The literature review should be organized around a small set of concepts, themes, critical dimensions, and debates that are related to your research objective—the problem or issue you are exploring. It is NOT just a descriptive list of a set of studies, or a set of summaries of papers arranged without structure. It is NOT an annotated bibliography.
You will need first to identify a problem or research question. (The literature review will help you understand more about this topic or problem.)
You will need to identify the source of literature and good search techniques to find relevant studies or articles. You will not have time to do an exhaustive search so you should decide on where you will look and how you will organize your search. A small set of the most relevant resources is what you are trying to find. You will want to find how others have attempted solutions to your problem.
You will need to evaluate the results of your search. What are you reading? You should be able to distinguish between:
popular press articles,
practitioner magazines with ideas and "success stories,"
publications where respected leaders in the field describe their work and its implication with a wide audience,
and research journals that are peer-reviewed where new knowledge is reported and debated by a community.
Did you find a small set of materials that were closely related to what you are interested in doing? Don't be worried if you find someone has already done your study. This is a valuable resource. It will give you clues as to what you might or might not find. It is very useful—your study will be different, so don't worry.
The hardest part is to critically analyze the literature you read. (You need to abstract a set of concepts and questions, compare items to each other, and discuss strengths and weaknesses. This is more than a summary.) The result should be a fair and balanced treatment of a subject that helps a reader learn from your creative work.
Read with a Clear Purpose
At first you will be reading to understand the materials. But then you should start to look for major concepts, conclusions, theories, arguments, etc. that surround your topic. Be attentive to similarities and differences as you explore similar studies. Here are some guidelines for note-taking.
Who is the author? At what institution are they based?
What is the problem or issue that is central and how is it defined? Look at the language as it will reveal a great deal about the perspective of the author. Who is the audience and what do you think the author's purpose is?
What literature did the author use to define the problem? Is there a theoretical perspective on learning or on technology?
What is the goal of the writer? Is the paper a celebration of an activity or an effort to understand what happened and why?
Can you identify the author's theoretical framework? Look for what theories are cited in the literature review and how they relate to any studies cited.
Examine the relationship of the literature relevant to the problem/issue in the article. How did this person approach the problem?
Without extensive background in research, it may be difficult to evaluate the design, but think about the methods. If you were to follow the same procedures would you find the same results? (This is an indication of reliability.) Do you think that the methods used helped to understand what was taking place? (An indication of validity.)
You may be reading articles that suggest a method or a project and provide the inspirational account of the process. Look to see if the writer also can reflect on what things did not work as well. If everything was perfect, you might not be reading the whole story. Look for discussions of problems or setbacks which suggest a balanced discussion of the project.
Examine the logic of the argument and how it relates to the question that you posed.
How does the article help you think about your oen issue or questions? How was it helpful and what was missing?
The Purpose of a Literature Review is to do one or more of the following:
Ground your problem in the content of those who have struggled with the problem or issue in the past.
Describe how your approach will be similar or different from what has been tried in similar settings in the past.
Suggest new ways of solving a problem by combining or contrasting past approaches.
Describe a conflict that you are going to explore by trying one or more strategies.
Establish the need for your research.
Using References and Making Citations
A literature review is a well-structured essay and NOT a list of summaries of what you read. Think of as pulling together the voices of key people to help others learn how relevant positions or problems are related to your research question.
When should you use a quote and how should you reference the work of others? You use a direct quote when:
The text is so wonderfully written that no matter how hard you try to put it in your own words, something critical is lost. You cannot paraphrase it. You need include the author, publication date, and page number.
The importance is not the words but the fact that a certain person said them. For example, a politician might make a statement that has meaning because of WHO said it. The words might be less then poetic but the reason for the quote is to tie the words to the author. Again you need to indicate the source. If it is cited in an article from another source, the correct way to list it is: (Bush, 2004 cited in Stewart, 2004, p35).
The quote contains a phase or concept that you want to tie to a person. For example, "communities of practices" (Lave and Wenger, 1991).
But beware of writing in the words of others because you are afraid to interpret the text. This is a common mistake. You have a right to make sense of the writing.
There are a number of ways to cite an author:
Riel said that "technology is shared minds made visible" (Riel, 2000).
Riel described technology as a way of making shared minds visible (Riel, 2000).
Technology is a way of making shared minds visible (Riel, 2000).
Technology mediates the collective work of people through time and space (Cole, 1980; Riel 2000).
In a literature review you might use any of these. But the more you make use of the latter, the more you are doing the creative work of making sense. You are making your statement—but telling the reader that this idea is similar to or was shaped in some way by the ideas of other authors.
Finally, you will do reading that you will will find is not part of your literature review. Don't include things just because you read them. You can list them in a reference list. But remember that part of the work is deciding what is relevant.
Some valuable links for citations: APA Style Guide and and information David's Citation Machine
A program that you might find handy is ENDNOTE. They have a good education discount and this will be very valuable if you plan to continue in a degree program after OMAET. It is a place to keep all of your information about what you read in one place and takes care of inserting references as you write.
Conducting the Literature Review
The literature review should be organized around a small set of concepts, themes, critical dimensions, and debates that are related to your research objective—the problem or issue you are exploring. It is NOT just a descriptive list of a set of studies, or a set of summaries of papers arranged without structure. It is NOT an annotated bibliography.
- You will need first to identify a problem or research question. (The literature review will help you understand more about this topic or problem.)
- You will need to identify the source of literature and good search techniques to find relevant studies or articles. You will not have time to do an exhaustive search so you should decide on where you will look and how you will organize your search. A small set of the most relevant resources is what you are trying to find. You will want to find how others have attempted solutions to your problem.
- You will need to evaluate the results of your search. What are you reading? You should be able to distinguish between:
- popular press articles,
- practitioner magazines with ideas and "success stories,"
- publications where respected leaders in the field describe their work and its implication with a wide audience,
- and research journals that are peer-reviewed where new knowledge is reported and debated by a community.
Did you find a small set of materials that were closely related to what you are interested in doing? Don't be worried if you find someone has already done your study. This is a valuable resource. It will give you clues as to what you might or might not find. It is very useful—your study will be different, so don't worry.The hardest part is to critically analyze the literature you read. (You need to abstract a set of concepts and questions, compare items to each other, and discuss strengths and weaknesses. This is more than a summary.) The result should be a fair and balanced treatment of a subject that helps a reader learn from your creative work.
Read with a Clear Purpose
At first you will be reading to understand the materials. But then you should start to look for major concepts, conclusions, theories, arguments, etc. that surround your topic. Be attentive to similarities and differences as you explore similar studies. Here are some guidelines for note-taking.The Purpose of a Literature Review is to do one or more of the following:
Using References and Making Citations
A literature review is a well-structured essay and NOT a list of summaries of what you read. Think of as pulling together the voices of key people to help others learn how relevant positions or problems are related to your research question.When should you use a quote and how should you reference the work of others? You use a direct quote when:
But beware of writing in the words of others because you are afraid to interpret the text. This is a common mistake. You have a right to make sense of the writing.
There are a number of ways to cite an author:
Riel said that "technology is shared minds made visible" (Riel, 2000).
Riel described technology as a way of making shared minds visible (Riel, 2000).
Technology is a way of making shared minds visible (Riel, 2000).
Technology mediates the collective work of people through time and space (Cole, 1980; Riel 2000).
In a literature review you might use any of these. But the more you make use of the latter, the more you are doing the creative work of making sense. You are making your statement—but telling the reader that this idea is similar to or was shaped in some way by the ideas of other authors.
Finally, you will do reading that you will will find is not part of your literature review. Don't include things just because you read them. You can list them in a reference list. But remember that part of the work is deciding what is relevant.
Some valuable links for citations:
APA Style Guide and and information
David's Citation Machine
A program that you might find handy is ENDNOTE. They have a good education discount and this will be very valuable if you plan to continue in a degree program after OMAET. It is a place to keep all of your information about what you read in one place and takes care of inserting references as you write.