HOw to Write Review1

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Supervising Masters & PhD students -

Writing a literature review

Dr Katherine Samuelowicz

Academic Writing & Research Consultant


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Why is literature review soimportant?


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Why is literature review so

important?

Its an integral part of the thesis (and students

need to bear this in mind from the beginning)

It sets the scene for the research presentedin the thesis

It provides justification for the research

presented in the thesis Some examiners claim they can judge the

quality of a thesis from its literature review


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What problems have you encountered

with students literature reviews as asupervisor and or as an examiner?


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Deficiencies (continued)

Literature Review the second most deficient

aspect of theses (typographical errors were first)

Most common criticisms: Failure to use recent

literature, and an inability to critically assess the

existing literature

Lengthy; irrelevant; outdated; tedious; repetitive;

bewildering; & flabbergasting

(Hansford & Maxwell, 1993)


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What is its purpose?


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What is its purpose?

To demonstrate professional competence in the

area of the research (ideally, students know the

background to their work and have anappreciation of the present state of the art: the

breakthroughs, the controversies, whats hot in

the field, etc.)

To justify the need for the research undertaken To establish the theoretical framework of the

research


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The literature review then needs

to:

Show a thorough knowledge of the relevantresearch, theory, ideology & opinion

(convergence/divergence of views) Locate students work within the above

Ensure the reader knows their review is selectiveand relevant to the research question

Evaluate the focal literature critically Distinguish between what has previously been done

or said and what is proposed in this study


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Therefore ..The literature review has to be:

DISCURSIVE - a logical argument

nota list of studies presented one after another(students need to focus on ideas, theories, issues,results not sources)

nota catalogue of facts


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When to do it? How to do it?


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When and how to do itAt the beginning

When students have first results

At the end, when all other chapters are

finished


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Some questions students could

ask when reading 1/2

Is the problem important and clearly spelled out?

Is the methodology well justified as the most

appropriate to study the problem? How were the results analysed?

Is the theoretical basis transparent?

What perspective are they coming from?

How large a sample was used?

Are the results presented new?


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Some questions 2/2

Are the generalisations justified by the evidence onwhich they are made?

How convincing is the argument made?

What is the significance of this research?

What are the assumptions behind the research?

Was the research influential in that others picked up

the threads and pursued them?


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When students have first resultsNow your students would be better equipped

to make sense of the literature

They would be able to synthesise findings, tostart placing their results within the body of

knowledge, to see the quality of results in

other studies, to see the finer points of

methods used


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At the end Now your students should be able to see

where their results belong, how they

compare with other results, what they add tothe understanding of a particular problem

They will be also see how previous researchmotivated their own research

They should be able to seamlesslyintegrated their lit review into the plot of theirthesis


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Structuring the reviewExaminers appreciate work which is logically

presented, focused, succinct, and in whichsignposts are used to help readers to understandthe path they are taking through the work Oneof the problems with work that is poorly presentedis that the examiner tends to lose confidence inthe candidate and can become suspicious thatthere are deeper problems of inadequate andrushed conceptualisation. (Johnson, 1997 p.345 in Mullinsand Kiley 2002)


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Helping students structuring their

lit reviewExercise

During the next 5 - 10 minutes plot out the story

your literature review is going to tell. You mayuse concept maps, diagrams, flow charts topresent your plot. Think about the sections intowhich you would like to divide your review.

Think about the abstract youve written in theprevious session to make sure that your reviewfits with the overall plot of the thesis.


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How to do it Plot out the story your literature review is going to

tell in order to achieve your purpose

Use maps or diagrams to shape it to see theoverall picture and to identify the core literature(re-do if emphasis changes)

From the diagram, organise the review intosections


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Ho to do it - working on sectionsOnce you have the overall story/plot for your

literature review work on sections:

- What is the point Im making in this

section?

- What is its purpose in the whole story?


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Reviewing

EVALUATE the worth of what others are doing(and build a bank of useful VERBS)

SHAPE this to show how your work logicallycomes out of what others have done

Bring together what you read into a FRAMEWORKand identify the relationships, contradictions,

anomalies. Dont forget to look critically at already acceptedwork


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Reviewing - ExamplesEstablish a bank of poor and good reviews

and discuss them with students


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Reviewing - Example 2 (final)Batt & Kompala (1989) lumped the biotic phase into

The key criticism of the model is that the proposed kinetics is

essentially unfounded

Whether there is a need to include a description of changes in cell

composition , also remains to be clarified. To my knowledge, no

data have shown

With 49 parameters, the model of Batt & Kompala is expected to fit

Thus, the fit was achieved to data that were wrongly transformed.


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Example 2 (contd)From a production point of view, the key point of interest is

what limits the system and how to overcome these

limits. The limitation of the system is what ultimately

determines the economics. Surprisingly littlefundamental research work has been performed on

animal cell culture in this area.

One reason for the lack of work in this area has been theassumption that growth is inhibited at


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Reviewing - VerbsLets look at the language used in Example 2

often students use three verbs:Smith (2001) says..

Black (2002) stated that

Green (1999) mentioned


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Reviewing - Example 3 (draft)

clearly judged to suffer from a number ofdeficiencies (Baker, 1974; Baker and Freeland,1975). These deficiencies For example, the

are some of the objections (Baker, 1976). Inaddition, the data validity (Dumbleton, 1986).Furthermore, many models did not in decisionmaking (Lee, et al., 1986). Lastly, most of themodels did not allow decision makers to prioritystructure associated with the multiple objectives.


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Reviewing - Example 4 (final)

In summary, recent writings have used the conceptof tradition as an intellectual phenomenon torelate . There are a number of commonthemes in the writings examined. First, there isan acceptance that . Second, this relationshipdepends not so much upon

There is also general agreement upon thedimensions of this intellectual and attitudinalbase.


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Reviewing - Example 5 (draft)

Definitions of food security used over the last ten years reflectan evolution from concern for early warning, to improvedprediction and understanding of the structural processes andoutcomes for prevention of food insecurity.

As well as broadening the focus of definitions, geographicalconcerns . Consequently there is a need for a soundgeneric definition that provides a structural frameworkapplicable to a range of . Operational definitions of food

security can be formulated from this general frameworkaccording to the specific context.


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Reviewing - Example 5 (contd)

One of the first definitions was given by . Sincethen food security has been defined in variousways . However, the various definitionsillustrate genuine differences in emphasis betweenthe scale and dimensions of .

While there may be differences, most definitions

include five components which form theframework of the food and nutrition system:


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Reviewing - Things to remind

your students Provide an OVERVIEW; remain in control

Clarify WHOSE CRITIQUE it is

Use SPECIFIC DETAIL when relevant Develop and assess DEFINITIONS

CLUSTER similar studies and review the body ofwork

Make use of SECTION SUMMARIES RE-WRITE at several stages


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Seek comments & talk about

your work with

Your supervisor

Fellow research students

Website: PhD: First Thoughts to FinishedWritinghttp://www.uq.edu.au/student-

services/linkto/phdwriting//

Mullins, G & Kiley, M. (2002). Its a PhD, not a Nobel Prize: How

experienced examiners assess research theses. In Studies inHigherEducation V.27, N.4.

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