Lecture describing how students should organise data acquired through their literature review and how they should map and analyse the ideas they are working with. Includes tips on how to work with and address literature critically, how to write an introduction to their review and what tutors are looking for in a literature review. This slideshow is intended for students of the BA (Hons) Broadcast Media at the University of Brighton.

1. Planning and Writing a
Literature Review
LB306 Final Project
Dr Lance Dann

2. You’ve got your books
• You know your
topic
• You’ve got your
books.
• You’ve found some
articles
• You’ve reading and
reading.
• What do you do
with all this
information.

3. The Literature Review
• Analyzing
• Synthesizing
• Critiqueing
• Mapping
• Writing

4. Analyzing
• Breaking ideas
down into their
parts
• Methodically and
clinically
• Have to be
consistent.
• Shows that you
understand ideas.
• Allow you to build
something new.

5. Sythesizing
• Taking something to
pieces and putting it
together in a new
order.
• Shows that you have
broad and thorough
knowledge of a topic.
• You can shift
viewpoint.
• You can combine
information.
• You can think laterally.

6. Dig beneath an
argument…
Get to its roots…
Start to make
connections with
what appear to be
separate ideas and
arguments.

7. Define your terms
• Make sure you are clear about what you
are talking about.
• Define what you mean and be consistent.
• Make it clear what you do NOT mean.
• Draw boundaries around your research.
• Make sure you know where in the history
of a term and its use you stand.
• Some terms have changed their identity
over the years.

8. Example: Professional?
• What does this
mean?
• Paid to do
something?
• Very good at
something?
• Made for a broad
market?
• Better than
standard?

9. Comparing and Contrasting
• Take two sets of
ideas.
• Find their
commonalities
• Highlight their
contradictions.
• Don’t expect to be
able to compare
every aspect of an
idea.

10. Organising Data.
• You’ve got to
organise all this
information.
• You need to be
systematic about
how you sort out
ideas.
• You’ve got to be
clear about how
you catergorise
information.

11. Subject Sorting…
• Imagine you were
asked to sort out a
bowl of eggs and
ping-pong balls.
• Well not much
room for personal
decisions there is
there?

12. Subject Sorting…
• Now imagine you
were asked to sort
the eggs into
which were best to
eat?
• How would you
decide this?
• The biggest?
• Best color?
• Hardest shell?
• What are your
criteria?

13. Mapping
• After the sort
comes the map.
• Laying out ideas
according to how
they fit together.
• Increases your
broad knowledge
• Allows you to spot
connections
• Allows you to spot
gaps.

14. Writing the Literature Review
• From the map can
come your
structure.
• Plan out what you
will write
• Then you are ready
to begin!

15. Writing
• Your writing must be clear.
• Your writing must be academic.
• Your writing must follow a logical
structure.
• It must demonstrate the
knowledge and skill you have
acquired as a student.

16. Your writing is NOT!
• A record of the
research you have
done!
• A list of the
authors you have
read.
• It must say
something based
on that
knowledge… and
then develop it.

17. Being Critical
Agree with, or defend
a position, or confirm
its usefulness
through an
evaluation of its
strengths and
weaknesses.

18. Being Critical
Conceding that an
approach my have
some merits which
could prove useful,
but that others need
to be rejected.

19. Being Critical
Focus on ideas and
theories and not on
the author of those
arguments.

20. Being Critical
Be aware of your
own critical stance;
identify your reasons
for selecting the
work you have
criticized, and,
recognize possible
weakness of your
critique.

21. Being Critical
Select elements from
existing arguments
and reformulate them
to form a synthesis:
a new PoV on some
subject matter.

22. Being Critical
Find fault with an
argument and
highlight fallacies
within it

23. Being Critical
• You may disagree with something
someone has said but attacking them
personally will not refute what they say –
attack their ideas and their argument.
• Don’t think it is enough to criticize the
motive of an author.

24. Remember the reader
Explain both sides of the argument fully.
You role is to take the reader from one
position – that held by the person whose
ideas you may wish to refute through to
another – the ideas you wish to represent.

25. Three Part Structure
i) summarise existing
work on the topic
ii) makes a critical
evaluation of
previous work
iii)makes
conclusions about
work done to date on
the topic.

26. What do tutors want to see?
1. you have worked on the project.
2. you have reviewed the literature relevant to
the topic with thoroughness and open
mindedness
3. you have identified key ideas, concepts
and methods.
4. You have taken a cross-disciplinary
approach
5. You have recorded your sources accurately
and consistently
6. Your analysis is systematic,
comprehensive and relevant.

27. Write a Proper Introduction
• So often word is
spoilt by a poor
introduction.
• It gets the reader
off on the wrong
foot.
• It can be very
difficult to recover
from.

28. The introduction should:
• Announce topic with a clear and concise
statement
• State the purpose of the review with a careful
explanation of what you hope to achieve.
• Explain the relevance of the topic – an indication
of its importance in the literature.
• Establish your credibility – information on why
you should be seen as competent to write about
this topic.
• Preview the main points that you will make in the
body of the text – advance notice of the structure
of the text possibly including your thesis
statement (i.e. the question you are heading
towards).