How not to reinvent the wheel Types of literature reviews A brief review of existing knowledge in an area as it relates to your topic of study It is organized as an argument in favor of a given research study explaining why it should be undertaken and how it will contribute to our knowledg ID: 488691
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Slide1
Literature Review
How not to reinvent the wheelSlide2
Types of literature reviews
A brief review of existing knowledge in an area as it relates to your topic of study. It is organized as an
argument
in favor of a given research study, explaining why it should be undertaken and how it will contribute to our knowledge on a given topic
A reader should come to the conclusion that your proposed research will shed light on an important topic/concern.Slide3
Types of literature reviews
A second type of literature review sees the review as an end in itself. It is an extensive discussion of a topic that attempts to critique and integrate a large body of literature in a way that reveals areas of agreement, disagreement, and missing information. It usually encourages the reader to adopt a
particulary
theoretical perspective.Slide4
Literature review
Consists of:
A search for information regarding the chosen topic
Quality of information
Quantity of information
A thoughtful analysis of the content identified in the first step
Organization
An essay written based on that analysis
The steps overlapSlide5
How do you approach a
literature review?
Develop a general understanding of the topic
Identify major theories, research streams
Identify subject terms and important language relating to your topic
Search library catalogs and databases for quality information on the topic
Supplement scholarly information with news and popular culture sourcesSlide6
5. Organize the material for presentation
6. Write the review, edit, rewrite, edit again, etc. until the final piece is well-written, succinct and compellingSlide7
Important information to make your life easier:
You can download a citation manager/database software program from UK for free
Endnote X2
for your appropriate operating system
http://download.uky.edu/Slide8
General sources: Encyclopedias
General v. topicalSlide9
Handbooks
Somewhat more hit-and-miss than an encyclopedia
However, articles tend to be more in-depth and to cover research betterSlide10
Consider a textbook
Textbooks
on the topic area can be useful as wellSlide11
Yearbooks, annual reviewsSlide12
Take-away from general sources
A basic understanding of the topic of interest
A set of sources for further, more in-depth readingSlide13
Books
Range from popular books aimed at a general audience to scholarly books that are advanced and demanding
Abstracts and book reviews help you determine whether a book is too general or too advanced and demanding for your needsSlide14
Search library catalogs and databases for quality information on the topic
Go to the
Library web page
Choose either
Or Slide15
Identify subject terms, important language of the field or study topic
Examine the library catalog entries for
subject terms
that relate to those books and articles that you find most useful
Keep a list of terms for use in searches
Write down important terms from
abstracts, headings and subheadings
in your readingSlide16
For books
Search the catalog
Scholarly books on a topic are:
most likely to provide a comprehensive treatment of your topic
most likely to develop a fully laid-out theoretical argument
often out of date compared to articles
not subject to the type of peer review that articles areSlide17
Edited books
Some books are a compilation of reviews of important topics within a larger subject area
Chapters are written by experts on particular topics and are reviewed by the editors of the volume to see that they meet high standardsSlide18Slide19
For articles
Go to the database page
Find an appropriate database to search for articles
I usually pick resources organized by subject and then scroll to “Communications” and hit “submit”
“Communication and Mass Media Complete”
This database provides citations from a great number of media-related journals, usually with a short abstract. You can download full-text (
pdf
) files from several of the periodicals.Slide20
For articles
You can search using the subject terms you kept from the earlier citations
Limit your searches around the terms to try to find the best sources first
You can limit the search to scholarly (peer-reviewed) and/or full-text articles
Expand if you don’t get enough cites at firstSlide21
For articles
Boolean logic
“And” v. “or” v. “not”
Use of selected fields
Some fields are quite restrictive (‘title’) while others not at all restrictive (‘all text’)Slide22
An example: “Cultivation”
Type “cultivation” in blank and require that it be included in the abstract
or
“authority” in all text
and
“television” in abstractSlide23
For articles
You could also find one or more of the articles cited in the overall reviews you looked at earlier
Then use the subject terms for the best articles
Or else look for the authors of the overall reviews and see what they have writtenSlide24
For articles
When you have found some good articles and are reading them, you should be able to identify sources the authors used that would help your review
Carry on a “fan-out” search—look up the sources from the bibliographies of the best articles
In several of the databases you can electronically link to cited sources and can even save full-text versions of those articlesSlide25
Reviews in academic journals
Some journals will carry review articles or overviews of a topic area
Use “review” or “overview” as a search term in an appropriate database along with topic-specific terms
Holmstrom, A. J. (2004). The effects of the media on body image: A meta-analysis.
Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48
, 196-217.Slide26
Don’t be skimpy
When you are starting out it’s easier to collect too much and shed what’s unnecessary than to have to make multiple searches
As the literature review progresses and you know what you need, you can more narrowly tailor the follow-up searches and keep only the best content for use in the reviewSlide27
Supplement scholarly information with news and popular culture sources
Though they generally are not as well thought-out or accurate, popular sources can provide examples, interesting angles and/or update your findings from the academic literatureSlide28
Websites of organizations involved with your topic (may do their own research, develop white papers, etc.)
Pew Center
Newspaper/newsmagazine sites are available with helpful (and easily readable) stories about many topics of interest
Library databases provide many full-text newspapers and popular magazinesSlide29
NOTE:
Go to news, popular magazine, or WWW sources
AFTER
you have done a good job mining the scholarly literature. You’ll be more efficient that way, and will be able to critique the sources you find more effectively.
Admittedly, some of the most recent or technical topics may call for more use of news and popular cultureSlide30
Organize the material for presentation
Develop an outline!!
(And then
follow
it).
Don’t do the “train of consciousness” thing. What seems perfectly rational and sensible to you will turn out to be full of logical holes, leaps of faith and self-contradictory logic.Slide31
Writing the review
Lay out your argument in step-by-step fashion and then place the evidence you have found where it fits on the outline.
Do some of your claims lack support?
Are some arguments especially controversial?
These require the most backgroundSlide32
Write the review, edit, rewrite, edit again, etc. until the final piece is organized, succinct and compelling
Presentation counts! Spelling, usage, structure, organization—they all matter in how well your ideas are presented. You are trying to convince the reader of something. A well-written, articulate argument is more convincing.Slide33
NOTE:
One of the most common shortcomings of research studies is that the researcher does not write a good literature review. Putting in the effort during the conceptualization stage will be rewarded during
operationalization
and interpretation. Your write-up will be faster and higher quality.