PowerPoint accompanying Dr. Philip Sykas' Researcher Development Programme session on 23-11-16 on the critical literature & practice review.

1. MIRIAD Research Training
The Critical Literature Review
Dr Philip A. Sykas
p.sykas@mmu.ac.uk

3. Literature is normally interpreted evidence,
not primary source material.
Serge Tisseron, PhD thesis 1975

4. Why look at literature?
• the origins of the topic
• academic definitions
• how knowledge on the topic is presently structured
Adapted from: www.colinwatsonleeds.co.uk

5. It provides academic justification for your work
-shows that it addresses an important question
-or sheds light on an unresolved problem

6. Look for
Debates and theories that provide a broader
framework within which to situate your subject.

7. Look for literature that can inform your proposed
method:
• What approaches have been tried before?
• What problems have other researchers
encountered?
• What ethical issues have they come up
against?
• What alternative approaches have been
suggested?

8. “We are too apt, dear
Agnes, to consider as
unimportant those things
that are abundant and in
daily use; and to deem it
waste of time to bestow
thought or attention [on
them]... But to a reflective
mind, it is not so. The most
trivial matters will often
engender [the most]
salutary and beneficial
considerations...”

9. •consolidate the focus
•contribute to the
conceptual framework
•aid in planning
research methods
•provide justification
for the study
Effectively, the literature review should guide your study:

10. Especially relevant are works that have
implications for:
the design
the conduct
the interpretative framing, or approach

11. How do you cope
with all the
literature that
might touch upon
your
investigation?

12. A literature review is not an annotated bibliography
It needs to be selective.

13. Your selection decisions should be stated in the
literature review, making clear its scope
• what is and what is not within the compass of your
investigation
• justifying those decisions, and
• explaining why specific topics and material were
selected or rejected

14. Rugg & Petre (2007) distinguish three types of articles to look out for:
1) Seminal or germinal
2) Milestone
3) Foundational

15. It is normally organised into sections based upon themes.
These will be the issues or concepts that connect your
sources together.

16. How do I decide upon the themes?
Often these themes are indicated by the
topics referenced in your title.
At this point, these are organisational
rather than structural categories:
-that is, broad topics or issues that can be
anticipated prior to the evidence-gathering of
your research

17. Adapted from: www.colinwatsonleeds.co.uk
The review must not only summarise prior research;
it must critically analyse:
how key ideas relate together (synthesis),
how they have contributed to the development of
your subject,
how they apply to your area of research,
the credibility and value of previous work, and
the justification for further research (yours!).

18. Don’t exclude references that contradict or question
the case you are presenting.
It is important to explain:
why those works aren’t applicable to your study, or,
why they have been rejected.
Albion Flour Mills,
the original of Blake’s
“satanic mills”

19. The ‘critical’ part
This means analysing arguments,
evaluating evidence, reflecting on implicit
messages, and presenting verbal
communications in a structured way.
It is strategy aimed at following and
critiquing a line of reasoning.

20. Pattern recognition, categorisation, selection and judgment
Like artistic judgements, it is also about being
able to take in different perspectives from the
one being presented, looking beyond for the
wider context.

21. Attentiveness
The mind uses previous experience to build up frames of
reference for categorising incoming information. When it
is satisfied that it has an adequate explanation, it
normally stops looking further. Critical thinking involves
consciously directing our attention in particular ways.

22. Find the ‘t’ exercise
Terrifying torrents and long dark tunnels are
used to create the excitement of the
thrilling train ride at the park.

23. Red herring argument

24. Opinion versus Argument
An opinion simply states a position for or
against. An argument backs up such a
position with a line of reasoning.

25. Conventions of the academic argument
1. Issue
2. Propositions or reasons
3. Line of reasoning
4. Conclusion

26. • Descriptive issues raise questions about
the accuracy of descriptions of reality- how
the world was, is or will be.
• Prescriptive issues raise questions about
what is morally right or wrong- how the
world should be.

27. An argument can contain:
• background information
• explanatory detail
• summaries
To analyse the argument, the reader
needs to be able to identify the conclusion
and the reasons supporting it. In
academic writing, indicator words often act
as signals.

28. Words that identify reasons:
• as a result of
• because of
• firstly,… secondly
• for example
• in view of
• is supported by
• researchers found that

29. Words that identify conclusions:
• In conclusion
• Thus
• Consequently
• Hence
• Therefore
• In fact
• It follows that
• It is important…
• We can see that
• shows that
• indicates that
• In short
• suggests that
• it should be clear that
• we may deduce that
• points to the conclusion
• the most obvious
explanation is
• It is highly probable that

30. Implied messages or assumptions
Not all aspects of an argument are stated
explicitly. If these premises are not sound,
the argument can fall down, no matter how
well it is reasoned.

31. • “Huge cash prizes of over a million
pounds! Your number has been selected
out of over 3.4 million entries to win one of
our cash prizes! Ring now on this number
to find out more.”

32. • “Many people in the world are under-
nourished or do not get enough to eat.
More should be done to reduce the
world’s population so that food
supplies can go round.”

33. Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879
•Hidden or taken for
granted
•Influential, but
potentially deceptive

34. Value assumptions
• Assumptions are unstated beliefs used to
support the explicit reasoning.
• Value assumptions are beliefs about the
relative desirability of certain competing
values.

35. Location of value assumptions
Value assumptions
are found in the
movement from
reasons to the
conclusion.

36. Typical value conflicts
• Loyalty-honesty
• Competition-cooperation
• Freedom of press-privacy
• Equality-individualism
• Order-freedom of speech
• Security-excitement
• Generosity-material success
• Rationality-spontaneity
• Tradition-innovation

37. Linking
Johns and Dudly-Evans (1980) touched on the problems
created by the lecturers’ use of colloquial words and
phrases… This use of informal language was also noted
by Jackson and Bilton (1994) who investigated geology
lectures given in English…
Jordan, R.R. (1999) Academic Writing Course, 3rd ed., p.94.

38. Intellectual progression
Labov (1972) developed a sociolinguistic approach
to narratives. He argued that narratives have
formal structural properties in relation to their social
functions. Cortazzi (1991) applied Labov’s
analytical framework to the study of occupational
narratives. Riessman (1993) also considered
narrative analysis as a methodological approach.
However, while Riessman used Labov’s structural
analysis at an early stage, her work moved took the
study of narrative beyond a search for formal
properties.
Adapted from:
Coffey & Atkinson (1996) Making Sense of Qualitative Data,
pp.57-58

39. Application
John Styles (1993) asserts that consumer goods
come packed with associations, values, and
meanings that subsequently change through
ownership… For example, people often value an
object most when it remains just beyond reach;
acquiring the object may decrease its value…
Hence, Arjun Appardurai (1986) urges us to look at
such goods within ‘regimes of value’ as they enter
particular contexts that change over space and
time… This concept of value regimes is adopted
here…
Adapted from:
Smart Martin, Ann (2008)
Buying into the world of goods

40. Critique
Susan Brownmiller’s Femininity
(1984) exemplifies a false dichotomy
with regard to women’s dress. She
sees the erotically appealing as
being in direct conflict with the
serious and functional… This stance
goes back to Puritan values, where
the “artificial” is inferior to the
“natural”… My study of cinched
waists rejects such moral
judgements of dress, and seeks to
express the perception of the wearer
not the viewer with regard to the
erotic.
Fictional with apologies to
Elizabeth Wilson on
Feminism and Fashion

41. How much do I write about each author’s work?
The amount of attention a text receives in your review
depends on its relevance to the research question.
From an idea by Rudestam (2001), Surviving your dissertation

42. Critical review: Self-evaluation
Have I structured my review through a set of concepts
or themes?
Have I compared how different authors deal with these
concepts/themes?
Did I critically assess their work, discussing strengths
and weaknesses?
Have I cited and discussed studies that are contrary to
my perspective?
Adapted from: Dena Taylor, www.writing.utoronto.ca

43. Critical writing is aided by critical reading
Read for ways of thinking about
the subject matter:
How is it argued?
What concepts and theories are
used?
How is the evidence used and
interpreted?
What are the unargued
assumptions?
Are the conclusions warranted?
Dena Taylor
www.writing.utoronto.ca

44. Write as you go along
It will help if you create a template to evaluate each text as
you read it

45. Record the citation information
Get into the habit of citing works in the correct
format, accurate and complete, from the start.
Take care to distinguish citations made within a
piece of writing from the author’s own writing by
using “cited in” references.
Since websites are ephemeral, you are advised
to make a copy of the relevant web page.

46. An example:
Arthur W. Silver (1966) Manchester Men and Indian Cotton 1847-1872.
Manchester University Press.
During the middle years of the 19th century, the Lancashire
cotton industry, and thereby the economy of Britain, was threatened
with disaster by the cutting off of the main source of supply of raw
cotton, the American South. The problem came to a head in the
years of the American Civil War. During the years 1847 to 1872 a
group of far-sighted cotton men turned to India as an alternative
source. This book describes the attempts made by these
Manchester pressure groups to stimulate the growth and efficient
marketing of cotton in India.
Through a detailed examination of the relations between these
Manchester business men and those responsible for the
government in India,…

47. An example:
Key author
Arthur W. Silver (1966) Manchester Men and Indian Cotton 1847-1872.
Manchester University Press.
Who, Where, When, What, How…
During the middle years of the 19th century, the Lancashire
cotton industry, and thereby the economy of Britain, was threatened
with disaster by the cutting off of the main source of supply of raw
cotton, the American South. The problem came to a head in the
years of the American Civil War. During the years 1847 to 1872 a
group of far-sighted cotton men turned to India as an alternative
source. This book describes the attempts made by these
Manchester pressure groups to stimulate the growth and efficient
marketing of cotton in India.
Through a detailed examination of the relations between these
Manchester business men and those responsible for the
government in India,…

48. Example continued
…the author discusses how such ardent proponents of laissez-faire
squared their activities with their economic philosophy, what their
programme was for securing a larger supply of Indian cotton and
how they justified their involvement in the whole question of the way
India was governed and its resources developed. Finally, he
describes how those responsible for India’s government reacted to
this unusual Manchester initiative.
This study is particularly valuable because of the use the
author has made of the unpublished papers of Sir Charles Wood,
the minister responsible for Indian affairs from 1853-55 and 1859-
66. It is important also for the insight it gives into the economic
history of three major countries, Britain, India and the United States,
while it is a specific example of the way in which leading free-traders
thought at the height of the free-trade movement.
f

49. Example continued
Key concept
…the author discusses how such ardent proponents of laissez-faire
squared their activities with their economic philosophy, what their
programme was for securing a larger supply of Indian cotton and
how they justified their involvement in the whole question of the way
India was governed and its resources developed. Finally, he
describes how those responsible for India’s government reacted to
this unusual Manchester initiative.
Strengths. Problem addressed so far.
This study is particularly valuable because of the use the
author has made of the unpublished papers of Sir Charles Wood,
the minister responsible for Indian affairs from 1853-55 and 1859-
66. It is important also for the insight it gives into the economic
history of three major countries, Britain, India and the United States,
while it is a specific example of the way in which leading free-traders
thought at the height of the free-trade movement.
f

50. Essential tasks of a literature review
-survey a select group of studies that
provide a foundation for the proposed
subject.
-discuss these studies in detail
sufficient to provide an understanding
of their relevance,
-describe how they contribute to the
study, and
-indicate how your study moves
beyond them.
Krathwohl and Smith (2005, p.50),
cited in: Maxwell (2006) Educational
Researcher, Vol.35, p.29.
Gabriel Orozco (1990)
“My hands are my heart”