews Justify criteria for inclusion and exclusion Distinguish what has been done in the field from what needs to be done Placed the topic/problem in the broader scholarly context and in the historical context of its own Acquired and enhanced the subject vocabulary by articulating related variables and phenomenon Synthesized and developed a new perspective on the literature Identified the methodological issues, ideas and techniques related to the topic Rationalized the practical and scholarly significance of the study Written in a coherent and clear structure

Justify criteria for inclusion and exclusion

Distinguish what has been done in the field from what needs to be done

Placed the topic/problem in the broader scholarly context and in the historical context of its own

Acquired and enhanced the subject vocabulary by articulating related variables and phenomenon

Synthesized and developed a new perspective on the literature

Identified the methodological issues, ideas and techniques related to the topic

Rationalized the practical and scholarly significance of the study

Written in a coherent and clear structure

Some Frequently Encountered Situations Nothing has been written in my research topic There is too much It's all been done How many references do I need? How much time will it take? What reference pattern should I follow?

Nothing has been written in my research topic

There is too much

It's all been done

How many references do I need?

How much time will it take?

What reference pattern should I follow?

Use and Abuse of References Use references to: Justify and support your argument Compare other researches Express matters better than you could have done Show your familiarity with the field of study Do not use references to: Impress your readers just for the sake Litter your writing with name and quotations Replace the need to provide your own thoughts Mis-represent the authors

Use references to:

Justify and support your argument

Compare other researches

Express matters better than you could have done

Show your familiarity with the field of study

Do not use references to:

Impress your readers just for the sake

Litter your writing with name and quotations

Replace the need to provide your own thoughts

Mis-represent the authors

ACTIVITY Use IGNOU's Library eResources such as the EBSCO, ProQuest, JSTOR, J-Gate, ACM Digital Library, Emerald Insight, SpringerLINK, Taylor and Francis, etc. to find at least 25 relevant literature related to your identified topic of research. Store the same using a Word processor, and add your codes and notes to future use.

Use IGNOU's Library eResources such as the EBSCO, ProQuest, JSTOR, J-Gate, ACM Digital Library, Emerald Insight, SpringerLINK, Taylor and Francis, etc. to find at least 25 relevant literature related to your identified topic of research.

Store the same using a Word processor, and add your codes and notes to future use.