Presentation on conducting literature reviews from Social Work Research Skills Workbook by Corcoran and Secret, VCU School of Social Work, Research on Clinical Social Work Practice.

1. Literature
Review
Jacqueline Corcoran, Ph.D.
Virginia Commonwealth University
School of Social Work
From: Social Work Research Skills
Workbook, Corcoran and Secret

2. Literature Review
•make extensive references to the existing theory
and research that have influenced your choice of
topic, a problem to be researched, and the
methodology you will adopt for your study
•position your own research in relation to the
existing research
•demonstrate to the reader that a gap exists in
the published material and that your study
attempts to fill it.

3. Reasons to do a lit
search
 To learn more about your topic area
 To discover whether a study is worth doing
 To get ideas for how to do your study.
 To build a justification for your study.

4. Steps of the Literature Review
1) the literature search
2) reading the literature
3) Writing
4) References

5. The literature search:
guidelines
Be recent
Be comprehensive
Rely on primary sources
Rely on academic
literature

6. The literature search: process
Formulating Key Terms
Using Library Databases
Application of Key Terms
to Databases

7. Reading the literature
 Types of Articles
 Reviews
 Conceptual articles/case studies
 Research
 Quantitative
 Qualitative
 Putting what you read into an organizing
framework
 See text, Ridley
 Research Summaries

8. Writing the review
• Outlining and
headings/subheadings
• Integration and synthesis of the
literature
• Micro Issues and Technicalities
 paraphrasing other people’s
ideas
 using paragraphs
 transitioning effectively

9. Referencing
 APA style

10. Referencing
 APA style