WRITING IV: LITERATURE REVIEW

Task: Learn this material to improve writing the literature review of your study. The assessment to your writing for mid test will be based on some aspects elaborated here. (Deadline for writing literature review will be posted in the next post). Your task for now is to write comments of your brief understanding of this material at maximum 50 words.

A literature review:
- a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic.
- a description of the literature relevant to a particular field or topic.

What is the Purpose of a Literature Review?
To demonstrate your scholarly ability to identify relevant information and to outline existing knowledge.
To identify the 'gap' in the research that your study is attempting to address, positioning your work in the context of previous research and creating a 'research space' for your work.
To evaluate and synthesize the information in line with the concepts that you have set yourself for the research.
To produce a rationale or justification for your study.

RELATED LITERATURE:
To assure the readers that you are familiar with the important research that has been carried out in your area.
 To establish your study as one link in a chain of research that is developing and enlarging knowledge in your field.

A literature review must have an introduction, body, and conclusion.

The introduction should include:
the nature of the topic under discussion (the topic of your thesis)
the parameters of the topic (what does it include and exclude)?
the basis for your selection of the literature
Introduction Structure:
General statement about the subject
Beginning to focus onto the topic
Becoming more specific
Specific thesis statement

The body paragraphs could include relevant paragraphs on:
 - historical background, including classic texts;
- current mainstream versus alternative theoretical or ideological viewpoints, including differing theoretical assumptions, differing political outlooks, and other conflicts;
 -possible approaches to the subject (empirical, philosophical, historical, postmodernist, etc);
- definitions in use;
- current research studies;
- current discoveries about the topic;
- principal questions that are being asked;
- general conclusions that are being drawn;
- methodologies and methods in use; … and so on.

The conclusion should include:
- A summary of major agreements and disagreements in the literature
- A summary of general conclusions that are being drawn.
- A summary of where your thesis sits in the literature (Remember! Your thesis could
become one of the future texts on the subject—how will later research students describe
your thesis in their literature reviews?)

The Purpose of a Conclusion
The purpose of a conclusion is to tie together, or integrate the various issues, research, etc., covered in the body of the paper, and to make comments upon the meaning of all of it. This includes noting any implications resulting from your discussion of the topic, as well as recommendations, forecasting future trends, and the need for further research.

Structure
Link to previous paragraph: ‘In conclusion…’
Brief summary
Identify main reasons/causes/factors
Reinforce the thesis statement (see the introduction part)
Recommendations/speculation on future action
____________-


Some Possible Ways of Structuring a Literature Review

Chronological organisation
The discussion of the research /articles is ordered according to a historical or developmental context. If your review follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials according to when they were published.

Topical or thematic organisation
The research is divided into sections representing the categories or conceptual subjects for your topic. The discussion is organized into these categories or subjects. Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time. However, progression of time may still be an important factor in a thematic review.
Inverted pyramid organisation
The literature review begins with a discussion of the related literature from a broad perspective. It then deals with more and more specific or localised studies which focus increasingly on the specific question at hand.

Discussing and Evaluating the Literature

Critically examine the literature
The literature review needs to critically examine the texts that relate to your research question, rather than to just list what you have located. Therefore, you must link the literature to your research question, demonstrating how it supports or extends the topic or the existing knowledge in the area. You should also highlight the strengths, weaknesses and omissions of the literature, providing a critique of the research. Hence, the language used in a literature review is often evaluative and demonstrates your perspectives of the literature in relation to your question.

Make your 'voice' clear
Your 'voice', that is, your perspective, position or standpoint, should be clearly identifiable in the literature review, as in the thesis as a whole. However, in the literature review because you are writing about other people's work it is easy for your own 'voice' to be lost. The literature review then reads like a mixture of different tones and arguments. It is important that, firstly, your theoretical position is clearly and strongly stated and that your critical evaluations are an integral part of this. Secondly, it is important that your language indicates your own or other writers' attitudes to the question or issue.

__________ the literature review needs to relate to and explain your research question. Although there may seem to be hundreds of sources of information that appear pertinent, once you have your question you will be able to refine and narrow down the scope of your reading.
___

LANGUAGE CONVENTION
Citation Focus and Verb Tense

Beginning citation (simple present&present perfect)
AUTHOR PROMINENT
1. Nutrient restoration is a common phenomenon in forest trees (Kramer, 1979)
2. The factors that control the concentration of aluminum in seawater are poorly known (1)

WEAK AUTHOR PROMINENT
1. Several researchers have studied the relationship between classroom adjustment and mobility (Madsen, 1980; Biggs, 1983; Randall, 1985).
2. The psychology of annual plants has been studied by several authors (3, 7, 13).

GENERAL STATEMENT
1. Little research has been done on topic development in ESL students’ composition.

later citation (simple past)
AUTHOR PROMINENT
1. Allington (1983) found (showed/reported/noted/observed) that teachers allocated equal time to all groups.