The Pesky Literature Review

What is it NOT?

1

• NOT a standard essay/research paper(it may be part of a larger paper)

2

• NOT state or prove your main point(that will be your FRA)

3• NOT a Annotated

Bibliography

What it IS:

1

• Major works that have been published about your narrowed topic

2

• Reviewed = snapshot (major concepts, points, whatever)

3• Relationships between those snapshots

The Purpose:

1• To improve your own understanding

2• Demonstrate your knowledge

3• Bring your reader up to date (fill them in!)

Organizing your Literature Review

Techniques

• Organize by date, decade, timeline (family structures in America)

Chronological

• From beginning to present, major advancements in the field (nanotechnology)

Advancements

• Organize by area (slave trade)Geographic

al• What are the major questions in

relationship to this topic that have been addressed by researchers through the years? (Find this through research)

Questions

Writing Process

Where do you start?

• Research. Gather scholarly articles and book chapters. Collect more than you need. Collect

• Don’t read them. Scan the titles, abstract, headings, intro and conclusion to assess possible usefulness. See what’s happening. Get rid of what you don’t need. Then read what you need.

Analyze

• Figure out what kind of pattern happens with your sources. Make an outline by organizational pattern.

Arrange• Summarize the literature. Pull together the

connections between the literature and make them clear to your reader. This is synthesis. Discuss strengths and weaknesses of the literature.

Summarize&

Synthesize