RESEARCH PROPOSAL:

HOW TO REVİEW THE LİTERATURE

MNGT 583 - Özge Can

Basics...

Are there any past studies relevant to your research topic and question?

The logic of literature review: Knowledge accumulates (principle of

science) We can learn from and build on what

others have done

Goals of a Literature Review: To demonstrate a familiarity with a

body of knowledge To integrate and summarize what is

known in an area To show the path of prior research

and how a current project is linked to it

To learn from others and stimulate new ideas

Where to Find Literature Review? You can find reports of research studies

in several formats:

Periodicals Scholarly journal articles Books Dissertations Government documents Policy reports and presented papers

Periodicals

Newspapers, popular magazines, Internet news, tv or radio broadcasts

Google

Not complete, full reports of research studies Selected, condensed summaries for general

audience We need to move from these popular, lay

sources and rely on serious scholarly publications

Where do professional researchers present their study results? In one of the following forms:

Articles in scholarly journals Academic research books Chapters in edited academic books Papers presented in professional

meetings/ academic conferences

Scholarly Journals

The primary source to use for a literature review:

peer-reviewed reports of research: Criticized and reviewed by other professional researchers. As a result of this review, they are either accepted or rejected by the journal.

Scholarly Journals

Full text of some scholarly journal articles available on internet Google Scholar (Google Akademik) But usually access from internet is limited and

require subscription fees

Best and easiest way to reach them => Online article search engines at your library Academic databases: Proquest, EBSCO

HOST, ...

Scholarly Journals

Citation => details of a scholarly publication’s location that helps people to find it quickly

Abstract => A short summary of a scholarly journal article that appears ath its beginning

Citation Example:

Citation in APA Style: Ruef, M., and Patterson, K. (2009).

Credit and Classification: The Impact of Industry Boundaries in Nineteenth-century America. Administrative Science Quarterly 54, 486-520.

Abstract Example:

Books

Best type of books for literature review: containing reports of original research

or collections of them You should distinguish this type of books

from other books (e.g. textbooks, encyclopedias, story books, novels, fiction)

Libraries have research-related books: Citation info for them available in the library’s

catalog system

Dissertations and Government Documents

Dissertation => A work of original research completed in order to receive doctor of philosophy (Ph.D) degree Specialized indexes listing dissertations YÖK Ulusal Tez Merkezi

Government documents => Turkish government, governments of other countries, United Nations, World Bank, OECD.

Policy Reports and Presented Papers Policy Reports => published by

research institutes, policy centers and other relevant associations

Presented Papers => Research presented in annual academic meetings (conferences). Lots of researchers assemble to give,

listen to or discuss recent research Written papers as well as oral

presentation

How to Conduct a Literature Review?

1. Define and refine the topic A clearly defined, well-focused research

question

2. Design/plan the review Planning the review strategy: its

extensiveness, types of mateirlas to include, how much tome you have, number of research that you’ll examine

3. Locate the research reports Scholarly journals, books, other

How to Evaluate Research Articles? After you locate a published study,

you need to read and evaluate it!

1. Examine the title2. Read the abstract3. Read the article4. Take notes about the study

How to Take Notes?

As you discover new sources, you may want to create two types of files: a source file => only bibliographic citations a content file => summary of hypotheses

tested, study’s major findings, its methodology, key concepts and their measurement, the sample used, ideas for future studies

Then you organize them: How these findings fit together? What are the gaps and interesting questions?

Accessing to Literature:

Yaşar University – Information Center: http://bm.yasar.edu.tr/en/ Catalog Search:

http://kutuphane.yasar.edu.tr/yordam.htm Databases:

http://bm.yasar.edu.tr/en/databases/subscribed-databases/

Google Akademik (Google Scholar): http://scholar.google.com.tr/

Google Kitaplar (Google Books): http://books.google.com.tr/

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