Literature Review Readings

The terms and concepts selected this week were taken from resources linked at the Wayne State University LIS 7996 Library Guide, available here.


Taylor - The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It

One very important principle to keep in mind during the literature review is that contrary opinions or arguments should be mentioned and properly addressed.

It is important to remember that a literature review is discursive prose, which means that it should flow and move seamlessly through topics (like “discourse”); it should not be choppy or abbreviated and it should not simply jump paragraph-by-paragraph from one reviewed source to the next.


D’Onofrio - Beginning a Study – Literature Reviews

When organizing a literature review, one way to do so is through thematic organization.  This uses themes that have emerged from prior research and literature and the themes themselves are what are defined, explained, or discussed.  Further, this organization allows the author of a literature review to explain the importance to the field of each theme in a meaningful way.

Webbing is a strategy for organizing information visually.  Core concepts are written down in circles that represent “nodes”, and the interrelationships between those nodes are represented by lines that connect related nodes.  This visual sorting of ideas helps to formulate structures for writing or presenting information and can also help to clarify concepts for the researcher.


UC Santa Cruz - Write a Literature Review

Strong consideration should be given to a written work’s provenance, or the combination of factors influencing the background and reliability of the work.  These include the credentials of the author, evidentiary support for arguments made, and any other factors that might impact reliability.

A very important thing to remember when writing a literature review is that it does not contain new primary scholarship or research.  Instead, its purpose is to give an overview of previous related work, to identify problems or gaps in previous research, to prevent unintended duplication of prior research, and to place the original research that should follow in a later section of a report in context.


References

D’Onofrio, A. (2003). Beginning a Study – Literature Reviews.  Retrieved from: http://muse.widener.edu/~aad0002/510review.htm

Taylor, D. (n.d.). The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It.  Retrieved from: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review

University of California, Santa Cruz (2011).  Write a Literature Review.  Retrieved from: http://library.ucsc.edu/help/howto/write-a-literature-review