Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students (2009)

Summary

This script offers a comprehensive guide to graduate students on the significance and process of writing a literature review. It underscores the literature review's role in understanding research topics, developing perspectives, and showcasing knowledge to instructors. The script outlines the literature as a dynamic network of scholarly works and emphasizes the importance of identifying relationships within this network to formulate a cohesive review. It also provides insights into different types of literature reviews, from selective course assignments to comprehensive theses, and offers practical advice on researching, organizing, and writing a literature review, including the use of citation management tools and seeking assistance from advisors and librarians.

Takeaways

• 🎓 A literature review is a crucial part of graduate studies, often required for assignments, capstone projects, theses, or dissertations.
• 🔍 It serves to understand research topics, develop perspectives, and demonstrate knowledge to instructors or thesis committees.
• 📚 'The literature' refers to a collection of scholarly writings including articles, books, conference proceedings, and dissertations.
• 🌐 The literature is a dynamic network of scholarly works that interact and evolve over time.
• 🏫 John Classen emphasizes that research is storytelling, where each new work builds upon previous ones, requiring an understanding of the existing narrative.
• 🔑 The literature review's purpose is to identify gaps, understand connections, and determine the next steps in the research field.
• 📈 Literature reviews can vary from selective to comprehensive and can be part of a larger work or stand alone.
• 📝 The process of writing a literature review involves choosing a topic, conducting research, evaluating sources, organizing information, and writing with a critical perspective.
• 🔄 The literature review process is not always linear; it may require revisiting previous steps as new information is discovered.
• 🤝 It's important to synthesize the literature into a cohesive narrative rather than simply summarizing sources.
• 💼 Seek assistance when writing a literature review, utilizing resources like advisors, writing centers, and librarians with subject expertise.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of a literature review in academic research?

The primary purpose of a literature review is to understand a research topic, develop a personal perspective on a problem, and demonstrate knowledge to instructors or thesis committees.

In what contexts might a graduate student be required to conduct a literature review?

A graduate student might need to conduct a literature review as part of a course assignment, a capstone project, or for a master's thesis or dissertation.

What does the term 'the literature' refer to in the context of academic research?

In academic research, 'the literature' refers to a collection of all scholarly writings on a topic, including peer-reviewed articles, books, conference proceedings, and dissertations.

How is the literature described in terms of its structure and evolution?

The literature is described as a continuously evolving network of scholarly works that interact with each other, often with later works extending or responding to earlier, major works.

What is the role of the literature review in the research process according to John Classen?

According to John Classen, the literature review is essential for understanding the existing story in the field, identifying loose ends in related fields, and determining what needs to be done next in one's research.

What are the different types of literature reviews a graduate student may encounter?

Graduate students may encounter selective reviews, comprehensive reviews, reviews that are part of a larger work, or stand-alone reviews that are entirely devoted to reviewing the literature.

How does the process of reviewing the literature help in formulating a response or contribution to the field?

Reviewing the literature helps by discovering relationships between articles, understanding how they form the story the authors are telling, and then formulating one's own response or contribution based on that understanding.

What are the key steps involved in writing a literature review?

The key steps in writing a literature review include choosing and focusing a topic, conducting research using various sources, evaluating and selecting relevant literature, reading and analyzing the articles, organizing information, writing and revising the paper, and creating a final bibliography.

Why is it important to not treat a literature review as a simple annotated bibliography?

A literature review should not be a simple annotated bibliography because it requires going beyond summarizing to integrating and synthesizing the literature into something new, presenting one's own organization and understanding of the literature.

How can graduate students get assistance with writing a literature review?

Graduate students can seek assistance from their adviser or instructor, campus writing centers, or librarians, especially those with subject specialties who can help identify valuable resources and show how to obtain relevant information.