FE6P04 - Dissertation

Lecture 3: Literature Review

Lecturer: Dr. Juhee Jain

Email: [email protected]
Why Literature Review?
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 Why Literature Review?

• To conduct a‘preliminary’search of existing material

• To organise valuable ideas and findings

• To generate research ideas

• To discover recommendations for further research

• To further refine research questions and objectives

• To develop a critical perspective

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 Reasons for Reviewing Literature
• To derive answers to the question, “What do I
expect to find?”

• To ensure that your ideas have not already been

published by someone else

• To provide insights into strategies and techniques

appropriate to your research objectives

Based on Gall et al.(2006)

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What is

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 Literature Review: A Definition
• The selection of available documents (both published and
unpublished) on the topic,

• which contain information, ideas, data, and evidence written from a

particular standpoint to fulfil certain aims or express certain views
on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated,

• and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the

research being proposed

(Hart, 1998)

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Literature Review: Process

Source: Saunders et al. (2003)

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 Literature Review

What are the key theories,

What are the key concepts and ideas? What are the main
sources? questions and
problems that have
been addressed to-
Literature search date?
&
Review on your topic

What are the major

issues and debates
about the topic? How is knowledge on
What are the origins the topic structured
and definitions of and organised?
the topic?

Adapted from Hart (1998)

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 The Research Proposal
• C over

• Page

• Abstract

• Title of Research

• Introduction(aims & objectives)

• Literature Review

• Methodology and Data

• Contribution to knowledge

• Timetable and Budget

• References
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 Proposal: Literature Review

• Ensures that the topic is “researchable”

• Enables progressive “narrowing” of the topic area to be
researched

• Consideration of operationalisation with regard to

empirical research

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 Dissertation: Literature Review
• Literature review plays a major role in the assessment of final thesis

• Analytical, covering contextual and methodical issues, research

techniques and topics

• Possibly two literature-based chapters:

o one on the contextual theoretical issues relevant to the topic/problem,
and

o another on methodological issues, which demonstrates knowledge of

the advantages and disadvantages
Hart, 1998

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 What is a Good Literature Review
• The appropriate style of review will vary depending on the
subject matter

• It should tell a story… It should “go on a journey…”

• All chapters in your thesis should:

a) end with a conclusion
b) start with a link

The Literature Review is no exception.

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Criteria for Assessment (Master’s Level)
E xcellent Work Competent Work

• Thorough review of the • Review of the main literature

with main variables and
relevant literature
arguments identified
o systematically analysed and all
main variables and arguments • Some links made to
methodology and justification
identified

• Critical evaluation firmly

linked to justification and
methodology

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 Poor Literature Review: Characteristics
• “Booth et al (2009) did this, they found that…“; “Abercrombie
(2010) did this, they found that…”

• “ I googled the following…”

• No linkages

• No narrative

• No comparison between results

• No resolution

• You don’t have to order by time

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to do Literature Review?
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 Adopting a Critical Perspective (1/3)
Effective reading

• Previewing

• Annotating

• Summarizing

• Comparing and contrasting

Harvard C o l l e g e Library (2006)

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 Adopting a Critical Perspective (2/3)
The most important skills are

• The capacity to evaluate what you read

• The capacity to relate what you read to other

information

Wallace and Wray (2006)

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 Adopting a Critical Perspective (3/3)
Questions to ask yourself

• Why am I reading this?

• What is the author trying to do in writing this?

• How convincing is this?

• What use can I make of this reading?

Wallace and Wray (2006)

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 Skills Tested
• Prior understanding: Demonstrate level of prior understanding of the

topic
o Critical appraisal of key works

o Importance of using literature relating to methodology used

• Persistence
o Initial search strategies may not reveal what is wanted

o Managing information and citing all sources used

• Scholarly Conventions
o Critical appraisal rather than summative description

o Academic format, i.e. citation of references

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 Example
Criteria Meaning Example
Claim An arguable statement Car owners should restrict washing their cars in
areas of the country where there is a water
shortage

Evidence Data used to support the claim Car washes can use up to 250,000 gallons of
water in the main summer weeks. This quantity
depletes reservoirs by 20% during as a season of
heavy water usage

Warrant Expectation that provides the Water is essential and people should not waste it
link between the claim and the in times of shortage
evidence

Backing Context and assumptions used Water shortages cause inconvenience, are a
to support the validity of the danger to people and can be costly to
warrant and evidence consumers

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 Approaches used

• Deductive
Develops a conceptual framework from the
literature which is then tested using the data

• Inductive
Explores the data to develop theories which are then
tested against the literature

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 Contents of a Critical Review
You will need to

• Include key academic theories

• Demonstrate current knowledge of the area

• Use clear referencing for the reader to find the original cited
publications

• Acknowledge the research of others

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Evaluating a Critical Review: The Checklist (1/2)
• Does the literature covered relate clearly to your research question
and objectives?

• Have you covered the most relevant and significant literature as well as the
theories of recognised experts in the area?

• Have you included up-to-date relevant literature?

• Have you referenced all the literature covered using the Harvard system?

• Have you contextualised your research showing how it relates to

previous research

• Have you assessed the strengths and weaknesses of previous

research?
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Evaluating a Critical Review: The Checklist (2/2)
• Have you been objective in your assessment of others’ research?

• Have you included references that counter as well as support your own opinions?

• Have you distinguished between facts and opinions?

• Have you made reasoned judgements about the value and relevance of
others’research to your own?

• Have you highlighted areas where new research (yours!) is needed e.g.,
o Existing inconsistences

o Existing omissions or bias

o Existing evidence inconclusive or inadequate

o Need for further testing

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 Structure of Literature Review
Three common structures

• A single chapter
• A series of chapters
• Throughout the report

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 Structure in Literature Review
• By theme

• By technique

• By results, (group 1 found that A caused B, group 2 found

that A didn’t cause B)

Answer: when you have read a few papers, think of how you
can place them in a tree…

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 Writing the Body
• Critical Appraisal
o Do not simply provide a list of authors and contributions

o Demonstrate understanding and provide a critical assessment - i.e.

point out important weaknesses in existing studies

o Being “critical” is not always easy

o The tone should remain polite

• At the end of the Literature Review:

YOU SHOULD COMMUNICATE WHAT YOU MIGHT EXPECT TO

FIND….

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 Key To A Critical Literature Review

• Demonstrate that you have read, understood and

evaluated your material

• Link the different ideas to form a cohesive and coherent

argument

• Make clear connections to your research

objectives

Saunders et al.(2009)

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 The Literature Search Strategy

• Write down
o parameters of your search

o key words and search terms to be used

o databases and search engines to be used

o criteria for selection of relevant and useful studies

• Discuss your research

• Brainstorm ideas

• Construct ‘Relevance Trees’

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 Evaluating the Literature

• Define the scope of your review

• Assess relevance and value

• Assess sufficiency

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 Summary
The critical literature review

• Sets the research in context

• Leads the reader into later sections of the report

• Begins at a general level and narrows to specific

topics

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 Checklist
• “Structure” in the Literature Review

• Define the limits of your search - theory, methods, techniques,

arguments, definitions

• Keep checking for new publications in your area

• It is possible that one does not have a Literature Review

Chapter. It might b e replaced by an extended context-
setting chapter and later chapters each containing a specific
literature review associated with the chapter content

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 Checklist (Contd.)
• Include papers that take an opposing view

• Journal reputation is not necessarily a guarantee of quality

• Take into account editorial views which may favour particular

stances

• The conclusions of your thesis should flow directly (either in

support or against) from the conclusions of your literature
review

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Summarising – How to do a Literature Review
• A literature review comprises:
o Selection of the main bodies of work being studied
o Grouping and structure
o Explanations of previous work: the strengths and weaknesses in
each case
o Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their
argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the
greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their
area of research
o Implications for your study and the development of your
hypotheses

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 Plagiarism
Four common forms

• Stealing material from another source

• Submitting material written by another

• Copying material without quotation marks

• Paraphrasing material without documentation

Adapted from Park (2003),cited in Easterby-Smith et al. (2008)

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Thank you for your attention 

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