Assignment:
Analyzing the literature and writing the literature review
Step1: Once you have identified and located the articles for your review, you need to analyze them and organize them before you begin writing:
1. Overview the articles: Skim the articles to get an idea of the general purpose and content of the article (focus your reading here on the abstract, introduction and first few paragraphs, the conclusion of each article. Tip: as you skim the articles, you may want to record the notes that you take on each directly onto note cards or into a word processing document.
2. Group the articles into categories (e.g. into topics and subtopics and chronologically within each subtopic).
3. Take notes:
1. Decide on the format in which you will take notes as you read the articles using note cards. Be consistent in how you record notes.
2. Define key terms: look for differences in the way keys terms are defined (note these differences).
3. Note key statistics that you may want to use in the introduction to your review.
4. Select useful quotes that you may want to include in your review
5. Note emphases, strengths & weaknesses: Since different research studies focus on different aspects of the issue being studied, each article that you read will have different emphases, strengths and weaknesses. Your role as a reviewer is to evaluate what you read, so that your review is not a mere description of different articles, but rather a critical analysis that makes sense of the collection of articles that you are reviewing. Critique the research methodologies used in the studies, and distinguish between assertions (the author's opinion) and actual research findings (derived from empirical evidence).
6. Identify major trends or patterns: As you read a range of articles on your topic, you should make note of trends and patterns over time as reported in the literature. This step requires you to synthesize and make sense of what you read, since these patterns and trends may not be spelled out in the literature, but rather become apparent to you as you review the big picture that has emerged over time.
Your analysis can make generalizations across a majority of studies, but should also note inconsistencies across studies and over time.
7. Identify gaps in the literature, and reflect on why these might exist (based on the understandings that you have gained by reading literature in this field of study).
These gaps will be important for you to address as you plan and write your review.
8. Identify relationships among studies: note relationships among studies, such as which studies were landmark ones that led to subsequent studies in the same area.
You may also note that studies fall into different categories (categories that you see emerging or ones that are already discussed in the literature). When you write your review, you should address these relationships and different categories and discuss relevant studies using this as a framework.
9. Keep your review focused on your topic: make sure that the articles you find are relevant and directly related to your topic. As you take notes, record which specific aspects of the article you are reading are relevant to your topic (as you read you will come up with key descriptors that you can record in your notes that will help you organize your findings when you come to write up your review).
10.Evaluate your references for currency and coverage: Although you can always find more articles on your topic, you have to decide at what point you are finished with collecting new resources so that you can focus on writing up your findings.
However, before you begin writing, you must evaluate your reference list to ensure that it is up to date and has reported the most current work.
Step 2: Summarize the literature in table or concept map format
It is recommended to build tables as a key way to help you overview, organize, and summarize your findings, and suggests that including one or more of the tables that you create may be helpful in your literature review. If you do include tables as part of your review each must be accompanied by an analysis that summarizes, interprets and synthesizes the literature that you have charted in the table. Exam ples of tables that may be relevant to your review:
1. Definitions of key terms and concepts.
2. Research methods
3. Summary of research results
Step 3: Synthesize the literature prior to writing your review
Using the notes that you have taken and summary tables, develop an outline of your final review.
The following are the key steps;
1. Consider your purpose and voice before beginning to write. Your initial purpose is to provide an overview of the topic that is of interest to you, demonstrating your understanding of key works and concepts within your chosen area of focus.
2. Consider how you reassemble your notes: plan how you will organize your findings into a unique analysis of the picture that you have captured in your notes.
3. Create a topic outline that traces your argument: first explain to the reader your line or argument (or thesis); then your narrative that follows should explain and justify your line of argument.
1. Reorganize your notes according to the path of your argument
2. Within each topic heading, note differences among studies.
3. Within each topic heading, look for obvious gaps or areas needing more research.
4. Plan to describe relevant theories.
5. Plan to discuss how individual studies relate to and advance theory
6. Plan to summarize periodically and, again near the end of the review
7. Plan to present conclusions and implications
8. Plan to suggest specific directions for future research near the end of the review
9. Flesh out your outline with details from your analysis
Step 4: Writing the review
1. Identify the broad problem area, but avoid global statements
2. Early in the review, indicate why the topic being reviewed is important
3. Distinguish between research finding and other sources of information
4. Indicate why certain studies are important
5. If you are commenting on the timeliness of a topic, be specific in describing the time frame
6. If citing a classic or landmark study, identify it as such
7. If a landmark study was replicated, mention that and indicate the results of the replication
8. Discuss other literature reviews on your topic
9. Refer the reader to other reviews on issues that you will not be discussing in details
10. Justify comments such as, "no studies were found."
11. Avoid long lists of nonspecific references
12. If the results of previous studies are inconsistent or widely varying, cite them separately
13. Cite all relevant references in the review section of thesis, dissertation, or journal article
Step 5: Developing a coherent essay
1. If your review is long, provide an overview near the beginning of the review
2. Near the beginning of a review, state explicitly what will and will not be covered
3. Specify your point of view early in the review: this serves as the thesis statement of the review.
4. Aim for a clear and cohesive essay that integrates the key details of the literature and communicates your point of view (a literature is not a series of annotated articles).
5. Use subheadings, especially in long reviews
6. Use transitions to help trace your argument
7. If your topic teaches across disciplines, consider reviewing studies from each discipline separately
8. Write a conclusion for the end of the review: Provide closure so that the path of the argument ends with a conclusion of some kind.
9. Check the flow of your argument for coherence.
Readings:
1. Cyberbullying: How Physical Intimidation Influences the Way People are Bullied
By Tyler Maxwell
2. Living with chronic illnesses: How are those with a chronic illness treated by their families since their diagnosis?
By Maura K. Little