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1、Supervising Masters&PhD students-Writing a literature review,Dr Katherine SamuelowiczAcademic Writing&Research Consultant,Why is literature review so important?,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
2、 the scene for the research presented in the thesisIt provides justification for the research presented in the thesisSome examiners claim they can judge the quality of a thesis from its literature review,What problems have you encountered with students literature reviews as a supervisor and or as an
3、 examiner?,Deficiencies noted by examiners,exclusion of landmark studiesemphasis on outdated materialadopting a parochial perspectivenot being criticalnot discriminating between relevant and irrelevant materials,andlacking synthesis(Afolabi,1992),Deficiencies(continued),Literature Review the second
4、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to use recent literature,and an inability to critically assess the existing literatureLengthy;irrelevant;outdated;tedious;repetitive;bewildering;&flabbergasting(Hansford&Maxwell,1993),What is its purpose?,
5、What is its purpose?,To demonstrate professional competence in the area of the research(ideally,students know the background to their work and have an appreciation of the present state of the art:the breakthroughs,the controversies,whats hot in the field,etc.)To justify the need for the research und
6、ertakenTo establish the theoretical framework of the research,The literature review then needs to:,Show a thorough knowledge of the relevant research,theory,ideology&opinion(convergence/divergence of views)Locate students work within the aboveEnsure the reader knows their review is selective and rel
7、evant to the research questionEvaluate the focal literature critically Distinguish between what has previously been done or said and what is proposed in this study,Therefore.,The literature review has to be:DISCURSIVE-a logical argumentnot a list of studies presented one after another(students need
8、to focus on ideas,theories,issues,results not sources)not a catalogue of facts,When to do it?How to do it?,When and how to do it,At the beginningWhen students have first resultsAt the end,when all other chapters are finished,At the beginning,Students need to do two things:learn from the literature a
9、nd learn to evaluate it criticallyIn doing this,they should be looking for the strength,and the significance,and contributions made by the researchers and limitations,flaws and weaknesses of particular studies,or of whole lines of enquiry,Some questions students could ask when reading 1/2,Is the pro
10、blem 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?,Some questions 2/2
11、,Are the generalisations justified by the evidence on which 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?,When students have
12、first results,Now your students would be better equipped to make sense of the literatureThey would be able to synthesise findings,to start 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,At the end,Now your stu
13、dents should be able to see where their results belong,how they compare with other results,what they add to the understanding of a particular problemThey will be also see how previous research motivated their own researchThey should be able to seamlessly integrated their lit review into the plot of
14、their thesis,Structuring the review,“Examiners appreciate work which is logically presented,focused,succinct,and in which signposts are used to help readers to understand the path they are taking through the work One of the problems with work that is poorly presented is that the examiner tends to lo
15、se confidence in the candidate and can become suspicious that there are deeper problems of inadequate and rushed conceptualisation.“(Johnson,1997 p.345 in Mullins and Kiley 2002),Helping students structuring their lit review,ExerciseDuring the next 5-10 minutes plot out the story your literature rev
16、iew is going to tell.You may use concept maps,diagrams,flow charts to present your plot.Think about the sections into which you would like to divide your review.Think about the abstract youve written in the previous session to make sure that your review fits with the overall plot of the thesis.,How
17、to do it,Plot out the story your literature review is going to tell in order to achieve your purposeUse maps or diagrams to shape it to see the overall picture and to identify the core literature(re-do if emphasis changes)From the diagram,organise the review into sections,Ho to do it-working on sect
18、ions,Once 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?,Reviewing,EVALUATE the worth of what others are doing(and build a bank of useful VERBS)SHAPE this to show how your work logicall
19、y comes out of what others have doneBring together what you read into a FRAMEWORK and identify the relationships,contradictions,anomalies.Dont forget to look critically at already accepted work,Reviewing-Examples,Establish a bank of poor and good reviews and discuss them with students,Reviewing-Exam
20、ple 1(first take),Significance of the problem:theoreticalpracticalHistory of the problemProblems with current approaches(i.e.to the problem!)leading to the research in this study,Reviewing-Example 2(final),Batt&Kompala(1989)lumped the biotic phase into The key criticism of the model is that the prop
21、osed 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 t
22、ransformed.,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 little fundamental research work has been performed on animal cell c
23、ulture in this area.One reason for the lack of work in this area has been the assumption that growth is inhibited at,Reviewing-Verbs,Lets look at the language used in Example 2often students use three verbs:Smith(2001)says.Black(2002)stated that Green(1999)mentioned,Reviewing-Example 3(draft),clearl
24、y judged to suffer from a number of deficiencies(Baker,1974;Baker and Freeland,1975).These deficiencies For example,the are some of the objections(Baker,1976).In addition,the data validity(Dumbleton,1986).Furthermore,many models did not in decision making(Lee,et al.,1986).Lastly,most of the models d
25、id not allow decision makers to priority structure associated with the multiple objectives.,Reviewing-Example 4(final),In summary,recent writings have used the concept of tradition as an intellectual phenomenon to relate.There are a number of common themes in the writings examined.First,there is an
26、acceptance that.Second,this relationship depends not so much upon There is also general agreement upon the dimensions of this intellectual and attitudinal base.,Reviewing-Example 5(draft),Definitions of food security used over the last ten years reflect an evolution from concern for early warning,to
27、 improved prediction and understanding of the structural processes and outcomes for prevention of food insecurity.As well as broadening the focus of definitions,geographical concerns.Consequently there is a need for a sound generic definition that provides a structural framework applicable to a rang
28、e of.Operational definitions of food security can be formulated from this general framework according to the specific context.,Reviewing-Example 5(contd),One of the first definitions was given by.Since then food security has been defined in various ways.However,the various definitions illustrate gen
29、uine differences in emphasis between the scale and dimensions of.While there may be differences,most definitions include five components which form the framework of the food and nutrition system:,Reviewing-Things to remind your students,Provide an OVERVIEW;remain in controlClarify WHOSE CRITIQUE it
30、isUse SPECIFIC DETAIL when relevant Develop and assess DEFINITIONSCLUSTER similar studies and review the body of workMake use of SECTION SUMMARIESRE-WRITE at several stages,Seek comments&talk about your work with,Your supervisorFellow research studentsWebsite:PhD:First Thoughts to Finished Writing http:/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 in Higher Education V.27,N.4.,
