PREPARING FOR THE LITERATURE REVIEWcmgtwriting.uscannenberg.org/wp-content/uploads/...Survey the...

PREPARING FOR THE LITERATURE REVIEWFrancesca Gacho, PhD (ABD)Graduate Writing CoachAnnenberg School of [email protected] | http://cmgtwriting.uscannenberg.org

FRANCESCA GACHO, GRADUATE WRITING COACH, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://cmgtwriting.uscannenberg.org/

GOALS FOR THIS WORKSHOP


the literature review as a genre of writingDefine

the literature review processIdentify

and discuss

strategies for problem formulation when approaching the earlier stages of the literature review

Identify

best practices for searching, documenting, and managing sourcesDiscuss

WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEWA literature review (or lit review) discusses published information (typically other studies, previous research, etc.) in a particular subject area or can be about a particular subject area in a given time period. It generally combines summary and analysis.

• Literature reviews:• tell your reader the theories on which your study is based• combine summary and analysis. They don’t simply describe previous research, they also

give new interpretation or new contextualization of previous information. • trace the intellectual progression in the field, which includes major debates about the

subject. • place your study in the context of other work that has already been done. • reveal any gaps in the existing literature.*• evaluate sources and advise the reader on which ones are the most pertinent or

relevant.*

• Strong literature reviews examine each work on its own and in relation to other works.


WHAT SHOULD IT INCLUDE?

• Overview of the subject, issue, or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review.

• An organizational scheme that reviews the literature in categories or themes.

• An explanation of the works and how they relate (or engage) with other sources. Do not simply summarize and list.

• An evaluation—and conclusion—as to which works/sources 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.


LITERATURE REVIEWS & RESEARCH PROJECTS

• Literature reviews and research projects have a reciprocal relationship.

• A research project is often undertaken in response to a literature review. Doing the literature review for a topic often reveals areas requiring further research. In this way, writing the literature review helps to formulate the research question.

• A literature review helps to establish the validity of a research project by revealing gaps in the existing literature on a topic that offer opportunities for new research.


WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE

Review of Literature in the Introduction

• Establishes the context from which the RESEARCH QUESTION (RQ) emerges• Shows why the RESEARCH TOPIC is

important, central, or problematic• Identifies the gap in the research

field in general

• Introduces the primary research question of the present study that fills the identified gap

Literature Review

• Explores the specific themes identified by the RQ• Shows what is already

known in the field• Establishes trends in the field• Identifies appropriate

research strategies, data collection instruments, and procedures


SUCCESSFUL LITERATURE REVIEWS ARE


Guided by research question(s)

ANDGuided by your chosen (or given) scope

THE LITERATURE REVIEW PROCESS


Step 1: Select a topic

Step 2: Search the literature

Step 3: Develop the

argument

Step 4: Survey the literature

Step 5: Critique the

literature

Step 6: Write the

review

specifies and frames

explores and catalogs

organi

zes an

d form

sdocuments and discovers

advocates and declines

addres

ses

The Literature Review Model from Machi & McEvoy, The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success, 2nd edition.

Steps 1-4 fall under Problem Formulation &

Literature Search

STEP 1: SELECTING A

TOPIC

• Select a topic that interests or intrigues you (personally or professionally)

• A good place to start: course readings, key terms in the syllabus, themes (if available) in readings/discussions


NARROW YOUR TOPIC


CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS• Subtopics?• What’s interesting?• Who is my audience?• What does the

assignment require?GATHER INFO

REFERENCE SOURCES• Identify potential

research topics• Get an intro to

major works & key authors

GENERAL REFERENCE SOURCES• Dictionaries, encyclopedias,

general info websites• Provide overview of topic;

not often cited• Defines terms and concepts

A TOPIC IS NOT A RESEARCH QUESTION

Topic

• Broad and vague

• Can be stated in 2-3 words

• Uncertain perspective, orientation, direction etc.

• “ALL ABOUT” paper

Research Question

• Narrow and specific

• Usually in the form of a direct or indirect question

• Identifies a specific orientation or perspective on the topic

• Indicates a relationship between key terms


FROM TOPIC TO

[WORKING] RESEARCH

QUESTION(S)

• The specificity of a well-developed research question helps writers avoid the “all-about” paper and work toward supporting a specific, arguable thesis.

• Go from BROAD TO NARROW• a topic is too broad if you can state it in 3 to 6

words • the importance of customer trust.• Customer trust is important for brands. (weak

claim) • the role of race marketing campaign design• Race plays a role marketing campaign

design. (weak claim)


FROM TOPIC TO

[WORKING] RESEARCH

QUESTIONS


Open-ended “how” and “why” questions about your general topic.

ASK ABOUT:

• the history of your topic • the structure and composition of your topic • how your topic is categorized • ask “what if?” and other speculative

questions • ask questions that build on agreement with

your sources • ask questions that reflect disagreement with

your sources

NARROW YOUR WORKING RQ:

• Narrow your topics by adding verbs that express actions or relationships

• Customer trust and brand crisis à The impact of brand crisis on customer trust• A brand suffering a public crisis can impact customer trust. • It’s a claim that is still thin but much stronger and gives a specific argument.

• Race and marketing à the influence of race on marketing of household products. • Marketing of household products has been influenced by racial demographics.


STEP 2: SEARCHING

THE LITERATURE

• This is the first, broad attempt to figure out what questions scholars in the field are asking and what answers they have found.

• Explore and catalog broadly how this topic has been talked about by other scholars.

• Manage and document your sources well to keep track of what you know and don’t know yet.

• You will have to do this repeatedly as you slowly narrow your research question and scope to make your literature review manageable.


KNOW WHERE TO GO

• Wikipedia, academic blogs, & online summaries: Good for introductory knowledge; not so much as a citation

• Textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias: Good, reliable (though sometimes dated) information especially if you’re looking at established theories or concepts

• Scholarly journals and articles: Good for citations and support; might be too specific and detailed for a brainstorming session

USC Libraries Research Guides


http://libraries.usc.edu/

TIPS FOR SEARCHING FOR SOURCES• Different sources give us different types of information, depths of discussion, and levels of validity, credibility, and authority.

• Make sure you know the difference between popular and scholarly sources, between trade and practitioner sources, between general and specific sources. • Popular sources: The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED

magazine, Forbes• Scholarly sources: articles from peer-reviewed publications such as

Journal of Communication Research, books published by University presses, data sets from Pew Research Center, Statista, etc., and industry reports such as Mary Meeker’s Global Internet Report• Trade sources: Publisher’s Weekly, Consumer Reports• General sources: Wikipedia, encyclopedias, most textbooks


KEYWORDS TO FIND

SOURCES

Activity: Using a topic in one of your assignments, come up with as many key terms in one minute.• Avoid long phrases• Begin with 2-3 terms• Think of terms that databases might likely use: both technical and general terms.• Use synonyms (and be concise)• Environmental degradation èenvironment


ACTIVITY EXAMPLE

Organizational

• organizations• corporate• non-profit

• institution• groups• department

Communication

• communicating• responses• transmission

• link• connection• message


FINDING SOURCES


Activity Pt. 2: Using the library database to help find other sources

Option 1: Research Guide

from USC Libraries

Option 2: Library Quick Search

htpp://libraries.usc.edu/

http://libraries.usc.edu/

NARROWING YOUR

SEARCHES

• Narrowing your searches will help you make the literature review search more manageable and more focused.

• Based on the results of your initial search, start noting patterns in terms of titles, keywords mentioned, and themes/subtopics explored.

• Keep narrowing:• By Availability: Peer-reviewed Journals• By Material: Articles, Books, Reviews (as in Book

Reviews), Research Data Set• By Date: last 10 years, last 20 years• By Subject: Communication, Public Relations,

Management, etc.

• Don’t narrow too much!


CHECK-IN WITH YOUR

SEARCH

qWhat specific research question am I seeking to address?

qAm I looking for issues of methodology, theory, policy?

qDo the research articles match my research question?

qAm I looking in the right places? Enough places?

qWill the reader find my review useful? Why or why not?

qHave I included or accounted for opposing viewpoints or findings?


MANAGING THE SEARCH


EVALUATING YOUR SOURCES

Use the SCAAN Method• Source Type: Ask yourself if this source helps you answer your research

question(s), adds something new to your knowledge of the topic, is useful in building your argument or analysis, and meets requirements for the assignment.

• Currency: Ask yourself how current this source is. When was it published? Are there newer articles published on your topic? Are there links to other sources updated? Is the information obsolete?

• Authority: Is the author/writer credible? Is the author affiliated with an education institutional or a prominent organization? Is the publisher reputable? Do other books and article on the same topic cite this author?

• Accuracy: Was it peer-reviewed? Are there statements you KNOW to be wrong? Is there general agreement among subject experts?

• Neutrality: Is there obvious bias or prejudice in the text? Are alternative perspectives presented? Does the author use strong emotional language?


MANAGING YOUR SOURCES

Author Title of Article & Link

Journal or Publisher Name

Year/Date, Vol, Issue No.

Page numbers of entire article

Quote Notes

Chittum, J. and Bryant, L.

Reviewing to Learn: Graduate Student Participation in the Professional Peer-Review Process to Improve Academic Writing Skills

International Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education

2014, Volume 26, Number 3,

473-484 “Improving graduate students’ formal academic writing is particularly important, as scholarly writing and publication in refereed venues play paramount roles in both graduate education and graduate students’ eventual careers.” (473)

Related to significance of topic. Articlebriefly critiques Swales and Feak.


DOCUMENT A POTENTIAL SOURCE WHEN YOU FIRST ENCOUNTER IT.

HOW SHOULD I READ

DURING THIS STEP?

• You’re reading for broad, general content here. You’re trying to establish your basic knowledge about the topic.

• Don’t worry too much about not having expert knowledge or familiarity. That’s what the surveying the literature review is for (Step 4!).

• Get a basic familiarity with keywords, key ideas, and seminal scholars.

• You’re basically reading for patterns at this early stage.

• Remember that you’ll return to this stage more than once as you narrow your research question and scope.


SOME READING STRATEGIES FOR STEP 2

• SKIM• Identify the publication, the title of

the article, the date of the publication, author(s), and keywords to get a general idea of the article’s topic.• Ask Yourself: Who or what is the

likely audience of this journal and, in particular, of this article? How do you know?

• SCAN• Gather information about the

article’s task or purpose.• Scan the headings and subheadings

in the article to get a sense of its structure and development

• READ• Abstract: If there are any words in

the abstract that you don’t understand, find out what they mean at this stage.• Introduction: Look for the RQ,

purpose, implications, and/or principal findings• Conclusion: Look for implications,

limitations, and suggestions for future research

• SUMMARIZE• Summarize the main question, main

findings, and points in your own words.


NEED MORE HELP WITH SOURCES?

• The USC Libraries have quick, interactive guides to Research Concepts & Skills:

• https://libraries.usc.edu/research/reference-tutorials

• Communication & Journalism Research Guide:

• http://libguides.usc.edu/CJ

• Subject Librarians/Specialists are also a good place to start if you’re having trouble with sources, in addition to your Professors.

• Chimene Tucker ([email protected])


https://libraries.usc.edu/research/reference-tutorials

http://libguides.usc.edu/CJ


QUESTIONS?


STEP 3: DEVELOP THE

ARGUMENT

• Literature Reviews have an argument.

• That argument will establish what has already been done, what still needs to be done, and how your study contributes to meeting that need.

• Your argument is your version of how you think the “story” of this research question has been told by other scholars. Your proof? The sources you just gathered, read, and analyzed!

• At this point of the process, you are organizing information into conceptual or thematiccategories and forming your own opinion of how the topic has been discussed by others.

• You are also removing sources that, though helpful, might not be as useful to answering your RQ.


RESEARCH QUESTION TO

ARGUMENT

• Research Question: What factors are identified in academic publications that are perceived to afford or constrain teamwork pedagogy in higher education contexts?

• Argument: Educators prioritized instruction, curriculum design, team composition, and assessment factors when researching teamwork pedagogy. The interactive effects of educator, student, and institutional factors and their influence on transaction costs were presented as affordances and constraints shaping the uptake of teamwork pedagogy, thereby providing a critical insight for educators engaged with teamwork as part of their course design

From Riebe, L., Girardi, A., & Whitsed, C. (2016). A Systematic Literature Review of Teamwork Pedagogy in Higher Education. Small Group Research, 47(6), 619–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496416665221

RESEARCH QUESTION TO

ARGUMENT

• Research Question: How can Executive Function (EF) affect parents’ ability to facilitate and actively participate in their child’s education?”

• Argument: Parents’ EF affects their children’s learning and academic achievement, in part, through its influence on parenting behaviors…. Social, emotional, and developmental factors can also diminish parents’ EF.

From Wilson, D., & Gross, D. (2018). Parents’ Executive Functioning and Involvement in Their Child’s Education: An Integrated Literature Review. Journal of School Health, 88(4), 322–329. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12612

EXAMPLE OF LITERATURE REVIEW


REMINDERS FOR STEP 3!

• Your argument can be tentative or what we call a “working” argument.

• That means it can be slightly modified as you learn more from and read more of your sources.

• You want your working argument to guide your readings, but also acknowledge that you need a bit of an open mind at the next stages so that you can discuss your sources coherently and skillfully.


STEP 4: SURVEYING THE LITERATURE

Search

• Broad and exploratory

• Establishing starting point with the topic

• Focus tends to be on variety—wider scope

• Catalogs agreements and disagreements within the broader field

Survey

• Narrow and focused

• Establishing patterns about what other scholars have said

• Focus is on discovering, organizing, documenting sources into “chunks”

• Investigates opinions and findings of other scholars

• Draws relationships among the different scholars & their findings


How does this differ from Step 2: Searching the Literature?

READING CRITICALLY

• Reading critically means reading actively—questioning the text and our reading of it.

• Involves analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and synthesizing your sources.

• Ask Yourself:• Is the research question specific and focused? • Are there limitations or errors about key terms

or concepts? • Are there concerns or issues about the

methodology? • Are the hypotheses and findings sound and

valid? Are there biases in the study?


PARTS OF AN ARTICLE

HANDOUT

• This handout can be a useful guide for the kind and depth of engagement you should be having with your individual sources.

• Use this handout to document the main parts of each article or book.

• Note that the questions are more involved and in-depth, asking you to read closely for theoretical framework, methods, and implications.


COMPARING ARTICLES• What are the main arguments? Do the authors make similar or different arguments? Are some arguments more convincing than others?

• How has research been conducted in the literature? How extensive has it been? What kinds of data have been presented? How pertinent are they? Are there sufficient amounts of data? Do they adequately answer the questions?

• What are the different types of methodologies used? How well do they work? Is one methodology more effective than others? Why?

• What are the different theoretical frameworks or approaches used? What do they allow the authors to do? How well do they work? Is one approach more effective than others? Why?

• Overall, is one work more convincing than others? Why? Or are the works you have compared too different to evaluate against each other?


PREPARING TO WRITE


• Start thinking about how you can “chunk” the various sources that you have.

• Set them up in tentative categories or themes.

•OR Draw a mind map or web of sources and which works each one relates to.

REFERENCES & FOR

FURTHER READING

• Gacho, F. (2018). “Starting the Literature Review.” http://cmgtwriting.uscannenberg.org/starting-the-literature-review/

• Labaree, R. (2019). “Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: 5. The Literature Review.” http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview

• Machi & McEvoy, The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success, 2nd edition.

• Swales & Feak (2012). Telling A Research Story: Writing the Literature Review. U of Michigan Press.


http://cmgtwriting.uscannenberg.org/starting-the-literature-review/

http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview

PREPARING FOR THE LITERATURE REVIEWFrancesca Gacho, PhD (ABD)Graduate Writing CoachAnnenberg School of [email protected] | http://cmgtwriting.uscannenberg.org



http://cmgtwriting.uscannenberg.org/

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