WRITING A

LITERATURE

REVIEW

JOANNE OUD, LIBRARY

WHAT IS A LIT REVIEW?

“If I have seen further

than others, it is

because I stood on the

shoulders of giants.”

(Isaac Newton)

WHAT ROLE DOES IT PLAY?

• Put your work into context

• What has/hasn’t been done

• Key debates & perspectives

• Demonstrate your skills at

• locating key resources

• critically appraising them

• Show you have the knowledge to do your

research

FORMAT & STRUCTURE

Good:

• Thematic: synthesize into themes/patterns

• Analysis: critical evaluation

• Focused: directly relates to your topic/question

Bad:

• Sequential: annotated bibliography or list

• Description: summary

• Vague: on your general topic

AUDIENCE & PURPOSE

• Your committee

• Convincing them:

• Your topic is worth researching

• There is a gap

PROCESS & STEPS

1. Topic/research question

2. Literature search

3. Analytical reading

4. Synthesis & themes

5. Organization

6. Writing

RESEARCH QUESTION

• Choose a research question

• Affects entire research project

• Can’t do lit review before question

LITERATURE SEARCH

• Search systematically

• Construct a search strategy

• Decide where to search

• Effective search terms and combinations

• Repeat your strategies across databases

• Note results and modify strategies

SEARCH TERMS

• What will work best?

• Experiment

• Use common terms from your

discipline(s), with variations

• "climate change" OR "climate conditions" OR

"climate variation" OR "global warming”

• “indigenous” or “native” or “aboriginal”

SEARCH STRATEGY

Database Search Terms Comments/

follow up Proquest "climate change" OR "global warming" need to add additional subject

terms for individual regions

and effects

GeoBase "climate change" OR "global warming"

same as above

SEARCH HELP

Ask your subject librarian for advice

library.wlu.ca/people/liaison-librarians

THERE’S NOTHING ON MY TOPIC

working conditions

for women in the

video game

industry

research question

Area 3

Area 2

Area 1

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

• Depends on your topic

• Include the key people/studies

• Ask

• Google Scholar citations

• References

• Stop when you keep seeing the same

references

TRACK YOUR SOURCES

• Keep track as you go along

• Saves lots of time later

• Use a citation management/research

organization tool

MENDELEY: RESEARCH

ORGANIZATION TOOL

MENDELEY OR ZOTERO

• Free library-supported tools

• Links, information & support:

library.wlu.ca/services/manage-citations

ANALYTICAL READING

Read for what you need to know

Things to ask:

• How does this relate to my question?

• How does it relate to other studies?

• How is it useful?

• What are the main findings, arguments, etc?

• What is the theory & framework?

• What are the strengths & weaknesses?

SYNTHESIS & ANALYSIS

Group into themes, patterns

Code or annotate

Think about:

• Most significant findings, themes, theories

• What areas have researchers focused on (or not)?

• What theories/methods are used?

• Changes/developments over time?

SYNTHESIS STRATEGIES

• Note cards or sticky notes

• Searchable notes in RefWorks/Mendeley

• Use controlled vocabulary

• Synthesis matrix

• Concept map

SYNTHESIS MATRIX

CONCEPT MAP

ORGANIZE & WRITE

• Structured around research question

• Provides rationale for your study

• How do you build on/depart from existing

work?

Main purpose: justify your research

TYPICAL ORGANIZATION

• Intro

• What you will cover & why (your question)

• Main trends

• Body

• Thematic discussion related to your question: what there is & where the gaps are

• Individual studies if important

• Conclusion

• Summarize most important points

• Connect to your research explicitly, show gap

SAMPLE THESES

QUESTIONS?

Joanne Oud

joud@wlu.ca

library.wlu.ca/about/staff/joud